MegaZEN Well-Being Journal - Volume 7

A Healing Gesture of a Gift from

Dr. Habib Sadeghi & Dr. Sherry Sami beingclarity.com

MegaZEN VOLUME 7

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WELL-BEING JOURNAL

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:

Health & Medicine M I N D - BODY W ELLN ESS In Sync with Health

26

Oral Evidence

98

Self-Conscious or Self-Care

108

Minerals as Medicine

152

Family Matters I M P O R TA N T L I F E TO P I C S Role Reversal

44

After the Affair

50

Pet Predicament

74

Feminine Health W ELL- B EI NG FOR WOM EN A Minor Adjustment

70

Running on Empty

90

Invisible Dangers of Estrogen

136

Infertility Illusion

148

Contributions ARTICLES FROM EXPERTS Spiritual Psychology

58

It's All Connected

142

7 Ways To Reignite Sexual Intimacy 188 Conscious Connection Leads to Deliberate Desire

210

Food & Nutrition CHOICES FOR W ELL- B EI NG For What Ails You

32

Worth Its Salt

199

Label Language

202

Second Opinion TA K I N G A C LO S E R LO O K Invisible Assault

10

Health, Power & Politics

18

Under the Influence

124

In One Basket

166

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G N I N R A

LT H O F A E H E H G U S TO T O LIMITIN D R D A N Z A A S ES EN IS H S H OW N RLESSN S E A W H M EGA Z O H P C F RESE AR A D S TO ENSE O .

E S L G R N N I U E L O A Y AZ E N T, OUT HE O M EG M B T E A E G R S F D U E U S F-J PO BELI OF SEL L AR E X S U S USION G F O E L T R L N T A E A T O TH AN AL OR T E PER M I T H T R A N P I .

LT THE & SOUL Y RESU A Y D M O H B C D, WHI OF MIN

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WELCOME TO THE 7 TH VOLUME OF MEGA ZEN

A Virtual Roadmap for Life

Exploring the powerful concepts of Spiritual Psychology

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very year we try to open each new volume of MegaZEN with a welcoming message that includes some of the wonderful things and challenges that have occurred in our lives since the last edition. Our intention in doing this has always been to show readers how the spiritual principles we share in MegaZEN can really help them find abundance and overcome adversity when put to good use. We do our best to walk our talk, and the annual MegaZEN address has always been a way for us to show how the universe will respond to you differently when you engage it through living consciously.

In thinking over what we wanted to feature on the cover of MegaZEN Volume 7, we considered a lot of things. There are some excellent features in this edition that could easily catch people’s eye.

We also know a fair amount of prominent people in business, politics, and entertainment whose cover photo would sell lots of copies, but that’s not our style. Then the thought came to us almost at the same time.

What better way to emphasize the power of the spiritual concepts that we share than to introduce you to the two people who changed our lives forever by sharing these concepts with us. Yes, we know a lot of famous people, but Ron and Mary are easily the biggest superstars in our lives. Not only are we proud to introduce you to them but also honored that they’ve agreed to write the cover story for this edition.

Ron and Mary Hulnick are Co-Directors and the President and Chief Creative Officer of the University of Santa Monica (USM). We first met them when we enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Spiritual Psychology. To say that our experience in working directly with Ron and Mary during our studies was transformative doesn’t even begin to describe the impact their knowledge and compassion had on us. It changed everything about who we are and how we live our lives.

In adulthood, no two people have had a greater impact on us. They simply embody everything MegaZEN is about.

After we earned our degrees, we were blessed to remain friends with Ron and Mary. In fact, we’ve mentored with them privately for years. Their book, Loyalty to Your Soul: The Heart of Spiritual Psychology, is a wonderful introduction to Ron & Mary’s work and a virtual roadmap for life. Every spiritual concept we share in MegaZEN is based on its principles.

We hope you enjoy the article by Ron and Mary, and highly recommend that you attend one of the Loyalty to Your Soul workshops at USM that they facilitate themselves. If you feel it beneficial, you might also look into their other offerings. No matter how you experience USM, as well as Ron and Mary, your life will never be the same. No need to thank us; we already know you’ll be very, very grateful. We certainly were and continue to be.

Love and Light in the Year Ahead,

Dr. Habib Sadeghi & Dr. Sherry Sami

A LASTING LEGACY TEACHERS CONTINUE TO CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH THEIR STUDENTS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi and Dr. Sherry Sami

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t’s been said that the teachers who challenge us the most are the ones who have the greatest impact on shaping who we become.

They have the intuitive capability to recognize our true potential, even when we’re completely unaware of it, and set us on a course to demand more of ourselves because they know we are destined to be and do more. They plant the seeds of possibility in the eager mind, watering it with persistence and patience, knowing that it will take root and, in time, transform the student into a towering force of power and purpose in the world. In turn, those students cast their own seeds of knowledge into new fertile minds and thus, the legacy of great teachers continues to change the world one mind at a time, long after we’ve left their classrooms.

Considering ourselves eternal students in the classroom of life, we’ve certainly had our share of memorable teachers. Each in their own way, both in and outside the academic setting, they’ve had a hand in shaping the people we are today.

None, however, have made a greater contribution

in that regard than Ron and Mary Hulnick at the University of Santa Monica (USM). Years after we both graduated with our Master's degrees in Spiritual Psychology, we still find ourselves making new discoveries in applying the principles of the program in our personal and professional lives. A nearly four-year post-grad fellowship with Ron and Mary has been essential in helping us realize goals and reach levels of achievement and service that we wouldn’t have dreamed possible just a decade ago.

“It was Ron and Mary’s guidance that helped us to step forward and answer the call to provide this kind of comprehensive mind/body healthcare in a multi-disciplinary way that includes the crucial pieces that are missing from the current model of diagnosis and treatment.”

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In fact, everything we’ve created in our personal and professional lives since enrolling in the program has had its genesis in some part of the USM philosophy. Not only did Ron and Mary give us the insight we needed to take a leap of faith and combine our medical and dental practices in a new location outside Los Angeles, but they were also instrumental in helping us strengthen our relationship during a fragile time in our marriage that ultimately resulted in the birth of our beautiful daughter, Hannah. Their wisdom continues to inform us daily in every aspect of our lives, from the way we approach each other as partners and the way we parent, to the way we approach the idea of healing and how we interact with our patients.

While we were always respected doctors, it was Ron and Mary’s philosophy of consciousness, health and healing that transformed us from physicians to meta-physicians with a true understanding of what it means to provide holistic healthcare, treating the body, mind, and spirit of the patient with equal attention for better outcomes.

It’s precisely this personalized approach into which we incorporate the concepts of the USM program that draws patients to us from all over the world and has made our new practice an immense success for which we are extremely grateful. It was Ron and Mary’s guidance that helped us to step forward and answer the call to provide this kind of comprehensive mind/body healthcare in a multi-disciplinary way that includes the crucial pieces that are missing from the current model of diagnosis and treatment.

Completion (an alternative to adversarial divorce), and conscious parenting workshops. USM principles also comprise the foundation of our nonprofit organization, the Love Button Global Movement, which seeks to increase loving acts of kindness and philanthropy within communities to increase a sense of human connectedness and social cohesion.

When we look back on how our lives have grown since first walking through the doors at USM and meeting Ron and Mary, we are filled with awe and gratitude. Not one area of our lives remains untouched by the blessing of their wisdom and yet, we are just one example of thousands who have gone forth from USM in the last 40 years, planting the seeds of USM principles in the fertile hearts and minds of others to create a forest of change that covers the world. It all began with the acorn of possibility planted in our consciousness

by Ron and Mary and now, we have the honor and privilege of sharing that blessing with others, who will continue to do the same, in a perpetual line of energy that reaches all the way back to the humble beginnings of USM. This journal is just a tiny sampling of the people whose lives were transformed by Ron and Mary, and a direct reflection of the eternal legacy of great teachers that lives on in the passion and promise of their students. It is with the deepest gratitude that we thank USM for this opportunity to acknowledge, honor, prize, and appreciate Ron and Mary Hulnick in this way and share with others what a gift they have been to us.

In particular, it was the issue of unresolved emotional trauma and its epigenetic phenomenon of somatization into chronic illness that helped us finally understand why certain patients get well and other don’t, and how to approach these psychosomatic obstacles with psycho-spiritual interventions. In fact, it has been this very type of integrative treatment, combining medical and psycho-spiritual interventions, that has brought our medical center to the forefront of the holistic healing community and been responsible for the success of Habib’s second book, The Clarity Cleanse: 12 Steps to Finding Renewed Energy, Spiritual Fulfillment and Emotional Healing, in which dramatic healings are discussed based on protocols utilizing USM principles. These concepts are also often featured in our wellness journal, MegaZEN, monthly newsletter, Leading Insights in Growth, Healing and Transformation (The L.I.G.H.T.) and a wide range of our mentoring services including Integrative Psycho Synthesis (iPs), Soul-ution Integration Trio (S.I.T.), Couples Transformation Intensive (CT!), Conscious 9

MegaZEN

VOLUME 7

INVISIBLE

ASSAULT YOUR MYSTERY SYMPTOMS MAY BE CAUSED BY ENVIRONMENTAL ILLNESS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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mostly see patients with serious chronic illnesses like cancer and autoimmune disorders, but there is a growing population of people complaining of long-term symptoms that doctors can’t seem to pinpoint. They report headaches, sinusitis, fatigue, joint aches, breathing difficulties, chronic infections, dizziness and rashes that have gone on for years. Other doctors haven’t been able to get to the bottom of their illness because the related hodge-podge of symptoms are common to about one thousand other illnesses. In the best cases, patients are unfortunately misdiagnosed and mistreated. In the worst, they’re told they’re imagining it all and referred to a psychiatrist. Yes, that’s actually happened.

MULTIDIRECTIONAL ATTACK

While it doesn’t seem possible that all these wildly different symptoms could be tied to just one cause, in many people, they are. It’s the environment that’s making them sick or, as it’s come to be known, environmental illness. Chemicals in the everyday environment from items like cleaning products, fragrances, perfumes, off-gassing from carpet and plastic products, car exhaust, pollen, mold, and hundreds of other incitants can trigger mild to severe reactions.

Significantly compounding the problem is technology. As the world becomes increasingly wireless, more people are developing sensitivities to electromagnetic fields (EMF). An EMF is a field of electrical intensity emitted by an object that can affect other objects within its field of influence.

The effect depends on the individual sensitivity of the target object, the strength of the current and voltage of the wave. For example, high powerlines that carry 765,000 volts can generate a field that extends 2,500ft. from the lines.

In the 21st century, it’s virtually impossible to escape EMF exposure. New cell phone towers are popping up like weeds across the country, even in rural areas. They’re even placing modified cell phone towers on the tops of buildings in cities where they’re completely unseen. It seems we can’t go into any public building today without swimming in the Wi-Fi. With microwave ovens, appliances with smart technology, more Wi-Fi and smart meters on our homes, we’re not safe there either. Forget about going to the hospital because it’s the worst with all the wireless pads, cell phones, and e-records systems. To top it off, there’s a cell phone tower on the roof of most hospitals.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

“Every synapse between nerve endings generates a minute amount of electricity. Every cell in the body has a frequency range within which it operates. We are electrical beings. To say the body cannot be affected by EMFs is nonsense. In fact, it’s the constant, low-level exposure that’s the most dangerous over time.”

LOW-LEVEL LIABILITY

Skeptics of environmental illness say it’s impossible that EMFs make people sick, especially from low-level devices. Apparently, these people have never heard of a defibrillator, the medical device that uses an electrical shock to restart the heart. Every synapse between nerve endings generates a minute amount of electricity. Every cell in the body has a frequency range within which it operates. We are electrical beings. To say the body cannot be affected by EMFs is nonsense.

In fact, it’s the constant, low-level exposure that’s the most dangerous over time.

Parents of children who attended schools that have installed Wi-Fi or were near high voltage powerlines or cell phone towers have reported a wide range of mysterious symptoms in their children including headaches, dizziness, nausea, and racing heartbeats. After installing Wi-Fi, parents from a school in Ontario, Canada reported memory loss, difficulty concentrating, skin rashes, hyperactivity, night sweats, and insomnia in their children. Interestingly, the symptoms disappeared on the weekends when the children weren’t in school.1 Teachers don’t fare much better. There are reports of teachers resigning because of unexplained health challenges only a few years after Wi-Fi was installed at their schools, and college professors leaving their jobs due to extreme reactions from Wi-Fi exposure from smart phones in the lecture room.2 After 13 teachers at a brand new middle school in La Quinta, CA developed cancer over a few short years, the state Department of Health stepped in. According to epidemiologist Sam Milham MD, the school was filled with all the usual EMF culprits like fluorescent lighting and wireless electronic devices whose effects were exacerbated by an overloaded electrical supply system that left many of the wall outlets seeping high levels of EMFs into certain areas of the building.3 I know this phenomenon

to be true because I know a woman who lived in an area where several large electrical towers and transformers were located at the end of her street. After her seventh neighbor developed brain cancer, her family moved.

TREACHEROUS TR ANSFORMERS

Any device that uses a transformer to convert other forms of energy into electrical energy generates a kind of corrupted EMF or what Dr. Milham calls “dirty” electricity. A transformer is any device that increases the amperage or voltage such as dimmer switches on lights, variable speed fans, cell phone chargers, cell phone towers, power supplies for portable computers, and all those “green” compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL) that are replacing our healthier and safer incandescent bulbs, just to name a few.

Whether it’s cell phone use or Wi-Fi in schools and at home, children are at a higher risk for EMF effects than adults because the child's brain has a higher conductivity, is smaller in size, and has a thinner skull. Even their organs are more sensitive to EMF.4 Cell phones are a particular concern because they produce EMFs in the ultra-high frequency or radio frequency (RF) range, which is often linked to glioma (brain cancer) and acoustic neuroma, a slow-growing tumor near the ear. A study from New Zealand found that adolescents were 3.5 times more likely to experience glioma than adults from cell phone use.5 Although she had a different kind of brain tumor (meningioma), singer Sheryl Crow made headlines in 2012 by insisting that she was certain her cancer was caused by cell phone EMF. When inside an EMF, any metal in the body acts like an antenna and can worsen its effects. This includes dental implant posts, amalgam fillings, pacemakers, titanium joint replacements and more. Although there is much debate about safe levels, the U.S. has the highest acceptable levels of EMF in the world.

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TOXIC BODY BURDEN

It was Hippocrates 2,000 years ago that first reported how some people were made ill in different ways by different foods after a period of fasting. This was the beginning of understanding food sensitivities and the elimination diet to pinpoint them. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we now have much better ways of diagnosing environmental illness and isolating those things that are making people sick from foods, to mold and chemicals, to EMFs. Having been around for almost 40 years, these tests take nearly all the guesswork out of diagnosing environmental illness. It’s a shame we don’t hear more about them in mainstream medicine, but I think you know the answer to that.

The Environmental Health Center-Dallas (EHCD) has treated more than 30,000 patients in 35 years and is a leader in the field of environmental illness. According to William Rea MD, a former cardiologist and surgeon now director of the center, most people with EMF sensitivity experience symptoms that affect the nervous system in one way or another.

Heart irregularities, often mistaken as isolated cardiovascular conditions, are common because EMF has a unique ability to interfere with the autonomic nervous system. According to his experience, 60%-80% of people experience gastrointestinal problems with respiratory difficulties and skin rashes, as well. One of the most common and first signs of environmental illness is fatigue.6 The main reason people experience environmental illness is because they already carry a high toxic burden in their bodies, so even a relatively small environmental exposure that wouldn’t bother most people sets off a significant reaction in them.

According to Dr. Rea, 80% of his patients have very high levels of heavy metals like mercury and cadmium. Naturally, the higher the metal content, the higher their sensitivity to EMFs. While EMF on its own can certainly create sensitivities, heavy metal toxicity makes them much worse. This is why detoxification of heavy metals where they exist is crucial to recovery. Dr. Rea says that his patient history shows about 20% of people have an isolated EMF sensitivity, while EMF sensitivity in the other 80% of patients is due to heavy metals and other toxins. When properly detoxified, the EMF sensitivity resolves. Although less common, nerve and previous head injuries can cause sensitivities as well.

ISOLATING THE ANSWER

In the past, environmental illness was difficult to diagnose because of several challenges. Masking occurs when the patient becomes used to the exposure to the toxin and doesn’t realize it’s what’s triggering his underlying problem. Different people can have different reactions to the same toxins because of their individual biochemistry. In fact, the same person can have different reactions to the same substance—asthma now, for example, then arrhythmia later.

Diagnosing environmental illness is all about isolation, eliminating as many of the suspected offending agents as possible from the patient’s diet and environment, then introducing them back in one at a time and checking for reactions. For chemicals, foods, and airborne substances, that can include oral, inhaled, or injected items in safe, highly diluted doses. All testing is performed in rooms constructed with low to no out-gassing materials, that include non-toxic metal, ceramic, glass, natural wood and stone fixtures. Specialized filters remove particulate from the air that is

“Whether it’s cell phone use or Wi-Fi in schools and at home, children are at a higher risk for EMF effects than adults because the child's brain has a higher conductivity, is smaller in size, and has a thinner skull. Even their organs are more sensitive to EMF.”

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VOLUME 7

evaluated with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Because isolation is crucial to the diagnosis process, EHCD offers apartments to patients with these same features during their time at the clinic. Patients are well-versed on the objects and substances that are not permitted into those spaces, including cell phones or any electronic device.

EMF testing is performed in a room made of copper, porcelain and steel components, while the patient is exposed to a variety of frequencies from a generator. He or she may also be asked to wear magnetic or metallic impregnated vests, pads or blankets during this time.

ROAD TO RECOVERY

Once the chemicals involved in a patient’s toxic burden are identified, various detoxification methods are employed, along with nutrition therapy that aids in the process. When the body burden is too high, its own detoxification mechanisms become inoperable. Once the burden is lifted, these mechanisms return to normal with a short term of supplementation. Most patients experience dramatic results and get their lives back again.

According to Dr. Rea, 60%-75% of success lies in clean living and avoiding those things that contributed toxins to the patient’s burden. This can mean making both small and big lifestyle changes. It could mean switching to an all-organic diet if pesticides were part of the problem. Dr. Rea says after heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides are the biggest problems for patients. It could mean replacing all the carpet in your home with hardwood flooring, finding another job because of the toxins in your workplace or moving to a home

that’s not near cell phone or electrical towers.

Regardless of sensitivity level, it would benefit us all to reduce our EMF exposure as much as possible. Get rid of all “smart” devices such as the smart TV that relies on RF to operate. Yes, that means your smart phone, too. Reconnect those home computers to the wall with Ethernet cables and dump Wi-Fi. Reinstall that corded (not cordless) landline in your home and talk exclusively on it when you’re home. The first time your child has an emergency at home while you’re away and their cell phone isn’t charged, you’ll wish you had that landline. Use an ear piece for your cell phone and place the phone as far away from you as possible when talking on it.

Seriously consider not giving your child a cell phone until he or she has turned 18. Most parents say they buy their children phones for safety reasons, but we survived as children 30+ years ago without them—and no, the world isn’t that much more unsafe today. Children are just too vulnerable, as the human brain is not fully formed until around age 21. Regardless of when you allow your child a phone, always teach safe usage habits.

At $150 it’s not cheap, but it might be worth it to invest in a handheld EMF meter, especially if you live near lots of powerlines or a cell phone tower.

Remember, many cell phone towers aren’t visible now but on the tops of buildings.

For those who suffer from environmental illness, the world can be a friend again with the right kind of diligence. It may not be easy, but as the future becomes even more technology-based, I think the environment will have its own way of reminding each of us of the importance of living in a more natural world.

Sources (1) CBC News, “Ont. Parent Suspect Wi-Fi Making Kids Sick”, The Canadian Press, (August 15, 2010), (http://bit.ly/31oAIzz) (2) Ibid (3) Milham, S. Morgan, L. (2008). A new electromagnetic exposure metric: high frequency voltage transients associated with increased cancer incidence in teachers in a California school. Wiley Interscience, 95(2), DOI10.1002/ajim.20598.

(4) M, Aleem. (2009). Health hazards of mobile phones in children. Jouranal of the Association of Physicians of India, 5(57), http://www.japi.org/august_2009/article_14.html.

(5) Redmayne, M. (2013). New Zealand adolescents’ cellphone and cordless phone user-habits: are they at increased risk of brain tumours already? A cross-sectional study. Environmental Health., 12(5), doi. org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-5.

(6) Interview: Speak up and stay alive with Pat Rullo, (January 31, 2015), (http://bit.ly/33jZpPC)

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BALANCE YOUR BODY WITH MEDICAL MAGNETS

HEALING MAGNETIC FIELD THERAPY Just like a magnet, both the earth and the human body contain and emit electromagnetic energy. They also have opposing poles like a magnet. Because of this phenomenon, cells can be signaled and stimulated to perform in new and different ways with electromagnetic waves. While chemically-based pharmaceuticals are often used to impact cell function, electromagnetic waves have been shown to provide a much deeper stimulation with better outcomes and no side effects in many cases. Healing through energy, not chemicals is at the heart of Healing Magnetic Field Therapy (HMFT).

As with any electrical device such as a TV or radio, the body has ranges of frequencies in which it works best. As long as the frequency the cells are receiving is within the range of these “biological windows”, as science describes them, all systems such as digestion, elimination, circulation and so on function perfectly, and the body is in balance. When the body’s electromagnetic frequency becomes disrupted by electromagnetic pollution from power lines, cell phones, cell phone towers, Wi-Fi, microwaves and so on, it becomes jammed like a radio receiving static, setting the stage for illness.

HMFT is designed to rebalance cellular activity by introducing the appropriate electromagnetic signal for the existing condition through a specialized calibration of waveform, field strength, frequency and resonance. Magnetic bracelets aren’t effective for healing because their frequency isn’t necessarily tuned to the body. They also produce a singular or static sine wave which easily fatigues the cell membrane. HMFT uses alternating frequencies delivered in pulses with extremely low field intensity to keep the cells constantly stimulated and responsive.

Healing Magnetic Field Therapy Session On an HMFT session, the patient either lies on a comfortable mat containing ten internal copper coils or has a transmitting device placed on the affected area of the body while a prescribed set of electromagnetic frequencies gently pulse. The frequencies used always fall within 0.5-15 Hz, the ideal range for optimum health. Sessions also include treatment at 7.83 Hz, the frequency at which the earth vibrates and a healthy body is synchronized, also known as the Schumann resonance.

HMFT has produced impressive results across a wide range of illnesses including osteoporosis, inflammatory conditions, and fibromyalgia, which is also referred to as magnetic deficiency syndrome in Japan.

Contact us today at behiveofhealing.com/contacts to ask about how HMFT can enhance your healing plan.

LEARN MORE BY VISITING behiveofhealing.com/magnetic-therapy

Unwanted Guests: Ridding the Body of Parasites 8 ways to protect yourself from parasites

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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ore and more, medical research and direct patient experience are showing that parasites are the cause of many illnesses in human beings. In recent years, various conditions from asthma to back pain have been linked to parasites in some patients, and it was only when the parasites were completely eradicated from the body that these conditions were fully healed. Exposure risk for parasites is quite common, especially for those of us who spend lots of time outdoors doing things like gardening, tending to livestock or pets, or eating raw or undercooked meat such as sushi or medium-cooked steak.

The trick with parasites is that they can invade any part of the body or even move around within it, which can keep doctors guessing as to what the real cause of a health problem may be. It’s estimated that around 60 million Americans have some level of infection and don’t even know it because most of the time, a parasite infection doesn’t present with any overt symptoms. You can feel just fine and yet have lots of unwanted guests taking up residence in your intestinal tract and elsewhere.

The problem is that parasites slowly compromise health. By the time a person presents with symptoms, they can be dealing with a significant disease process—yet never knowing it got a head start on them years before because of a parasite infection, way back when they were feeling fine and thought they were in good health.

In fact, a news article recently told the story of a man from India who went to the doctor after two months of abdominal pain and lethargy.

Doctors were shocked when they discovered the man had a tapeworm in his small intestines that was over 6ft. long, which had to later be removed through his mouth.1 It was determined that the man must have become infected after eating some under-cooked pork. The real question was how long had the man been infected in order for the tapeworm to grow to 6ft. in length? It certainly had been present long before he began to experience symptoms. Parasite infections of the digestive tract are most common and pose many dangers, not the least of which is malnourishment for the infected person, which can lead to all kinds of health problems.

Taking one day per week to fast is also a good idea to allow your body the time and energy to regularly clear itself of parasites. Not only does a fast have a calming effect on the body, but it helps clear the mind, accelerates healing, and supports disease prevention. A good daylong fast can include any combination of the above supplements, along with lots of warm water to which may be added lemon and honey to taste.

Adding our Healing Klimax*, with the combined detoxifying effect of both saffron and cardamom, to the lemon tonic, can be a powerful way to compound the cleansing effect of the fast and effortlessly rid the body of harmful pathogens. Any way you choose to do it, consider doing 3-4 daylong fasts with a parasite cleanse during the change of seasons. It’s one of the easiest and most affordable, not to mention powerful, steps you can take to support your health. * Healing Klimax is available at behiveoflife.com

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HEALTH, POWER &

POLITICS HOW ONE OF THE GREATEST HEALTH DISCOVERIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY WAS LOST

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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n 1935, nylon was created and the discovery of the neutron won the Nobel Prize. The Gallup poll was brand new, and the DC-3 took its first flight. It was also the year that a cure for polio was discovered, 20 years before the official vaccine, and yet no one noticed. How could one of the greatest health discoveries of the 20th century just vanish into time?

Claus Washington Jungeblut received his MD from the University of Bern in 1921. Later, he worked as a bacteriologist for the New York State Department of Health and also spent time as an associate professor at Stanford University. In 1929, he joined the faculty at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons as associate professor of bacteriology where he remained until he retired in 1962. It was during his time at Columbia in 1935 that he would make his landmark discovery, that vitamin C (ascorbate) is highly effective at preventing, as well as neutralizing, the polio virus.1 After publishing his first official paper on the subject that year, he would later find that vitamin C also possessed extremely powerful capabilities in deactivating other viral and bacterial pathogens and their related toxins including diphtheria,2 tetanus,3 hoof-and-mouth disease,4 staph, hepatitis, and herpes.5 The evidence was incontrovertible; vitamin C was a wide-spectrum, antiviral agent with no harmful effects. In fact, when monkeys infected with various pathogens, including polio, were administered vitamin C, not only was the severity of the disease significantly diminished, but it also enhanced their resistance to it.

As groundbreaking as the discovery of vitamin C’s antiviral and antibacterial properties was, Dr. Jungeblut and his achievements have been downplayed by medical historians to such a degree over the last 84 years that they’ve basically been rendered all but nonexistent. Aside from a mention in TIME magazine in 19396 in which Dr. Jungeblut stated low levels of vitamin C were associated with polio, both he and his amazing discovery were all but ignored by the mainstream establishment. In fact, Columbia University, where he made his monumental discovery and worked for 33 years, houses little information on him. While the most random of TV reality show celebrities are listed on Wikipedia, Dr. Jungeblut is nowhere to be found. How could this have happened to one of the greatest researchers of our time?

Unfortunately, Dr. Jungeblut became one more casualty in a long line of forgotten heroes in the race for power, prestige, and profit in modern medicine.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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ECONOMICS & EGO

Like all herbal and natural substances, vitamin C cannot be patented in the same way as man-made pharmaceuticals. As such, massive profits cannot be made from it. Therefore, natural interventions for disease, even those with curative effects like vitamin C, are all but ignored and their advocates dismissed if not directly silenced by the medical industry simply because they can’t make any money from them.

In the case of polio, the U.S. government had invested tens of millions of dollars into vaccine research and wasn’t about to let it go to waste. At the same time, high-profile, government-funded scientists like Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, who were long-time professional rivals, were racing to see who could produce a vaccine first and secure their financial and professional legacy within the medical establishment. To make matters worse, in a disingenuous attempt to recreate Dr. Jungeblut’s results with vitamin C and polio, Dr. Sabin claimed that he could not repeat the same results after his own test with monkeys and deemed Jungeblut’s findings worthless. Because of Dr. Sabin’s reputation and standing in the medical research community, this out-of-hand dismissal left Dr. Jungeblut’s research all but dead in the water and would stifle any further investigation into vitamin C as an antiviral agent for at least a decade.

DECEITFUL DISCOVERIES

It wasn’t until 1952 that research scientist Dr. Frederick R. Klenner reviewed the details of Dr. Sabin’s polio experiments with vitamin C and discovered that Sabin hadn’t made anywhere near a legitimate attempt to repeat Dr. Jungeblut’s results. In fact, Sabin hadn’t followed the proper protocol as directly instructed

by Dr. Jungeblut himself. It was almost as if Dr. Sabin was intending for the experiment to fail in order to discredit a naturally occurring antiviral agent like vitamin C and bolster continued support for his own search for a commercially produced vaccine. Not only did Dr. Sabin infect his lab monkeys with many times the level of virus as would normally appear in humans and far from the standardized level used by Dr. Jungeblut, he consistently treated with doses of vitamin C that were barely 35% of the dosage used in the Jungeblut studies. The key to Dr. Jungeblut’s success in using vitamin C to neutralize pathogens was in the size and frequency of the doses, both of which Dr. Sabin chose to ignore.

“Natural interventions for disease, even those with curative effects like vitamin C, are all but ignored and their advocates dismissed if not directly silenced by the medical industry simply because they can’t make any money from them.

In the case of polio, the U.S. government had invested tens of millions of dollars into vaccine research and wasn’t about to let it go to waste.”

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“In the same way the media decries the dangers of the H1N1 bird flu, West Nile virus, Zika virus, ebola, or any other disease of the day, only to allow it to fade from the headlines in a matter of weeks, they did much the same thing with polio.”

In his book, The Healing Factor, Irwin Stone quotes Dr. Klenner from his findings: “…the amount of vitamin C given was inadequate to cope with the degree of infection. Sabin's results were not as suggestive as Jungeblut's because he, Sabin, used a greater dose of virus and less vitamin C. If high blood and tissue levels of ascorbic acid are continuously maintained, an extremely unfavorable environment for viral growth and reproduction is created in the human body.”7 Calling Dr. Sabin’s disingenuous attempt to repeat Dr. Jungeblut’s findings “unscientific” in the Journal of Applied Nutrition in 1953, Dr. Klenner stated: “From a review of the literature one can safely state that in all instances of experimental work with ascorbic acid on the virus organism, in experimental animals, the amount of virus used was far beyond the range of the administered dose of this vitamin…

Sabin, in infecting his monkeys did not follow the procedure given by Jungeblut whose experiments he was attempting to repeat, but instead employed a more forceful method of inoculation which obviously resulted in sickness of maximum severity. Sabin further refused to follow Jungeblut's suggestion as to the dose of vitamin C to be used. By Sabin's actual report the amount given was rarely more than 35% of that used 21

by his associate… Yet on the basis of Sabin's work, the negative value of vitamin C in the treatment of virus diseases has been for years accepted as final.”8 MEDIA MANIPULATION

By the mid 1950s, the U.S. was celebrating Dr. Jonas Salk who’d won the race to develop a polio vaccine for an epidemic that didn’t really exist in the first place.

In the same way the media decries the dangers of the H1N1 bird flu, West Nile virus, Zika virus, ebola, or any other disease of the day, only to allow it to fade from the headlines in a matter of weeks, they did much the same thing with polio.

The truth is that the overwhelming majority of people infected with polio in the 1930s-1960s recovered with no lasting effects. In fact, most people probably didn’t even know they had it. Those who did exhibit symptoms often only experienced slight upper respiratory distress that resolved in a week or so. Overall, the total number of cases of polio that exhibited symptoms has actually gone into a steady decline since the year 1900, as the body was evolving to eradicate it naturally. It was only in about 1% of all cases that the paralytic form of polio was experienced.

Even in that small percentage of the population, all or nearly all mobility was recovered within 12 months after infection. Any physical limitations remaining after one year were usually permanent. In reality, it was only a fraction of one percent of the infected public that became permanently crippled after polio, but you’d never know that from the way the media covered the situation. It was always and only lame children who appeared in news broadcasts or in health service announcements to generate fear and the impression that the so-called epidemic was far more serious and widespread than it was.

CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES

At the time, the U.S. Surgeon General had declared a war on polio with the intention of vaccinating 57 million Americans, mostly children, by the end of 1955.

Almost immediately from the first administrations of the Salk “killed polio” vaccine, the dangers became apparent. On average, after the first 1.8 million children were vaccinated beginning in 1954, cases of the more serious paralytic form of polio began showing up in the vaccinated and among the people with whom they came into contact.9 Results were no better with Sabin’s later developed “live attenuated” vaccine. In Massachusetts, the polio cases increased 642% after vaccination. In Rhode Island, the increase was 454%, in Vermont, 266%. All over the country, a man-made epidemic was occurring where previously there had been very few or no cases of polio, and certainly none of the paralytic variety. Nationwide, the situation was unraveling quickly.

The Boston Herald reported on April 18, 1955, “A spokesman for Parke-Davis, which made 50% of the

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Salk vaccine, said 'now that it has been declared safe, we can get back the millions we invested in the development of the Salk vaccine and make a profit out of it. Our company will make over $10 million on Salk vaccine in 1955.'”10 The Detroit Free Press stated, “The United States Public Health Service reported that more children who received Salk shots made by the Wyeth Labs suffered polio than could normally be expected.”11 Idaho was the first state to withdraw from the vaccination program, citing that polio only struck vaccinated children in areas where there had been no cases since the previous autumn and that 90% of all paralysis began in the arm where children had been vaccinated. After six deaths were recorded among the skyrocketing numbers of polio cases nationwide, the American Public Health Service suddenly refused to make their records available to concerned state health officials across the country. By the end of 1956, 17 states had pulled out of the program and were rejecting the use of the Salk polio vaccine.

OUTR AGEOUS ADMISSIONS

In a 1976 report by the Washington Post, Salk asserted that the live oral polio vaccine had been the “principle if not sole cause” of every reported polio case in the U.S. since 1961.12 In a CBC television interview in 1977 he stated, “(W)e have known now since 1961 in the United States, and prior to that in other countries, that the live virus vaccine for polio does cause the disease itself.” In such admissions, Salk was only being partly truthful, likely in an effort to throw all the blame on his old rival, Albert Sabin, particularly because it has been known since the first inoculations with Salk’s own vaccine in 1954 that the vaccines created by both himself (killed virus) and Albert Sabin (live virus) were known to cause polio and specifically the paralytic form of the disease.

More recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that the polio vaccine administered between 1955 and 1963 to over 98 million people contained the cancer-causing simian (monkey) virus SV-40.14 Of course, healthcare officials are unsure of the long-term risks.15 QUANTITY, FREQUENCY IS KEY

While Dr. Jungeblut’s natural cure for polio faded from public view after the fanfare over Salk’s vaccine, Dr. Klenner pressed forward with his own experiments with megadose vitamin C therapy. In accordance with Dr. Jungeblut’s protocol and vastly different from Sabin’s, Dr. Klenner administered to his patients 2,000 mg via intramuscular injection every six hours along with 1,000-2,000 mg orally every two hours. Allowing for sleep, this resulted in 8,000 mg via injection and 16,000-32,000 mg orally for a total of 20,000-40,000 mg of vitamin C per day. Klenner published his own papers of impressive results and, upon further review

of the existing literature on the antiviral power of vitamin C, stated that he’d read, “…an almost unbelievable record of such studies.

The years of labor in animal experimentation, the cost in human effort and in grants, and the volumes written, make it difficult to understand how so many investigators could have failed in comprehending the one thing that would have given positive results a decade ago. This one thing was the size of the dose of vitamin C employed and the frequency of its administration. In all fairness it must be said that Jungeblut noted on several occasions that he attributed his failure of results to the possibility that the strength of his injectable 'C' was inadequate. It was he who unequivocally said that ''vitamin C can truthfully be designated as the antitoxic and antiviral vitamin.'”16 PIONEERS & PROGRESS

It’s unfortunately all too common for doctors today to mockingly dismiss the incredible healing power of vitamin C by saying, “Well, if vitamin C really is that powerful, why aren’t all doctors using it?” Like any other healing herb, supplement, or medication, the miracle-like healing power of vitamin C is dependent on the size and frequency of the dose. Taking vitamin C orally won’t raise the body’s level high enough in order for its antiviral, antibacterial properties to take effect on serious pathogens like polio and herpes. Taking too much by mouth will lead to bowel intolerance.

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Sources (1) Jungeblut CW. Inactivation of poliomyelitis virus by crystalline vitamin C (ascorbic acid). J Exper Med 1935. 62:317-321.

(2) Jungeblut CW, Zwemer RL. Inactivation of diphtheria toxin in vivo and in vitro by crystalline vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Proc Soc Exper Biol Med 1935; 32:1229-34.

(3) Jungeblut CW. Inactivation of tetanus toxin by crystalline vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid). J Immunol 1937;33:203-214.

(4) Stone I. The Healing Factor, Chapter 13, Viral Infection. Grosset and Dunlap, 1972. This book is posted online for free reading (http://bit. ly/2Ohd3PZ) (5) Ely JTA. A unity of science, especially among physicists, is urgently needed to end medicine's lethal misdirection. arXiv:physics/0403023 Vol 1, Mar 2, 2004. (http://bit.ly/2M5zlBD or http:// bit.ly/2JK4SY6) (6) Polio clues. Time. Monday, September 18, 1939.

“Bypassing the digestive system via IV or injections with even larger doses allows the body to accommodate and process much larger volumes of vitamin C, unlocking its incredible healing power.”

Bypassing the digestive system via IV or injections with even larger doses allows the body to accommodate and process much larger volumes of vitamin C, unlocking its incredible healing power. We must also remember that allopathic doctors don’t use megadose vitamin C therapy today because pharmaceutical companies aren’t promoting it because there is no profit in it for them, as vitamin C is very low-cost and cannot be patented.

Now, as megadose vitamin C therapy makes a resurgence in the integrative healthcare community, we must remember that all past and present research and scientists, including Dr. Klenner, stand firmly on the shoulders of the pioneer that was Dr. Claus Jungeblut. It is because of his work and others like him that we will one day finally be able to extricate healthcare from the influence of power, politics and profit, and place it firmly in the hands of true healers.

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(7)Stone I. The Healing Factor, Chapter 13, Viral Infection. Grosset and Dunlap, 1972. This book is posted online for free reading at http://bit. ly/2Gqant2 (8) Klenner FR. The use of vitamin C as an antibiotic. Journal of Applied Nutrition, 1953, Vol 6, p 274-278.

(9) Peterson et al. Vaccination Induced Poliomyelitis in Idaho: Preliminary report of Experience with Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine, JAMA. 1955;159(4):241-244.

(10) Boston Herald (1955), “Drug Companies Expecting Big Profit on Salk Vaccine”.

(11) Detroit Free Press Washington Bureau, June 3, 1955.

(12) Miller NZ. Vaccines and natural health.

Mothering. Spring 1994, p 44-54.

(13) he CBC interview with Dr. Salk may be viewed at http://bit.ly/2XY8Rcg (14) VaccinesNews, (Sept. 23, 2015), CDC Admits 98 Million Americans Were Given Cancer Virus Via the Polio Shot (http://bit.ly/2M9nker) (15) Grady, Denise, “Study is Unsure on Tainted Polio Vaccine’s Cancer Role”, (Oct. 23, 2002), The New York Times (https://nyti.ms/32O0mPW) (16) Klenner FR. The treatment of poliomyelitis and other virus diseases with vitamin C. Southern Medicine and Surgery, July, 1949, p 209.

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The Scent-Sational Memory Booster

Research shows rosemary improves cognitive ability

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

A

s we near the end of spring, students all over the country are cramming for final exams.

What they wouldn’t give to have just a bit more memory power going into those high-stakes tests!

Actually, who wouldn’t want to boost their mental clarity now and again? From college students to senior citizens, we can all benefit from a greater ability to focus our attention and recall information. Research is now showing that rosemary essential oil can provide some of the powerful brain boosting effects we all want.

A study conducted by Northumbria University with ten and eleven-year-old students showed that children who took a memory test in a room scented with rosemary oil scored up to 7% higher than those who took the same test in an unscented room.1 In a related study, adults who waited in a rosemary-scented room and were then asked to complete some previously assigned tasks were found to experience a 60% to 75% increase in prospective memory— our ability to remember to do things in the future. How many times have we forgotten to pick something up on the way home from work or mail a friend’s birthday card on time? Rosemary oil can help us keep our future To Do List in mind. Test participants were also found to have higher levels of 1,8-cineole in their blood, a compound in rosemary oil shown to improve brain function.2 These results support similar tests with adults that suggest rosemary oil does indeed improve cognitive function.

“It could be that aromas affect electrical activity in the brain or that pharmacologically active compounds can be absorbed when adults are exposed.”

- Dr. Mark Moss, Lead Researcher

This data helps confirm the long-standing belief that rosemary improves memory. In fact, Ancient Greek students wore necklaces of rosemary during their exams.

Even Shakespeare alludes to the cognitive power of rosemary in Hamlet, when the character of Ophelia says, “There’s rosemary; that’s for remembrance: pray you love, remember.”

In explaining the rosemary-memory connection, Dr. Mark Moss, lead researcher of the Northumbria study stated, “It could be that aromas affect electrical activity in the brain or that pharmacologically active compounds can be absorbed when adults are exposed.”

To take advantage of rosemary’s memory boosting power, you can use a diffuser to cast its scent throughout the room where you’re studying or working. You can also rub a small amount on your neck or under your nose to get a more consistent and powerful effect. But be careful. Essential oils are quite strong, and a little goes a long way when applying them to the body. As with any essential oil, always look for brands that contain 100% of the oil you’re seeking and aren’t diluted with other oils like jojoba.

Sources (1) RT, “Whiff of Rosemary Helps You Score Better in Exams”, (May 3, 2017), Rosemary Helps Memory Study (http://bit.ly/2LcrsL2) (2) Hsu, Christine, “Scent of Rosemary Can Boost Memory by 75 Percent-Study”, Counsel & Heal, (April 9, 2013), Counsel & Heal Mental Health Article. (http://bit.ly/2L9Wcw4)

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BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY WITH

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This allows you to receive the entire benefit of vitamin C’s immune boosting and free radical scavenging capabilities.

If you prefer, our original Healing C powder is also available. Containing the same bioflavonoids including quercetin, Healing C helps rebuild small blood vessels and provides substantial anti-inflammatory properties. With a refreshing orange flavor, Healing C dissolves quickly and completely in water, and does not contain fructose.

GET YOURS TODAY Maintain optimal health & wellness with the most potent forms of vitamin C. BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/SUPERHEALINGC BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/HEALINGPOWDERC These statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All medications and nutritional supplements should only be used after you consult with your physician or other healthcare provider.

IN SYNC WITH HEALING HOW CRANIAL NERVE ZERO ALIGNS THE BODY FOR HEALTH

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

W

hen we say something is synchronized we mean that a number of separate parts are working together as a whole to achieve a particular purpose. In a way, those separate parts are acting as a single unit toward an expected outcome. The intricate gears and weights of a clock work together in absolute precision in order to track the time within a fraction of a second.

All parts of an Indy 500 race car, including the driver, interact tens of thousands of times to execute a superior performance that gets that car across the finish line first. If even one element, no matter how small, was out of place in either of those systems the outcome would be completely different.

This is the power of alignment, what it means to have all parts completely synchronized and working toward a common goal.

In the most basic terms, when we speak of health what we really mean is a body that is synchronized, in which all parts are working for a unified purpose—wellness. So regardless of the disease one may be dealing with the goal is always the same, to re-synchronize the system. In a sense, there aren’t lots of cures for lots of different diseases, but one that touches them all, realigning the body

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for health. Coordinating thousands of different organs, tissues, fluids, hormones and cells to work together in harmony once again might seem like an impossible task, but it’s not a matter of working with all these elements separately. That really would be impossible. When dealing with a system as complex as the human body, it’s best to take a holistic, top-down approach. When we interact with elements at the top of a system, all the parts and processes that come after it will be modified by that change and function in a different way.

We’ve all seen movies where someone flips a hidden switch that triggers lots of gears and gizmos that interact in just the right way to open a secret door. Medical disciplines like osteopathy and chiropractic care work the same way by realigning the body from the top so that any other misalignments below that point fall back into form naturally. Science is now beginning to discover how an obscure and mostly disregarded nerve in the brain has a similar power to synchronize a host of biological systems and realign the body for health. When properly activated, cranial nerve zero is showing great potential to fight disease and bring the rest of the body back online.

DISCOVERY DISMISSED

Medicine has known of the cranial nerves since at least 250AD. These nerves emerge from the bottom of the brain in pairs and govern major functions of the body. They’re numbered 1 through 12 beginning with those closest to the forehead following backward to the spinal cord.

Among their functions is providing for the vital senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch, as well as movement of the eyes, tongue, jaw, and face. Cranial nerve 1 is the olfactory nerve that branches to the nose and governs the sense of smell, while cranial nerve 2 is the optic nerve managing sight, and so on.

In 1878, German scientist Gustav Fritsch detected a new cranial nerve in the brain of a shark. It was at the front just before cranial nerve 1, the olfactory nerve, and running parallel to it. It was much thinner than the other nerves and could be easily missed if a person wasn’t looking for it, but its presence was unmistakable. The existence of a 13th cranial nerve seemed preposterous to the medical establishment, and its reality was quickly dismissed. It was believed by anatomists back then, as well as today, that the reason the 13th cranial nerve was missing in brains used in medical research was because it was inadvertently removed along with the tough coverings of the brain during dissection. Even so, scientists who believed in the 13th cranial nerve’s existence didn’t know how to categorize it in their studies. In reality, the new nerve should have been numbered cranial nerve 1 because it emerged first in the brain ahead of the olfactory nerve, but the existing 12 cranial nerves were too entrenched in medical history and literature to renumber all of them.

As such, it was decided the classification would be cranial nerve zero (CN0), sometimes called the terminal nerve.

Even today, the presence of CN0 is still debated, and most doctors aren’t aware of it because it doesn’t appear in any medical textbooks. This is in spite of the fact that since Fritsch’s discovery, CN0 was found in the brains of nearly all vertebrates and in humans by 1913.

SEXUAL SUGGESTIONS

“Even today, the presence of CNo is still debated, and most doctors aren’t aware of it because it doesn’t appear in any medical textbooks. This is in spite of the fact that since Fritsch’s discovery, CNo was found in the brains of nearly all vertebrates and in humans by 1913.”

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All the evidence we have about CN0 strongly suggests that its function involves subliminal sexual attraction by transferring signals from pheromones received in the nasal cavities to the brain.1 Like the olfactory nerve, CN0 sends its endings to the nose. What makes it different is that instead of being anchored in the region of the brain that deals with smell, CN0 bypasses the olfactory bulb and sends its signals to the areas of the brain that deal with sexual reproduction.

These include the lateral septal nuclei and preoptic

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areas that deal with things like the release of hormones, and other primal urges such as thirst and hunger. If CN0 were involved in our general sense of smell, it would feed back into the olfactory bulb, a massive cluster of synapses with odor receptors for 347 different kinds of scents, but it doesn’t do that. Besides, we already have CN1, the olfactory nerve for that job. Why would we need two? It’s clear CN0 is doing something very different that also involves our sense of smell.

Humans are part of the animal kingdom. Many animals rely on smell to determine sex, social rank, territories, find reproductive partners, and identify their sexual mates or family members. It’s believed this process is facilitated by signals from pheromones that are processed in a vomeronasal organ, a cluster of receptors inside the nasal cavity near the olfactory bulb. Pheromone exposure in animals has been shown to cause a flood of sex hormones into the blood, as well as influence over estrus, sexual behavior, and ovulation. Humans, however, do not have a vomeronasal organ in the nasal cavity and yet, all the same changes happen to us when exposed to pheromones. It can only be CN0 that’s carrying those signals back to the brain and initiating such reactions. We know this for a host of reasons, not the least of which is that the activation of CN0 releases a powerful surge of the sex hormone gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) into the bloodstream.

ACTIVATION & ORDER

So CN0 is involved in sexual response through picking up signals from pheromones and transferring them to the brain, triggering a number of sexual and hormonal changes in the body. How does that put the body back in sync for better health?

When CN0 is activated, GnRH is released, acting as the catalyst for other important hormonal changes. Eventually, this leads to the sex act and orgasm during which an intense release of the hormone oxytocin takes place. Known as the “love” hormone, oxytocin generates an intense sense of bonding between two people. Oxytocin also surges during childbirth to bond mother to child and to a slightly lesser degree during breastfeeding.

The key to understand is that as CN0 is activated and oxytocin is upregulated, this process sets off a chain reaction that synchronizes all the other twelve cranial nerves and their related functions. We know this because the euphoric state experienced during oxytocin exposure takes the body out of fight-or-flight mode and shifts our functioning from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic, while bringing our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) back online. At the same time, all functions governed by the autonomic nervous system improve—such as heart regulation, blood pressure, clotting capability, and production of immunoglobulin to name a few. Neurotransmitter function improves, norepinephrine, epinephrine, histamine, and melatonin levels normalize, while sex hormones are regulated properly, and production of natural killer cells improves, among other countless benefits. The bottom line is that when CN0 is synchronized so is everything else, and that’s what we call health.

CANCER QUESTIONS

In a synchronized environment functioning as it was originally intended, disease cannot exist. In this way, oxytocin is showing promise not just in helping to bring the body’s biological systems back into a coordinated state, but also as a powerful agent in fighting existing disease.

“The key to understand is that as CN0 is activated and oxytocin is upregulated, this process sets off a chain reaction that synchronizes all the other twelve cranial nerves and their related functions.”

Tumor cells have receptor sites for oxytocin, and in vitro lab studies have shown oxytocin to inhibit neoplastic (abnormal) cells in the epithelial (outer) layer of breast tissue and the uterus, as well as in bone. In vivo tests showed oxytocin continued to inhibit proliferation of breast cancer in mice and rats.2,3 While oxytocin’s healing properties show promise with some types of cancer, results also revealed that its presence may work to assist the proliferation of other types such as prostate4,5 and those involving the endothelium

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“All the evidence we have about CN0 strongly suggests that its function involves subliminal sexual attraction by transferring signals from pheromones received in the nasal cavities to the brain.” or primary cell layer of certain body cavities. In the absence of these cancers, however, oxytocin’s ability to synchronize all body systems via CN0 is immeasurable.

EFFORTLESS INTER ACTION

Much of the healing benefit we gain from the presence of oxytocin arises out of the moments of mutual bonding that author Barbara Fredrickson calls “positivity resonance.” In her book, Love 2.0,6 she states that during these moments, our brains sync up with another person in a shared empathy she refers to as “brain coupling” or two people having a singular experience. We listen more and anticipate the other person’s needs and intentions. Naturally, this state facilitates deep connection and improves the synchronicity of our relationships.

Another great benefit of CN0 activation and synchronization with the other twelve cranial nerves is that it aligns cranial nerve 10 or the Vagus nerve. As the longest cranial nerve, CN10 runs from the brain to the colon. Along the way, it stimulates the muscles of the heart and is deeply involved in the resting heart rate. As such, synchronization of CN0 affects the vagal tone or heart rate to breathing rate ratio. According to Fredrickson, people with a higher vagal tone experience more moments of positivity resonance because the Vagus nerve connects the brain to the heart. They smile more, make more eye contact, have better relationships, and are generally more loving. To this end, CN0 synchronization automatically helps us recalibrate our vagal tone, and connecting with others happens more naturally.

relationships, CN0 synchronization is proving to be a powerful tool in re-creating our lives. As science continues to reveal more of its healing power, particularly as it relates to oxytocin and certain cancers, CN0 is destined to become an essential modality for total body balancing and a return to synchronization, the emergence of perfect health.

Sources (1) Fields, Douglas, “Sex and the Secret Nerve”, Scientific American Mind, (Feb./Mar. 2007), pg.

21-27, (http://bit.ly/2Yv1MAj) (2) Cassoni, P et al. (2004). Oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in cancer cells and proliferation. Journal of Neuroendocrinology. , 16(4), 362-364.

(3) Imanieh, M et al. (2014). Growth accelerator or inhibitor oxytocin has therapeutic effects on cancer, a hypothesis. European Journal of Pharmacology, 741(15), 112-123.

(4) Lerman, B et al. (2018). Oxytocin and cancer: an emerging link. World Journal of Clinical Oncology. , 9(5), 74-82.

(5) Xu, H et al. (2017). The function of oxytocin: a potential biomarker for prostate cancer diagnosis and promoter of prostate cancer. Oncotarget, 8(19), 31215-31226.

(6) Frederickson, Barbara, Love 2.0: finding happiness and health in moments of connection, Penguin Group, (2013).

Whether it’s healing our bodies or healing our 29

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Promising Peanut Allergy Treatment

Researchers hail “life-changing” results for potential peanut allergy treatment

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

A

ccording to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), the eight foods that cause the most allergic reactions are milk, soy, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts.1 Of these, peanuts are the most common food allergen, followed by milk and shellfish.2 In the U.S., peanut allergies have been on the rise with the number of affected children tripling between 1997 and 2008.3 Allergic reactions to peanuts can range anywhere from eczema and mild itching or swelling to life-threatening anaphylaxis, which includes difficulty breathing and a dangerous drop in blood pressure. Research has shown that

about 20% of children outgrow their peanut allergy by age six. Those with mild to moderate reactions have the best chance of shedding their peanut allergy, with white children more likely to outgrow it than black children, and boys more so than girls.4 After age 10 and especially if allergic reactions are severe, it’s very likely the child will have a peanut allergy for life.5

Recently, researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia celebrated the results of an immunotherapy trial that can only be described as miraculous. Some are even calling it a “cure.” Although the clinical trial was small, two-thirds of the children in the study experienced a

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“Research has shown that about 20% of children outgrow their peanut allergy by age six. Those with mild to moderate reactions have the best chance of shedding their peanut allergy...” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

“The way I see it is that we had children who came into the study allergic to peanuts, having to avoid peanuts in their diet, being very vigilant around that, carrying a lot of anxiety with that and, at the end of treatment and even four years later, many of these children who had benefited from our probiotic peanut therapy could now live like a child who didn’t have peanut allergy.”7

Sources (1) Allergy Facts and Figures, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, (http://bit.ly/2S5RksE) (2) American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, Allergy Statistics. http://www.aaaai. org/about-aaaai/newsroom/allergy-statistics.

(3) Sicherer, S et al. (2010). Us prevalence of self-reported peanut, tree nut, and sesame allergy: 11-year follow-up. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 125(6), 1322-1326.

total desensitization to peanuts and were still eating food products containing peanuts with no reactions four years after the therapy.6 The treatment involves combining a probiotic (Lactobacillus rhamnosus) with oral peanut immunotherapy, known as PPOIT. Instead of avoiding the allergen, the treatment is designed to reprogram the immune system’s response to peanuts and eventually develop a tolerance.

(4) Gupta, Ruchi et al. (2013). Factors associated with reported food allergy tolerance among us children.

Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 111(3), 194-198. .

For 18 months, children were administered the probiotic along with peanut protein once daily. At the end of the trial, 82% of the children were deemed tolerant to peanuts compared to 4% in the placebo group. Four years later, the children were still eating peanuts with no restrictions as part of their diet.

To researchers, it’s the probiotic component that seems to be the key to getting the immune system to cooperate with peanut consumption.

(6) Kuang-chih, Hasio et al. (2017). Long-term clinical and immunological effects of probiotic and peanut oral immunotherapy after treatment cessation: 4-year follow-up of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet: Child & Adolescent Health, 1(2), 97-105. (http:// bit.ly/32mcZld).

For parents and children who once policed their diet diligently for peanut products, the outcome of the Australian study has been life-changing. Lead researcher, Mimi Tang, remarked on the improved quality of life for families once touched by severe peanut allergies.

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(5) Begin, Philippe et al. (2013). Natural resolution of peanut allergy: a 12-year longitudinal follow-up study. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1(5), 528-530. (http://bit.ly/2LITgWM).

(7) “Peanut Allergy Cured in Majority of Children in Immunotherapy Trial”, The Guardian, August 16, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/australianews/2017/aug/17/peanut-allergy-cured-in-majorityof-children-in-immunotherapy-trial.of brain, body and cognition, 17(5), 596-601.

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FOR WHAT AILS YOU EXAMINING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POPULAR HOME REMEDIES

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

F

or minor health problems, it’s always best to try to help yourself at home first before taking lots of prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medications. The natural way of healing small health issues is always the best way. Hundreds of home remedies claiming to help treat countless physical problems have been around for generations. While some people swear by them, how many actually work? Have they been researched, and what does the science say? Here, we take a closer look at several popular home remedies.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

“Research now shows that cranberry juice is very special in that it changes the thermodynamic properties of bacteria, creating an energy barrier that prevents the microorganisms from latching onto cells in the urinary tract.”

SALTWATER SINUS BATH

Treating allergies and sinus issues with saltwater came out of ancient India. It was thought that irrigating the nasal passages with saltwater could help remove mucus and reduce chronic inflammation. As it turns out, nasal irrigation does exactly what it promises to do. In fact, those who opt for traditional nasal irrigation instead of OTC or prescription nasal sprays experience greater relief.

Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System followed a group of people with a history of chronic sinus issues for eight weeks. Half were taught how to irrigate their sinuses with a saltwater flush, while the others were given a saline spray. Results showed that the irrigation group experienced clinically significant improvement in their symptoms and quality of life, whereas the spray group did not. They also experienced a 50% decrease in the frequency of symptoms when compared to the spray group.1 Another study found that a saltwater nasal flush improved the symptoms of children suffering from colds and flu, who required fewer medications and missed less school when compared to children who used medication alone.2 Neti pots are traditionally used for gentle nasal irrigation and can be purchased for about $10.

CHEWING GUM TO RESTORE BOWEL FUNCTION

The act of chewing triggers many other processes in the body. It’s long been thought that chewing gum can help stimulate bowel function. Research now proves that to be true. A study published in the Archives of Surgery has found that patients who chewed gum for one hour, three times per day, after abdominal surgery significantly hastened the resumption of normal bowel function and reduced their hospital stay.3 This is important because while eating and drinking can encourage the return of bowel function, it often causes nausea or discomfort after surgery or in patients who are constipated.

A study from Japan also found that chewing gum can stimulate intestinal activity, particularly after laparoscopic colon surgery,4 while other studies have shown that intestinal mobility returns 26 hours sooner after large incision surgery when patients chew gum.5 Recent research has also shown that chewing gum for 30 minutes after a meal can halt acid reflux. 6 CR ANBERRY JUICE FOR BLADDER INFECTIONS

Cranberry juice has long been held to help prevent urinary tract infections (UTI) and bladder infections, but no one really knew why. Skeptics have claimed that it’s the fluid flushing through the bladder rather than any special quality of the juice itself that’s the real secret or the fact that the juice makes the urine slightly more acidic.

Research now shows that cranberry juice is very special in that it changes the thermodynamic properties of bacteria, creating an energy barrier that prevents the microorganisms from latching onto cells in the urinary tract. More than 10 studies have shown that a daily dose of cranberry juice significantly reduced bladder infections in women who frequently suffered from them. Blueberry juice, which has similar properties to cranberry juice also worked, while grapefruit, mango, orange, and pineapple did not.7 To maximize the benefits, always be sure to choose 100% cranberry juice that says not from

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concentrate on the label. Regular doses of cranberry juice also provide healthy antioxidants and malic acid, which helps prevent kidney and gallstones from forming.

HONEY FOR COUGHS

Many people have used honey instead of OTC cough suppressants for years, swearing it works better. After the Food and Drug Administration announced that cough syrups posed unacceptable risks for children age 2 and younger, 8 and the American College of Chest Physicians stated that OTC cough medications were ineffective for most people of any age,9 it left lots of people without an alternative.

Fortunately, research published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that honey works better than any OTC cough suppressant. In the study, children suffering from upper respiratory infections who received honey experienced greater relief of symptoms and better quality of sleep than those who received a honey-flavored OTC cough syrup.10 Researchers noted honey’s ability to coat and soothe the back of the throat for longer periods of time, as well as its long-established antioxidant and antiviral effects. Children 2-5 were given ½ tsp., 6-11 1 tsp., and 12-18 2 tsps. Children under age 1 shouldn’t be given honey, so please consult your doctor in such cases.

GREEN TEA FOR ARTHRITIS

There are many home remedies for arthritis, but it’s long been said that green tea can be of benefit for rheumatoid arthritis. According to research, this is actually true. It seems a potent antioxidant in tea called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) plays an important role in blocking joint pain and inflammation. To reap the benefits, patients would need to consume 2-3 cups per day.11 With regard to more traditional osteoarthritis, red hot chili peppers have been shown to be effective.

Capsaicin, which creates the burning sensation of the peppers, is very effective at reducing joint pain, stiffness, and swelling.12

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“While eating table sugar isn’t normally recommended, it’s been shown that swallowing just one teaspoon of sugar can stop the hiccups in less than a minute.”

MANUKA HONEY FOR CUTS AND BURNS

Manuka honey is not regular honey, but honey produced only from the Manuka tree in New Zealand. Research has shown Manuka honey to have very high antibacterial properties, which makes it an excellent treatment for cuts, scrapes, and burns to prevent infection.13 It also acts as an osmotic agent, drawing moisture into the wound and the skin around it, which not only helps to cool and heal the area, but works to minimize scarring, as well. Apply a thin layer, along with a bandage that is changed daily. Manuka honey can be very expensive, but a little goes a long way. Search for a bioactive rating of 20 or higher on the label.

SUGAR FOR HICCUPS

Everyone knows what it’s like to be frustrated by a persistent bout of the hiccups. While eating table sugar isn’t normally recommended, it’s been shown that swallowing just one teaspoon of sugar can stop the hiccups in less than a minute.14 Hiccups come from rhythmic spasms of the diaphragm.

Eating the grainy crystals forces a person to swallow much harder than they normally would, which works to reset the diaphragm.

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DUCT TAPE FOR WARTS

According to the American Academy of Dermatology 15 and a study conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Cincinnati, covering a wart with duct tape eliminates it completely within two months in 85% of cases, compared to the freezing method with liquid nitrogen, which is only 60% effective.16 Peeling the duct tape away, then changing it every three days removes progressive layers of the wart. After removing each “dressing”, the dead cells should be removed with a nail file before a new piece of duct tape is applied. Repeat until the wart is gone. It’s believed that chemicals in the adhesive work to suffocate and kill the wart.

ASPIRIN FOR ACNE

While a simple aspirin certainly isn’t harmless and has side effects like stomach bleeding, it’s much better used outside the body than

inside. Basic aspirin contains a substance called acetylsalicylic acid, which is chemically very similar to salicylic acid, the active ingredient in most acne treatments. A crushed aspirin, mixed with a little water, and applied as a paste to a pimple can eliminate swelling and redness in about an hour. Once the paste becomes powdery, rinse the area with water.

PAPAYA FOR SMOOTHER SKIN

Papaya fruit is high in papain, a protein-eating enzyme that dissolves dead skin cells on the face that make it look dull and rough, and leave it prone to breakouts.17 Grind 2 Tbsps. of papaya in a food processor. Add 1 Tbsp. of dry oatmeal.

Pat this mixture onto clean skin and let sit for 10 minutes before removing with a washcloth.

Performed twice per month, this simple skincare home remedy will leave the skin softer, smoother, and more radiant.

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Sources (1) Pynnonen, M et al. (2007). Nasal saline for chronic sinonasal symptoms: a randomized controlled trial. Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 133(11), 115-120, (http://bit.ly/2yG71h9) (2) Slapak, I et al. (2008). Efficacy of isotonic nasal wash (seawater) in the treatment and prevention of rhinitis in children. Archives of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 134(1), 67-74, (http://bit. ly/2yJzhPY) (3) Purkayastha, S et al. (2008). Meta-analysis of randomized studies evaluating chewing gum to enhance postoperative recovery following colectomy. Archives of Surgery, 143(8), 788-793, (http://bit.ly/2YM5Ibd) (4) Takayuki, A et al. (2002). Gum chewing enhances early recovery from postoperative ileus after laparoscopic colectomy. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 195(1), 30-32, (http://bit.ly/2YtVrVY) (5) Schuster, R et al. (2006). Gum chewing reduces ileus after elective open sigmoid colectomy. Archives of Surgery, 141(2), 174-176, (http://bit.ly/2GRdwT3) (6) Moazzez, R et al. (2005). The effect of chewing sugar-free gum on gastro-esophageal reflux. Journal of Dental Research, 84(11), 224-231, (http://bit.ly/2GOCL8w) (7) “How Cranberry Juice Can Prevent Urinary Tract Infections,” Science Daily, (July 25, 2008), (http:// bit.ly/33cz9Xf) (8) “Use Caution When Giving Cough and Cold Products to Kids”, Drugs, Special Features, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, (February 8, 2018).

(9) Chung, K et al. (2006). American college of chest physicians' cough guidelines. The Lancet, 367(9515), 981-982, (http://bit.ly/2YF4QJB) (10) Paul, M et al. (2007). Effect of honey, dextromethorphan, and no treatment on nocturnal cough and sleep quality for coughing children and their parents. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161(12), 1140-1146, (http://bit.ly/33h2S1m) (11) Singh, A et al. (2015). Egulation of tak1 activation by epigallocatechin-3-gallate in ra synovial fibroblasts: suppression of k63-linked autoubiquitination of traf6. Arthritis and Rheumatology, 68(2), 245-256, (http://bit.ly/2Yv11ai) (12) Laslett, L. Jones, G. (2014). Capsaicin for osteoarthritis pain. Progress in Drug Research, 5(68), 277-291, (http://bit.ly/2OYEzSX) (13) Hammond, E. Donkor, E. (2013). Antibacterial effect of Manuka honey on clostridium difficile. BMC Research Notes, 6(188), 1125-1134, (http://bit.ly/2Ywvhlp) (14) Mann, Denis, “A-to-Z Guide of Home Remedies Proven to Work”, Reader’s Digest, (http://bit.ly/31lYex8) (15) “How to get rid of warts”, American Academy of Dermatology, (http://bit.ly/2Kjur2v) (16) Focht, D et al. (2002). The efficacy of duct tape vs cryotherapy in the treatment of verruca vulgaris (the common wart). Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 156(10), 971-974, (http://bit.ly/2MJtfXK) (17) Aravind, G et al. (2013). Traditional and medicinal uses of carica papaya. Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies, 1(1), 7-16, (http://bit.ly/2YQKuNe)

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Embracing the Rhythm of Life Misfortune always brings with it some kind of hidden blessing.

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

T

he end of the year is usually the time most of us look back on everything

that’s unfolded in the previous 12 months and assess how we’ve met our challenges, what we accomplished, and what we’d like to change in the coming year.

For me, everything that happened in the last three to four months of 2018 could have filled an entire year. It’s as if all the drama I normally would have experienced throughout the year was condensed into a much smaller period of time, but life often works that way. When it rains it pours, and you have to be ready to adapt to the changes that are coming your way fast and furious.

I’ve talked quite a bit in my writing about how life moves in a recurring pattern of expansion and contraction. The cold dark of winter is necessary to the rhythm of life but always gives way to spring, which is equally important. In the same way, our lives go through periods of darkness, but if we can hang on through the contracted periods when everything seems to be closing in on us, we can be sure the contraction is setting us up for another expansion. It must, because that’s the rhythm of life.

While I can’t provide all the details here, just the highlights of the last two months have been overwhelming.

On October 12th, a car veered off the road, crossed the medical center parking lot and crashed into the garden wall, shattering the entrance gate. The car left the scene immediately, and police never solved the mysterious incident.

On October 23rd, my parents were visiting from out of town. On their way back to my house, a vintage WWII airplane flew right over their heads and crash landed in front of their car on the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills. Naturally, that gave Sherry and me an awful scare.

Just two weeks later on November 7th, Sherry and I were in the same shopping center at the time of the shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grille in Thousand Oaks, getting caught up in the ensuing chaos.

The next day, the Woolsey fire started in the Santa Monica Mountains and by November 13th, we were forced to evacuate our home. Sherry went to Texas with the children because the air quality was so unhealthy, while I took refuge in Sherman Oaks.

One week later when our family was reunited and allowed to return home, we were astonished to find both our house and business completely intact and untouched by the fires. All around we saw blackened trees with broken, charred limbs dangling down like phantom arms and the gray skeletons of automobiles still smoldering days after the fire passed. The entire scene looked like war zones in Lebanon and elsewhere I’d remembered seeing on TV. C ON T I N U E D. . .

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I’m convinced part of what spared our home was the decision Sherry and I made to have an Endless Pool swimming machine, a device that creates a constant counter current and allows a person to swim indefinitely in one direction, installed in our home pool. The day before our mandatory evacuation, the installation crew drained the pool and routed the saline water (not chlorine) into the creek bed behind the house. I believe it’s partly the moistened earth from our pool’s saline water that prevented the fire from advancing onto our property.

At our medical/dental center, I couldn’t help but notice the striking image of the golden angel that stands guard over the healing garden juxtaposed against the blackened hills not far behind it. In that context, she seemed to be a vivid reminder that light always returns to shine through the darkness; every contraction in life is always leading to another expansion, and the tough times are necessary if our new good is to arrive.

Therefore, we shouldn’t wish to change any of it.

This is why every Thanksgiving, one of our family traditions is to watch the film It’s a Wonderful Life, the story of a man who wishes he’d never been born and gets the chance to see how other people and countless circumstances would have been drastically altered for the worse if he could just wish his problems away and himself out of existence. This year the film seemed more appropriate than ever.

Because we’d been so busy cleaning the house and medical center of all the soot and ash in order to get back to work and our lives back to normal, Sherry and I realized in the middle of the movie that we’d completely forgotten to buy any groceries for Thanksgiving dinner. After a local restaurant phoned to say they’d run out of certain items and couldn’t deliver our order, Hafez and

I set out for the local grocery store to buy what we needed to make dinner ourselves only to find the store closed. On the way back home, I pulled off the road to try to think of any other place I might go to find a turkey and all the trimmings on Thanksgiving Day. Hafez was particularly disappointed, as he’d really been looking forward to a traditional holiday dinner.

In the midst of what seemed like another misfortune, a car pulled up behind us on the side of the road. A man got out and approached my window that I apprehensively rolled down only about a quarter of the way. I was stunned when the smiling fellow asked, “Are you interested in a Thanksgiving dinner?” What? I could hardly believe it. The man said that he was part of a local nonprofit organization that was providing a Thanksgiving dinner for all the area victims of the fire at a nearby Italian restaurant. He said they had some extra food they didn’t want to go to waste and was willing to give me whatever I needed. So, he went back to his car and returned with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies, and even a poinsettia.

It was just another reminder that misfortune always brings with it some kind of hidden blessing, even if we can’t see it while we’re still in the dark, still in the contracted phase of life. Had Sherry and I not forgotten to buy Thanksgiving supplies, had the restaurant not run out of food and been unable to complete our delivery order, and had the grocery store not been closed, Hafez and I would not have had the incredible experience of being reminded that love and generosity still exist in the world…and the gentleman who helped us wouldn’t have been blessed with the opportunity of doing so. It’s a reminder for all of us that no matter what is happening, if we understand the rhythm of life, it’s always wonderful.

“Misfortune always brings with it some kind of hidden blessing, even if we can’t see it while we’re still in the dark, still in the contracted phase of life.”

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Highway to Health Hazards

Living near highways brings health risks

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

A

ccess is everything—highway access, that is. If you live anywhere within a 60-mile radius of Los Angeles, having quick and easy access to a highway is essential, especially for a city that doesn’t have a singular, broad-range, mass transportation network like the subway in New York.

Naturally, this causes people to seek out housing with easy access to a highway. Real estate agents and rental managers regularly use proximity to the highway as a selling feature. While noise can certainly be one factor, living near highways comes with health-related risks too—but no one ever seems to ask how close is too close.

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning is in the process of building 10 new low-income affordable housing properties across the region. The construction is part of a larger effort to stem the housing crisis and help the homeless, mostly veterans in this case, get off the streets. While those are honorable goals, the problem

is that the inhabitants of those apartments may end up exchanging one problem for another.

According to reports, 1 in 4 of the 2,000 low-income housing units built by the Department of City Planning in 2016 were less than 1,000 feet from a highway. Ten housing projects sit less than 500 feet from a highway with several others less than 100 feet away. This practice is also common in the Bay Area and Central Valley.

Supporters of backing low-income apartment buildings up to highways say they must do so in order for residents to be able to take advantage of nearby bus and rail lines.

While not mentioned directly by city officials, it also stands to reason that as part of the $1.2 billion plan to build 10,000 apartments for the homeless, that land next to highway on-ramps is much cheaper to build on. At the same time, the city won’t face any protests from neighbors who don’t want major construction and more congestion in their quieter neighborhoods further away.

Unfortunately, what often begins as a financial savings ends in a loss of health.

I can personally tell you this is true because my Master’s thesis in electrochemistry was to examine the lead content in the fingernails of children living near highways. Results showed they had substantially higher levels of lead and suffered from some of the effects of lead toxicity.

Supporters of these construction projects say the benefits outweigh the risks, even as media reports show some veterans are reluctant to live so close to the highway. Health professionals are saying the anti-air pollution design features of the properties like sound walls, vegetation barriers and air filters that remove

“Raising the alarm has been health scientists pointing to decades of research that links roadway pollution to a growing list of illnesses, including asthma1 and damaging lung development in children, neurological diseases2 like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease3 and cancer4, among others.”

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some of the harmful particulate of auto exhaust aren’t enough to mitigate a significant amount of the risk, and that their effectiveness to do so has never been tested.

While well-intentioned, the city’s effort to help the homeless off the streets seems to be a prime example of doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result, especially since research consistently shows living near highways is harmful to health. It also serves as a reminder for us to ask ourselves what kinds of behaviors or thoughts we are repeatedly engaging in that are harming our health, especially when

we know better, too.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to live at least 1,500 ft. away from the nearest highway. This is slightly greater than ¼ mile (1,320 ft.). At this distance, the highway is still conveniently close without experiencing the health risks that come from car exhaust. If you currently live near the highway, make sure your doors and windows seal as tightly as possible and consider taping the seams of windows that face the highway. Getting the best air filter machine you can afford for the living room and bedrooms is important, as well.

“As a rule of thumb, it’s best to live at least 1,500 ft. away from the nearest highway. This is slightly greater than 1/4 mile (1,320 ft.). At this distance, the highway is still conveniently close without experiencing the health risks that come from car exhaust.”

Sources (1) LA Times, By Tony Barboza and David Zahniser, Dec 17, 2017. California officials say housing next to freeways is a health risk — but they fund it anyway, (https://lat.ms/2YNuyIu) (2) The Lancet, Volume 369, ISSUE 9561, P571-577, February 17, 2007. Effect of exposure to traffic on lung development from 10 to 18 years of age: a cohort study, (http://bit.ly/2JxgDRx) (3) The Lancet, Volume 389, ISSUE 10070, P718-726, February 18, 2017. Living near major roads and the incidence of dementia, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis: a population-based cohort study. (http://bit.ly/30vLjs5) (4) PLOS ONE, Published: February 8, 2010. Ambient Air Pollution and the Progression of Atherosclerosis in Adults(http:// bit.ly/30yWaBD) (5) American Journal of Preventive Medicine, April 2014Volume 46, Issue 4, Pages 413–422 . Residential Traffic Exposure and Childhood Leukemia (http://bit.ly/30yWdxj)

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ROLE REVERSAL THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN MOVING ELDERLY PARENTS INTO YOUR HOME

A

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

ccording to the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), nearly 5 million elderly parents are living with an adult child in the U.S.1 While most people prefer to live independently as long as possible, extenuating circumstances involving health, finances, or the death of a spouse often make it necessary for the elderly to move into an adult child’s household.

Many people move their aging parents into their homes because they don’t want them to be cared for by strangers. Others do so out of a natural sense of duty to care for their parents the same way they were cared for as children. Nearly all do so to save money. Nursing homes regularly claim a person’s assets including cash, investments, and home as part of the contractual agreement. This is because nursing home care now costs an average of $7,000-$8,000 per month or between $80,000-$100,000 per year. Assisted living facilities cost about half at $48,000 per year.2 Whatever your reasons for choosing to move your aging parent(s) or in-laws into your home, you should keep several things in mind before you do, as it’s a big decision, and it’s not all about money.

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“Nursing homes regularly claim a person’s assets including cash, investments, and home as part of the contractual agreement. This is because nursing home care now costs an average of $7,000-$8,000 per month or between $80,000$100,000 per year. Assisted living facilities cost about half at $48,000 per year.”

WHAT KIND OF CARE WILL BE NEEDED? If your loved one has a chronic illness, get to know it very well. Be sure you understand not only what their level of care demands today, but in six months, one year or five years from now as the condition progresses.

WHAT LEVEL OF PERSONAL CARE AND SUPERVISION CAN YOU REALISTICALLY PROVIDE? z

BE REALISTIC:

z

CONSIDER YOUR SCHEDULE:

z

KNOW YOUR LIMITS:

Speak to your loved one’s doctor about the required level of care now and in the future, knowing it will likely increase over time.

Do you have children? Do you work full-time? Even if you’re confident you can provide the necessary care, you still must have the time to do it. Home health aides are available through agencies at daily rates between $20-$25 per hour.

If your loved one needs help with daily activities like bathing, dressing and going to the bathroom, are both of you comfortable with you participating in these activities?

CAN YOUR HOME ACCOMMODATE THE PERSON’S CARE NEEDS? Making your home handicap accessible is essential not just based on your loved one’s present condition, but their state of health months or years from now. Various renovations, which can be costly, should be considered based on your loved one’s prognosis. z Wheelchairs and walkers require doorways to be 36 inches wide:

$500-$1,000

z Building a ramp for access to the house: $1,000 z Installing an automatic lift to avoid stairs in the house: z Converting a den or secondary room into a bedroom: z Low threshold shower with seat and grab bar: z Grab bars for sides of toilet:

$1,500-$5,000

$2,000-$3,000

$200

z A new master bedroom suite:

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$3,000

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WILL FAMILY MEMBERS BE CONTRIBUTING TO THE EXPENSES? Statistics from the National Alliance for Caregiving show that Americans with parents living at home spend an average of $7,000 per year on their related care in addition to the above renovation costs.3 Is your budget able to absorb these kinds of costs or can siblings help contribute, too?

Consider these issues, as well: z Have your loved one contribute to renovations or pay rent. If your parent pays rent, you’ll have to claim that income on Schedule E for tax purposes, but additional expenses for increases in electricity, food and so on can be counted against that income. z If you cover more than half of your parent’s expenses for the year and their income is below $4,000 (Social Security usually doesn’t count), you may be able to claim them as a dependent on your taxes. z If professional care is required so you can go to work, you may be able to claim those expenses as dependent care tax credits. z If you and a sibling cover no more than half of your parent’s expenses, while contributing at least 10%, one of you can claim them as a dependent through IRS form 2120. You can even rotate who gets to claim the deduction each year. z If your parent receives Medicaid, you may be able to get paid for the care you provide. Most states have a Cash and Counseling Program that allows eligible elderly adults to “hire” a caregiver, which could include an adult child or other relative, for the care they are provided. The chosen caregiver usually receives an hourly rate that is less than the state’s hourly average for home care.

HOW DO YOUR OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS FEEL ABOUT THE POTENTIAL MOVE-IN? z Are your children excited about the move-in? Will the arrangement help them bond with their grandparent(s) in new ways? z If it is your parent, does your spouse have a good relationship with his/her in-law(s)? z What plans are in place to ensure everyone’s privacy? z Consider changes like noise levels and each person’s particular preferences and styles.

“If your loved one has a chronic illness, get to know it very well. Be sure you understand not only what their level of care demands today, but in six months, one year or five years from now as the condition progresses.”

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“Making your home handicap accessible is essential not just based on your loved one’s present condition, but their state of health months or years from now. Various renovations, which can be costly, should be considered based on your loved one’s prognosis.”

HOW WELL DO YOU GET ALONG WITH THIS RELATIVE? z Consider your history with this person and be honest as to whether you can reside in the same house. The only thing more difficult than bringing a parent or in-law into your home to live is asking them to leave. z If the two of you have never really gotten along, don’t expect it to change now.

WHAT KIND OF SOCIAL LIFE WILL YOUR LOVED ONE HAVE? z Moving to a new home often means leaving friends. How will your loved one maintain a social connection in their new location? z If you and your spouse work while your children are in school, that leaves a lot of alone time for your loved one. Have you made provisions for social interaction? Stagnation accelerates physical and mental deterioration.

Sources (1) Bryant-Quinn, Jane, “When Parents Move in with Kids”, AARP Bulletin, (Sept. 6, 2012), (http://bit.ly/33udEBo) (2) Marak, Carol, Nursing Home Costs, Nursing home costs by state, SkilledNursingFacilities.org, (http://bit.ly/2z0w8eG) (3) National Alliance for Caregiving Supports the Credit for Caring Act of 2017, National Alliance for Caregiving, (http://bit.ly/2z3Hyyk)

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Treating Illness with Megadose Vitamin C More matters when it comes to preventing illness through vitamin supplements

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

'm so proud to have been inducted as a Fellow into

the Linus Pauling Institute, also known as the Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine. This means a great deal to me, as Linus Pauling has been one of my greatest professional inspirations. He is one of only four people to have ever won more than one Nobel Prize. He’s also only the second person to receive two Nobel Prizes in different fields; the other is Marie Curie. As a biochemist, Pauling was one of the founders of quantum chemistry and molecular biology. In the 1970s, he spearheaded the megavitamin therapy movement in the treatment of disease, which became known as orthomolecular medicine, or the prevention and treatment of disease with substances that are natural to the body.

“Vitamin C is essential for life and acts like a miracle in certain applications and yet, humans are among just a few types of mammals that cannot produce it within their bodies.”

His research in preventing colds with vitamin C took the world by storm in his 1970 book, Vitamin C and the Common Cold. His later research showed that megadoses of vitamin C taken intravenously could significantly increase the survival rates of cancer patients. Two later studies, including one at the Mayo Clinic, failed to repeat those results and Pauling was ridiculed by mainstream medicine.

In 2009, however, a review of those studies revealed serious flaws in their attempt to replicate Pauling’s original research, posthumously vindicating him and legitimizing his protests. Both follow-up studies used oral instead of intravenous vitamin C. The body can only tolerate a minimal amount of vitamin C taken orally before bowel upset begins. Strangely, in the Mayo Clinic study, the control subjects were also taking vitamin C. Luckily, the 2009 review recommended further study into the benefits of megavitamin C treatment for cancer. It’s already shown great promise in treating infections and neurological conditions, as well as the associated pain.

One of the most famous examples of the healing power of vitamin C is that of former U.S. diplomat and author, Norman Cousins, who in 1964 was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, an extremely painful degenerative

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“Linus Pauling's later research showed that megadoses of vitamin C taken intravenously could significantly increase the survival rates of cancer patients.”

their pain level. Some were taking 100g per day.

That should speak to the level of pain some of these people were in. After two weeks of IV treatment, the patients were monitored for three months.

The results were dramatic. When compared with the control group following the same protocol but without megavitamin C IV therapy, 92% of patients reported a decrease in pain. The number of affected nerves was also reduced while 78% reported less fatigue and better concentration, and 86% experienced no scarring. Amazingly, only 6.4% developed long-term post-infection pain.

condition of the connective tissue of the spine.

After checking himself out of the ICU and returning home, he devised his own healing protocol. With the assistance of a physician friend, Cousins took 25g of vitamin C intravenously over a period of several hours each day and watched old movie reels of Marx Brothers movies and the Candid Camera comedy show. His healing plan didn’t include much else. As his laughter released healing endorphins into his system, the vitamin C was supercharging his immunity and dissolving the toxins that were attacking his spine.

The effects could be felt immediately, and over the subsequent months he made a total recovery from the so-called incurable illness. I highly recommend his book recounting the experience, Anatomy of an Illness (https://amzn.to/2O5exNp).

More recently, a study conducted at Heart-Jesus Hospital in Dembach, Germany examined the effectiveness of megavitamin C IV therapy for neurological pain related to shingles. Once an outbreak happens, patients often experience intense pain that can last for months or years afterward. In the German study, patients with a shingles infection were given vitamin C intravenously in high doses every day based on 49

Vitamin C is essential for life and acts like a miracle in certain applications, and yet humans are among just a few types of mammals that cannot produce it within their bodies. We must obtain vitamin C through our diet. It’s been proposed that the lack of an enzyme, l-gulonolactone oxidase, in the liver prevents the final phase of converting glucose into ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C. Some scientists have labeled this phenomenon hypoascorbemia.

Because of the incredible success of vitamins in healing, everyone should be taking a food-based multivitamin every day, but don’t assume that’s enough, even with a healthy diet. Organic versus conventional, and even soil composition all impact the nutrient levels in the foods we eat. It’s in everyone’s best interest to consider an occasional IV vitamin treatment, especially during cold and flu season. Remember that the recommended daily allowance of any vitamin or mineral as set out by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is usually the minimum amount of intake needed to prevent illness from deficiency but not for promoting healing or maintaining excellent health.

Always consult your doctor before taking any vitamin or supplement and let us all remember the words of Linus Pauling when some self-proclaimed expert tries to disparage the healing power of vitamins: “No evidence compels the conclusion that the minimum required intake of any vitamin comes close to the optimum intake that sustains good health.”

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AFTER TH

HE AFFAIR SAVING YOUR MARRIAGE FROM INFIDELITY

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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side from losing a spouse to death, perhaps the most traumatic event a marriage can experience is infidelity.

In many respects, infidelity seems to be an insurmountable problem. The faithful spouse finds it impossible to overcome their feelings of betrayal and to trust their partner again. Assuming the cheating spouse wants to save the marriage, he or she can’t seem to work through their guilt, much less understand why their partner hasn’t gotten over the incident several years later. Both partners can get so caught up in the ensuing emotional drama that neither takes the time, either separately or together, to explore the deeper reason as to why the affair happened in the first place.

In the internet age, infidelity has taken on a whole new meaning. With so many social media options, the line between what it means to be faithful or unfaithful to one’s spouse is becoming blurred. Some feel chatting with a single co-worker online, while texting or trading photos without a spouse’s knowledge is unfaithful, even though a physical affair has not occurred.

Others feel that confiding in someone other than your spouse in a deeply emotional way for support and connection is akin to having an emotional affair. When it comes to infidelity, you must decide where your boundaries are and what kinds of behavior are unacceptable for you. For the purposes of this article, we examine healing a marriage after a physical affair has occurred. Even so, these steps apply to almost any situation where both parties are willing to work very, very hard to save their relationship through rebuilding trust, communication, and reconnecting. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible, either.

total separation from your former lover. This will show you’re serious about rebuilding trust and healing your marriage. If it hasn’t happened already, break off contact with your lover over the phone with your spouse present. Let the other person know your spouse is hearing the conversation and that you are under no pressure to break things off. This is your decision to save your marriage and that the call will be your last contact of any kind.

“Blaming your partner for the affair won’t heal your marriage. Apologize, and apologize often without being prompted.

Show sincere remorse and regret for betraying your spouse and vow never to do it again. Ask for forgiveness, realizing that you may not receive it for quite some time.”

FOR THE UNFAITHFUL SPOUSE

Stop the affair immediately Sever all contact with your lover. This goes way beyond in-person meetings. No phone calls, texts, emails or contact of any kind. This eliminates secrecy and is the first step in rebuilding trust with the betrayed partner. Trust is the feeling that one is safe in the relationship. If you work with the person you had the affair with, keep contact businesslike and to an absolute minimum.

Share with your spouse every interaction you had with this person before he or she has to ask about it. Likewise, you should share any attempts by your former lover to contact you and any chance meetings where you’ve run into each other. Offer this information in an open and willing manner.

You should also plan on looking for a new job immediately to prove that you are serious about

Take responsibility Blaming your partner for the affair won’t heal your marriage. Apologize, and apologize often without being prompted. Show sincere remorse and regret for betraying your spouse and vow never to do it again. Ask for forgiveness, realizing that you may not receive it for quite some time. Ask anyway, then ask again. Understand that while you may be certain you’ll never stray again, your spouse has absolutely no way of being certain of that.

Each apology and plea for forgiveness needs to be as heartfelt and genuine as the first, even if you’re saying it for the one millionth time. If you’re serious about healing your marriage, you’ll

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understand that your spouse needs to hear your apologies many times in many ways before he or she can begin to believe them. Never, ever say to your spouse, “Get over it.” If you want him or her to release their pain, then you have to hold it.

Answer all questions honestly and completely Brutal honesty is key to healing from infidelity.

Be ready for your spouse to ask very detailed questions, and be equally prepared to answer every one of them. Resist getting frustrated when your spouse asks the same questions repeatedly over time. This is particularly the case with men who understandably find being cheated on extremely emasculating. A husband may ask about details regarding his wife’s sexual encounters with her lover and how those interactions compared with their own. You must be able to handle very uncomfortable conversations and know that withdrawing is not an option. Many couples, particularly if they are from certain generations, simply don’t talk about an affair once it’s discovered. They just keep going through their daily motions. That’s not healing; that’s avoidance that leads to resentment and further degradation of the marriage over time. Your spouse will ask for exactly what they need in order to heal, right down to the finest details. Be ready to supply them as often as needed. Remember, you’re rebuilding trust. Don’t hold anything back because you’re afraid of hurting your spouse. You’ve already hurt them as much as you possibly can. If you leave out details that emerge later, your spouse will feel newly betrayed.

Practice total transparency Be willing to offer your spouse all passwords for your cell phone, email and social network services.

Don’t wait for him or her to have to ask you. Do not erase any old messages from your lover in an attempt to protect your spouse from further hurt. This will only increase fears that you’re hiding something.

Be reliable You have violated your partner’s trust at the deepest level. You can start to repair that injury by being trustworthy in all aspects of your relationship. Do you call when you say you will?

Do you show up for your spouse where you’re supposed to be and on time? If not, do you reach out in advance to give your spouse notice and make other arrangements? Go out of your way to let your spouse know he or she can count on you.

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Prepare to be insulted or attacked— often The emotional surges that come with being betrayed may lead your spouse to lash out at you unannounced and unprovoked at times. Don’t fire back. Allow your spouse to express his or her pain, while reminding them how much you regret the affair, how sorry you are and how committed you are to healing the relationship. This doesn’t mean you have to allow yourself to be verbally abused, but do your best to de-escalate the situation by reassuring your spouse of your love and loyalty.

Just don’t expect quick or easy forgiveness.

“On average, it takes three to five years for the betrayed spouse to process an affair and get to the point where their relationship begins to feel somewhat normal again. Be patient and provide support during this time.”

Show empathy The single best indicator of whether a relationship will survive an affair is the degree to which you are able to show your spouse empathy. To survive the long-term emotional rollercoaster of the situation and not become impatient, irritated or self-righteous, you must be able to put yourself in your spouse’s shoes. Professionals often compare the effects of an affair to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which comes with intrusive thoughts and images, a racing mind, high anxiety, panic, and confusion. On average, it takes three to five years for the betrayed spouse to process an

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“It’s highly advised that you both attend therapy separately and together. Friends are wonderful as listeners, but to survive an affair, you’ll benefit immensely from professional help.”

affair and get to the point where their relationship begins to feel somewhat normal again. Be patient and provide support during this time. Check in with your spouse regularly to ask how they’re doing. If they say, “not so good,” just provide reassurance that you’ll be there for whatever they need. Let your spouse call the shots in your relationship for the foreseeable future. She doesn’t want to go to the football party? Don’t bother her about it. Stay home with her while she meditates in the backyard, and find something else to do. Go with the flow for now, and certainly don’t press for sex either.

Recognize your feelings In some cases, the unfaithful spouse can actually feel a sense of loss at ending their affair, and even feel disloyalty to the lover for breaking it off. This doesn’t mean you love your spouse any less, nor are such feelings unusual. Recognize them as normal without adding more guilt to your burden, and be sure to discuss them with a counselor.

Infidelity is forever Trust is far more easily given than it is regained. Rebuilding it is a long-term process. Once broken, however, it will never be the same. That doesn’t mean your marriage can’t be good and healthy again; it’s just that it can never be the same as it was before the affair. After being shattered, a

beautiful vase can be repaired to hold water once again, but there will always be visible reminders of the previous break.

FOR THE BETR AYED SPOUSE

Ask lots of questions Your mind will be racing and reaching for answers. The more information you have, the less likely your mind will be to fill in the blanks with images and scenarios that are even more painful than what actually happened. How often did you meet? When did you cross the line from friends to lovers? What sexual acts did you share? How many times?

Where? How much money did you spend on him or her?

Who else knows about your affair? Later, your focus may shift to the emotional connection, if any, between your spouse and the lover or how the affair evolved over time.

Just keep asking the questions as they come up. Not only will they help you, but they may eventually shine a light on a hidden weakness in your marriage.

Balance your need for information with your rage Your spouse will be more apt to answer your questions when they feel it won’t become a screaming marathon.

Yes, it’s absolutely necessary to release your rage, and your spouse deserves his or her full portion, but try to separate

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“Erotic recovery is absolutely essential after an affair. It may be a year or more before you can have sex with your spouse again. Don’t rush it. When that time comes, pay attention to how he or she makes you feel.”

these moments from real fact-finding on your part. You might want to consider setting aside specific moments and limited amounts of time to talk with your spouse about the affair. Doing so in intervals gives you time to digest the devastating details in small amounts before moving on to further information. It also helps to keep you from being overwhelmed by everything and prevents the affair from consuming your life.

Focus on your feelings In discussions with your spouse, be very clear about how his or her behavior made you feel. Was it betrayed, abandoned, inadequate, angry, old, useless, unattractive, or something else? Don’t hold back. Give them every chance to validate how their actions harmed you.

Find support You can’t survive an affair by broadcasting it to everyone.

The idea isn’t to get everyone on “your side” or to trash your spouse to all your family and friends. If you want to save your marriage, find one friend who is a great listener and share regularly with them. Destroying your spouse’s reputation will only destroy your marriage.

Rebuild your confidence An affair devastates a person’s confidence on every level.

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Suddenly, you find yourself terribly insecure about your looks, weight, sexual performance, income, and everything else. Do not allow yourself to be consumed by insecurity and the idea that the affair occurred because you’re not enough of something. If you don’t know your spouse’s lover, resist the urge to seek them out or look them up online. That will only incite more pain and comparison.

Instead, work to build your own confidence up by changing the way you dress, starting a workout regimen, changing jobs or pursuing another activity that makes you feel good about yourself. Building confidence both in and out of the bedroom is essential for your long-term emotional health, regardless of whether or not your marriage survives. Erotic recovery is absolutely essential after an affair. It may be a year or more before you can have sex with your spouse again. Don’t rush it. When that time comes, pay attention to how he or she makes you feel. Do they make you feel safe? Beautiful? Desirable? Do they build you up both in and outside the bedroom?

Don’t forgive quickly or easily You have a right to your anger and sadness. Be sure it has been fully expressed and a reasonable amount of trust has been reestablished between you and your spouse before you even consider forgiveness. What’s forgiven too quickly doesn’t stay forgiven. Take as long as you need. You’ll

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“It’s not wise to use children as a reason to stay, especially if the marriage is truly irreparable or dangerous.

The reason for staying must involve you and your spouse.” know when the time is right. When you do forgive, let it be genuine. A sure way to doom your marriage is to turn the affair into a life sentence for your spouse. Keep in mind that while you’ll never forget the affair, it’s normal to feel anxiety or have minor trust issues about it, even years later.

That doesn’t mean you haven’t forgiven.

FOR BOTH SPOUSES

Attend therapy It’s highly advised that you both attend therapy separately and together. Friends are wonderful as listeners, but to survive an affair, you’ll benefit immensely from professional help. Have the courage to honestly evaluate the condition of your marriage before the affair. Infidelity has a way of making previously hidden problems or unexpressed desires of the unfaithful spouse come into view. Be real and honest about your behavior and choices. Did you act in ways that could have been perceived as distant, unkind or unloving?

Sexual and emotional abandonment are common reasons for affairs, but infidelity happens in excellent relationships, as well. Dig deep, and be willing to admit your own faults.

In nearly all cases, people don’t have affairs because the lover is younger, thinner, richer or anything else. People have affairs because of the way the other person makes them feel. Pay special attention to how your actions prior to the affair may or may not have made your spouse feel.

This isn’t to assign blame. There is never an excuse for an affair. This is about how to live a more loving, connected, and fulfilling life together after the affair.

Spend time together It’s essential to reconnect as friends first. Go for a picnic or bike ride. Take a Sunday drive together through the country. Continue to live your lives even in spite of the affair, and create new experiences and memories together when you’re not talking about the affair. You’ll have to come together as friends first before you can even contemplate your relationship as husband and wife again.

Find reasons to stay If you don’t have a big enough motivation to make your marriage work, you won’t survive the rough times ahead.

There is nothing like having a history with someone, and maybe you don’t want to start over again with someone new after investing 23 years of marriage. Maybe you love the fact that there is so much between you and your spouse that doesn’t need explaining, that life feels free and easy in many ways. Find reasons about your spouse and your life together that you loved before the affair and become committed to saving them. It’s not wise to use children as a reason to stay, especially if the marriage is truly irreparable or dangerous. The reason for staying must involve you and your spouse.

Choose to love again Commit to doing this work long-term because you deserve to love again. You can love each other even in the midst of the pain.

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SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY

THE LONG-AWAITED CONVERGENCE

By H. Ronald Hulnick & Mary R. Hulnick - University of Santa Monica

AUTHOR NOTE:

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Ron and Mary Hulnick University of Santa Monica 2107 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90403 E-mail: ronandmary@universityofsantamonica.edu

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WHAT IS SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY?

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or more than 35 years, we have provided students with opportunities for learning and applying life-changing Principles and Practices of the newly emerging field of Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica. You may be asking, “What is Spiritual Psychology? What are these Principles and Practices? Can they help alleviate the mental anguish and emotional suffering I experience at times? Can they assist me in transforming my consciousness and my life—knowing my life purpose and living into it?”

We say, “Yes. That is exactly what they’re designed for!”

If you delve into the meaning of the word psyche, you’ll find phrases such as “breath, principle of life, soul.” But if you explore the meaning of the word psychology, you’ll see “the science of mind and behavior.” Somehow, in the translation from essence to clinical practice, the most important aspect of “psyche” has been lost. We recognize our calling as restoring the spiritual dimension to the Heart of an authentic psychological inquiry. It is this reintegration that is the Heart of a truly Spiritual Psychology, which we define as the study and practice of Conscious Awakening.

As my [Ron] first spiritual teacher was fond of saying, “The reason psychology was inspired onto the planet was because humanity forgot why it was here.”

And what does Awakening mean? It begins with the awareness that we simultaneously reside in two worlds. We are most aware of the one known as physical-world reality. It’s the world of our everyday existence, including relationships, work, finances, health, weather, politics, etc., with which we are familiar and which we think of as reality. It is the world we know through our five senses.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

And, as we are becoming more and more aware, beyond five-sense, observable material reality, there is another reality. It is non-material, multidimensional, and spiritual in nature. For our purposes, we define Awakening as becoming more and more aware of this “other” reality, where we experience our Essential Spiritual Nature as Loving, Peaceful, Joyful, Free, Enthusiastic, Beautiful, Creative, Wise, and more! The Persian poet and mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi, was certainly speaking from an Awakened state when he wrote: The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep.

Awakening into the Awareness of who, or more accurately what, you truly are and living your life from within that Awakened state is the essence of Spiritual Psychology. Today, as the evolutionary tide on the planet is rising, and larger numbers of people are Awakening to the Awareness that they are, in fact, Divine Beings having and using a human experience, the Principles and Practices of Spiritual Psychology provide context and tools for living into that Awareness. It is, in fact, our destiny to Awaken; for as we do so, we are actually Remembering that which is and always has been true.

This article could be considered your personal introduction to what we speak of as “the Michelangelo effect,” which was so brilliantly expressed by the master sculptor himself when he said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” In just such a way, Awakening is not a journey of “becoming”; it is a process of “Remembering.”

Now here’s what to us is the most interesting and exciting part. This process of Awakening is not primarily a meditative process, though we encourage a spiritual practice we refer to as Spiritual Exercises. Awakening can be facilitated by engaging in an active process of releasing or dissolving the self-created barriers within your consciousness that are all that prevent you from knowing the Majesty of your Soul—from experientially knowing that you are the Presence of Love. As written in the Course in Miracles, “Your task is not to seek for love but to seek and find all the barriers you’ve built against it,” and to that we add, “… and to dissolve them.”

ENTERING THE SPIRITUAL CONTEXT

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin What does it mean to be a Spiritual Being having a human experience? Might it be that Teilhard perceived most of us as seeing ourselves in exactly the opposite way? Clearly, he was aware of the tendency to define ourselves as human beings who

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occasionally, if we’re fortunate, have a spiritual experience.

Teilhard’s quote is a powerful statement regarding the Spiritual Context—the Awareness that you are a Soul and that your life serves spiritual purpose— for it opens a portal to another way of perceiving yourself, your life experiences, and your purpose for being on this earth in human form.

Our journey into the Spiritual Context begins by distinguishing between what we refer to as the Goal Line and Soul Line of life. Both are important to understand, as many people are simply unaware of these two dimensions.

THE GOAL LINE OF LIFE

The Goal Line of Life refers to physical-world reality—the stage upon which you play the starring role in the adventure that is your life. In this reality, your primary vehicles for navigating the world are your mind and emotions, which then inform your choices and behavior. You take action, produce results, and receive feedback from the Universe. You utilize feedback to maintain or alter your course as you pursue your goals.

You use your mind, emotions, and behavior (along with your five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell) to navigate toward success—as you define it. On the Goal Line, everything is perceived in terms of polarity; life is lived as a continuum with so-called negative experiences on one hand and positive experiences on the other.

The underlying assumption is that the more you achieve on the Goal Line, the happier and more fulfilled you will be. From this perspective, life largely consists of continually striving for more and more positive experiences, as defined by success in the physical world. For example, earning as much as you can and receiving recognition for your accomplishments are goals you can easily spend an entire lifetime pursuing.

You can probably relate to this way of evaluating your experiences because it likely matches the way you’ve been taught, conditioned, or programmed to perceive the world and your place within it.

Utilizing this dualistic way of thinking and seeing, you make plans, measure your success, and even determine your own worth and value based on your progress in achieving your goals. Hence we refer to this orientation in the world as the Goal Line of Life.

Physical World Reality

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MOVING BEYOND THE GOAL LINE OF LIFE

In today’s world, a growing number of people are realizing that material achievements alone are

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not a sufficient yardstick for measuring success.

They are realizing that the quality of their inner experience throughout their life is at least equally important, if not more important, to living a fulfilling life. As spiritual teacher John-Roger said, “Life is lived internally, and we just participate externally.”

In fact, the larger cultural conversation has expanded into explorations of authentic success, which is beautifully expressed in the words of author and teacher Robert Holden: “All the happiness, success, health, and abundance you experience in life comes directly from your willingness to love and be loved.” In his book Authentic Success, he urges self-reflection: “If your definition of success has little or no measure of love in it, get another definition.” When you begin moving into an Awareness of authentic success, you find yourself considering the possibility that Spiritual Awakening has relatively little to do with how successful you are in physical-world reality.

Spiritual Awakening is fueled by a deeper yearning, a spiritual longing. So many find themselves asking questions such as: “Is this all there is?” “Isn’t there more to life than this?” “Who am I?” “What is my purpose?” and “How can I experience greater meaning and fulfillment in my life?”

These questions are murmurings of the Soul, resonating within your heart. Answers to them are revealed as you experience your own process of Awakening.

“Awakening occurs internally within each person as a process— an ongoing series of experiences and awareness. We refer to the dimension within which Awakening occurs as Spiritual Reality or the Soul Line of Life.”

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THE SOUL LINE OF LIFE

You may be asking, “Just what is the process of Awakening?” Awakening doesn’t take place externally in physical-world reality, although the benefits of Awakening can definitely be experienced on the Goal Line of your life. Rather, Awakening occurs internally within each person as a process—an ongoing series of experiences and awareness. We refer to the dimension within which Awakening occurs as Spiritual Reality or the Soul Line of Life.

The Soul Line of Life has been addressed by spiritual teachers, mystics, and sages, and all of the world’s major spiritual traditions throughout recorded history. These teachings have in common the notion of a Unified Consciousness, or Awareness, that is the essence of all that exists.

This “Unified Consciousness” is often referred to as God, Spirit, the All of the All, Higher Power, or any other name that refers to such a deity.

It’s what German physicist Max Planck, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918, was talking about when he said in a 1931 interview for The Observer: “I regard consciousness as fundamental.

I regard matter as derivative from consciousness.

We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”

Further, there is widespread agreement the word that best describes this essence is Love.

Study of the world’s great spiritual traditions reveals that the process of ascending into Higher Consciousness is characterized by ever-deepening levels of Love. Where spiritual traditions differ is in the practices of how to get there—not in where they are going.

THE PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY Spiritual Psychology contains 33 Principles as well as an abundance of Practices that we have experienced as foundational and facilitative to the process of Conscious Awakening.

You may be noticing that simply considering the idea of the Spiritual Context invites a radical change in perception about who you are and what you’re doing here on this planet.

Reviewing the following Principles invites you to enter the Spiritual Context—opening a doorway to liberation. Read through them slowly; perhaps even read them out loud.

Some people experience an upward shift in consciousness simply by reading them. z The nature of God is Love. z We are not human beings with Souls; we are Souls using a human experience for the purpose of Awakening. z Since we are all a part of God, our Essential Nature also is Love—and we have the opportunity of knowing our Loving nature experientially, Here and Now. z Earth functions as a school for Spiritual Awakening, meaning Conscious Awareness of the first three Principles above. Everyone registers for their specific Curriculum. z Spiritual Curriculum consists largely of Healing unresolved issues residing in your consciousness. It also includes opportunities for service, sharing your gifts, and living into your Heartfelt dreams. z Unresolved issues are anything that disturbs your Peace.

LOVE

z Unresolved issues are not bad; they’re simply part of your Spiritual Curriculum.

Spiritual Reality

Physical World Reality

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FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY

The realization that Awakening is an inner process that can be nurtured and encouraged is what inspired us to bring forward the Principles and Practices of what we refer to as Spiritual Psychology, the study and practice of the art and science of Conscious Awakening. This includes learning how to identify, recognize, and navigate within the context of a “Spiritual Being having and using a human experience.”

z Unresolved issues are blessings, as they are opportunities for Healing and Awakening. z The work of Healing, or resolving unresolved issues, is spiritual work and is a major aspect of what Spiritual Awakening is all about. z One of your greatest opportunities for Awakening occurs when your school is in session—i.e., when your unresolved issues (upsets) surface. z Healing is the application of Loving to the places inside that hurt or suffer; or Healing is the “flooding with Loving” of all the places inside that hurt or suffer, thereby dissolving them.

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“The realization that Awakening is an inner process that can be nurtured and encouraged is what inspired us to bring forward the Principles and Practices of what we refer to as Spiritual Psychology, the study and practice of the art and science of Conscious Awakening.”

THE REALITIES OF THE EGO AND THE AUTHENTIC SELF

Within Spiritual Psychology, we draw a distinction between two centers of awareness, the ego/personality, or small self, and the Authentic Self or Soul. To comprehend and operate within both physical-world reality and the Spiritual Context, it’s helpful to know how both the ego and the Authentic Self function in your consciousness.

The ego is composed primarily of your mind and emotions. Your mind consists of all your thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs; some of these are deeply held and form the foundation or matrix upon which you construct the framework of the reality you use to navigate through your life. It is your mind that reasons, thinks things through, and evaluates according to what you believe to be so.

Righteousness and judgmental thoughts or words tend to be hallmarks of egotistical thinking.

Your emotions, or feelings, utilize the information produced by your mind; they are your thoughts felt physiologically. They are a source of energy through which you take action in the physical world. Your emotions are a reflection of your thoughts and beliefs; as such, if someone does something to violate an important belief of yours, you will likely feel strong emotions toward them.

For example, if I believe taxes are too high, I’ll feel justified in the upset I experience when it’s time to pay my income taxes.

The ego also encompasses the unconscious, including memories and unresolved issues that are outside your awareness but may still be influencing your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

We have found that there is no need to unearth the contents of the unconscious, as the material stored in this repository is often there for a good reason. In fact, it could be overwhelming to instantly become aware of all this material.

As you Awaken, learning opportunities within your Spiritual Curriculum will surface from your unconscious all by themselves in accordance with the Wisdom of your Authentic Self. You 63

can imagine your unconscious as a repository of time-release capsules, each one surfacing in Spirit’s timing as a stream of opportunities for your Healing and Awakening.

The most important aspect of an ego’s nature is duality. The ego divides all events and experiences into positive/negative, good/ bad, and right/wrong, based on the way the ego’s belief structure has been conditioned. All experiences pass through your personally constructed perceptual filter and are immediately sorted into a category. As the eminent psychiatrist Dr. David Hawkins put it, “Perception is edited observation.”

The ego holds a misidentification with itself as lacking and unworthy. Your perception as filtered through your ego based on right/ wrong thinking and often manifesting as harsh judgments. Ego-centered eyes are not soft eyes that see with Love and Compassion. This is why it’s profoundly important to See the Loving Essence within yourself—to look at your Self through the unconditional Loving of Soul-Centered eyes.

The reality of the Authentic Self is Love; it is altogether different from that of the ego. The Authentic Self has no sense of duality. There’s no dividing of experiences into right and wrong.

At the level of the Authentic Self, you simply see what is. You are fully Awake and Aware of your Essential Nature, which is Loving. You’ll have experiences that are derivatives of Love, such as Peace, Compassion, Joy, Acceptance, Enthusiasm, Happiness, and (believe it or not) an enhanced sense of Humor.

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“Within Spiritual Psychology, we draw a distinction between two centers of awareness, the ego/personality, or small self, and the Authentic Self or Soul.”

Recall transcendental moments in your life: a breathtaking sunset over the ocean, looking in your beloved’s eyes on your wedding day, seeing your newborn baby for the first time. These are examples of times where you saw through Soul-Centered eyes. The ego allows you to operate in the physical-world reality through the use of your mind and emotions. Through the ego, you can only know about the Authentic Self as a concept or feeling. Since you, like almost everyone else, were conditioned to be successful in physical-world reality, you’ve likely come to think of your ego as who you really are. Your efforts may be focused on success in the material world and attempting to get other people to like or respect you so you’ll feel comfortable and experience belonging.

MOVING FROM EGO-IDENTIFICATION TO AUTHENTIC SELF-IDENTIFICATION

As you Awaken into who you truly are, your ego faces a huge challenge. The presence of a newly discovered Authentic Self, which your ego did not previously know existed, seems to threaten its very existence. In fact, you may even have begun having experiences that transcend the mental and emotional levels that are the domain of the ego.

In reaction to this, your ego will often attempt to block efforts at spiritual development because it views the process of Spiritual Awakening as a threat to its very survival.

Whereas the Authentic Self is concerned with growth, the ego is predominantly concerned with, and attached to, ego patterns such as self-

importance, recognition, perfection, glamour, comfort, security, and control, all of which it perceives as essential for survival. Your ego does not realize that maintaining these patterns significantly limits you from experiencing the Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment that are available to you.

However, from a spiritual perspective, the ego serves a most useful purpose; without it, there would be no arena within which the Healing process could go to completion. Only through the mechanisms of the ego, which operate on the mental and emotional levels, can patterns be stored within your consciousness so that you have the opportunity to heal them.

Understand that your ego has been serving you to the best of its ability. It should be appreciated and respected, rather than judged for its function.

Your ego is a tool best utilized in service to your Authentic Self. One of the Principles of Spiritual Psychology says it this way: “The mind is a tool to be used in service to the Heart.” When embarking upon the path of Spiritual Awakening, it is simultaneously a major challenge, opportunity, and blessing to move from ego-identification to Authentic Self-identification. It’s so easy to fall into the trance of five-sense physical-world reality, looking at yourself and others through the judgmental lens of ego-centered eyes, perceiving through the perceptual filter of good/bad and right/wrong. Your emerging job is to Lovingly educate your ego so that it becomes a willing and

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faithful servant, one that is dedicated to assisting you in negotiating physical-world reality in service to fulfilling your spiritual purpose.

It is a game-changing event to experience the Loving Essence within yourself. When you Awaken into the Awareness of the Love that you are, it opens the door to living within the Spiritual Context—that of a Divine Being having and using a human experience, a Being who simply sees everything as it is and for whom all that it sees is infused with Loving. It is the foundational Practice of Spiritual Psychology. It is this Awareness that changes everything!

THE FOUNDATIONAL PR ACTICE OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY

Whereas the Principles provide entrance into the Spiritual Context, the Practices are a methodology for Awakening experientially. While there are many Practices, perhaps the most important practice is the Soul-Centered Basic Skill of Facilitating Compassionate Self-Forgiveness.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FORGIVENESS

Ever wonder why Forgiveness is so important? In February 2014, we had the privilege of listening to Patrick Chamusso, who had been incarcerated with Nelson Mandela for the better part of 17 years at the Robben Island maximum-security prison in Cape Town, South Africa. He was speaking to a group of students and alumni at a University of Santa Monica event.

Patrick talked about how Mandela stressed the importance of forgiveness. But it wasn’t “forgiveness” as many of us understand that word—forgiveness for those who have done “bad” things to us. As Patrick so beautifully expressed it, along with an upward gesture of his hand from his heart, “You must take the pain out of your heart and let it go.”

suffering would be impossible. Once you uttered your first judgment, there would be no way to retract it. You’d exist eternally in a self-created hell where you’d erect buildings, rituals, and philosophies that all supported eradicating the dangers of rose bushes—none of which would do anything toward releasing the thorn. You’d be like the proverbial prodigal son, only you’d never find your way Home.

Compassionate Self-Forgiveness is your return ticket. It’s the simplest and most effective way we know of returning Home—of being restored to your Heart and to the Awareness of the Loving that is your Essential Nature. This is so important that it’s worth reviewing in a bit more detail.

WHY “COMPASSIONATE SELFFORGIVENESS”?

Complete Forgiveness means letting go of any and all judgments. By so doing, you literally move within your consciousness from the place of judging to the place of Loving through the Healing Power of Forgiving. You might think of it this way: to travel from the land of judgment to the land of Loving, you ride on the train of Forgiveness.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance a violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” - Mark Twain

What does that really mean and how can we do that? Just what is the “pain” that we must release from our Heart, and how do we “let it go”?

We all resonated with the pain that Mandela was talking about as the suffering that automatically results within us whenever we engage in the process of judgment—which is blaming, making wrong, condemning, vilifying, and so on. Think of it this way. If you got a thorn in your hand from picking roses from a rose bush, would you be more concerned with blaming the rose bush or getting the thorn out of your hand?

Compassionate Self-Forgiveness is the process that releases the thorn from your hand. It dissolves judgments and brings a Healing balm of Loving to the places inside where emotional pain resides.

Without this process, freedom from emotional

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“To travel from the land of judgment to the land of Loving, you ride on the train of Forgiveness.”

It’s through the Healing action of Forgiving yourself for judging that you are liberated—not through the action of forgiving others for “causing” you pain. While forgiving someone else for doing something you perceive to be “bad” or “wrong” is surely a positive step in a healthy direction, can you see that inside yourself you are still holding a belief that what they did was “bad” or “wrong”?

You are still engaged in the ego’s way of thinking; when you so engage, you are simply entering into a more subtle level of judging.

And why Compassionate Self-Forgiveness?

Because the word Compassion means to be with someone who is suffering—and to be with them in a Loving way. It is an action of the Heart. It is a way of being with yourself when you are the one who is suffering. It’s a good thing to keep in mind that you, just like everyone else, are really doing the best you know how to do, given your Spiritual Curriculum. That realization immediately takes you to a place of Compassion, and Compassion makes the Forgiving process so much easier.

Remember, the emotional suffering you experience takes place in the ego-centered dimension operating in physical-world reality where you exist within the imprisoning duality of right and wrong as defined and perceived by you. In order to alleviate suffering, consider how your current definitions and perceptions of reality —which lead to judgments of yourself and others—are at the root of your mental anguish and emotional suffering.

The good news is that you can experientially test this process and observe the results of your

experiment. You can release the judgments, limiting beliefs, and misinterpretations of reality that you are holding; restore yourself to a place of Peace; and experience for yourself the degree to which your life changes—all through the method of Compassionate Self-Forgiveness.

One morning a few weeks ago, I (Mary) awakened with the awareness of a very old memory that had seeded many of my childhood terrors, including a fear of the dark. Throughout my childhood, when my mother and father would put me to bed, my last request to them each evening was, “Please leave the hall light on.” My parents invariably granted my request, giving my small self (ego) a sense of safety, security, comfort, and control.

As the details of this memory surfaced, I realized how deeply fear had imprinted upon my consciousness and informed my life. I was experiencing a heaviness and waves of fog—not a good feeling. I began unraveling the memory and Forgiving myself for my judgments and misunderstandings such as, “I Forgive myself for judging myself as afraid of the unknown. I Forgive myself for judging myself as unsafe. I Forgive myself for judging myself as unprotected. I Forgive myself for forgetting that I am Divine.”

The shift in my energy was instantaneous and profound. The heaviness and fog immediately lifted, revealing crystalline Clarity, a sense of Freedom, and deep Peace. I commented to Ron, “I feel sooooooo much better!” Though I have been practicing Compassionate Self-Forgiveness for many years, I became once again aware of its power and the powerful shifts in consciousness

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that flow from it. Another barrier that I had built against the Awareness of the Love that I Am was dissolved. I am forever grateful. I was reminded of this quote, attributed to Mark Twain, which is one of my favorites: “Forgiveness is the fragrance a violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Ron and I have both been utilizing the Practice of Compassionate Self-Forgiveness for many years, and it has been life changing and consciousness altering. For me, it has been incredibly helpful when slogging through difficult times such as visiting a historic Egyptian temple along the Nile and going into shock after passing through an ancient initiation site, exploring the inner and outer darkness of the Pit of the Great Pyramid at Giza, climbing down and back up a narrow and steep winding staircase inside the Physician’s Tomb at Saqqara, facing a challenging illness, holding the Light for my Beloved Ron when he experienced open-heart surgery and extended recovery, the deaths of my beloved parents, and standing as a Spiritual Warrior during a two-year onslaught of negativity from an outside source. On and on it goes. I have truly learned experientially the Healing power of this Practice.

SELF-COMPASSION AND SELF-ACCEPTANCE THROUGH COMPASSIONATE SELFFORGIVENESS

In our work, we often experience many beautiful moments flowing from the Healing power of Compassionate Self-Forgiveness. Here’s an example in which we had the privilege of witnessing a lovely young woman moving from emotional upset and self-judgment to Self-Acceptance, Peace, and Joy.

with us for years and is very “tuned in”—looked at Ron, who nodded back. Then he immediately began playing a recording of Billy Joel singing “Just the Way You Are.” Moments after the first chords were played, the entire class began singing along, gently swaying in their chairs, serenading not just the young woman who had shared but also themselves. We were all suddenly outside of time and space, experiencing the miraculous that occurs when Hearts open and the transcendent Power of Spirit pours in, bringing with it the experience of Oneness, Peace, Contentment, Acceptance, and Love.

We moved as a group into the Authentic Self level, where experiences of Love, Happiness, and Joy are all that is. The Radiant Beauty and absolute Peacefulness of their faces as they sang into the Great Silence are deeply etched in the memory of our Hearts. I (Mary) am forever grateful for this experience and doubt I will ever forget it.

“Awakening occurs when you muster the Strength of Heart to begin implementing what you are learning. When you dare to open your mind and Heart to new ways of Seeing and Being, and experience the results for yourself, is when you begin to experience Awakening.”

This blessing took place as we were completing a culminating class weekend with second-year students who would soon be graduating from the University’s Master’s Program in Spiritual Psychology. The weekend was breathtaking in the Beauty and Fullness of Spirit’s Presence. The students’ sharings were one exquisite High Note after another.

On Sunday morning, one student stood up in some upset about feedback she’d received from a few of her classmates about her class project, which was about feminine beauty and fashion.

They’d expressed that they found her project to be superficial, materialistic, and not very spiritual.

The experience triggered for her some deep material associated with what had been some of her deeply held “secret” judgments of herself and her stand for Beauty as less than spiritual. In that moment, however, the young woman began Compassionately Forgiving herself for judgments of herself as anything less than Beautiful just as she is—and then sat down.

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A STORY OF R ADICAL TR ANSFORMATION THROUGH COMPASSIONATE SELFFORGIVENESS

Here’s another beautiful example of a student’s experience in daring to live into her Spiritual Curriculum. In one of the University’s live classes, Ron shared: “One of the primary ways disturbance comes in is when you judge.” One of the students truly heard this message with the ears of her Heart.

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She took Ron’s words as her personal challenge to courageously move out of the experiences of the judgment-induced contraction and separation present within her consciousness. Ron’s message had been reverberating within her for a month when she shared: “I have been in this process of Waking Up into the Awareness of how much darkness I’ve had in my life, my heart, and my body. I’ve really been struggling with feeling safe and free. What I’ve been noticing is that when I judge, it collapses my Universe. I get scared and start judging everything that’s happening. As you can imagine, I shut down and my life shuts down. I’m unavailable to the Awareness of anything else.

“In response to Ron’s statement, I made a decision that whenever I started to feel inner disturbance, I’d immediately take responsibility for that disturbance and begin engaging in Compassionate Self-Forgiveness. What I’m finding is that when I say ‘I Forgive,’ Oneness wraps around me and I experience Forgiving my judgments of myself, others, and the world, and Forgiving any misunderstandings for all time.

“My inner experience is that something inside of me keeps opening like a rose blossom, naturally revealing its full beauty. The Universal Love keeps growing and evolving inside me into the experience of Freedom, Peace, Acceptance, and Receiving. Whatever part of me thinks I’m not beautiful, whole, perfect, and meant to be right here, right now, I just let those judgments go. I forgive and I am restored to Peace, Acceptance, Self-Trust, and Awareness of the Love that I AM.

Something changes within my body, within my consciousness; it’s like I’m crossing a bridge.”

This woman’s sharing demonstrates a high level of Ownership—of courageously choosing to take Responsibility for what was going on within her own consciousness—and she is experiencing the benefits of her choice. She’s experiencing herself releasing the crystallized barriers that were the products of her judgments and misunderstandings. She’s stopped trying to figure anything out and started allowing the energy to flow through by practicing Forgiveness … Acceptance … Compassion … Peace … Loving … and voilà—Freedom.

It’s been said that it takes great Courage to see the face of God. We have found this to be true, for no matter how many books you have read, seminars you’ve attended, and ideas you’ve contemplated, Awakening occurs when you muster the Strength of Heart to begin implementing what you are learning. When you dare to open your mind and Heart to new ways of Seeing and Being, and experience the results for yourself, is when you begin to experience Awakening.

We like to refer to Compassionate SelfForgiveness as the cosmic delete button, the way we dissolve the barriers that have blocked us from the Awareness of our Essential Spiritual Nature.

THE INHERENT NATURE OF CONSCIOUS AWAKENING

While many seekers will accept the Principles of Spiritual Psychology as part of the process of Awakening, there is an inherent challenge. Due to our indoctrination into a Goal Line orientation to life, it’s tempting to think of the process of Awakening as one of becoming more Loving. Thus, we try to turn the process of Spiritual Awakening into a Goal Line project, which is one focusing on achievement. However, it is impossible for you to become a more Loving person. You can’t become more of what you already are—a Divinely inspired, Loving Being. So what can you do?

You can become more and more aware of, and awake to, your inherent Loving nature!

Indeed, the process of Spiritual Awakening is nothing less than becoming more and more aware, experientially, of your Loving Essence. As you

“The process of Spiritual Awakening is nothing less than becoming more and more aware, experientially, of your Loving Essence.”

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Awaken and become more and more aware of your Essential Loving Nature, your attitudes and behavior automatically become less critical, less judgmental, less controlling, less righteous, or less blaming—and instead become more kind, caring, Joyful, Creative, and Compassionate. People who notice your shift might think that you’ve become a more Loving person, but the truth is that you are simply behaving more in harmony with your inherently Loving Nature.

This brings us to the nature of Awakening.

It’s important to understand that Awakening is an ongoing process that continuously takes place over periods of time—with rare exceptions, such as the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi, who Awakened at age 16. It is also a totally experiential process. Think of swimming: you can read about swimming, including instructions on how to swim, but until you get into the water and begin experiencing the process, you will never really “know” what swimming is. Awakening is like that.

As author Henry Miller said, “The Buddhas and the Christs are born complete. They neither seek love nor give love, because they are love itself. But we who are born again and again must discover the meaning of love, must learn to live love as the flower lives beauty.”

THE REAL STORY OF AWAKENING

What is the real story of Awakening as you live more and more fully into the Awareness that you truly are a Divine Being having a human experience? What happens as you integrate Seeing the Loving Essence and Heart-Centered Listening and they become a Way of Being?

What transpires when you catch on to the fact that life is happening inside your consciousness and not “out there” as you previously thought?

What happens when you realize that your experience in physical-world reality is determined largely by the beliefs found within the matrix of your perceptual filter, functioning as your internal operating system … and you consciously begin downloading and installing a “Spiritual Orientation” software upgrade?

What shifts occur when you realize you are the architect of your life, and that your inner and outer choices are the building blocks of your future … and you begin making more Self-Honoring choices, choices more in harmony with your Loving nature and your Soul’s Purpose?

What happens when you wake up to the Authentic Empowerment available through taking responsibility for your judgments and upsets with the intention of releasing them … and you begin realizing you are at cause rather than at the effect?

What happens when you begin to apply Loving 69

“Your consciousness becomes a conduit for Living Love and your course through life, an expression of that Love” to the places inside where there is hurt … and you engage in Compassionate Self-Forgiveness of your judgments, misinterpretations, and misidentifications—and you let them go?

What happens when the deep wellspring of Compassion that resides within your Authentic Self begins Flowing abundantly through you … and you wake up into the Awareness that you are Love?

Here’s what happens! You’ve struck it rich! This is when life truly begins, for in those moments of Revelation, you know the Mother Lode, the Source of True Gold, is within you—in fact, it is you! You’ve experienced your Authentic Self, and your Awakening Heart is aware of the download of Spirit’s Blessing through you as you.

Your consciousness becomes a conduit for Living Love and your course through life, an expression of that Love—for you know, as poet Rod McKuen knew: “It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love, but that you love.” To which we would add—for you are Love!

Remember that growth is an ongoing process, not an event. We support and encourage you! The Principles and Practices of Spiritual Psychology are practical tools you can use each and every day of your life in service to your Awakening.

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A MINOR

ADJUSTMENT HOW PELVIC FLOOR THERAPY IS RESOLVING CHRONIC HEALTH PROBLEMS

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By Dr. Habib Sadeghi, Certified Sexologist

here’s a principle of science called the Law of Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions that has as much to do with engineering as it does medicine. In short, it means that the tiniest alteration within a functioning system, no matter how complex the system might be, holds the greatest power in making large changes over time. Think of it in terms of a ship leaving England for New York. If its navigation is off by even one degree, the compounding effect of that directional error during the trip will cause the ship to end up thousands of miles off course, arriving in a completely different location than intended.

That’s the powerful effect of just a slight change within a complex system over time.

Among all of man, animal, and machinery, there is no greater or more complex system than the human body. There is so much we still don’t know about how it functions. One thing we do know for sure is that proper body alignment is crucial for good health. Medical disciplines like osteopathy, physical therapy, and chiropractic care have shown that the smallest amount of tension or misalignment in the body can cause a chain reaction that results in significant and long-lasting health problems over time. Quite often, these

problems occur in parts of the body that are far removed from the location of the original tension or misalignment that is causing them and of which we’re completely unaware. In many of these cases, making major health improvements isn’t as complicated as it would seem, but rather a matter of finding the true source of the problem and making a few minor adjustments. Such is the case with pelvic floor disorders.

STABILIZING STRUCTURE

The pelvic floor is a sling-shaped network of tissues that stabilizes the bony structure of the walls of the pelvis. It supports various organs, stabilizes the hip and sacroiliac joints, assists with fecal and urinary release, aids in various sexual performance functions, and contains vital muscular connections to the vagina, rectum, and urethra. In order for all these things to remain in good form and function, separately and together, it’s essential that the pelvic floor stay free and flexible.

Unfortunately, the pelvic floor is susceptible to tension or becoming less pliable. This can happen gradually over time from things like poor posture or sitting position, tissue trauma from childbirth, a history of constipation, bowel disorders or

“The pelvic floor is a sling-shaped network of tissues that stabilizes the bony structure of the walls of the pelvis.”

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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“Initial signs of a pelvic floor disorder are pain in the pelvic region, bowel and bladder problems like incontinence, groin pain, dyspareunia (painful intercourse in women), frequent urges to urinate, bladder leakage, painful bowel movements, and bowel irregularity.” urinary tract infections, or chronic tension from holding emotional stress in the gut region.

The pelvic floor can also become rigid quickly due to misalignment from accidents or injuries, particularly from sports like gymnastics that cause a person to fall to the ground repeatedly, landing on their bottom with a great amount of force. Surgical procedures in the abdominal or pelvic region can also be contributing factors.

Studies show the subtle trauma from a routine colonoscopy can be a major factor in chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and prostatitis in men, and that pelvic floor therapy is an effective method of resolving these problems.1 MISDIAGNOSIS MAYHEM

Initial signs of a pelvic floor disorder are pain in the pelvic region, bowel and bladder problems like incontinence, groin pain, dyspareunia (painful intercourse in women), frequent urges to urinate, bladder leakage, painful bowel movements, and bowel irregularity. This isn’t to imply that the pain or problems related to a pelvic floor disorder are isolated to the pelvic region. Because of the synergistic way in which all body systems function, the pain from a pelvic floor disorder can travel along neurological and energetic pathways, creating problems in areas far removed from the pelvis. In fact, there are reports of pelvic floor therapy providing substantial relief from migraines and shoulder pain.2 The reality is that patients can spend years getting treatment for these secondary problems with little relief because most physicians are completely unaware of the central role the pelvic floor plays in overall health. After all, the pelvis is the center of the body. So, patients are often misdiagnosed with things like Interstitial Cystitis, Painful Bladder Syndrome, Pelvic Floor Muscle Spasm, Nonbacterial Chronic Prostatism, Pudenal Neuralgia, Vulvodynia, and even

Irritable Bowel Syndrome. When the source of the problem is finally identified and the proper treatment administered to the pelvic floor, it’s almost miraculous how seemingly unrelated health problems that have existed for years are permanently resolved. Quality of life improves dramatically when patients are finally able to sleep through the night without multiple trips to the bathroom, can hold their urine, have free and easy bowel movements or experience pain-free sex for the first time in years.

ESSENTIAL INTERNAL WORK

Pelvic floor therapy involves a series of manual manipulations and soft tissue release techniques designed to alleviate the tension in the pelvic floor muscles and surrounding fascia, the connective tissue that joins every structure in the body. When release happens, increased blood and lymph flow, as well as better nerve conduction return to the area, allowing it to function synergistically again with the rest of the body. This is mostly achieved through working with trigger points or knots in the tissue in an effort to release and elongate the areas that are more rigid, while strengthening the areas that are weak or atrophied. While working with these trigger points, some discomfort or pain can be experienced elsewhere in the pelvis or the rest of the body, including the hips, rectum or lower back. This experience is usually quite brief. Once the sensation passes and the pelvic tension has been released, the doctor or therapist will move on to the next trigger point. In most cases, relief of the original symptoms is often felt immediately with a renewed sense of well-being.

There should never be any soreness after being treated. All patients are given exercises to do at home to reinforce the new changes, usually involving a foam roller or an inflatable ball about the size of a softball. Both men and women are also coached in Kegel exercises designed to

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strengthen the muscles of the pelvic area.

The part of pelvic floor therapy that can make patients uneasy is that most, though not all, of the work is done internally because that’s where the pelvis is located. The best way to access the pelvic floor in women is through the vagina and through the anus in men. Some patients just aren’t ready for it, and that’s fine. External therapies can be applied but only up to a point. Without doing the internal work, nearly all patients reach a plateau in their improvement.

“There should never be any soreness after being treated. All patients are given exercises to do at home to reinforce the new changes, usually involving a foam roller or an inflatable ball about the size of a softball. Both men and women are also coached in Kegel exercises designed to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic area.”

Most often, it is performed by a physical therapist but can also be administered by an osteopathic physician as well.

Anyone performing pelvic floor therapy should thoroughly educate the patient as to what it entails. While wearing gloves, he or she should explain everything they’re doing during the course of treatment with a specific plan of care to follow that includes clear instructions, along with a direct diagnosis and prognosis. While extremely beneficial, pelvic floor therapy should only be recommended after all other external interventions have failed to provide appropriate relief from symptoms. This is especially the case with young athletes who are prone to related injuries. In these cases, a chaperone absolutely must be present during the treatment. Be sure your care provider is taking all the necessary precautions. When done properly, pelvic floor therapy is a powerful way to improve your health with just a few minor adjustments that will make a major difference in your quality of life.

Sources (1) Ming-chieh, T et al. (2017). Chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome is associated with previous colonoscopy. Canadian Urological Association Journal. , 11(9), 367-371. doi: (http://bit.ly/2H7YuZ9) (2) Steinbur, R, “You want to do what? Where?: Internal pelvic floor therapy gives new meaning to inner journeys”, The Austin Chronicle (Nov. 18, 2010), (http://bit.ly/33KcRwc) (3) Faubion, S et al. (2012). Recognition and management of nonrelaxing pelvic floor dysfunction.

Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 87(2), 187-193. doi: (https:// mayocl.in/2YZqgSG)

PROOF & PRECAUTION

The reality of CPP and the effectiveness of pelvic floor therapy as an intervention for a host of chronic medical conditions is now gaining wider recognition3 across the medical industry and in a number of medical journals that confirm it “contributes significantly” to treatment and recovery, especially in women with related sexual dysfunction,4 as well as pelvic pain,5,6 and urinary problems.7 Today, gynecologists, urologists, osteopathic physicians, and physical therapists now recognize and prescribe pelvic floor therapy for their patients.

Because of the extremely intimate nature of pelvic floor therapy, it should only be performed by a professional specifically trained in the technique.

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(4) Berghmans, B. (2018). Physiotherapy for pelvic pain and female sexual dysfunction: an untapped resource.

International Urogynecology Journal. , 29(5), 631-638. doi: (http://bit.ly/2KEkFYY) (5) Bedaiwy, M et al. (2013). Prevalence of myofascial chronic pelvic pain and the effectiveness of pelvic floor physical therapy. Journal of Reproductive Medicine. , 58(11), 504-510. (http://bit.ly/2ZdfdjI) (6) Tettambel, M et al. (2005). An osteopathic approach to treating women with chronic pelvic pain . Journal of th American Osteopathic Association. , 105(9), 20-22. (http://bit.ly/2KPlGfI) (7) Fitzgerald, M et al. (2012). Randomized multicenter clinical trial of myofascial physical therapy in women with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome and pelvic floor tenderness. Journal of Urology, 187(6), 2113-2118. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2012.01.123.

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PET PREDICAMENT AVOIDING CROSSOVER DISEASES FROM YOUR PETS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

P

ets bring great joy to our lives and in a loving home, they often feel like one of the family.

Because of this unique bond, we (and especially our children) naturally want to spend a lot of time with them. Even though we love our pets dearly, most owners don’t realize that their animals can pass a number of diseases to humans. By taking some simple but important precautions, we can do much to reduce the risk of transmission, while still giving our pets all the love and attention they deserve.

INVISIBLE INFECTION

Medical researchers at Ohio State University along with a team of veterinarians recently reviewed 500 international studies regarding animal to human disease transmission. The result was a special report on how families can minimize this risk by choosing the right kind of pet, or by making small changes in how they interact with the one they already have. Recommendations were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.1 Humans can contract more than 20 different animal-borne or zoonotic diseases from their pets.

Infants face a higher risk because their immune systems aren’t fully developed yet. The elderly and pregnant women are also at higher risk because their immunity is waning or suppressed. Likewise, anyone in the home undergoing medical treatment that compromises immune function, such as chemotherapy, will also need to take extra precautions.

Salmonella naturally occurs in the digestive tracts of reptiles and amphibians, like turtles, snakes, and frogs. E. coli is a fecal-based bacterium that is easily transferred to humans from infected pets.

Toxocariasis is a disease caused by roundworms, parasites that spread through larvae in the feces of cats and dogs. Children are most often infected from playing in outdoor areas where the animals are likely to defecate, such as sandboxes. Ringworm, a fungal infection that has nothing to do with worms but is a round, raised, painful rash, can be passed through regular physical contact with an infected pet. Giardia, a small intestinal parasite common in cats and dogs, is also fecal-based and can be contracted through mishandling of the pet’s droppings or litter box. Pets have even been C ON T I N U E D. . .

“Humans can contract more than 20 different animal-borne or zoonotic diseases from their pets.

Infants face a higher risk because their immune systems aren’t fully developed yet.” pet is the safest choice for your family’s situation.

“It's all about safe pet ownership,” said Jason Stull, lead researcher on the Ohio State University study. “There are very few situations in which a person couldn't or shouldn't have some type of pet if they wish. It's about matching the right species with the right person and taking the appropriate precautions.”

Many times parents get a puppy or kitten for a sick child as a way to lift their spirits during a difficult illness. While the gesture is a loving one, the choice of pet might not be the best one for their child’s condition. known to become infected with the antibioticresistant bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile. These are just a few examples, but if you’ve been diagnosed with any of these diseases, you should speak to both your doctor and veterinarian. Have your pet examined, as well, so you can take the necessary steps to safeguard both of you.

RIGHT PATIENT, RIGHT PET

Since different species of animals like birds, cats, reptiles, dogs, rodents, fish, and amphibians carry different types of diseases at different stages of their lives, it’s best to consult both your doctor and your veterinarian with regard to what kind of

“We've worked with families whose kids are spending a lot of time in physicians' offices, and for numerous reasons miss out on typical activities with other kids,” Stull added. “Parents may decide to get a puppy or kitten to help replace some of that lost social interaction. But puppies and kittens shed some organisms that adult animals don't, so an adult animal would probably be a better choice in that situation.”

Unfortunately, most veterinarians and physicians don’t discuss zoonotic disease prevention with their clients and patients. If we are to reduce pet-associated diseases, first the professionals need to properly educate themselves. Then they need to start disease-prevention dialogue with pet owners.

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This is particularly important as animals become an increasing part of healthcare interventions, like ambassador dogs that visit patients in hospitals or emotional support animals prescribed by mental health professionals.

SIMPLE SAFEGUARDS

Consider these recommendations when interacting with your pet to reduce cross-infections.

Wear protective gloves to clean aquariums and cages, and remove feces.

Clean and disinfect animal cages, feeding areas, and bedding regularly.

Wash your hands after every pet contact.

Locate litter boxes away from areas where eating and food prep occur.

Discourage your pets from face licking.

Cover all playground boxes when not in use.

Avoid contact with higher risk animals like reptiles, amphibians, and other exotic types.

If immune-suppressed, wait until your condition improves to get a pet.

Schedule regular veterinary check-ups for your pet.

Pets are wonderful for our physical and emotional health in so many ways. Don’t let that great benefit be reduced by contracting a zoonotic disease because you didn’t take some very basic, but powerful steps to protect your health. When you do so, you’re also protecting the health of your pets because humans can pass all these same diseases along to them, as well.

Sources (1) Stull, Jason et al. (2015). Reducing the risk of pet-associated zoonotic infections. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(10), 736-743. DOI: (http://bit.ly/2KuAPCQ) (2) Science Daily, “Ways to avoid catching diseases from pets”, (April 20, 2015), (http://bit.ly/33mRHV2)

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THE COURAGE TO LEAD DR. SADEGHI ADDRESSES THE BRILLIANT MINDS CONFERENCE IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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loyd Bankfein. Robert Ben Mosche. Andy Grove. Warren Buffet. Steve Jobs. Habib Sadeghi.

What do we all have in common with every CEO? Just like you, we share a sense of creativity, competitiveness, and colorfulness. We also share another C-word, cancer.

Ladies and gentlemen of Brilliant Minds (and soul I might add), as a physician who specializes in mind/body medicine, I find it unnerving how many CEOs just like you are getting cancer. Every year, I see increasing numbers of business professionals being diagnosed with lymphoma, pancreatic, colon, lung, prostate, and breast cancer. I know from firsthand experience after years of mentoring and treating some of the most powerful business executives on the planet how years of stress, including pressure from stockholders and governing boards, can have a devastating effect on the body.

I have witnessed both personally and professionally how not being true to one’s thoughts and feelings by dishonoring or dismissing them can deteriorate and wear down our physiology over time.

In certain cultures, social mores can weigh heavily on us, preventing us from accomplishing all of which we’re capable and being all we can be. Such is the idea of lagom in Sweden, which chides us to be good, but not “too good” so that we don’t upset the status quo or heaven forbid, make someone who accomplished less feel bad about themselves. How can creative minds thrive under such social constraints? How can anyone become all they were meant to be under those circumstances? After all, consciousness precedes our phenomena or phenotypic expression. I know. I’ve been there. I was given just a 30% chance of survival after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in medical school.

It was highly recommended that I get retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy, a 16-hour surgery where they fillet the gut open, remove most of the lymph nodes, and follow it up with multiple rounds of cis-platinum chemotherapy and radiation.

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That’s not the kind of decision anyone just rushes right into.

I walked away from the doctor’s office stunned that in the late 20th century, that was the best modern medicine could offer me. In that moment, I realized it wasn’t for me. With low survival odds and no guarantee from such a radical treatment, I decided to do the only thing that was in my control at the moment; I took my power back. I decided that I was going to do things differently and approach the disease from a different perspective, come what may. That was in 1997, and 21 years later, I’m still here. All my medical records from various world-renowned cancer treatment and research centers like City of Hope in Duarte, California that document my journey are published in my book, The Clarity Cleanse.

“To make better choices and find solutions to our challenges, we must learn to look beyond the material details of a problem and place it in a different context that can make things clearer for us.”

Leadership Principles Today, if you want to be a phenomenon, a trailblazer who lives a full life and not only contributes to our present world but leaves a legacy that inspires others to change the future, it’s essential to live from three key principles.

1. THE SOUL MUST BE PRIORITIZED OVER PROFIT. Are you in touch with the deeper needs of your

soul? What lights you up inside and fills your soul with joy and passion? How are these principles woven through your company’s mission, and how does it feed your soul? Perhaps this is what renowned thoracic surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz, referred to yesterday in his presentation. This underscores what Don Katz care-shared yesterday when he emphasized it’s more important what his company means rather than what it does. Is it the heart-centered purpose of what your company stands for rather than its profit-and-loss statement that gets you out of bed in the morning and makes your employees proud to work for such a cause? Is this high purpose emphasized among your employees and part of your corporate culture? This is what Aristotle referred to as entelechy or the spark that turns mere potential into reality, the journey of the acorn into the great oak. We all have the potential to take the journey to greatness within us. All it requires is the right kind of passion to ignite the process.

2. PLACE CONTEXT OVER CONTENT. In

my book, The Clarity Cleanse, I include a paragraph that’s made up of a collection of seemingly nonsensical, unrelated sentences. Then, the reader is asked to reread the paragraph with the word “kite” in mind. By placing the words in a particular context, the content of the paragraph suddenly makes perfect sense. To make better choices and find solutions to our challenges, we must learn to look beyond the material details of a problem and place it in a different context that can make things clearer for us.

We misinterpret the true meaning of circumstances in our lives when we place them within the wrong context. We never get the real content or message of why we got sick, lost the job, or divorced, usually because we’re blaming someone or something outside ourselves for our situation. That only leaves us confused and unable to interpret the meaning in what’s happening to us, so we continue to perpetuate the problem.

To decode our problems and decipher the hidden messages they have for us (which are crucial to finding solutions), we must place them within the proper context. Because we co-create our experience of reality through our consciousness, we must place every problem we have into a personal context if we are to understand what our challenges are trying to tell us about ourselves, and if we intend C ON T I N U E D. . .

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to grow and not go on unconsciously creating the same mistakes. Instead of lashing outwardly at someone else with blame, we must look inwardly and ask ourselves, “What does this situation have to say about me? How did I attract this person or circumstance into my life? Why is this happening to me again?”

3. UNDERSTAND THE RHYTHM OF LIFE. All

life is governed by recurring cycles, and our lives are no exception. Life constantly improves and renews itself through an endless cycle of building up, then tearing down, followed by another phase of building up again, and so on. Some refer to this cycle as expansion and contraction. The vibrant green of summer is stunted by the harsh cold of winter, only to be revived once again in the spring. Volcanic eruptions that seem so destructive at first always see life return to the mountain, and the lava that burns a path to the sea actually adds to the growth of the island once it cools.

In the same way, our lives go through periodic teardown or catabolic phases when we experience loss or what we see as setbacks. These times are then followed by anabolic phases when our lives are built back up again with things we see as progress and good fortune. The goal is to recognize that neither the catabolic nor anabolic phase of life is better than the other and that both are absolutely necessary for our personal and professional evolution. When we see the catabolic/anabolic cycle as a natural and necessary part of life, we can place our challenges in the proper context and approach them with greater clarity and creativity to launch ourselves into the next anabolic phase that continues to move us forward.

“When we see the catabolic/ anabolic cycle as a natural and necessary part of life, we can place our challenges in the proper context and approach them with greater clarity and creativity to launch ourselves into the next anabolic phase that continues to move us forward.”

CHALLENGING OLD PAR ADIGMS

Brilliant minds are creative minds, and creating something new sometimes means shaking things up and challenging old paradigms, like breaking down and breaking through the limits of lagom, and being unapologetically proud of ourselves and accomplishments. Can we do this in our companies and the world by re-contextualizing this process within the value of the rhythm of life?

We can, and we should. Sometimes things need to be broken down before something better can emerge. Building a new cultural ethos from this cycle of ceaseless change is the only way in which real progress happens and we create the kind of world we all want to live in, and it’s resilient leaders like yourselves that can take us there.

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After the Firestorm Our sweet Be Hive of Healing opens again after a very near brush with wildfires.

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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e would like to thank everyone who reached out to us during the recent Woolsey wildfire crisis in Agoura Hills. Your words of concern, prayers, and inspiration, as well as offers of assistance were invaluable to us during such a frightening and difficult time.

It was on Wednesday evening, November 7th, while on our way back from a sitting with families affected by the recent and tragic Thousand Oaks shooting that Agoura Hills city officials notified us that we had barely one hour to gather our necessary items and leave the area as quickly as possible because the Santa Ana winds were driving the wildfires in our direction. The entire city was under mandatory evacuation because it would soon be surrounded by flames.

Sherry, the children, and I fled to Sherman Oaks where we decided to ride out the firestorm. While we were safe from the flames, the air quality was so noxious it posed a new danger that was all but impossible to escape.

This is why we made the decision to send Sherry and the children to stay with relatives out of state. With their school closed until the week after Thanksgiving because of the dangerous air quality, the children wouldn’t be missing much and could avoid the health effects of breathing in the acrid air.

After nearly a week of being barred from our home and workplace, we were finally able to return on Wednesday, November 14th. Winding our way through the charred hillsides and smoldering ruins of buildings and homes we’d grown accustomed to seeing as a regular part of the landscape, we were

worried. All that officials tell you when an evacuation order is lifted is that you’re allowed to return home—not that you actually have a home to return to.

“Be sure to minimize your time outside, and always wear a mask when outdoors. We would also suggest getting a couple of air purifiers for your home, being sure to place one in the bedroom. These will become necessities, as California wildfires are becoming more frequent.”

We held our breath as we made our way down the street and there it was, our house… completely intact as if nothing had ever happened. We were astonished, especially because parts of the houses next door and across the street from us had burned almost to the ground. We thought that perhaps the stream that runs behind our home had created a break line in the fire’s path. We’ll never really know, but it reminded us of how a tornado can completely destroy one house but leave another nearby untouched.

We wept tears of joy as we discovered that our medical/dental center was spared as well.

As harrowing as this entire experience has been, we are overwhelmed with gratitude.

Very soon we will finally be able to move forward from this incredible and challenging experience.

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“Be Hive of Healing offers a number of detoxification treatments to neutralize and remove toxins from the body. Some of these include IV vitamin C, ozone therapy, and lymphatic rejuvenation therapy.”

In the meantime, we wanted to remind everyone in the areas affected by the fire to protect their health. Just because the danger of the fire has passed doesn’t mean it’s safe to spend lots of time outdoors yet. The smoke from distant locations that are still burning and the smoldering embers from hundreds of destroyed homes continue to make the air quality quite dangerous. Be sure to minimize your time outside, and always wear a mask when outdoors. We would also suggest getting a couple of air purifiers for your home, being sure to place one in the bedroom. These will become necessities, as California wildfires are becoming more frequent. Take the opportunity to use the sauna at the gym, and drink more liquids to help flush toxins from the body.

Remember too that Be Hive of Healing offers a number of detoxification treatments to neutralize and remove toxins from the body. Some of these include IV vitamin C, ozone therapy, and lymphatic rejuvenation therapy. We will be receiving a few of these treatments ourselves, as

will some of the first responders who’ve been working so diligently to bring an end to this crisis.

If you’re not sure which might work best for you, give us a call and we’ll be happy to provide you with assistance.

Once again, thank you all for your concern during this difficult time. It’s been a blessing to be reminded of how much love and support surrounds us, especially during the dark times.

Please know that our support is always there for you as well, and that your presence in our lives is truly a gift for which we remain ever grateful.

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IDENTIFYING ALLERGIES MADE EASY You might remember as a child how unpleasant it was to be tested for allergies. Sitting in a chair for nearly half an hour while a nurse pricked lines of little red bumps up and down your forearm was anything but fun. Waiting for each bump to become inflamed after the nurse used an eyedropper to expose each one to a potential allergen made the whole messy process a miserable experience. Fortunately for adults and children, allergy testing isn’t what it used to be.

The Clarity Cleanse Food Discovery allergy test is simple and fast with no mess. For adults, all it takes is a quick blood draw, for children just a drop of blood from a finger prick. While you get to go back to your life, it’s your blood serum that gets exposed to a whole panel of potential allergens. Results arrive in just two weeks, and you can start improving your life and health by avoiding those things that trigger you. Contact the Be Hive of Healing today to set up an allergy test for you and/or your child. Your immune system will thank you for it.

Make sure what you’re eating is safe and come get an easy, hassle-free allergy test. behiveofhealing.com/contact

PAIN IN THE NECK ERGONOMIC INJURIES INCREASING FROM CELL PHONE OVERUSE

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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here has been much debate for years regarding the safety of cell phone use and electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation. Apart from those concerns, overuse of cell phones and other electronic devices like tablets are creating a wave of ergonomic injuries that are happening at younger ages. The problem is that using our phones and tablets for hours on end each day has become so unconscious and habitual that most people have no idea of the damage they’re doing to their health until one day they get a real pain in the neck as a wakeup call. By then, the damage might be irreversible.

UNCONSCIOUS INJURY

This new phenomenon of ergonomic injury from cell phone use is being called text neck. The term is used to describe the neck pain and long-term orthopedic and tissue damage sustained from looking down at a cell phone, tablet or other wireless device too frequently and for too long.

The body is made to move, bend, stretch, twist and reach in thousands of different ways throughout the day. It’s healthiest when it’s moving. When we force it to repeat the same kinds of motions over and over again or keep it locked into the same type of position for long periods of time, we cause extensive, unnecessary wear in certain parts of our body that begin to degenerate, causing injury. At the same time, other parts of the body in the area of the injury not normally involved in its function will try to compensate for that loss of ability. This only puts more unnecessary stress on other body

parts, which leads to a cascade of orthopedic and tissue damage that physical therapists informally refer to as creep.

When standing upright, looking forward, the human head balanced evenly on top of the vertebrae weighs an average of 10-12 lbs. When the head tilts forward just 15°, the amount of pressure placed on the neck vertebrae and surrounding muscles increases to 27 lbs. At a 30° tilt, it increases to 40 lbs. At 60°, the angle most people use to look down at their cell phone, the pressure increases to 60 lbs. Imagine carrying a 60 lb. dumbbell around on the back of your head and the potential damage that could do. It’s like trying to balance a bowling ball on the end of a thin tree branch.

That’s the kind of chronic pressure we’re placing on our neck muscles, ligaments, and vertebrae when we repeatedly stare down at our cell phones throughout the day for hours on end.

It’s been estimated that people under 30 spend an average of 1,400 hours per year staring down at their phone with the classic 60° head tilt. For high school students, it’s estimated that they spend about 5,000 hours in this poor posture, placing an enormous amount of pressure on the cervical spine.1 A study from Baylor University showed that female college students spend about 10 hours per day looking down into their phones texting, shopping and using other forms of social media. College-aged males stare down into their phones with the same bad posture for about 8 hours per day doing utilitarian tasks and seeking

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“The insidious nature of ergonomic injuries is that because our behavior has become so unconscious, we don’t even realize the damage is happening until it’s often too late.” will experience problems related to hunchback and vertebrae deterioration by their 50s or earlier.

OXYGEN OBSTRUCTION

entertainment.2 The insidious nature of ergonomic injuries is that because our behavior has become so unconscious, we don’t even realize the damage is happening until it’s often too late.

HABITS & HUNCHBACKS

Holding the head in this unnatural position with 60 lbs. of pressure bearing down on the neck vertebrae for long periods of time causes irregular wear patterns that result in degeneration and eventually, bulging discs. Perhaps even worse is the damage this poor posture does to the neck ligaments over time. If you bend your right index finger back with your left hand as far as you can stand and hold it there, you’ll begin to get an idea of what the stretched ligaments in your neck are experiencing while you’re texting away. When ligaments of the neck are over-stretched, they lose their ability to support the spine. That’s when deterioration begins that leads to things like arthritis and inflammation. Lacking this essential support, the spine can eventually freeze in its forward tilted position, resulting in the hunched posture often seen in many elderly people.

When we tilt our heads so far downward, it causes the chest cavity to collapse and the shoulders to fall forward. At the same time, this creates an unnatural, prolonged stretch of the muscles that stabilize the shoulder blades or scapulae, gradually weakening them as well. Over time, these muscles become less capable of pulling the scapulae and shoulders back to keep the body and spine aligned in an upright position. This atrophy creates a gradual but permanent anterior tilt to the torso that results in a hunchback posture that freezes into place. It’s very possible that millennials and the younger generations, those who’ve never known a life without cell phones,

With the head tilted downward, the shoulders falling forward, and the chest tucked in, it’s impossible to draw a full breath. In fact, when we’re lost in our cell phones for hours on end, locked into this positon, we reduce our lung capacity by 30%. This results in a 30% reduction in the amount of oxygen we can take in. That means the heart has to pump 30% harder to distribute more oxygen carrying blood throughout the body.

Try this. Stand up straight and take a deep breath down into the diaphragm, expanding as much as you possibly can. In doing this, you might experience some chest pain. That’s not because your lungs are about to burst, but because the intercostal muscles in your ribcage are atrophied. They can’t expand fully into an eccentric contraction because of your habitual, collapsed chest posture from looking down into your phone all the time.

Perhaps you’re experiencing lots of knots in your neck and upper back. Much of this has to do with weakened facet joints, which help the spine to move from side to side. When they begin to deteriorate, the muscles of the neck and upper back often feel stiff because they now have to work harder to compensate for a weakening spine. It’s this state of being under constant contraction that gives many people tension knots in their neck and upper back.

Sources (1) Hansaraj, K et al. (2013). Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Neuro and Spine Surgery, 45(3), 277-279, (http://bit.ly/2YO0dwD) (2) Roberts, James et al. (2014). The invisible addiction: cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addiction, 3(4), 254-265. (http:// bit.ly/2YLGA8n) (3) Ibid.

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PREVENTION POINTS

Let’s be honest. People are not going to give up their cell phones, even in the name of their health.

In fact, in the Baylor University study, 60% of the college students surveyed admitted that they were most likely addicted to their cell phones.3 Be that as it may, there are several things we all can do to prevent being swept up in the cell phone ergonomic health crisis that is sure to get worse in the coming years.

Reduce usage: Do your best to reduce the number of hours you’re on your cell phone.

Even 2-3 hours less per day can go a long way to reducing the cumulative damage over time. Find out when it’s absolutely necessary for you to be on your phone and when it’s not.

Change position: Old habits die hard, but try to change your posture while looking at your phone. Try to hold it up and out in front of you so your head stays more level without having to tilt downward so far. Think of the way a woman holds a compact to powder her face, while looking out in front of herself into the mirror on the underside of the lid. Even making this change for part of the time you’re using your phone can help.

Home adjustments: Home computers can be just as harmful to health if they’re not set up in an ergonomic way. Adjust your monitor, desk and chair so that your head is in a neutral position and doesn’t need to tilt up or down to view the screen. It should be directly at eye level.

Chin tuck: This simple exercise builds strength up behind the neck so that the spine can be pulled back into the proper position. Stand up looking straight ahead. With two fingers, gently try to push your chin directly back into your face. Be sure the head doesn’t tilt downward. Push straight back, not down. You should feel a stretch along the back of your neck. Do 4 sets of 15 each day.

Shoulder pinches: Stand up straight. Pull your shoulders back, and extend your chest up and out while taking a deep breath. Hold this position for 2 seconds. Exhale. Do 4 sets of 15.

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NG ON Y WORKING MOMS TRYING TO LIVE TWO LIVES ARE INCREASINGLY EXHAUSTED

By Dr. Sherry Sami

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recently attended the In Goop Health Summit, a yearly one-day conference hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle company, goop, that focuses on women’s wellness issues. No matter which breakout session I happened to be attending throughout the day, one issue kept coming up in the discussion portion of the presentations.

Working mothers kept expressing how exhausted they were and how it was becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to juggle all the responsibilities of a successful career and home life.

I can attest to that truth, not just from my personal experience but also from the mothers of my young patients who share with me the same struggles. They regularly tell me about how burned out they are most of the time, feeling completely drained and pulled in different directions. There aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, and they tearfully tell me how they feel like they’re running on empty every day.

Whenever the subject of working mothers and stress comes up, the quick answer of many experts always seems to be to “nurture yourself.”

Unfortunately, talking about bubble baths and meditating is one thing—putting it into practice in the daily life of a real world working mom is quite another. From a practical standpoint, it’s the lack of real hands-on help and having no time to nurture themselves that’s creating the stress that is taking an increasing toll on women’s health, as more and more mothers are being diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular issues, autoimmune disease, and adrenal fatigue in their 30s and 40s.

Today, working mothers are seriously depleted emotionally and physically. I know working

mothers who don’t even know when the last time was they had bloodwork done. They don’t see their health crisis coming because feeling run down all the time is their new normal, and it’s this kind of stress that suppresses the immune system, making them more susceptible to everything from colds to cancer.

LEANING IN, STRESSING OUT

According to the 2010 Census, 67% of mothers are in the workforce.1 A Pew Research study from 2013 found 32% of moms said they wanted to work full-time.2 This means that two-thirds of working mothers would rather work part-time or not at all; and yet, they are forced to spend more time away from home for financial reasons, and so face the same challenges of balancing work and home life as women who are business owners.

In 2014, the Huffington Post reported that a poll

by Care.com of 1,000 working mothers revealed 80% said they were stressed out over balancing work, home life, and childcare. One in four of them admitted the stress was so intense that they cried over it at least once a week.3 Perhaps it’s this stress that has played a role in a new 6% increase in stay-at-home mothers, bringing the total to 29% after a modern era low of 23% in 1999.4 Balancing the obligations of work and home are a particular challenge for this current generation of moms because we’ve been called to present ourselves in the world with our professional and creative gifts earlier in life, not after our children are grown. Because of this, we face a unique challenge in how to simultaneously live two lives as both a professional and a mother, often with very small children.

“Today, working mothers are seriously depleted emotionally and physically. I know working mothers who don’t even know when the last time was they had bloodwork done.

They don’t see their health crisis coming because feeling run down all the time is their new normal, and it’s this kind of stress that suppresses the immune system, making them more susceptible to everything from colds to cancer.”

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“A poll of 1,000 working mothers revealed 80% said they were stressed out over balancing work, home life, and childcare. One in four of them admitted the stress was so intense that they cried over it at least once a week.”

In recent years, there has been a push for women to “lean in,” to be more assertive at work, to push forward and take more roles of authority at the office—but who’s there to support us when we need to lean back once in a while—when we need to let go of being in charge and recharge instead?

It’s the lack of such a support system that’s seeing women become more overwhelmed than ever and sicker at younger ages.

claim they are, most women subconsciously continue to strive for this unattainable ideal only to experience feelings of guilt, failure, and inadequacy when their lives don’t match the media images. z

HOLISTIC HAVOC:

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A CHANGING WORLD:

A COMPLEX PROBLEM

It’s important to understand that solving the plight of the working mother isn’t as easy as saying the husband needs to do more at home and with the children after work. That’s a big part of it, but it’s only part of the solution to a multifaceted social problem that’s pushing working mothers to the breaking point. z

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HAVING IT ALL ILLUSION:

Do you remember the famous Enjoli perfume commercial from the 80s? A beautiful model dressed in a business suit, clutching a fist of cash, sang that she could “bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan,” instantly morphing into an apron with frying pan in hand and yet still had time to read the kids a bedtime story at night. The “you can have it all” idea was promoted for decades through film, TV, and advertising that constantly showed women effortlessly breezing between work and home life with loads of energy, a full face of makeup, and perfect hair that never alluded to the stressors and sacrifices of real world working moms. No matter how modern they

For the last 10 to 15 years, the holistic parenting industry has been bringing attention to the most minute details of caring for a child’s mind, body, and spirit that were absent generations ago.

While this is basically good, the downside of this hyper-focus on parenting protocol has been to overwhelm mothers with too much information to the point where they obsess over even the smallest aspects of childcare, fearing they’ve made a mistake or ruined their child for life if they had to go through a fast food drive-thru on the way home to save time.

World changes force parenting changes. In a simpler world generations ago, parenting was primarily about making sure kids were fed, educated, and safe. Today, there are so many other things to consider such as pesticides in food, the quality and content of education, increasing crime, using proper discipline, nurturing the child’s self-confidence and self-image, managing media use, and more which is overwhelming. Of course, the internet threatens to undermine a mother’s efforts in all these areas and exposes her child

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to influences that are beyond her control. z

THE ECONOMY:

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CORPOR ATE RESISTANCE:

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For decades, salaries have not risen at the same rate as the cost of goods and services. Because of this, it simply isn’t an option in most households for one parent to stay at home with the children.

Corporate culture refuses to change. When it comes to demands on time, scheduling, workload, travel, and so on, most jobs are still structured as if one spouse is at home full-time. When the rising cost of living and stagnant salaries pulled millions of women out of the home and into the workforce, corporations didn’t restructure their positions so that parents could maintain a meaningful presence at home and with their children. Instead, both men and women ended up working in jobs that consumed their lives and their health, while generations of children were raised in daycare. This masculine business model places far too much focus on competition, which creates a high-stress, antagonistic environment instead of a cooperative one, where long hours and the company’s needs must take priority over everything else.

Corporate America is still stuck in this mainly masculine way of doing business, and all the negative byproducts filter down to us.

AN UNSUPPORTIVE SPOUSE:

In the 21st century, women are still mostly responsible for cooking dinner, doing the dishes, and

tending to the children, even after working all day. This leads to a lot of resentment against husbands who sit and watch TV or engage in personal activities after work. That’s not to say that men don’t also have their share of after-work responsibilities at home like mowing the lawn, washing the car, or fixing things that are broken. Even so, when those things don’t need to be done (and they don’t every day), then that time should be spent helping mom with her responsibilities, most of which are required daily.

This isn’t to blame men for all the stress working moms feel, because they’re only one part of a much larger problem. Still, a husband choosing to support his wife in this way is one of the biggest and most immediate changes a couple can make to improve their quality of life. As it stands now, if men want to do something outside of work, they often just schedule it and forget about it.

For a working mom to take part in any activity outside her normal hectic schedule, many other things have to be adjusted and taken into account before it can happen—things like making sure the kids have a ride home from baseball practice and dance class, having something ready for them to eat ahead of time, making sure the dog is taken care of, the babysitter is lined up, the dress that she wants to wear is washed, and about 20 other things that have to fall into place perfectly on time.

Lots of professional women end up resenting their husbands because of this, but blaming your spouse will only make your situation worse, and make him even less inclined to help. It’s important

“A husband choosing to support his wife is one of the biggest and most immediate changes a couple can make to improve their quality of life.”

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“Masculine energy is not nurturing. It’s about analysis, logic, problemsolving, competition, and accomplishment. Masculine energy is doing energy; feminine energy is being energy.”

to remember that help from your spouse won’t change the mindset of corporate America, the demands of your job, improve the economy, or any of the other contributing factors that weigh so heavily on working moms. A supportive spouse is a priority, but it’s not a panacea.

too, even when we know it’s not. This is why we have to learn to speak up and support each other. z

RIGID WORK MODELS:

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U N D E R S TA N D I N G M A S C U L I N E A N D

BARRIERS TO CHANGE

The wheels of social change turn slowly, and every necessary evolution has barriers it must overcome.

For the plight of the working mother to finally be resolved, three key factors need to change. z

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SILENCE:

Discussing working mom burnout is a social taboo. In certain venues, even a mention of exhaustion or being fed up with trying to juggle work and home life is seen as regressive and a threat that could set the women’s movement back 60 years. Of course, this isn’t true, but fear of being seen as politically incorrect keeps women from speaking out. Try to find an online article from a major news source or a long-term study on stress and the working mom. It’s virtually impossible. You can find information about stress and stay-at-home moms, but no one is speaking out specifically about the stress burden of working moms. Since no one’s talking, we assume everything must be going well for other working moms, and so we go on pretending everything is working for us

Old work models in corporate America haven’t made the transition into the 21st century. Corporations need to institute flexible scheduling to give employees, especially those with children, more autonomy in an effort to achieve a healthier balance between work and home life. Now, 20 years into the Internet Age, it’s astonishing that companies haven’t become more virtual and moved more of their employees into home-based positions.

Imagine the time you’d save and the stress you’d avoid if you could set your work schedule to stay out of rush hour traffic or had the option of working from home.

FEMININE ENERGY:

Women are the natural caretakers and nurturers of children. That’s what nature intended and why caring for children comes so naturally to the majority of women. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but it’s much more instinctual. While humans possess both kinds of energy, women embody their feminine energy the majority of the time, while men embody the masculine. Masculine

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energy is not nurturing. It’s about analysis, logic, problem-solving, competition, and accomplishment. Masculine energy is doing energy; feminine energy is being energy. A woman at work is embodying her masculine energy, but she does so in a different way than a man. While at home, she’s in her feminine energy. Work is a masculine activity, so unless a man is in a nurturing profession like nursing or social work, he’s in his masculine energy 100% of the time. This is why men find it very challenging to engage in childcare duties. It’s not that they don’t want to help

or can’t see you struggling. It’s just not natural for them to engage in it, so they have no biological instinct that draws them to it.

It’s not how they’re wired biochemically or energetically. This should always be kept in mind when encouraging your husband to help you. Arguing with your husband, while not understanding this fundamental difference between men and women, won’t make him more eager to assist you and will only add marriage troubles to your current stress burden.

SUGGESTIONS & SOLUTIONS Bringing some much-needed peace to your life as a working mom isn’t easy, and it won’t happen overnight. Although there are lots of contributing social factors that are beyond your control, there is still much you can do to start creating a shift in your daily routine that won’t leave you feeling like you’re burning the candle at both ends all the time.

ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF:

If possible, advocate for yourself at work for a more flexible schedule or seek out positions that offer such a schedule.

TR ADE OFF:

Split the week with your husband into days where you get to focus just on work, while he assumes all the after-work duties, including the kids, after he leaves the office. Then you switch on alternate days. Don’t expect your husband’s type of childcare or cooking to look like yours, and don’t criticize if he’s not doing everything just the way you would. Understand that a man’s feminine energy does not present itself the way a woman’s does, therefore his way of doing things is going to look different than yours. Just be grateful that he’s doing it. You can iron out the details later. It might be a good idea to not dump the entire load on him at once, but give him one responsibility, the one that weighs on you the most, then work up from there.

BE SPECIFIC: Be specific about what you need your spouse to do. Don’t

just keep saying how stressed out you are. Would it help if he made dinner all this week or took over running the kids to their activities for several days?

SELF-CARE:

Be sure to take care of yourself. Don’t use the free time when your husband has the kids to catch up on more work, or you’ll defeat the purpose. Resist the temptation. Spend that time getting back into your feminine energy by doing something nurturing or sensual that’s relaxing—getting a massage, for example, or taking a dance class.

Successful relationships require polarization of sexual energy, because opposites attract. That means that most of the time, women should

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be in their feminine energy, and men should be in their masculine.

Working moms stuck in masculine energy all the time run the risk of losing the polarity in their relationship and their husbands losing their attraction to them. The trick is to be able to switch between the energies and embody the feminine more fully once you get home.

CREATE A SUPPORT NETWORK:

Organize a group of moms who aren’t afraid to speak about their struggles and understand that voicing their concerns isn’t threatening to send women back into the kitchen full-time. Even when solutions aren’t immediately available, just being able to share your frustrations and know you’re not alone goes a long way toward giving you the strength to keep going. The group will also allow you the opportunity to hear what others are doing to lighten their load.

FEMINIZE YOUR BUSINESS:

If you own a business, start incorporating more principles based in feminine energy into your business model to support working mothers and reduce the hyper-competitive, high-stakes issues that come with the masculine model and can be so damaging. My side of the Be Hive/Happy Kids complex is run by shared governance where everyone has a say in what goes on. It’s more cooperative. In contrast, on Habib’s side, it’s much more of a top-down management style where he calls all the shots. Everyone knows he’s the boss.

STOP COMPARING:

Stop reading so many holistic parenting magazines and books. They only lead to comparing yourself to other moms and fearing you made terrible mistakes with your children. They will survive and thrive, even if you can’t or don’t employ every expert’s bit of diet, educational, discipline, and potty training advice, because nobody does. Trust yourself; you know more than you think you do.

LET GO OF THE LIE:

Let go of the lie that you can have it all. No one gets to have it all. You will make mistakes occasionally, and everyone has to make compromises of some kind along the way, but that’s no reason to feel guilty. We’re all doing the best we can, and it’s all working for our highest good.

Sources (1) Pappas, S., “Working Moms Increase by 800% Since 1860, According to New Analysis”, The Huffington Post (May 12, 2014), (http://bit.ly/2m8yFAm) (2) Cohn, D., “After Decades of Decline, A Rise in State-At-Home Mothers”, Social & Demographic Trends, Pew Research Center, (April 8, 2014), (https://pewrsr.ch/2lO6Jlg) (3) Adams, R., “A Quarter of Working Moms Cry Once a Week, But There Are Solutions”, The Huffington Post, (October 24, 2014), (http://bit.ly/2lMEKT9) (4) Cohn, D., “After Decades of Decline, A Rise in State-At-Home Mothers”, Social & Demographic Trends, Pew Research Center, (April 8, 2014), (https://pewrsr.ch/2lO6Jlg)

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ORAL EVIDENCE HOW DENTAL HEALTH REFLECTS BODY HEALTH

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By Dr.Habib Sadeghi & Dr. Sherry Sami

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ust like oxygen and water, the body uses electricity to function. In fact, we couldn’t live without it. The entire nervous system works via a series of billions of electrical impulses, and every cellular function generates an electrical charge. The energy generated by these electrical impulses was called Qi, or life force energy, by ancient practitioners of Chinese medicine. It’s still referred to by that term today by acupuncturists, massage therapists, naturopaths, osteopaths, and holistic physicians.

This vital life energy travels throughout the body along twelve pathways or meridians that intersect with every organ, tissue, and organ system, maintaining its vitality and proper function. This includes the teeth. Because the energy meridians run through the teeth and various other organs, it’s possible that a problem in a particular tooth could be creating a secondary health issue elsewhere in the body or vice versa. With a proper understanding of how meridians work, the mouth should always be a place to look for clues with regard to unexplained health problems in the body. This is because, with a fair amount of reliability, the state of oral health usually reflects the quality of physical health.

INTIMATE ASSOCIATIONS

There are twelve energy meridians that run through the body, and each is named for the major organ or organ system along its route. These include the lung, large intestine, spleen, stomach, heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium (circulation/sex), triple warmer (head, also assists the pericardium meridian), liver, and gall bladder meridians. All 32 teeth are also intersected by one of these meridians. The bicuspids will share one meridian, while the molars share another, the anterior or front teeth are intersected by yet a different meridian, and so on. Because of this unique association between teeth and different meridians, it is possible to use the teeth to diagnose and treat health problems elsewhere in the body.

You may have heard of the cuspid being called an “eye tooth” when people say things like, “He’d give his eye teeth to have another shot at the championship.”

That association or figure of speech isn’t an accident. From the graphic accompanying this article you can see that the third tooth from the center front on each side of the upper and lower jaws, the more pointed or canine teeth known as the cuspids, are in fact associated with the meridians that intersect the eyes. Therefore, pain or sensitivity in these teeth may signal a problem that originates in the eyes. It may also be that when a problem with the cuspids is treated, an existing issue with the eyes may finally resolve on its own. The wisdom teeth are associated with our sexual and reproductive organs, and so on.

In fact, the energetic association between the teeth and the rest of the body is so specific, that astute practitioners can even pinpoint specific diseases in particular organs based on symptoms in a single tooth. For example, pain in the first incisor could point to infection in either the prostate or tonsils.

It is also important to remember that the organs which share an energetic connection with our teeth are connected to our emotions, as well. Problems with our kidneys and bladder are associated with fear; the liver, anger; lungs, grief; the stomach, anxiety or non-acceptance of a chronic issue; and the heart and small intestine, sadness.

Because teeth are intimately connected to the rest of the body through energy meridians, highly invasive dental work such as root canals, crowns, implants, and amalgam fillings could result in serious health problems throughout the body if the body is already compromised or highly inflamed.

What’s more, the patient usually never suspects that the seemingly unrelated problems could be due to previous dental work. A root canal in a six-year molar could relate to a stomach problem; performed in a second bicuspid, it could be related to breast or lung tissue. Certain metal used in these oral fixtures also holds the potential to interrupt the flow of energy from one body part to another as it passes through the teeth, again depending on the vulnerability of certain patients’ bodies.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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Another good example of the energetic connection between the teeth and the rest of the body is the phenomenon known as phantom pain. This can often be a tooth pain that is in the meridian of another organ. Several times, we’ve seen patients seeking advice for pain in their wisdom tooth, when upon examination, there was nothing wrong with the wisdom tooth.

What we often discovered in these patients was an undiagnosed reproductive system issue, and

once that was addressed, the pain subsided automatically.

TEETH AS SENSORY ORGANS

Science is now showing what holistic medicine has known all along: that the teeth are not inert objects, but possess neural receptors that are capable of receiving and transmitting sensory communication in the form of energy that is essential for all body processes. Calling the teeth

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“sensory organs,” a study published in the journal Dental Aegis discovered that mechanoreceptors in teeth control a host of neural activities, including how hard and fast we chew, while sending this feedback to the brain. Even tooth pulp contains mechanoreceptor fibers. It’s these mechanoreceptors that act as sense organs within the teeth and respond accordingly to the stimuli they receive from both inside and outside the body.1 Even more interesting is a study from Finland that, after isolating the genes responsible for tooth development, discovered that those same genes were also responsible for the development of specific organs. In fact, the study discovered a link between abnormal tooth development and the potential for cancer later in life. 2 Periodontal disease or bacterial infection in dental pulp has long been identified as a risk factor in cardiovascular disease,3 breast cancer, 4 and erectile dysfunction,5 and premature birth.

It’s clear that the health of the mouth and body are mirror images of each other and that the teeth play a vital role in that process. This isn’t to say that every time there is a problem with a tooth, that it’s connected to a related problem in the body; however, the teeth are a great place to investigate when unexplained health problems in the body become chronic.

Because the teeth are so intricately connected with the health of the rest of the body, every possible measure should be taken to preserve the teeth in their natural form. This means having a regular and proper routine of brushing, flossing and cleaning by a dental hygienist, along with routine exams by a biological dentist/orthodontist who understands the vital connection between the teeth and the rest of the body. He or she will be able to recognize certain problems in specific teeth and determine whether or not they should be brought to the attention of the patient’s medical doctor, given the patient’s overall state of health. If invasive dental work is needed, there are many functional and integrative dentists and endodontists who use alternative therapies, like sound therapy, lasers, and ozone therapy. Seek out a provider who can offer those methods.

It is especially important to find a biological or anthroposophical dentist for young children, as the teeth are an indicator of brain development.

In the Waldorf education system, founded by the same Rudolf Steiner who developed the anthroposophical model, the exfoliation of the anterior upper teeth is understood as an indicator of readiness for reading and first-grade education.

One of the times this may not be accurate is in children who have been given lots of steroids, 101

antihistamines, regular allergy shots, or albuterol.

These children tend to lose their teeth much earlier, mainly due to the lower bone density that these medications can create when given over a period of time.

“Not only is the elective removal of otherwise perfectly healthy teeth controversial, but the impact of doing so risks upsetting the body’s natural energy flow in ways that both patients and traditional dentists cannot possibly understand or predict.”

REMOVAL R AMIFICATIONS

While it’s certainly preferable to keep all one’s natural teeth, sometimes, tooth extractions can’t be avoided. In such cases, every attempt must be made with regard to diet, supplementation, acupuncture, and other methods to strengthen the body’s organs along the same meridian, as they may become compromised over time by the loss of the related tooth.

There are, however, situations where teeth are electively removed, allegedly in an effort to prevent certain dental problems in the future. Not only is the elective removal of otherwise perfectly healthy teeth controversial, but the impact of doing so risks upsetting the body’s natural energy flow in ways that both patients and traditional dentists cannot possibly understand or predict.

Nowhere is this controversy greater than in the removal of bicuspid teeth. We have often found adults who, having had their bicuspids removed for orthodontic reasons, years later experience airway issues, recurrent sinus infections, snoring and sleep apnea, and sometimes neck and back issues. This is because everything gets pulled back

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“A holistic approach that views the teeth not in isolation but as an interconnected and essential part of a balanced body is the best way to ensure whole body health.”

to bring the teeth together and there’s a loss of space for airways, or the throat area, for breathing.

Only recently are some orthodontists considering the airways more than just straight teeth.

Likewise, wisdom teeth extraction has often been recommended by orthodontists for people with smaller mouths, who may truly not have enough space to accommodate these teeth.

The reason for this, you may be surprised to learn, is to be found not in our mouths, but in our diets. In previous centuries, our diets were much more rough and coarse than they are today, and that required more chewing. Because of this, our craniums/heads were larger. As our diets changed, so too did our craniums. In fact, according to the latest research, our craniums today are roughly 25-35 percent smaller than they were just 200 years ago. Our wisdom teeth have changed throughout this evolutionary process as well, as many people are born with at least one wisdom tooth that never develops. In 150 years, it’s likely that our wisdom teeth will have evolved out of our mouths altogether. If removal of wisdom teeth is necessary, it’s better to do them before they form their roots, and it’s important to get cranial/osteopathic work after. In addition, treatment with an acupuncturist or other healers for the proper organ meridian is necessary.

DENTAL CARE IN CONTEXT

Fortunately these days, dental care and healthcare are collaborating more and viewing teeth in the context of full-body health. To be sure your dentist or orthodontist can read the clues your

teeth may be giving to your overall health, seek out a practitioner who understands “biological dentistry,” as defined by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. A holistic approach that views the teeth not in isolation, but as an interconnected and essential part of a balanced body, is the best way to ensure whole body health.

Sources (1) Levy, J. (2009). Teeth as sensory organs,. Dental Aegis, 2(3), 223-226, (http://bit.ly/2m31LB5) (2) Pillas, D et al. (2010). Genome-wide association study reveals multiple loci associated with primary tooth development during infancy. PLOS Genetics, 6(3), 1163-1168, (http://bit.ly/2kre4qH) (3) Humphrey, L et al. (2008). Periodontal disease and coronary heart disease incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(12), 2079-2086, doi: (http:// bit.ly/2lYdmS3) (4) Freudenheim, J et al. (2015). Periodontal disease and breast cancer: prospective cohort study of postmenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, 25(1), 43-50, doi: (http:// bit.ly/2lUpqUz) (5) Kellesarian, S et al. (2016). Association between periodontal disease and erectile dysfunction: a systematic review, American Journal of Men's Health, 36(5), 79-83, (http://bit.ly/2m1d9gO)

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AFFLUENCE & INFLUENCE 105

MISUSING WEALTH FOR POWER OVER OTHERS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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erhaps one of most misquoted quotations of all time is the phrase, “Money is the root of all evil.” That misquote is sourced from a Bible verse that actually reads, “For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted…” (1 Timothy, 6:10) Big difference. Money by itself is an inanimate object and is neither good nor evil. Like anything else, the moral aspect comes into play with how we choose to use it and the related advantages that wealth brings us. So in reality, money isn’t evil. It can’t be. Money makes a tremendous amount of good in the world possible, but avarice, the relentless pursuit of money for money’s sake alone, is what changes us for the worse and makes us use our wealth and influence to control others.

MONEY MEMES

For some reason, it’s popular to hate the rich.

For generations, the media has done much to stoke the fires of class warfare by trying to convince the masses that they’re being fleeced by the wealthy or the one-percenters, as they call them, that somehow they don’t pay their “fair share.” The truth is the top 1% of wage earners in the U.S. pays nearly 50% of all the income tax collected each year.1 The top 20% of all earners pays 84% of all taxes,2 while the top 40% pays everything and more; 106% of all income taxes. The bottom 40% pays nothing or a negative 9% and instead receives money in the form of earned income tax credits.3 Dollar for dollar, the top 1% pays more in federal income taxes than the bottom 90% combined.4 That’s the truth, but the truth doesn’t seem to matter when playing the politics of envy and resentment can easily get politicians elected.

It’s also a common misperception that wealthy people possess a sense of entitlement and are more prone to exploit or even cheat others. A study released in 2013 from the University of California Berkeley5 seemed to prove that point and got a lot of attention in the press. If you actually read the study, however, it becomes clear that any correlation between income level and bad behavior doesn’t indicate causation. In fact when considering some of the study methods, which were more subjective than scientific, drawing a simple correlation between wealth and entitlement becomes even less believable.

Among its experiments, the study monitored several busy intersections and determined that luxury cars were four times more likely to cut

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“If we buy into the stereotype that all wealthy people are selfish and corrupt, then we’re signaling the universe to keep financial abundance away from us.....So, we should discard the anti-money messages in the media and understand that money doesn’t make the person; it just magnifies who they already were.” others off in traffic and three times less likely to yield to pedestrians. In another experiment, it assumed that because wealthy participants drew a larger circle on a sheet of paper to represent themselves and smaller circles to represent others that they had an inflated sense of self. It also stated that when wealthy and poor participants engaged in a game of Monopoly where the poor player started with more money and received higher bonuses at certain points in the game, the wealthy player showed his or her sense of entitlement by moving their pawn “aggressively” around the board. Hardly convincing proof that wealth leads to a sense of entitlement or narcissism. Actually, more studies show the opposite—that narcissism, of which entitlement is only a part, is more common among people with lower incomes.6 MONEY AS A MIRROR

As I’ve told my patients for years, how you relate to any issue is the issue and not whatever it is that you think might be the real problem.

How a person relates to the money he has and the possibilities and power that come with it is far more important than the money itself. If I’ve learned anything in the years between my days as a struggling young doctor and opening my medical center in Agoura Hills, it’s that money reveals character; it doesn’t create it. I know that to be true, not just from my own life but from the blessing I’ve had to meet many extremely wealthy people through my medical, publishing, and mentoring work. With confidence I can say that they are some of the most humble and generous people I’ve ever known.

Have I occasionally come across people who misuse their wealth as a way to wield power over others and who try to gain special advantages for themselves? Yes, I have, and I call this mind-money disorder psycho-spiritual affluenza. For some insignificant reason, one person threatened to ruin my career and reputation by using connections he had in the media to get negative stories printed about me. He also threatened to buy out every copy of The Clarity Cleanse from my publisher and destroy them. As preposterous as this sounds, this person was a billionaire and completely capable of doing so. Do I believe his money made him that way? No, of course not. He would have been just as insecure and vindictive without the money as he was with it. He would have found other ways to direct his anger at me. His having wealth, however, just accentuated his existing insecurity and lack of personal power, and gave him more options for revenge. The ways that unconsciously insecure people go about making others feel powerless around them isn’t so much a matter of having money or not, but the size of their budget.

If we buy into the stereotype that all wealthy people are selfish and corrupt, then we’re signaling the universe to keep financial abundance away from us. After all, who would want to be selfish, entitled, and narcissistic? If we truly believe that, then money will not come to us, but we can all do far more good in the world as wealthy people rather than poor ones. So, we should discard the anti-money messages in the media and understand that money doesn’t make the person; it just magnifies who they already were.

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A FOUNDATION FOR FORTUNE

We’ve all read news stories of elderly people who lived in modest homes and led middle-class lives, yet who, upon their death, donated tens of millions of dollars that no one would have guessed they had to a local charity or university. Clearly, money didn’t change who they were, how they viewed the world or treated others. I’ve also had the pleasure of becoming friends with a number of professional actors and athletes who came into their fortunes at various points in their lives.

One of the key factors they regularly share as to why their money never went to their heads is because they had a good social and emotional foundation before success came. They had great parents who instilled the proper values in them, and their best friends remain those who were in their lives before they got famous. That’s what keeps them grounded and using their wealth for greater good.

So if you’re carrying the intention for financial abundance for yourself, be sure your psychospiritual house is in order and you’ve resolved any issues that might lead you to misuse such a blessing in the future. In that way, your affluence will be a positive influence on others to achieve success and do greater good in the world as a result of it as well.

Sources (1) Frank, Robert, “Top 1% Pay Nearly Half of All Federal Income Taxes,” CNBC, (April 14, 2015), (https://cnb.cx/3188Hwg) (2) Saunders, Laura, “Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax”, Wall Street Journal, (April 10, 2015), (https://on.wsj. com/2Mrl8Ps) (3) Wells, Jane, “The rich do not pay the most taxes, they pay ALL the taxes”, CNBC, (December 12, 2013), (https://cnb. cx/2GF2Arc) (4) Lundeen, Andres, “The Top 1 Percent Pays More in Taxes Then the Bottom 90 Percent”, Tax Foundation, (January 7, 2014), (http://bit.ly/31606Kr) (5) Piff, Paul. (2013). Wealth and the inflated self, class, entitlement, and narcissism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11(64), 112-116. (http:// bit.ly/2SVfLt1) (6) Szalavita, Maia, “Wealthy Selfies: How being rich increases narcissism”, TIME, (August 20, 2013), (http://bit.ly/2Znc3Lm)

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SELF-CONSCIOUS OR SELF-CARE THERE’S NOTHING EMBARRASSING ABOUT PROSTATE HEALTH

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi, certified sexologist

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t seems most men are aware that prostate health becomes a priority at or around age 50, but they’re not exactly sure what that means. Perhaps that’s because talking about the prostate—both its function and location in the body, as well as the nature of the prostate exam—is uncomfortable for most men. This is understandable, but avoidance only leads to health problems down the line. With a bit of awareness and the right preventative health choices, men can give themselves the best chance of avoiding everything from prostatitis to prostate cancer and enjoying optimal function and sexual performance well into later life.

LIMITED RELEASE

The prostate gland is about the size of a walnut and is located on the underside of the bladder between it and the penis, just in front of the rectum. The urethra runs from the bladder through the center of the prostate and into the penis to allow urine to flow out of the body. It’s a complex, spongy structure made up of tiny acini or sacs from which fluid is secreted that protects sperm in the acidic vaginal environment. During ejaculation, the prostate squeezes this fluid into the urethra, and it’s expelled with sperm as semen.

The vas deferens bring sperm from the testes to the seminal vesicles that connect to the prostate from behind, which also contribute fluid to the ejaculate. In total, prostate secretions make up about 35% of the seminal fluid.

By its nature and location, the prostate is the

repository for several fluids. As men age, the prostate can lose some of its suppleness, limiting its ability to vigorously contract and fully expel all its contents. This can result in conditions like retrograde ejaculation where men do not release completely and/or experience a muted orgasm.

When the prostate cannot fully empty, residual fluid can build up and, like the deposits in the bottom of a drinking glass, crystalize and calcify over time. It’s this calcification that causes the prostate to become progressively more rigid over time, limiting its ability to fully contract.

If not addressed, this limited release not only leads to problems with sexual function, but the stagnant fluid and its resultant deposits invite infections that often become chronic and can lead to cancer. This is known as the prostate stagnation hypothesis.1 Prostatitis, the most common prostate illness in men, occurs when the prostate becomes infected by bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma or other nonbacterial agents.

MOUNTING MALADIES

If prostatitis is untreated and becomes chronic, the inflammation from the infection will cause the prostate to enlarge, creating much discomfort, particularly burning sensations during urination.

As the prostate continues to swell, it increasingly constricts the urethra, narrowing the pathway through which urine can pass out of the body, making urination slow and difficult. This condition is known as benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) or an enlarged prostate.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

The chronic inflammation from BPH often leads to an eventual diagnosis of prostate cancer, particularly because inflammation is a primary factor in the development of all cancers.

Although prostate cancer is typically thought of as a slow-growing cancer and men rarely die from it, particularly when diagnosed late in life, a swollen, rigid, and inflamed prostate negatively impacts a man’s quality of life in so many ways that prostate health should be his number one priority moving into middle age.

DIAGNOSTICS & DISASTERS

The standard test for prostate health is the digital rectal exam (DRE). The physician inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the rectum to feel the prostate in order to detect enlargement, potentially cancerous lumps or nodules, or tenderness that might suggest prostatitis. Some massaging of the prostate may occur to help it release some fluid through the penis in order to be tested, along with a urine sample, for the presence of white blood cells and pathogens that would signify an infection.

Blood tests for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the protein thought to be associated with prostate cancer, may also be performed. It’s very important to NOT get preoccupied with PSA or frightened by a high number, which often has no bearing on whether a patient has cancer or not. Dr. Richard J. Albin who discovered PSA found that it was present in both the benign (normal) and malignant prostate. His original research clearly showed there was no way to tell if a man had prostate cancer using the PSA. With some additional analysis, it was found to be helpful for tracking the prostate for a recurrence of cancer, but only after it had already been diagnosed and treatment was administered. As an initial diagnostic tool for cancer, it was useless.

In 1986, the FDA approved the PSA test as a tool to track the recurrence of prostate cancer, but by 1994 lobbyists for profit-seeking biotech companies got their way, and the FDA officially approved the PSA test for the detection of prostate cancer in men through regular testing beginning at age 50. As a result, millions of men who didn’t have prostate cancer but were told they did based on this one faulty test, had their prostates removed and their quality of life ruined. Now, many doctors are de-emphasizing the PSA or not performing it at all for otherwise healthy men.

In a 2010 op-ed article in the New York Times titled The Great Prostate Mistake,2 Dr. Albin poured out his regret about how his discovery got intentionally misrepresented for profit and why millions of men suffered for greed. For more information about the dangers of PSA testing, read Dr. Albin’s book,

The Great Prostate Hoax: How Big Medicine Hijacked the PSA test and Caused a Public Health Disaster 3 and the MegaZEN 2015 article, “Early Detection Disaster: How the rush to diagnose and treat prostate cancer devastated the lives of millions of men.”

If cancer is actually present, a prostate (transrectal) ultrasound can be performed. An ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum, allowing it to get close to the prostate, and is usually performed in conjunction with a biopsy.

DRUG INTERVENTIONS

If an infection is present, antibiotics may be prescribed. The challenge with a prostate infection is that few available antibiotics to which the pathogens are sensitive are able to pass through the plasma-prostate barrier and into the prostatic fluid. Because of this, antibiotic-only therapy works in just 1 out of 3 cases.4 Alpha-blockers can relax the muscles around the urethra in men with an enlarged prostate, allowing urine to flow more freely. 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors can reduce levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which run high when the prostate is

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“Blood tests for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), the protein thought to be associated with prostate cancer, may also be performed. It’s very important to NOT get preoccupied with PSA or frightened by a high number, which often has no bearing on whether a patient has cancer or not.” in order to break up calcified deposits. After a few minutes, an additional massage of the prostate is performed, known as “milking” the prostate, in order to encourage fluid and particles to be expelled through the penis.

Prostate massage is not new, and up until the 1960s when certain drugs became available, it was the primary treatment for prostatitis. At present, existing studies show that the most effective treatment for prostatitis is a dual approach that includes both antibiotics and prostate massage.5 A study from the Philippines showed that patients with chronic prostatitis receiving antibiotics and prostate massage three times a week for 12 weeks reported significant decreases in symptom severity of greater than 60% that lasted into the two-year follow-up.6 PURGING AS PREVENTION

enlarged. DHT is the hormone linked to hair loss, and its levels increase as men age. Lowering DHT levels can help shrink the prostate.

PROSTATE MASSAGE

Once prostatitis reaches the chronic stage, it’s extremely difficult to eradicate, as relapses are common. Therefore, the best approach for prostatitis is a preventative prostate massage 2 to 4 times per year after age 50. The primary goal of a prostate massage is to drain the residual fluid to prevent hardened deposits from forming and not provide an environment that’s hospitable to microbes. Prostate massage can also help release the tension around nerve endings behind the prostate in the lavatory ani muscle in a form of myofascial release to relieve pain.

Similar to the DRE, a physician inserts a lubricated, gloved, finger into the rectum and gently massages the prostate. Once the prostate is properly relaxed and primed, a probe is inserted to make contact with it. The physician guides the patient through a pattern of deep breathing, holding and muscle contractions, as the probe lightly oscillates and vibrates against the prostate 111

Adding more evidence to the importance of regularly purging the prostate are two recent, long-term, large-scale studies. It’s always been known anecdotally that men who ejaculate more regularly have lower rates of prostate cancer.

Now, an 18-year study following 30,000 men has confirmed it scientifically. The study examined men between ages 46 and 81, and found that those who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 33% less chance of developing prostate cancer than men who reported ejaculating between 4 and 7 times per month.7 An Australian study following 2,300 men came to the same conclusion.

Men who averaged 4.6 to 7 ejaculations per week were 36% less likely to develop prostate cancer by age 70 than men who ejaculated an average of 2.3 times per week.8 While it’s now clear that frequent and full release of the prostate is essential for the prevention of prostate cancer, a study published in European Urology explored whether gene expression patterns varied according to frequency of ejaculation. Analyzing 20,254 genes in 157 men who developed prostate cancer from the earlier 18-year study, researchers found 409 genes and 6 pathways significantly associated with ejaculation

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“Prostatitis, the most common prostate illness in men, occurs when the prostate becomes infected by bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma or other nonbacterial agents...

If prostatitis is untreated and becomes chronic, the inflammation from the infection will cause the prostate to enlarge, creating much discomfort, particularly burning sensations during urination.”

frequency.9 They stated in their findings that less frequent ejaculation can trigger genetic changes that lead to cancer.

“These results suggest that ejaculation affects the expression of genes in the normal prostate tissue.

The identified genes and pathways provide potential biological links between [ejaculation frequency] and prostate tumorigenesis.”

Once again, the prostate stagnation hypothesis is confirmed.

ELIMINATING EMBARR ASSMENT

The time to think about a prostate massage is before prostatitis develops and you really do need one. To mitigate nervousness, it might help to think about clearing out your old prostatic fluid the same way you change the oil in your car—because that’s basically what you’re doing.

Besides, they both need to be done about every three months anyway.

The results I’ve seen in my patients who have prostate massages regularly have been dramatic.

I’ve seen conditions like erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, burning during urination, and chronic pelvic pain significantly improve or resolve completely.

I had one patient whose prostate was so swollen and painful that he couldn’t sit down. When his pain disappeared, he was overjoyed.

The key to health in later life is for men to not allow themselves to get to such a point, and to do that they must put the necessary time and prevention into regular prostate massage after age 50. Forget about self-consciousness; this is about self-care and making sure the rest of your life is the best of your life.

Sources (1) Murphy, John, “More-gasms Reduce Risks of Prostate Cancer”, MDLinx, (Dec. 18, 2018), (http://bit.ly/2YKjqQ4) (2) Albin, R. (2010) March 9. The New York Times, The great prostate mistake.

(3) Ablin RJ, Piana R. The Great Prostate Hoax: How Big Medicine Hijacked the PSA Test and Caused a Public Health Disaster.

New York: Macmillan Publishers; 2014.

(4) Drach, G. (1975). Prostatitis: man's hidden infection. The Urologic Clinics of North America, 2(3), 499-520.

(5) Ibid.

(6) Nickel, J. (1999). Repetitive prostatic massage therapy for chronic refractory prostatitis: the philippine experience.

Techniques in Urology, 5(3), 146-151.

(7) Rider, J et al. (2016). Ejaculation frequency and risk of prostate cancer: updated results with an additional decade of follow-up. European Urology, 70(6), 974-982, DOI: http://bit.ly/2yxcc2U (8) Giles, G et al. (2003). Sexual factors and prostate cancer. BJUI International, 92(3), 211-216, (http://bit.ly/319opqU) (9) Sinnott, J et all. (2018). Differential gene expression in prostate tissue according to ejaculation frequency. European Urology, 74(5), 545-548, DOI: http://bit.ly/2KdxxoN

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THE VERSATILE HEALING

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As an inhibitory neurotransmitter, taurine has been shown to be effective in calming overactive brain states such as anxiety caused by stress. Because of this unique capability, it’s often used to help prevent seizures in epileptic patients and minimize manic states for those with bipolar disorder. Taurine has also been shown to increase testosterone production without raising the level of estradiol (a form of estrogen) in the body. It also provides excellent benefits for sleep, antioxidant protection, and the effects of Type 2 diabetes. There is hardly any other nutritional supplement available that offers as many well-researched benefits across as wide a range of conditions as taurine. Even better, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found no serious side effects from taurine supplementation, and the European Food Safety Authority has found that doses as high as 1,000mg per kg of body weight per day brought no ill effects. To find out if Healing Taurine can make your life better in several ways, call our office today.

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THE

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UNDERSTANDING THE PASSIVE SIDE OF PRODUCING OUR DESIRES

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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ife comes into being or manifests in the material world through two channels. We can think of it as a coin with two sides; one for heads and the other for tails. The heads side represents the phenotypic or physical/material aspect of whatever it is we want.

This is the phenomenon of the unseen becoming seen in our world. In reality, however, it’s the tails side of the coin that’s far more important and what must come first if manifestation of our desire is to occur. It seems contradictory, but it’s a law of nature that consciousness precedes context.

Unfortunately, most people are unaware of this, choosing instead to focus all their time and attention only on the physical aspects and demands of bringing their desire into being and yet never wondering why they’re working twice as hard for half the results.

“Before you can create a phenomenon, a phenotypic expression in this physical world, there must first be a genotypic expression to precede it, an internal corresponding state of consciousness, the tails side of the coin or right kind of mental soil, where that idea can be nurtured and subsequently allowed to emerge into existence.”

The tails side is the quality of consciousness that’s required to manifest whatever it is that’s on the other side of your coin. So when we say in anthroposophical medicine that consciousness precedes context, the phenotypic expression or the tangible part of our desire, what we’re saying is that tails come before heads. Although the head of a fish is what contains all its senses, navigation abilities and eats to keep it alive, it’s the caudal or tail fin that moves it forward and if lost would render all other abilities useless. Likewise, as beautiful as the head of a bald eagle or blue jay might be, it’s their tail feathers that enable them to take flight and stabilize themselves in the air to get where they’re going. Put another way, it’s the tiny seed that remains unseen in the soil and how we tend to it that determines what plant, vegetable or flower, if any, will finally break through the earth and manifest into the physical word. What we think of as the most inconsequential part of the manifestation process is actually the most important.

Before you can create a phenomenon, a phenotypic expression in this physical world, there must first be a genotypic expression to precede it, an internal corresponding state of consciousness, the tails side of the coin or right kind of mental soil, where that idea can be nurtured and subsequently allowed to emerge into existence. A baby’s blue eyes are a phenotypic expression, an outward manifestation of a specific genotypic expression or genotype that already existed within the baby before its eyes were fully developed or it was even born. The proper DNA had to be in place before those blue eyes could open for the first time in the outer world. So the internal conditions or proper genotypic expression has to be in place before the final phenotypic expression or physical end product can makes its appearance in reality.

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“To manifest anything, particularly healing, we cannot focus solely on the physical structure.

To do so at the expense of the feminine or functional aspect, the structure becomes rigid or inanimate, and we decrease the functionality.”

So in the context of psycho-spirituality, the genotypic expression, as I described it in The Clarity Cleanse, is the quality of the internal dialogue that occurs within us and our ability to become aware of and listen to it. For example, a child may have delayed speech, and his parents want to focus on improving his speech pattern, but the secret to making that happen lies not in the therapist, but in the child’s ability to improve his listening skills, particularly as they relate to his own dialogue and how he’s saying things or forming his words.

Back to the coin analogy, the tails side is the feminine aspect of the creation process that does the listening or creates the speech pattern. In contrast, it’s the heads side or masculine quality that’s doing the speaking. So when the masculine is delayed, there is also a delay in our feminine quality or ability to listen. Most people miss this because their capacity to tune into or listen to their internal dialogue is either diminished because they don’t feel it’s important or simply nonexistent because they’re living unconsciously on autopilot and don’t hear it at all.

So with every child experiencing speech issues, I request that their pediatrician perform a hearing test because what they’re manifesting in a particular speech pattern is based almost entirely on an internal, nonphysical aspect, their ability to

listen to their own words, more so than with any structural/physical issue or misuse of the tongue, teeth and palate. So, as the child improves the quality of his listening, the nonphysical aspect of his therapy, he manifests improved speech through better or more conscious use of the physical organs that make speech possible in the first place.

In this way, everything in life has two qualities or aspects to it, the masculine and feminine. This has nothing to do with how we think of these terms in the sexual sense. The masculine side of something is its physical structure, the concrete aspects, while the feminine side involves its function or how it’s utilized or employed to accomplish a certain goal. To manifest anything, particularly healing, we cannot focus solely on the physical structure. To do so at the expense of the feminine or functional aspect, the structure becomes rigid or inanimate, and we decrease the functionality.

If we focus only on the feminine or functionality, we end up with a weak framework that cannot properly execute its purpose.

We need to provide equal attention to developing both of these aspects. This is the proper approach to manifesting in all areas of life. Unfortunately, most people, and in particular powerful people, focus only on the structural aspect of life, the physical components, the material aspects of their desires or the phenomena. It’s the chronic stress

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that comes from constantly using only the physical aspects of life, the end products of the creation process to produce limited results, that causes these people to break down and collapse, either physically, emotionally or both. This happens a lot with corporate executives who are under so much pressure to produce greater yields year after year.

When I speak to them in corporate engagements, I stress the importance of establishing a chief spiritual officer or CSO, who is responsible for cultivating the proper psycho-spiritual ecology or the right mindset in all employees that utilizes both aspects of the creation process to manifest their goals with better results and greater ease.

It’s those organizations that are willing to commit to the importance of the nonphysical aspects of creating a better product or service, or producing greater profits that really flourish.

I’ve worked with executives who started with virtually nothing more than a website and an idea, and by following this dual path of manifestation, they turned their modest operation into a multimillion dollar company. I recall a client who wanted to create what he called a farmer’s market for music online but didn’t know how. Through

doing this kind of work, he was able to manifest the perfect eleven partners and investors to join him in the venture, and now his company is one of the largest live streaming music services on the internet.

So it’s the feminine quality of the creation process, our ability to listen, go deeper, and trust those directives, that precedes the phenomenon or physical aspect of our desire. The quality of our ability to listen to ourselves at the most intimate level is the same quality that allows us to really listen to others. When others feel we’re really listening to them, they sense that their ideas and even themselves as people matter to us. This endears others to us and creates a deeper bond, a deeper connection that makes our desires possible, because to one extent or another, all opportunities lie in other people. Of course, they must present themselves to us, but it is up to us to first draw those people into our path and then make a meaningful connection with them by really listening. So it is the feminine that precedes phenotypic expression and all the qualities that go along with it like love, compassion, nurturing, forgiveness, compromise, and emotional relation.

“So it’s the feminine quality of the creation process, our ability to listen, go deeper, and trust those directives, that precedes the phenomenon or physical aspect of our desire.”

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EMOTIONS, ARMOR & ENERGY

HOW SCAR TREATMENT IS OFTEN THE KEY TO PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALING

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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ll living and non-living things are part of nature, and nature itself is a complex, interconnected system of cycles. Some of those cycles include patterns we can see like the sunrise and sunset, high and low tides of the ocean, and the change of seasons.

Many of these cycles occur at the cellular and subatomic levels that we can’t see. One of these cycles involves the expansion and contraction of the human cell as it throbs, like a beating heart, with life force energy, the energy that animates, moves us, and gives form and function to our being. The 20th century physician and psychoanalyst, Wilhelm Reich, called this energy “orgone” and said that it permeated all things in nature, moving in, through, and around us.

As a medical doctor, Riech recognized that merely treating symptoms didn’t provide real healing, especially in patients with chronic conditions. As a psychoanalyst, he understood that repressed emotions from past experiences upset the body’s natural flow of orgone energy, and that those energy blockages in turn greatly contributed to physical problems in various areas of the body based on the type of emotion or experience that was being repressed. He likened what was happening to the cells in the dysfunctional part of the body to a rubber band being placed around a jellyfish that prevented it from being able to gently contract and expand to allow orgone energy to flow through it. It’s this chronic cellular constriction, which he found was always accompanied by related muscular tension in the body, that he called emotional armoring.

ENGINEERING & INTERVENTION

In order for healing to happen, Reich believed the body and mind had to be engaged together.

Talk therapy alone wasn’t enough to release the repressed emotions that were responsible for a patient’s emotional armoring and related physical health problem, but neither was body-centric symptom management. His approach to emotional and physical healing was a visceral one. In order to neutralize the repressed emotion that was at the core of the energy restriction and related physical problem, he largely bypassed the thinking mind that habitually stuffs our emotions away in a mistaken effort to protect us. Instead, he worked mainly with the physical tension in the body’s problem areas through manipulative therapy and breathing techniques.

In an act of amazing reverse engineering, once the patient’s physical armoring was released he or she experienced a spontaneous emotional release of the repressed feelings. This usually occurred over several sessions but the end result was always the same; the physical problem never returned.

This is the heart of Integrative Orgone Therapy.

MYSTERIOUS MALADIES

Physical scarring can also block the life force energy from moving freely through the body along pathways called meridians. The 12 major meridians pass through many areas of the body but are named for the major organ or system along their route. They include the lung, large intestine, spleen, stomach, heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium (circulation/sex), triple warmer (head, also assists pericardium meridian), liver and gall bladder meridians.

Because alternative therapies such as acupuncture are achieving much success with patients, more traditional healthcare institutions are only now beginning to investigate the importance of energy meridians.1

“Energy blockages from scarring and the related health problems they create are a great concern because 20 million Americans undergo surgery every year for a wide range of conditions that leave them with scar tissue, and that’s just for procedures that require general anesthesia” C ON T I N U E D. . .

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Energy blockages from scarring and the related health problems they create are a great concern because 20 million Americans undergo surgery every year for a wide range of conditions that leave them with scar tissue, and that’s just for procedures that require general anesthesia.2 When we consider all the people who have surgical procedures that include local anesthesia, as well as those who end up with scarring because of accidents, the number of Americans left with scar tissue could easily be 40 to 60 million annually.

Millions of people arrive home from the hospital satisfied that their surgery went well, only to discover some time later that a secondary problem has occurred, never suspecting that it’s likely connected to their previous surgery, the scar they received, and the energy blockage in their body that it’s creating. Women never suspect that the dyspareunia (painful intercourse) or anorgasmia (inability to orgasm) that mysteriously appeared just months after having their baby is due to the energy blockage in their pelvic region caused by their C-section scar. Interestingly in Japan, where C-sections aren’t nearly as common, a vertical incision is made as opposed to the horizontal procedure performed in the U.S. This is done to disrupt as few energetic meridians as possible.

Likewise, most men are completely unaware that their erectile dysfunction, which seemed to appear out of nowhere, was the result of the scarring from their appendectomy, faulty circumcision, hernia, or gall bladder surgery months earlier.

ACCUMULATION OR DEFLECTION

When energy meridians are blocked by scarring, one of two things can happen. Sometimes, the moving energy hits the scar like a roadblock and begins to concentrate there, radiating outward into the surrounding area. This is how something like a C-section or hernia surgery scar ends up

causing a secondary problem in the urogenital region. Other times, the moving energy hits the scar tissue and ricochets off the blockade, getting redirected down another meridian where it’s not supposed to be. In these cases, a secondary health problem will occur wherever that deflected energy lands, usually in an area far removed from the scar. It’s these kinds of problems that even doctors almost never connect to a scar in a completely different part of the body.

To locate the source of these problems, Chinese medicine and acupuncture use an approach called contralateral diagnosis. With regard to meridians, this approach states that whatever affects the top affects the bottom; whatever affects the front affects the back; whatever affects the right affects the left and so on. If you imagine the arm superimposed over the leg then the shoulder corresponds to the hip, the elbow corresponds to the knee, the wrist corresponds to the ankle and the hand corresponds to the foot. So from the contralateral perspective, if a patient is experiencing a problem with the right shoulder, the left hip is treated. In cases like these, it’s not uncommon for a patient to be experiencing unexplained pain in his right wrist that disappears after a recent scar on his left ankle is treated.

NON-INVASIVE APPROACH

Ordinarily, scar treatment to release an energy blockage involves injecting Procaine into the surrounding area. Once inside the body, Procaine gets converted to para-benzoicaminoacid (PABA), an antioxidant that some classify as part of the vitamin B complex. This generates the production of folic acid which begins to release some of the rigidity and stored energy of the scar tissue through the miasmatic process. Moments later, homeopathic healing agents imported from Germany are then injected into the area to reopen

“Women never suspect that the dyspareunia (painful intercourse) or anorgasmia (inability to orgasm) that mysteriously appeared just months after having their baby is due to the energy blockage in their pelvic region caused by their C-section scar.”

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“Physical scarring can also block the life force energy from moving freely through the body along pathways called meridians. The 12 major meridians pass through many areas of the body but are named for the major organ or system along their route.”

the energetic pathway and expedite the release of any lingering stagnation. This process is known as Integrative Neural Therapy (INT).

Integrative Orgone Therapy (IOT) accomplishes the same thing but is entirely non-invasive. Instead of using injections to break up the scar tissue and facilitate energy release, the area is treated with Dr. Reich’s physical manipulations, as well as a rubberized Fulford percussion hammer, similar to the one doctors use to check knee reflexes.

In both INT and IOT, as the stagnant energy is released from the scar area, patients often experience a simultaneous emotional release. They may cry, scream, or experience some momentary anxiety or anger. This happens because the rigidity of scars and the surrounding area are most often connected to emotional armoring.

As the physical armoring or tension is released, the repressed emotions from the event that resulted in the scar finally come to the surface to be fully processed and purged. It could be the subconscious trauma from a difficult childbirth and an emergency C-section, a car accident, or some other event. In any case, each patient is fully supported with breathing techniques and emotional intervention during their experience, which usually lasts just a few minutes. Results are often immediate, but to ensure a full emotional purge and lasting physical relief, most patients receive three to six treatment sessions. Older scars may take a bit more time than newer ones, as the emotional armoring is more entrenched, but the result is the same.

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ILLNESS AS EVIDENCE

If you’ve been suffering from an unexplained physical condition, investigate your previous surgical history. Remember that sometimes, the scar doesn’t have to be anywhere near the location of the current physical ailment. It’s a matter of how close in time and the way the scar was acquired in relation to the new, mysterious health problem. Keep in mind that scars can be internal as well.

The healing power of IOT is truly amazing. I live for the moments when I can see a patient completely relieved in a matter of days from chronic pain or a limiting condition he or she has dealt with for years. IOT is clearly one of the most miraculous and consistent healing interventions I have ever had the privilege of providing…and with no more needles. Just remember that when you’re on a healing journey, the illness itself can be the symptom or clue pointing to a scar that’s part of your subconscious emotional armor.

Sources (1) Ahn, Andrew et al. "Electrical impedance of acupuncture meridians: the relevance of subcutaneous collagenous bands." Public library of science one. 5.7 (2010): 119.Print.

(2) Roan, Shari. "Anesthesia's effects may linger after patient goes home ." The los angeles times 20 July 2005. Print.

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MEDITATION 122

ANNUAL DOSE OF INSPIRATION FROM BE HIVE OF HEALING’S L.I.G.H.T.

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UNDER THE

INFLUENCE THE RISK OF VIOLENT AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR WITH ANTIDEPRESSANTS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

D

rugs are ubiquitous in our society. Advertisements not just for over-the-counter medications, but powerful prescription drugs are everywhere: on TV, billboards, and in magazines. It’s almost impossible today to find someone who isn’t on some type of regular medication or knows someone else who is. As much as they’ve become a part of daily life (for good or ill), the fact remains that all drugs have negative side effects to some degree, regardless of whether we can perceive them or not.

In the last 26 years, no other type of drug has become more prescribed across all population and age groups than antidepressant / anxiety medications, also known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). In fact, prescribing SSRIs has become so pervasive in the last two decades that a 2017 study showed 1 in 6 Americans was taking an SSRI or related psychiatric drug.1 That’s nearly 20% of the population. This is largely due to the fact that because SSRIs have become so common, most physicians and patients don’t view them as dangerous. Antidepressants are the aspirin of the 21st century. At the same time, doctors regularly prescribe SSRIs to millions of people for all kinds of off-label purposes like back pain, insomnia and fibromyalgia. Even though these drugs have not been tested nor approved for such uses, prescribing them in this way is still, shockingly, legal.

What most people don’t realize is that there is an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence that shows SSRIs are directly linked to drastic changes in behavior, particularly suicide and violence against others. What some casually refer to as their “happy pills” are resulting in wild behavior and mood changes that are having catastrophic consequences on the lives of patients and those around them. When the reports of otherwise healthy, law-abiding people committing murder, mass murder, assault, robbery, rape, and arson finally hit the news, we’re never told that an increasing number of them were under the influence of SSRIs at the time.

TALES OF TR AGEDY

SSRIs include drugs like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), fluvoxamine (Luvox) and others. The internet is awash in tragic stories from the families of patients who either killed themselves or killed others and then took their own lives while on these drugs. In fact, the number of these tragic stories has become so large that they’ve been compiled in various online databases such as SSRIstories.net and SSRIstories.org, where the nightmarish experiences are broken down into categories like suicide, homicide, and assault.

More often we’re hearing of how SSRIs have ruined the lives of young people. Recently, 14-year-old Naika Venant of Miami hanged herself live on Facebook. It would later be revealed that she was taking Zoloft at the time.2 Then there’s the tragic story of a teenager who bludgeoned his father to death with a hammer and crowbar, then repeatedly stabbed his mother in the face with a pair of scissors just weeks after being prescribed Prozac. He would later tell investigators that at the time of the crime, “I didn’t feel real.”3

C ON T I N U E D. . .

I also know of a man who was put on SSRIs when his business began to struggle after the 2008 economic recession. His wife later shared that he kept telling her, “I don’t like the way these pills make me feel.” She urged him to stop taking them, but he continued, believing that they would eventually help him. Shortly thereafter, he shot himself.

A patient of mine related the story of a friend who, after having an argument with his girlfriend, shut himself away in their bedroom. In recounting the experience, the man told my patient, “I don’t know what came over me, but all I could think about was wanting to kill her, then kill myself.

There was no room in my mind for anything else.”

He was on Lexapro at the time. Fortunately, he was able to keep his wits about him, contact his doctor, and discontinue the drug after a weaning period.

Others aren’t so lucky. When my brother Mehrdad’s health began to decline in 2015, he was put on an SSRI against my recommendation.

His behavior soon became hostile and erratic to the point where his wife and children had to leave their home. Instead of taking Mehrdad off the SSRI, the doctors were constantly changing his medication. In a matter of months, he took his own life.

at all ages.5 To this effect, the researchers wrote: “It can no longer be doubted that antidepressants are dangerous and can cause suicide and homicide at any age. It is absurd to use drugs for depression that increase the risk of homicide and suicide when we know that cognitive behavioral therapy can halve the risk of suicide in patients who have been admitted after a suicide attempt and when psychotherapy does not increase the risk of murder.”

A study from the Yale University School of Medicine of more than 1,500 cases of patient violence showed that 31 drugs were disproportionately connected to violent behavior toward others. The majority of those drugs were antidepressants, followed by sedatives and other psychiatric drugs for conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).6 The researchers concluded: “Acts of violence towards others are a genuine and serious adverse drug event associated with a relatively small group of drugs. Varenicline, which increases the availability of dopamine, and antidepressants with serotonergic effects were the most strongly and consistently implicated drugs.”

SUICIDE AND VIOLENCE CONNECTION

All of this suffering continues in full view of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has done nothing over the last 26 years to either pull SSRIs off the market or severely limit their distribution. This is in spite of the fact that the FDA itself admitted in a formal statement back in 2007 regarding SSRIs: “Families and caregivers of patients should be advised to look for the emergence of such symptoms on a day-to-day basis, since changes may be abrupt…All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases. The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants.”4 A decade later, the evidence continued to pile up. In 2017, the British Medical Journal was just the latest to conclusively show that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide, violence, and homicide

“A study by the Harvard School of Public Health that followed 162,000 subjects between 10 and 64, which found significant risks for all age groups but particularly those 24 and younger, whose likelihood of suicidal or violent behavior doubled while on SSRIs.” SSRI prescription is also relatively high in Sweden with 14% of women and 8% of men taking the drugs. A three-year study between 2006 and 2009, conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the University of Oxford in

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England, found 8,377 people during that time period committed violent crimes like homicide and assault while on antidepressants. The analysis also showed that patients were nearly 20% more likely to be convicted of a violent crime when on the medication than when they weren’t. When isolated to just the 15-24 age group, patients’ risk of committing a violent crime were 43% greater than when they weren’t on SSRIs, and this risk was significant even at low doses.7 These results were confirmed in a study by the Harvard School of Public Health that followed 162,000 subjects between 10 and 64, which found significant risks for all age groups but particularly those 24 and younger, whose likelihood of suicidal or violent behavior doubled while on SSRIs.8 DOWNPLAYING THE DANGER

While the evidence continues to mount, pharmaceutical corporations have attempted to either downplay the threat of suicide and violent behavior from SSRIs or claim that the danger only lies with adolescents. The evidence proves this is patently false. When analyzing the assessments from the drug trials of 13 different antidepressants that included over 600 cases, researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that healthy adults with no previous history of mental disorders doubled their risk of self-harm and violence toward others when taking SSRIs. In his conclusion, the lead researcher, Dr. Peter Gotzsche, said it was clear that during SSRI trials, drug companies were underestimating the adverse effects in their final analysis in order to yield

the results they were looking for in actions that were unethical, if not criminal. The researchers concluded: “While it is now generally accepted antidepressants increase the risk of suicide and violence in children and adolescents, most people believe these drugs are not dangerous for adults. This is a potentially lethal misconception…It is well documented that drug companies under-report seriously the harms of antidepressants related to suicide and violence, either by simply omitting them from reports, by calling them something else or by committing scientific misconduct.”9 That misconduct includes covering up suicides that occurred inside the trial clinics. In 2004, 19-year-old Traci Johnson, who had no history of mental problems, hanged herself inside the Eli Lilly Clinic where trials for the antidepressant Cymbalta, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) very similar to an SSRI, were underway. In the end, the suicide was hushed up and didn’t delay the drug’s approval.10 CONFLICTS & CONSEQUENCES

In almost every case, what ends up happening is that the pharmaceutical companies falsified results are published in medical journals overseen by editors who have direct connections with the drug makers themselves. In fact, in recent years, even the chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which exists to oversee best practices in scholarly publishing, has had direct links to pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline,

“While the evidence continues to mount, pharmaceutical corporations have attempted to either downplay the threat of suicide and violent behavior from SSRIs or claim that the danger only lies with adolescents. The evidence proves this is patently false.”

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Cephalon, Merck, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and others through providing writing, editing, and consultant services.11 Getting accurate data out of the drug companies isn’t going to be an easy task. At this point, however, so much independent research has been done on SSRIs that manufacturer data isn’t even necessary anymore to prove how dangerous they are. Still, those numbers will be essential to prove actual misconduct as lawsuits pile up and efforts to remove SSRIs from the market gain momentum. Dr. David Healy, professor of psychiatry at Bangor University in Maine and author of 20 books, stated in a review of legal cases and SSRIs for the medical journal, PLoS Medicine back in 2006 that the only way to get real numbers out of the drug companies and prove criminal misconduct may be through a lawsuit.

“Both clinical trial and pharmacovigilance data point to possible links between these drugs and violent behavior…Legal systems are likely to continue to be faced with cases of violence associated with the use of psychotropic drugs, and it may fall to the courts to demand access to currently unavailable data.”12

them, therefore leaving patients untreated and resulting in even more violent attacks and suicides.

Sadly, both the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe reported the propaganda. It was Boston.com reporter Alison Bass who exposed the fact that the journal article had been funded by a $30,000 grant from Pfizer, the maker of Zoloft.16 Even today, the FDA continues to downplay its own warning by stating on its SSRI information webpage for children and adolescents that, “…the benefits of antidepressant medications likely outweigh their risks…”17

“If there is one sector of society that’s under a greater assault by SSRIs, it’s the military. According to the Military Times, 1 in 6 service members is on some type of psychiatric drug.”

While the drug companies remain closed-fisted with their data, the lawsuits continue to pile up.

By 2009, GlaxoSmithKline had already paid out more than $1 billion in wrongful death lawsuits from Paxil.13 Forest Laboratories, the maker of Celexa and Lexapro, has settled more than 32 lawsuits costing more than $313 million that included fraud charges for illegally marketing SSRIs to children and giving kickbacks to doctors for prescribing the drugs.14 In fact, there are so many class action lawsuits in process for most of the SSRIs that it’s difficult to get an accurate total on all the payouts—they keep increasing daily.

LIES & LIABILITY

In 2004, with pressure (and lawsuits) mounting, instead of removing SSRIs from the market, the FDA added what it calls a “black box” warning to the inserts of the various antidepressants.15 Although this is considered the “most serious” warning the FDA can assign to a drug, all it means is that the warning language is framed inside a black outlined box.

Almost immediately, powerful psychiatrists in the U.S. began a campaign to get the warning removed from SSRI inserts. Several years later, an article appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry that, in an incredible display of circular logic, tried to convince mental health professionals that having the warning on SSRI inserts was scaring doctors away from prescribing the drugs and making patients reluctant to take

MEDICATING THE MILITARY

If there is one sector of society that’s under a greater assault by SSRIs, it’s the military.

According to the Military Times,18 1 in 6 service members is on some type of psychiatric drug. The push to severely medicate the military happened during the second war in Iraq and Afghanistan where troop suicides were higher than combat fatalities and mostly among troops who had never been deployed.19 This completely discredited the standard claim that military suicides were a result of combat duty or PTSD. Still, that didn’t stop the military from quickly issuing its own report in the Journal of the American Medical Association stating that antidepressants had no

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“Between 2002 and 2011, military spending on drugs exploded more than 123% from $3 billion to $6.8 billion with more than one third of that amount, $2.7 billion, on antidepressants alone.”

link to military suicides, choosing instead to blame the troops themselves and alleging illicit drug use—this in spite of the fact that military suicides doubled between 2005 and 2015.20 Not surprisingly, it was later discovered the authors of the military’s journal study had financial links to Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Janssen-Cilag, Pfizer, SanofiAventis, Shire, and Johnson & Johnson.

Between 2002 and 2011, military spending on drugs exploded more than 123% from $3 billion to $6.8 billion with more than one third of that amount, $2.7 billion, on antidepressants alone.21 This is the exact timeframe in the years after 9/11 and during the Iraq-Afghan wars when military suicides began to take off. During 2013, when the Military Times exposé was written, the army reported 73,103 prescriptions for Zoloft, 38,199 for Prozac, 17,830 for Paxil and 12,047 for Cymbalta had been dispensed to troops.22 Like civilian doctors, military doctors are increasingly prescribing antidepressants for off-label conditions, such as insomnia, chronic pain, and migraines to devastating effect. A review in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology includes the story of a 37-year-old man with an otherwise stable life and no history of mental illness trying to kill himself after just two months on Cymbalta for back pain. “The patient was unable to state exactly why he wanted to commit suicide,” the researchers wrote, noting that the man returned to normal when the drug was 129

stopped.23 In an equally dramatic turn, when U.S. Army Specialist Kyle Wesolowski returned from active duty in Iraq in 2010, military doctors put him on seven different drugs, including SSRIs for anxiety and depression. During this period, Wesolowski told the International Business Times about the dire mental struggle he was under because of the drugs.

He chillingly described the violent urges he felt behind his smile, while meeting a young woman at a bar. Soon after, he admitted, “I began to fantasize about killing her.”24 Wesolowski eventually got off the SSRIs, but millions of stories like his happen every day while never making the news—that is, unless they end in tragedy like that of Ivan Lopez, the Iraqi war veteran who opened fire on April 3, 2014 at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, killing three people and wounding 16 others before killing himself. At the time of the shooting, Lopez was being treated for anxiety and depression.

Army officials were quick to declare there were no signs Lopez was likely to commit violence against himself or others, but how would they know he wasn’t mentally spiraling out of control? Records showed Lopez hadn’t been seen by a doctor for at least a full month before the shooting. Military administrators also never released the names of the drugs Lopez was taking at the time.

When the press blamed the event on PTSD, Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a 30-year brigadier general in the

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“Guns have been freely available with no background checks in the U.S. since the mid-16th century to the early 1980’s, even for semi-automatic rifles. The number of mass shootings in that 430-year time period? Zero. Up until 1986, it was legal to own a fully automatic machine gun in the U.S. Again, the number of mass shootings: zero.”

army’s mental health sector and chief psychiatrist at Fort Hood during the 1980s, stated that the vast majority of people with PTSD do not become more aggressive, and that there was “about a 90% chance” that Lopez was on multiple psychotropic drugs and “these drugs definitely could have made him more homicidal.”25

which receives billions of dollars in ad revenue from pharmaceutical companies, chooses to focus incessantly on the method of these murders, guns, it remains virtually silent on the motivation for the drastic and sudden increase in violent and homicidal behavior across the population— rampant use of SSRIs.

Dr. Peter Breggin is an expert on SSRIs and the military, and the author of several studies and more than 20 books. He has testified before Congress on the catastrophic effect of what he calls the “disturbing and rampant practice” of “over-drugging troops.” He also acts as a medical consultant to military attorneys who represent soldiers accused of committing violent crimes while on SSRIs. In regard to Lopez, Breggin stated, “It’s inevitable that he was on psychotropic drugs, and almost certainly more than one.”

Pointing out that Lopez was under the care of a psychiatrist, Breggin emphasized, “When you see a psychiatrist, you get increased medication.”26

MEDICATED MASS SHOOTERS

In a study published in Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Breggin emphasized that military members should never be given antidepressants because they “…frequently cause suicide, violence, and manic-like symptoms of activation or overstimulation, presenting serious hazards to active duty soldiers who carry weapons…Antidepressants should not be prescribed to soldiers during or after deployment.”27 Unfortunately, the military and particularly Fort Hood could have prevented the Lopez incident if they’d chosen to learn from experience. Five years earlier in 2009, Fort Hood was the site of a previous, supposedly spontaneous, mass shooting when army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.

These are only two incidents in a long line of what’s come to be known as mass shootings in the U.S. over the last 20 years. While the media,

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 73% to 79% of murderers know their victims,28 with the majority of killers being spouses, family members, neighbors, lovers, friends, co-workers, drug dealers, or even opposing gang members.

The other 21% to 27% are committed by strangers, mostly as a secondary result of another crime such as armed robbery or rape. So in nearly 8 out of 10 murders, some type of catharsis is involved because the killer knows his victim. He’s either getting back at an unfaithful spouse, settling a score in a long neighbors’ feud, killing the boss who made his life miserable, shooting his partner who cheated him in business, or taking revenge for the killing of a fellow gang member.

The motivation always arises out of a personal connection with the victim. In the remaining 2 out of 10 cases, the motivation is almost always to gain money, material goods, sex, or something else.

With this in mind, how much sense does it make for a person to walk into a school, church or other public place and shoot large groups of total strangers, people with whom he has absolutely no personal connection and from whom he wants nothing? Never in criminal history has this happened, except in the 21 short years since 1999, when at least four of these mass shooting events have been happening in the U.S. each year. Regardless of how anyone stands on the gun issue, it must be admitted that guns are inanimate objects. Guns have been freely available with no background checks in the U.S.

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since the mid-16th century to the early 1980’s, even for semi-automatic rifles. The number of mass shootings in that 430-year time period? Zero. Up until 1986, it was legal to own a fully automatic machine gun in the U.S. Again, the number of mass shootings: zero.

• 2012: CENTURY MOVIE THEATER, AURORA, CO. James Holmes (24) kills 12 and injures 70 and was taking Zoloft, Klonopin and Vicodin.

People don’t just “go crazy.” People don’t just murder total strangers for no reason. Guns don’t just kill people any more than knives, baseball bats, or automobiles, but people who are under the influence of SSRIs have used all those things to kill other people. In fact, where the information has been available, SSRIs have been directly implicated in most of these mass shootings.

• 2012: SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, NEWTOWN, CT. Adam Lanza (20) kills his mother before killing 26. After medical examiners refused repeated requests to make Lanza’s medical records public, his uncle stated Lanza was taking the psychotropic drug Fanapt.

• 1999: COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL, LITTLETON, CO. Eric Harris (17) and Dylan Klebold (18) killed 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves. Harris was taking Luvox at the time. Klebold’s medical records were never made public.

• 1999: THURSTON HIGH SCHOOL, SPRINGFIELD, OR. After killing his parents, Kip Kinkel (15) kills 2 and wounds 25 at school. Kinkel was taking Prozac and Ritalin.

• 1999: HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOL, CONYERS, GA. TJ Solomon (15) wounds 6. Solomon was taking Ritalin.

• 2 0 01 :

GRANITE HILLS HIGH SCHOOL, EL CAJON, CA. Jason

Hoffman (18) wounds 4 while on Effexor and Celexa.

• 2 0 0 5 :

RED LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, RED LAKE, MN.

Jeff Weise (16) killed 10 and wounded 12 before killing himself. Weise was taking 60mg/day of Prozac, three times the starting dose for adults.

• 2007: VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, BLACKSBURG, VA. Cho Sueng-Hui (33) was on Prozac when he killed 32.

• 2007: SUCCESS TECH ACADEMY, CLEVELAND, OH. Asa Coon (14) wounds 4 before killing himself. Court records show Coon was taking the antidepressant, Trazodone.

• 2 0 0 8 :

N O RT H E R N I L L I N O I S UNIVERSITY, DEKALB, IL. Steven

Kazmierczak (27) kills 5 and wounds 21 before killing himself. He’d recently 131

started a course of Prozac and Xanax.

• 2017: MGM GRAND HOTEL, LAS VEGAS, NV. Stephen Paddock (54) was prescribed anti-anxiety medication, Diazepam, when he killed 58. Stated side effects include aggressive, psychotic, and hostile behavior with decreased inhibition and suicidal thoughts.

The Citizens Committee on Human Rights (CCHR) has compiled a list of over 30 mass shootings or school violence events in which SSRIs were being taken by the perpetrator, and their list only runs through 2013.29 It’s also important to know that these are just the cases where the data has been made available. Under increasing pressure, authorities have become extremely reluctant to release any medical information about the perpetrators of more recent incidents.

In some cases, media reports will mention that these people had been seeing a psychiatrist, which almost certainly means they were receiving psychiatric medication.

The CCHR list also doesn’t mention private family attacks, incidents in which only 1 to 2 people were killed, hostage scenarios, suicides, or where weapons other than a firearm were used.

When taken altogether, the number of violent crimes in which SSRIs are directly involved is staggering. A basic internet search for “mass shootings SSRI murder suicide” returns thousands of results.

When we choose to look deeper, it becomes very apparent that what many are calling a gun crisis in America is actually a drug crisis, a medically manufactured one. This is underscored by the fact that mass shootings are not unique to the U.S. and have occurred in countries with strict gun control laws like France, Japan and Finland, where Matti Saari, (22) killed 10 people before killing himself at the Seinajoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki, Finland in 2008. In each case, the perpetrator was on psychotropic drugs. Saari was taking an SSRI along with a benzodiazepine,

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which has similar side effects.

It’s time to start talking about SSRIs. As much as the ad-sponsored media would like to ignore the issue, when it comes to mass shootings, the U.S. has been in the throes of an SSRI crisis more than anything else. In fact, the more recent incidents of people just “going crazy” and killing others by driving vans down public thoroughfares is evidence that anyone who is medicated into a suicidal or homicidal mindset will use any means at their disposal.

Still the media continues to distract from the real issue by trumpeting the so-called dramatic rise in mental illness in America. In a scathing report for Psychology Today, Edward Shorter, PhD called such claims and the fabricated statistics to support them “garbage” adding, “The big psychiatric illnesses all have huge genetic components, which means they are unlikely to change much in frequency over the years.”30 It must also be remembered that SSRIs work by dulling the feelings that cause depression and anxiety, but in doing so, they have to dull the ability to feel all emotions, including the ability to feel empathy. They don’t work selectively.

on antidepressants aren’t depressed and don’t meet the clinical criteria for depression.32 This is also in spite of the fact that a 2010 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that SSRIs like Paxil and Prozac are no more effective than a placebo. That’s right. SSRIs don’t even work, and patients reported as good or better results just by taking sugar pills.33 Even so, SSRIs remain the most prescribed drug in the U.S., even more than blood pressure or diabetes medication.34

“As dangerous as SSRIs are, even at small doses, quitting all at once can result in drastic withdrawal effects. Talk to your doctor about tapering off the medication until you’re free of it.”

QUITTING WITH CAUTION

Depression is a struggle for many people, but in nearly all cases doctors rush to prescribe dangerous SSRIs before even considering natural interventions. Many doctors don’t realize that most of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut, not the brain, and restoring emotional equilibrium involves getting the intestinal microbiome back into balance. There is a reason they call the gut the “second brain.” We must place a greater emphasis on helping patients experience positive emotions again, instead of dampening all feelings through toxic chemicals that drastically alter their mental state and personality.

Still, depressed patients are told they need SSRIs to correct a chemical imbalance in their brains, and so they take the pills unquestioningly. In reality, no test has ever proven this to be the case.

Dr. Breggin told the Huffington Post, “…antidepressants never cure biochemical imbalances. Instead, they always cause them.

There are no known biochemical imbalances in the brains of depressed people until they start taking toxic psychiatric drugs and every person who takes one of these drugs ends up with a significant biochemical disturbance in the brain. That’s how the drugs work—by disrupting normal biochemical processes in the brain.”31 Even worse than causing a brain chemical disturbance that didn’t exist before taking SSRIs, an analysis in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that more than two-thirds or 69% of people

If you are currently taking SSRIs, do not abruptly quit the medication. As dangerous as SSRIs are, even at small doses, quitting all at once can result in drastic withdrawal effects. Talk to your doctor about tapering off the medication until you’re free of it. During the process, it’s crucial to keep loved ones informed of how you’re feeling on a daily basis. Share with your doctor information about integrative therapies for depression such as restoring gut health, hormone balancing, dietary changes, meditation, and others. There are many ways to treat depression naturally without placing yourself under the influence of highly powerful and toxic psychotropic drugs like SSRIs. When you find the method that works for you, you’ll be living a more joyous life with full access to all your emotions. Not only will you be happier, you and your loved ones will be safer for it, too.

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TOP 10 DRUGS FOR VIOLENT BEHAVIOR A study by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and published in the medical journal, PLoS One, found 31 drugs that are regularly associated with unusually high reports of violent behavior.

Of the Top 10 most violent drugs, 8 are psychotropic medications used to treat depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). For the full list visit: http://bit.ly/30WeRiW 10. PRISTIQ (DESVENLAFAXINE): Antidepressant. 7.9 times more likely to be involved

in violent behavior than other drugs.

9. EFFEXOR (VENLAFAXINE): Anti-anxiety, related to desvenlafaxine. 8.3 times more

likely to be connected to violent behavior.

8. LUVOX (FLUVOXAMINE): Antidepressant. 8.4 times more likely to be connected

to acts of violence than other medications.

7. HALCION (TRIAZOLAM): A benzodiazepine used to treat insomnia. 8.7 times more

likely to be connected to acts of violence than other drugs.

6. STRATTERA (ATOMOXETINE): Prescribed to treat ADHD. 9 times more likely to

be connected to acts of violence.

5. LARIAM (MEFOQUINE): A common malaria treatment. 9.5 times more likely to be

connected to violence than other medications.

4. AMPHETAMINES: Used to treat ADHD. 9.6 times more likely to be connected to

violence than other types of medications.

3. PAXIL (PAROXETINE): Antidepressant. 10.3 times more likely to be connected with

acts of violence when compared to other drugs in its class.

2. PROZAC (FLUOXETINE): The first well-known antidepressant. 10.9 times more

likely to be linked to violent behavior than other drugs.

1. CHANTIX (VARENICLINE): Used for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and

smoking cessation. 18 times more likely to be connected to acts of violence and emotional outbursts than other drugs.

Sources (1) Moore, T. Mattison, D. (2017). Adult utilization of psychiatric drugs and differences by sex, age, and race. Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, 177(2), 274-275, doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.7507.

(2) Marbin Miller, Carol, “Girl in Facebook Live Hanging was Prescribed Drug with Suicide Warning,” The Miami Herald, (March 23, 2017) (https://hrld.us/2Zl1Df0) (3) Levy, Andrew, “Teenage Bludgeoned His Father to Death After GP Prescribes Him Prozac,” Daily Mail, C ON T I N U E D. . .

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(February 9, 2009), (https://dailym.ai/2OnNzAu) (4) FDA. Antidepressant use in children, adolescents, and adults. (http://bit.ly/2GAuR2u) (5) Gotzsche, P. (2017). Antidepressants increase the risk of suicide, violence and homicide at all ages. British Medical Journal, 358(3697), 491-534, doi:(http://bit. ly/2GDhfTX)

(19) Friedman, M. (2015). Risk factors for suicides among army personnel. Journal of the American Medical Association, 313(11), 1154-1155, doi:10.1001/ jama.2014.15303.

(20) Phillips, Dave. “Study Finds No Link Between Suicide Rates and Military Deployments,” The New York Times, (April 1, 2015), (https://nyti.ms/2Znje6c)

(6) Moore, T. Glenmullen, J. (2010). Prescription drugs associated with reports of violence towards others.

PLoS One, 155(9), 739-846, (http://bit.ly/30WeRiW)

(21) Reno, Jamie, “Medicating Our Troops Into Oblivion”, International Business Times, (April 4, 2014), (http://bit.ly/2YoHROE)

(7) Torjesen, I et al. (2015). Study links ssris to violent crime in young adults. British Medical Journal, 11(165), 1125-1130, doi: (http://bit.ly/2YdVo0l)

(22) Military Times, “Medicating the Military: use of psychiatric drugs has spiked; concerns surface about suicides, other dangers.”, (March 29, 2013), (http:// bit.ly/2ykUTlA)

(8) Molero, Y et al. (2015). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and violent crime: a cohort study. PLoS One, 687(12), 677-689, (http://bit.ly/2Mr4gIS) (9) Gotzsche, P et al. (2016). SSRIs double the risk of suicide and violence in healthy adults. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 111(9), 524-545, doi: (http:// bit.ly/2KbRvz1) (10) Zarembo, Alan, “A College Student’s Drug Trial Ends in Tragedy,” Chicago Tribune, (April 14, 2004), (http://bit.ly/2GBAE7A) (11) Mercola.com, “SSRI Antidepressants Put Patients at Clear Risk of Suicide”, (June 30, 2016), (http://bit. ly/2yoGvsK) (12) Healey, D et al. (2006). Antidepressants and violence: problems at the interface of medicine and law.

PLoS Medicine, 3(9), 372-375, (http://bit.ly/2Yxlqad) (13) El-Rhaman, Minara, “Paxil Lawsuits Cost Glaxo $1 Billion in Settlements”, FindLaw.com, (December 14, 2009), (http://bit.ly/2K3htG3) (14) The United States Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Drug Maker Forest Pleads Guilty; To Pay More Than $313 Million,” (September 15, 2010), (http://bit.ly/2YdC6YW)

(23) Parikh, A et al. (2008). Suicidal ideation associated with duloxetine use: a case series. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 28(1), 101-102, doi: 10.1097/ jcp.0b013e318160d5c3.

(24) Reno, Jamie, “Medicating Our Troops Into Oblivion,” International Business Times, (April 4, 2014), (http://bit.ly/2YoHROE) (25, 26) Ibid (27) Breggin, P. (2010). Antidepressant-induced suicide, violence, and mania: risks for military personnel.

Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 12(2), 111-121, (http://bit.ly/2YoHROE) (28) Harrell, Erika, “Violent Victimization Committed

by Strangers, 1993-2010), Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, (December 11, 2012), (http:// bit.ly/2KaCKg0) (29) “School-Related Acts of Violence by Those On or Withdrawing from Psychiatric Drugs,” Citizens Commission on Human Rights, (http://bit.ly/2Yui63z) (30) Shorter, Edward, “An Alarming Increase in Mental Illness?” Psychology Today, (April 27, 2014), (http:// bit.ly/2K2COPR)

(15) National Institute for Mental Health, “Antidepressant Medications for Children and Adolescents: Information for parents and caregivers.”

(31) Breggin, Peter, “Antidepressants Cause Suicide and Violence in Soldiers,” Huffington Post, (November 17, 2011), (http://bit.ly/2SOOUis)

(16) Bass, Alison, “Suicide Rates as a Public Relations Tool,” Boston.com, (September 24, 2007), (http://bit. ly/332BQdR)

(32) Takayanagi, Y et al. (2015). Antidepressant use and lifetime history of mental disorders in a community sample: results from the Baltimore epidemiologic catchment area study. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 76(1), 40-44, (http://bit.ly/2LQHrhZ)

(17) National Institute for Mental Health, “Antidepressant Medications for Children and Adolescents: Information for parents and caregivers.”

(18) Military Times, “Medicating the Military: use of psychiatric drugs has spiked; concerns surface about suicides, other dangers.”, (March 29, 2013) (http://bit. ly/2ykUTlA)

(33) Fournier, J et al. (2010). Antidepressant drug effects and depression severity. Journal of the American Medical Association, 303(1), 47-53, doi:10.1001/jama.2009.1943.

(34) Cohen, Elizabeth, “CDC: Antidepressants most prescribed drug in US,” CNN, (July 9, 2007)

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NATURAL PEACE OF MIND WITH

Healing Tranquility

Well-Being Without Worry Today, 1 in 10 Americans takes an antidepressant drug like Effexor, Celexa, Welbutrin or Zoloft. For middle-aged women, it’s 1 in 4. Interestingly, research published in the journal, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, showed that two thirds of people taking anti-depressants didn’t meet the criteria for a major depressive episode, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV).1 The mass misdiagnosis of depression and over-prescription of antidepressants is no secret in the medical community. Before taking unnecessary antidepressants that include powerful chemicals, and can cause dangerous side effects such as thoughts of suicide, consider the power of a natural approach. Consider Healing Tranquility.

Also known as 5-HTP, Healing Tranquility is an amino acid that acts as a precursor in the production of serotonin, the brain chemical that provides us with a sense of contentedness and well-being. Studies have shown that 5-HTP can raise levels of serotonin and relieve mild to moderate depression. It’s also shown some effectiveness with pain, particularly for fibromyalgia, as well as insomnia, anxiety and appetite control. 5-HTP should never be taken with any SSRI medication. Healing Tranquility might be right for you if you’re going through a difficult but temporary experience in life or if you maintain a stressful schedule.

(1) Rabin, Roni Caryn, “A Glut of Antidepressants”, The New York Times, Aug. 12, 2013.

GET YOURS TODAY! Consider bringing some peace of mind back into your life the natural way with Healing Tranquility.

BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/HEALINGTRANQUILITY

These statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All medications and nutritional supplements should only be used after you consult with your physician or other healthcare provider.

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Invisible Dangers of Estrogen Discussing the hidden dangers of estrogen in commercial products

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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ne of the biggest risks women face for cancer is their own estrogen levels, particularly if they’re too high. While mastectomies are sometimes necessary, the decision needs to be made with great care because with only one breast, a woman’s standard estrogen levels will then be distributed across fewer female organs, which results in an excess amount in another area, increasing the risk of developing a different kind of female cancer in the future.

Elevated estrogen levels can also wreak havoc on a woman’s monthly cycle, moods, sleep, and so on. At the same time, elevated estrogen levels in men create equally disastrous effects including increasing their own cancer risk, depression, lack of motivation and assertiveness, gynecomastia, low sperm counts, and the overall feminization of physical characteristics.

What’s most concerning is that hidden estrogen in the water we drink, foods we consume, and products we use is becoming far more difficult to avoid. This also includes chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors, upsetting the normal hormonal balance by mimicking estrogen in the body.

Nowhere is the over-estrogenization of our society more apparent than in our rivers and streams. In this case, the fish are acting as the canary in the coal mine to alert us that our world is awash in estrogen and endocrine disruptors that will be destroying our health in an equally significant way if we do not remove them from our environment.

“Hormones are so powerful that they’re measured in nanograms and pictograms, billionths and trillionths of a gram, so it often only takes a miniscule amount to skew the body’s hormonal balance and create a cascade of problems.”

A British study found that 20% of all male fish caught in English streams exhibited feminized traits including reduced sperm quality and decreased aggression and competitive behavior, which impeded their success when breeding. This ultimately threatens a species with extinction because the primal purpose of any living creature is to pass its genes on to maintain group survival. Perhaps most alarming was that some of the males had begun mutating into hermaphrodites or intersex species, even producing viable eggs. The study identified more than 200 chemicals in the river water that had estrogenic properties.¹ A U.S. study from 2010 found that 80% of male bass fish in the Potomac River in Washington D.C. had exhibited some form of feminization, including producing eggs.² It’s believed that the primary cause of these fish mutations is a combination of industrial dumping and the introduction of sewage water containing a mixture of endocrine disruptors into the area’s water shed.

In fact, any chemical products or pharmaceuticals that are flushed down the toilet have a great likelihood of finding their way into lakes, streams, and even municipal

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water supplies. In speaking with The Independent, Professor Charles Tyler of the University of Exeter said, “If you look in terms of what gets into a fish’s liver or gonad, the analysis of the chemicals it contains is a bit of a blueprint in terms of what’s flushed down the toilet.”³ Municipal water districts are only required to test for a limited number of chemicals, heavy metals,and pathogens.

Anything outside its narrow list remains in the water supply and is consumed by the public. Regular tests of municipal water have consistently shown traces of birth control pills

(estrogen), antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs, endocrine disruptors from pesticides, body products, and detergents, and a host of other chemicals. Some say there is no reason for alarm because these estrogenic compounds exist only in trace amounts. Researchers and physicians beg to differ because they know trace amounts of any toxin, especially estrogenic compounds, are cumulative over time, as the fish in our rivers and streams are showing us now.

The effects just take a little longer to show up in humans because we’re larger animals. So why don’t we take the hint now and clean up our rivers and municipal water?

IN THE MEANTIME, HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO TO AVOID EXPOSING YOURSELF TO ESTROGEN OVERLOAD FROM THE ENVIRONMENT. • Water Filters: Install the highest quality water filtration system that you can afford in your home. If renting, you can find water filter attachments that fit right on the faucet or can be installed under the sink. Consider reading our full feature on municipal water, Trouble on Tap, in MegaZEN Volume 5.

• Avoid Soy: Not only is 99% of all soy GMO, but it contains extremely high levels of phytoestrogens or plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in the body. All soy products should be avoided, especially in baby formula. A homemade baby formula can be found at the website of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Consider reading our full expose on soy, The Dark Side of Soy, in MegaZEN Volume 4.

• Go Organic: Organic produce is not sprayed with pesticides that act as endocrine disruptors.

Organically raised cattle are not given estrogenic hormones to produce more milk or meat. If budget is a concern, always go for organic, hormone-free meat and dairy first.

• Purge Plastic: Plastic containers contain bisphenol-A (BPA), a petroleum-based chemical that has estrogenic effects that can leach into liquids. Avoid buying beverages in plastic containers that do not specifically say they are BPA free, which is most of them.

• Clean Cosmetics: Makeup and beauty products are full of phthalates or plasticizers that have estrogenic properties that get inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Look for the suffix “phthalate,” as well as the abbreviations DBP, DEP, BzBP or any word beginning in “phth.” Any product that contains artificial scent listed only as “fragrance” also contains phthalates. Look for our full article on clean cosmetics in MegaZEN Volume 6.

• Ocean Fish: Avoid consuming fish from lakes and streams and opt for those from the deep ocean instead.

Sources (1) Tyler, Charles. Jobling, Susan. (2008). Roach, sex, and gender-bending chemicals: the feminization of wild fish in English rivers. BioScience., 58(11), 1051-1059.

(2) Eichenseher, Tasha, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water”, (2009), National Geographic.

(3) Johnston, Ian, “Male fish mutating into females because of waste chemicals, expert warns”, (July 3, 2017) The Independent.

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FACE THE FACTS ABOUT

Common Face Moisturizer Preserve your skins’ beauty and health without having to worry about the dangers associated with using a commercial face moisturizer.

When it comes to beauty, most people buy an arsenal of products to put on their face. Everyone wants beautiful, glowing skin and a bright smile, but we rarely stop to examine the ingredients of the products we’re using. Unfortunately, almost every skincare product you’ll buy in a drugstore or department store is full of highly toxic substances. Just a few of these include: •

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate / Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate: Advertised as “derived from coconut”, these toxic chemicals cause skin irritation, cataracts and have been known to accumulate in the brain.

•

Parabens: British studies are examining the link between parabens and breast cancer, as the substances have been found in 90% of breast tumor tissue.

•

Diethanolamine (DEA), Triethanolamine (TEA) and Monoethanolamine (MEA): Used to make creams more emollient, they are actually solvents and detergents linked to liver and kidney cancer.

•

Mineral Oil/Paraffin Oil/Paraffin Wax/Petrolatum: All are derived from crude oil used for petroleum.

The list goes on and on. The only way to avoid dangerous chemicals in beauty products is to seek out ones that are 100% organic. The truth is: If you can’t put a product IN your body, then you shouldn’t be putting it ON your body. Any skincare product you use should be pure and good enough to eat…literally.

Healthy, beautiful skin is the hallmark of a healthy, beautiful body and that’s why Be Hive of Healing offers a full line of organic skincare products, including Healing Face Moisturizer. Made from 100% raw organic ingredients, now you can preserve the health and beauty of your skin without having to worry about the dangers that come with commercial products. Specially formulated with ingredients like shea butter, cocoa butter, pomegranate seed oil, rosehip oil, hemp seed oil, pumpkin seed oil, coconut oil, honey and many others, you can luxuriate in its nourishing scent and application while protecting your skin and health at the same time. If you like Healing Face Moisturizer, also consider the companion product, Healing Body Moisturizer.

GET YOURS TODAY Are you ready for a non-toxic face moisturizer made from 100% raw organic ingredients?

BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/FACEMO IS TU R IZER These statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All medications and nutritional supplements should only be used after you consult with your physician or other healthcare provider.

Full Circle Moment

Past struggles become future blessings

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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n January 15th, I was in New York for an interview with Megyn Kelly of the TODAY show regarding my new book, The Clarity Cleanse: 12 Steps to Finding Renewed Energy, Spiritual Fulfillment, and Emotional Healing. I was thrilled that the interview went well, but it wasn’t until I was on my way back to the hotel that it hit me: exactly 33 years earlier on January 15, 1985, I arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) with my beloved late brother, Dr. H. Mehrdad Sadeghi.

Suddenly, I was overcome with emotion. Many of you are familiar with some of my life struggles that I’ve either shared with you personally, in this newsletter, or through my books. Needless to say, there is much I haven’t shared, as well. Taken together, it seemed nearly impossible that someone with my background and challenges would ever be walking out of the Rockefeller Center NBC studios in New York from an interview for his new book, and as a physician, no less. It certainly seemed impossible to that terrified child who spoke no English over three decades ago and yet, there I was.

the intense desire to help others in similar circumstances once they are able to do so, and the great satisfaction that comes from doing that. It provides its own special kind of healing once the dark times have passed.

For me, that has been taking the leap with my wife, Sherry, and establishing the Be Hive of Healing Integrative Medical Center and Happy Kids Dental Planet in Agoura Hills, CA. In private practice, we can define holistic care on our own terms and provide people with the kind of experience we would want as patients. It’s been having the ability to help others through my first book, WiTHIN: A Spiritual

My gratitude wasn’t specifically about The Clarity Cleanse as much as it was about the book being just one of many ways I’ve been able to be of service to others as a result of the blessings that have come along throughout my life.

Anyone who has struggled in their own way understands

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“My gratitude wasn’t specifically about The Clarity Cleanse as much as it was about the book being just one of many ways I’ve been able to be of service to others as a result of the blessings that have come along throughout my life.”

Journey to Love and Weight Loss, publishing the wellness journal, MegaZEN, now in its sixth year, co-founding the Love Button Global Movement with Sherry to increase loving connection within local and global communities, mentoring couples to deepen their commitment to each other in our Couples Transformational Intensive workshops, and mentoring corporate and creative executives to realize their full potential.

Nobody accomplishes anything like this without a lot of help, and much of my gratitude was for the people who’ve graced my life over the years and blessed me with their advice, services, and assistance. Some like to say that to accomplish anything of significance it takes a village; in my case it took a whole army. The generous family at

goop has been particularly important in this most recent success, first by inviting me to be one of the first authors published under their new imprint, goop Grand Central Life & Style, and then by supporting and arranging highly successful launches at D.C. Moore Gallery in New York and goop Lab in Brentwood, where Gwyneth Paltrow was kind enough to host the affair. While I can’t thank everyone who has helped me individually here, you know who you are. Please understand that I send you my deepest love and appreciation as you read this. Having started life from such a position of humility, I have held the intention of being of service to others, and I thank you for helping me answer the call to be used by life in such an important way.

After a quick podcast about The Clarity Cleanse with Pardon My French, upon my return to Los Angeles yet another blessing found me: A message from my literary agent announcing that the book had risen from #1716 on Amazon.com to the #2 bestselling book across all categories! I owe it all to some of the greatest blessings of my life; I owe it to all of YOU! God Bless You. Thank You. Peace. Be Still.

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IT'S ALL

CONNECTED EXPLORING VARIOUS ASPECTS OF MODERN LIFE AND HOW THEY AFFECT OUR OVERALL HEALTH

By Cynthia Liu

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outhwash.

This seems to be my litmus test lately for finding my tribe of like-minded people who take a holistic approach to health.

What does mouthwash have to do with overall health?

Exactly. It’s all connected.

Conventional mouthwash kills all the bacteria in your mouth indiscriminately so that both bad breath germs and the beneficial microbiome die.

Why does this matter? Well, some of those good bacteria in our mouths produce nitric oxide.1 Dubbed “Molecule of the Year” in 1992 by the prestigious Science journal, one of nitric oxide’s primary purposes is regulating blood vessel dilation. Low levels of this molecule have been implicated in a variety of medical issues, from high blood pressure to diabetes to erectile dysfunction.2 The mouthwash commercials said that their product would freshen your breath to make you more attractive, but they neglected to mention the potential trade-off in sexual performance!

Here’s a tip: drink some green juice, eat some parsley or gargle with baking soda and water to freshen your breath without killing your nitric oxide-producing microbiome.

As most of you readers are patrons of the Be Hive of Healing, you know that Dr. Sherry Sami is an integrative dentist who, of course, knows about mouthwash killing the microbiome. Likewise, Dr. Habib Sadeghi is a member of the American

Holistic Medical Association.

I was pleasantly surprised to find another member of the tribe who passes the mouthwash litmus test and is a spiritually conscious and holistic healer—Dr. Pankaj Vij. The author of Turbo Metabolism, Dr. Vij started a program at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California to reverse diabetes using a holistic approach that includes a whole foods plant-based diet, exercise, and meditation.

I was impressed that Dr. Vij could thrive in a large medical group practice such as Kaiser, where primary care physicians are allotted 10 to 15 minutes per patient on average.

A more typical large medical group experience that comes to mind is that of my colleague’s tween-aged daughter, who had become mysteriously ill. Her pediatrician had taken lab tests and prescribed antibiotics—but the daughter was still having headaches, fever, nausea, and general malaise.

“Research in recent years shows that babies delivered by c-section bypass the big dose of immunityboosting bacteria in the birth canal. As a result, c-section babies are at greater risk of developing immune diseases such as allergies, asthma, and type I diabetes.”

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“Cows raised in industrial CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) that have been fed grains, chicken manure, and animal parts end up being in poor health and needing routine antibiotics, which then contributes to antibiotic resistance when humans need antibiotics.”

“Didn’t you just move into a new house?” I asked my co-worker. “Maybe there is off-gassing from the new carpet, draperies, or bedding that’s making her sick.” As it turns out, I was right. It’s all connected.

risk of developing diabetes.

Yet given the brief window of time the pediatrician had to spend with the patient, the doctor wouldn’t have been able to get a holistic lifestyle history about the child. In contrast, Dr. Sami is in private practice and has the freedom to prioritize spending the time it takes to create a comprehensive file on each patient with over 100 medical, dental, and lifestyle questions.

This begins, of course, with birth. Cesarean sections (C-sections) have evolved from an occasional medical intervention to save lives to an elective procedure of convenience that can accommodate the obstetrician’s schedule, keep the mother’s vagina tight and sexy, and boost revenues for the hospital.

Most people are on board now with regards to the mind-body connection. We know that stress affects the body and that many chronic diseases are related to lifestyle factors such as stress, diet, and exercise.

As for the mouthwash connection, people aren’t quite there yet. The concept of the gut microbiome was barely a blip on the radar in science 20 years ago. It gained momentum when the Human Microbiome Project was launched in 2007 and emerged in mainstream media around 2010.3 It makes sense that the microbiome would be connected to the gastrointestinal system, but it’s more of a stretch to consider that the microbes in your gut could affect your emotions, mood, and immunity, and be linked to diabetes, allergies, obesity, autism, and other medical issues.

Likewise, it’s hard to imagine that mouthwash could affect your blood pressure, erections, and 145

Yet it’s all connected.

We are not machines that can be compartmentalized. We are holistic beings.

At first glance, the outcome is the same—a baby.

Yet research in recent years shows that babies delivered by c-section bypass the big dose of immunity-boosting bacteria in the birth canal.

As a result, c-section babies are at greater risk of developing immune diseases such as allergies, asthma, and type I diabetes. 4, 5, 6 Likewise, babies who are fed formula miss out on the immunitybuilding properties of breast milk. It’s all connected.

Baby formula is a processed food. On paper, it appears to have all the appropriate nutrients.

Yet focusing on specific nutrients doesn’t work as well as eating the whole food with synergistic components, such as immunity-building probiotics from Mom. Another example of the problem with thinking in isolation is the creation of genetically modified wheat. Scientists have genetically modified wheat to be immune to the herbicide glyphosate, which is the primary component in Roundup.

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“Industrialized agriculture’s effects on the earth parallels the effects of processed food on our bodies. Factory farming depletes nutrients in the soil, kills the microbiomes in the soil, and temporarily adds nutrients back in the form of chemical fertilizers.”

This makes it much easier to farm—just spray lots of glyphosate all over and it will kill all plants (weeds, competing plants, everything) except for the GMO wheat, allowing the GMO wheat to thrive. However, this has created unintended consequences—the side effects of cancer and other health problems for the farmers, as well as many consumers who have come to believe that they are allergic to wheat or gluten, but are actually just having a toxic reaction to poison.7 It’s all connected.

Industrial agriculture was developed after WWII with the noble intention of being able to feed more people on the planet. Now, the short-term goal of filling Big Ag’s coffers has obscured the far-reaching global consequences: soil that’s become depleted of nutrients, polluted water, a life of suffering for factory-raised animal “products,” the extinction of wildlife, increased antibiotic resistance in humans, and processed food that is detrimental to the human microbiome and contributing to the increase of chronic illnesses.

With regards to the quest for feeding more people on the planet, the problem isn’t a lack of food.

Rather, it’s the lack of access to food. In fact, we have a surplus in monocrops such as corn and soy,

and food scientists and marketers are employed to figure out how to unload the excess by getting people to consume more food processed from these surplus ingredients.

Cows raised in industrial CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) are fed grains, which their stomachs aren’t made to digest—no matter if the grains are organic or not. Cows’ stomachs are designed for eating grass. On top of that, the FDA allows factory farms to supplement cattle feed with chicken manure, pig or horse parts, and cow parts that are not infected with mad cow disease.8 These herbivore cows that have been fed grains, chicken manure, and animal parts end up being in poor health and needing routine antibiotics, which then contributes to antibiotic resistance when humans need antibiotics—it’s all connected.

In contrast, the erudite holistic farmer, Joel Salatin, considers his mission to be that of a “land healer.”

Salatin’s Polyface farms gained national recognition after being featured in Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and the movie Food Inc. In Polyface’s biodiverse ecosystem, the herbivore cows eat their natural diet of grass and are moved to new pasture daily so the grass gets a rest and

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can continue to grow. The egg-laying hens follow the cows in the pasture rotation to eat bugs and scratch through the cow dung for maggots. In the winter, the cows are fed hay in a shed, where they lounge on a bed of wood chips, sawdust, and hay to absorb their excrement. After the cows are done, corn is added to the fermenting compost and the pigs are brought in to root around for corn, aerating the compost in the process, to make a rich, natural fertilizer. In Salatin’s self-contained ecosystem, he doesn’t have to pay for or waste fossil fuels in transporting cattle feed, fertilizers, soil conditioners, antibiotics, or cow manure disposal.9, 10

immunity weakened, chemical pesticides need to be applied.

Industrialized agriculture’s effects on the earth parallels the effects of processed food on our bodies. Factory farming depletes nutrients in the soil, kills the microbiomes in the soil, and temporarily adds nutrients back in the form of chemical fertilizers. But then, with the plants’

So the next time you are presented with a choice that is seemingly innocuous and maybe even beneficial, remember that it’s all connected.

Mouthwash to kill bad breath germs? Organic baby formula? Cheap factory-farmed or processed food? It’s all connected.

Factory farmed and processed food depletes nutrients in our bodies, kills the microbiomes in our gut, and with our bodies’ immunity weakened, chronic illnesses develop, for which pharmaceuticals are prescribed to manage the symptoms. Isn’t it interesting that there are multinational conglomerates with a complete cradle-to-g rave portfolio that includes industrialized agriculture, processed food manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies?

It’s all connected.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cynthia Liu’s consulting practice provides “inspiration for positive transformation” by helping people to eat well, cultivate a global perspective, and craft positive communications. Her expertise is highlighting the best in people and inspiring them to personal growth, wellness, and happiness.

Learn more by visiting www.alchemicita.com

Sources (1) Barone, Jeanine. “Why Nitric Oxide Is So Important.” University of California Berkeley Wellness, 2018 May 4, (http://bit.ly/2mcfea2) (2) Kaumudi, J; Muñoz-Torres, F; Morou-Bermudez, E; Patel, R. “Over-the-counter mouthwash use and risk of pre-diabetes/diabetes.” Nitric Oxide, 2017 Dec; Vol. 71: 14-20. (http://bit.ly/2lPEQco) (3) “Fast Facts About the Human Microbiome.” Center for Ecogenics & Environmental Health. (http://bit.ly/2khmwJ0) (4) Ross, Heather. “The Truth About C-Sections, Probiotics, and the Bacteria in Your Gut.” 2015 Apr 24. (http://bit.ly/2kGBrfY) (5) Samsel, A and Seneff, S. “Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance.” Interdisciplinary Toxicology 2013 Dec; 6(4): 159–184. (http://bit.ly/2kvpbit) (6) Salatin, Joel. Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, 2007.

(7) Cho, C.E. and Norman, M. “Cesarean section and development of the immune system in the offspring.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2013 Apr; 208(4):249-54. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.08.009. (http://bit.ly/2kcOnKd) (8) Glynn, Sarah. “C-section Babies 5 Times More Likely to Develop Allergies.” Medical News Today, 2013 Feb 27. (http://bit.ly/2lPGN8G) (9) “Feed Ban Enhancement: Implementation Questions and Answers” USFDA. (http://bit. ly/2kg7QK8)

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INFERTILITY

ILLUSION TILTED UTERUS CAN BE EASILY CORRECTED WITHOUT SURGERY

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi, certified sexologist

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ccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a woman is considered infertile if there is no conception after 12 months of unprotected sex with her male partner. Women with multiple miscarriages who have never carried a baby to term are also considered infertile. Among women of child-bearing age between 15 and 44 in the U.S., 6.7 million have impaired fertility.1 As if the devastating news and emotional struggle weren’t enough, couples facing fertility challenges are left with the option of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and the exorbitant costs that come with it. After an initial examination, blood tests, and workup—costing about $5,00—the choices include everything from intrauterine insemination (IUI), costing about $1,500 per trial, to in vitro fertilization (IVF), which starts at around $12,000 per trial. This doesn’t include required medications that run between $3,000 and $7,000. While most insurance companies will pay for tests to determine fertility status, they usually don’t cover ART services.

One of the more common reasons for infertility is a tilted uterus. Because most physicians and patients are entirely unaware that such a condition can exist, couples often end up financially spent and emotionally drained after years of unsuccessful ART attempts.

When a uterus is tilted, even the chances of conceiving through IVF are almost nil. The good news is that in many cases, a tilted uterus can be corrected in a painless procedure that greatly improves the chances of conception, saving couples a small fortune and years of heartbreak.

OBVIOUS ANSWERS

There’s an old adage that says, “When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras.”

This means that when there are signs of a problem, look for the simplest, most logical explanation; don’t go off on an exotic tangent looking for some complicated, far-fetched reason. I would add and unnecessarily stressing yourself out in the process.

If you or a woman you know is struggling with conceiving or maintaining a pregnancy, the first place to look is the uterus. It’s the environment where the fertilized egg or zygote needs to attach itself and grow. Assuming the father is fertile and the mother is in good health, any fertilized egg they produce will be viable. In such cases, suspicion needs to be shifted to the zygote’s environment, the uterus. Until the uterus is properly examined, all attempts at ART will be wasted time and money because it’s highly unlikely an embryo will be able to attach itself and grow in a tilted uterus regardless of the fertility method used.

GR AVITY OF THE SITUATION

Normally, the uterus rises from the cervix and folds forward to partially rest on the bladder. With the uterus in this position, a fertilized egg can easily travel and come to rest on the inner wall of the flat portion overlaying the bladder, which provides a stable base for it to firmly attach and grow. This location also protects the fertilized egg from being disturbed by anything else that might be introduced into the vaginal canal.

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“In its normal position folded over the bladder, the uterus is like a cul-de-sac with a soft bend in the road and pocket at the end where the fertilized egg can sit and develop. In contrast, the tilted uterus is like a vertical, straight, one-way street where the fertilized egg has to hang on for dear life, fighting the forces of gravity where all the traffic moves in one direction: down and out.�

Due to a number of reasons, the uterus can end up curving backward at the cervix toward the pelvis. Most physicians refer to this condition as a retroverted or tilted uterus where the severity of the tilt is measured as either first, second, or third degree. In rare cases known as a retroflexed uterus, the tilted uterus can actually fold backward on itself putting pressure on the rectum and creating problems with elimination.

Out of its natural placement, the tilted uterus will either be in a perfectly vertical position behind the bladder or leaning backward at an angle. When this happens, it’s very difficult for

the fertilized egg to find a proper place to come to rest, attach, and grow. With the uterus now creating a straight channel downward toward the vaginal opening, it's very common for the fertilized egg to lose its grip and slide right out of the body. I believe this happens to most of the sperm cells, as well, with gravity playing a prominent role.

In its normal position folded over the bladder, the uterus is like a cul-de-sac with a soft bend in the road and pocket at the end where the fertilized egg can sit and develop. In contrast, the tilted uterus is like a vertical, straight, one-way street where the fertilized egg has to hang on for dear life, fighting the forces of gravity where all the traffic moves in one direction: down and out.

Although most women with a tilted uterus experience no pain or symptoms, some have reported vaginal pain (dyspareunia) or lower back pain during sexual intercourse, menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea), trouble inserting tampons, urinary tract infections, and mild incontinence.

MALADIES & MISALIGNMENT

There are a number of reasons why the uterus can become tilted. Scarring from adhesions due to endometriosis or fibroids often pull it backward and hold it there. When left untreated, sexually transmitted diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea lead to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and can cause scarring that results in similar effects

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to endometriosis. Any scarring from a history of pelvic surgery can also be a cause. Sometimes a prior pregnancy can over-stretch the ligaments holding the uterus in place, leaving it unable to maintain its natural position, falling backward.

If none of these conditions exist and yet the uterus is still tilted, most doctors will insist that the condition is genetic. Based on the patients I’ve seen, I have to disagree. Any internal scarring in the pelvic region as a result of injury can cause the uterus to be misaligned. In many cases, women are completely unaware that such an injury has even occurred. This happens most often in female athletes involved in sports that have a high risk of them repeatedly landing on their buttocks, such as cheerleading, figure skating, and gymnastics.

Although seemingly harmless, the repeated impact from these falls often forces the pelvic floor upward into an unnatural position, throwing the uterus out of alignment.

I had a patient, “Kathy,” whose doctors told her that a tilted uterus wouldn’t be a problem in getting pregnant. After more than a year of trying to conceive naturally with her husband, she’d spent tens of thousands of dollars on multiple rounds of IVF only to experience a miscarriage with every attempt. I soon discovered that decades earlier, she’d been a cheerleader in college and broken her tailbone in a hard fall one day in practice.

An exam quickly showed she indeed had a tilted uterus, and that’s why she couldn’t get pregnant, regardless of what her previous doctors had told her.

INCOMPLETE INTERVENTIONS

Ordinarily, a tilted uterus is diagnosed through a pelvic exam. Initially, patients may be prescribed various exercises like knee/chest lifts, pelvic contractions, and Kegels to strengthen ligaments and realign the uterus. In most cases, success with exercises is limited and temporary. If scarring is an issue, exercises won’t work at all. Another option is the pessary device, a plastic or silicone application that can be inserted into the vagina to prop the uterus into a better position. Again, the effect is temporary, and the device, if left in long-term, has been associated with infections.

The only permanent solution that conventional medicine offers for a tilted uterus is surgical. A uterine suspension can be performed to realign the uterus. More recently, a laparoscopic version of the same procedure known as a uterine uplift has also become available.

A BETTER CHOICE

Fortunately, integrative medicine offers a non-surgical intervention to realign the uterus that’s effective in over 90% of cases. Treatment 151

involves having the patient lie face down on the examining table. Because the uterus is tilted toward the back of the body, the physician must enter through the rectum to perform a number of osteopathic manipulations in order to guide it back into place. Initially, this involves releasing tension in the pelvic floor, allowing it to relax and move back into its original position, creating more vertical space in which the manipulations can take place. During this phase of the treatment, patients sometimes describe a mild sensation in the pit of their stomach as if they were going over a small roller coaster hill. Others might experience a phantom urge to urinate since the work is being done in the vicinity of the bladder.

If scarring is present, Procaine and homeopathic injections are administered into the nerve plexus to release the rigidity of the tissue, increase its flexibility, and improve its ability to conduct energy. Scars anywhere in the body create roadblocks that cause the body’s electrical energy to stagnate in those areas. If energy isn’t freely moving, cells can’t communicate to operate properly. Electrically speaking, releasing the pelvic floor and the rigidity of the scar tissue is similar to creating an electrical short or override of the system—sort of like rebooting a computer. The body’s electrical system goes to zero and then immediately realigns or repolarizes with energy flowing freely down all the proper channels, including through the pelvic region.

With no more energy bound up in this area, patients often experience a new sense of well-being, not realizing that this internal physical tension kept them in a mild state of fight-or-flight that they once thought was their normal state of being.

Sometimes the physical release of tension can trigger an emotional release, subconscious trauma long forgotten and left over from the original injury, whatever it may have been.

The entire procedure takes between 30 and 90 minutes depending on each patient’s condition.

For cases with no or mild scarring, success rates are high. In Kathy’s case, she conceived naturally with her husband just weeks after treatment.

Depending on the severity of the tilt, scarring, and other issues, more than one session is sometimes necessary. In rare cases where scarring is excessive, surgery may be the best option.

Sources (1) “Fast stats: infertility”. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available from http:// bit.ly/2ZekkRM. Internet; accessed 2014.

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MINERALS AS

MEDICINE EXPLORING THE HEALING BENEFITS OF HOT SPRINGS AND MINERAL BATHS

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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s there anything better than sliding into a warm, aromatic bath, especially after strenuous exercise or a hard day’s work? The heated water just seems to know how to penetrate every part of the body that needs healing, as the scent of eucalyptus or lavender clears the mind and calms the heart. For thousands of years, humans have been instinctively drawn to soaking in warm waters as a method of healing, especially if the source is natural like a mineral hot spring. As nature’s “spa” treatment, we know that mineral springs are certainly relaxing, but do they really have healing benefits? Research is now showing that while every health claim made for mineral springs isn’t verifiable, many of them are.

INSTINCT & INVESTIGATION

Mineral springs are naturally occurring bodies of warm water that have a high concentration of minerals and salts. Located all over the world, their warm, deep blue and turquoise waters have attracted humans seeking healing for thousands of years. Most contain sulfur, which provides hardy whiffs of hydrogen sulfide or the traditional rotten egg smell. Considering the health benefits some claim mineral hot springs offer, most people don’t seem to mind the odor. The waters also contain ample amounts of calcium, sulfate, magnesium, iron, chloride, potassium, and zinc. Today, entire spa resorts are built around mineral springs all over the world.

Many health claims have been made for mineral springs including improving circulation, metabolism and the absorption of certain minerals. In Japan, where soaking in mineral hot springs is an ancient tradition, it’s said they can be used to treat chronic digestive diseases, constipation, diabetes, gout, and liver problems.

That might be pushing it a bit, but research is being done in all these areas with regard to mineral springs, particularly in Japan, Europe, and the Middle East. It’s called balneology, which is the study of the treatment of disease by bathing, mostly in mineral-rich waters. Although it’s a relatively new field of study, balneology has been able to scientifically verify some of the things we’ve known instinctively about mineral springs for a long time.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

Sea salt contains many minerals, and the waters of the Dead Sea have been found to have a positive correlation 1 with measurable improvements in arthritis2 and various skin problems.3 Other benefits include relief from the symptoms of fibromyalgia4 and inflammatory skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema,5 as well as high blood pressure. Millions of people report relief from symptoms from a wide range of conditions after bathing in mineral springs, and some with inflammatory skin conditions have claimed that the bathing was a crucial part of their remission.

German research is showing the magnesium ions in mineral water to be particularly responsible for the marked improvement in skin diseases.6 With regard to the Dead Sea, some research has attributed its healing effects to its high salt content and unique mineral profile.7 Even so, some experts state that the effectiveness of balneotherapy in actually curing disease remains unclear.8 TEMPER ATURE IS THE TRICK

Some Japanese hot spring spas feature several different pools to meet different needs. A high sodium-calcium-chloride pool might be recommended for youthful looking skin, while a calcium-magnesium pool would be the choice to help with allergies and inflammation. While some spas around the world invite you to drink the water as well, it’s not recommended.

Most mineral springs average around 100°F, while some may be hotter. Where there are multiple

pools, the idea is to start in the coolest pool and gradually work your way up through the hotter pools as you acclimate yourself to increasing temperatures. Although intense at times, it’s the heat that has shown to play an important role in pain relief. A meta-analysis of studies has revealed that it’s both the high heat and water pressure that work together to block pain receptors in the body.9 It’s also suspected that the high mineral concentration in the water makes the bather feel more buoyant, thus providing more relief for the joints and muscles. For these reasons, research has shown that balneotherapy may be able to help alleviate lower back pain, especially at higher temperatures.10 Other research is showing that the benefits of mineral springs go beyond relieving aches, pains and skin conditions. A recent Japanese study found that patients with chronic heart failure who soaked regularly in hot springs experienced a decrease in blood pressure and improvement in their symptoms.11 Regardless of what your physical condition may be, everyone can benefit in some way from a long soak in a mineral hot spring, mostly because of the relaxation that’s part of the experience. When we release our tension while immersed in hot water, blood pressure drops, arteries expand, circulation increases, and every cell of the body gets more oxygen and nutrients for healing. Even metabolism gets temporarily boosted. It’s the high temperature in the water that not only helps us release our physical tension,

“In Japan, where soaking in mineral hot springs is an ancient tradition, it’s said they can be used to treat chronic digestive diseases, constipation, diabetes, gout, and liver problems.”

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but involuntarily let go of our mental tension as well. By using a physical stimulus, we trigger a mental release. In this state, every physiological process will work better. So perhaps the healing secret is in the water and not the minerals, and maybe we don’t have to go any further than our own bathtub to achieve a lot of the same benefits that mineral springs offer. After all, research has shown that regular hot baths not only decrease stress, but also improves sleep.12

“Just sinking into a hot bath a few nights each week with the right essential oils, Epsom salts or whatever additives serve your purpose should do the trick.”

Sources (1) U, Katz et al. (2012). Scientific evidence of the therapeutic effects of dead sea treatments: a systematic review. Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, 42(2), 186-200, (http://bit.ly/2TwHvok) (2) Sukenik, S et al. (2001). Balneotherapy at the dead sea area for patients with psoriatic arthritis and concomitant fibromyalgia. Israel Medical Association Journal, 28(2), 147-150, (http://bit.ly/2Mi03rH) (3) Proksch, E et al. (2005). Bathing in a magnesium-rich dead sea salt solution improves skin barrier function, enhances skin hydration, and reduces inflammation in atopic dry skin. International Journal of Dermatology, 44(2), 151-157, (http://bit.ly/2Z4Eixp) (4) Sukenik, S et al. (2001). Balneotherapy at the dead sea area for patients with psoriatic arthritis and concomitant fibromyalgia. Israel Medical Association Journal, 28(2), 147-150, (http://bit.ly/2Mi03rH) (5) “For some people with psoriasis, spa therapy is a clear choice”, National Psoriasis Foundation, (http:// bit.ly/2Ty8waK) (6) Greiner, J. Diezel, W. (1990). Inflammationinhibiting effect of magnesium ions in contact eczema reactions. Der Hautarzt, 11(41), 602-605, (http://bit. ly/33yH0OZ) (7) Najeeba, R. (2011). Spa therapy in dermatology.

Indian Journal of Dermatology, Venerology and Leprology, 77(2), 128-134, DOI: 10.4103/03786323.77450.

SPA AT HOME

Of course, no one gets a great body by going to the gym for a single workout. It’s a practice that must be repeated to experience the overall benefit. As such, bathing in mineral springs isn’t likely to do you much good unless you can do it on a regular basis. In Japan, mineral hot springs are common, and bathing in them is seen as a communal activity. So naturally, the Japanese reap most of the benefits because the practice is built into their daily lives.

Still, you don’t need to spend a lot of money visiting spas or traveling the world in search of the most pristine mineral hot springs. Just sinking into a hot bath a few nights each week with the right essential oils, Epsom salts or whatever additives serve your purpose should do the trick.

Close your eyes, use your imagination, and you’re as good as at a mountaintop retreat. Not only will you reap many of the same benefits, but you’ll save a lot of money, which will go a long way toward relieving stress, as well!

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(8) Hiroharu, K. et al, (2012). Effectiveness of aquatic exercise and balneotherapy: a summary of systematic reviews based on randomized controlled trials of water immersion therapies. Journal of Epidemiology, 20(1), 2-10, doi: (http://bit.ly/31CGWfn) (9) Mooventhan, A. Nivethitha, L. (2014). Scientific evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems of the body. North American Journal of Medical Science, 6(5), 199-209, doi: (http://bit.ly/33BfZe3) (10) Pittler, M et al. (2006). Spa therapy and balneotherapy for treating low back pain: meta-analysis of randomized trials, Rheumatology, 45(7), 880-884, (http://bit.ly/31INV6r) (11) Oyama, J et al. (2012). Hyperthermia by bathing in a hot spring improves cardiovascular functions and reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines in patients with chronic heart failure. Heart and Vessels, 28(2), 173-178, (http://bit.ly/2KLwOub) (12) Rapoliene, L et al. (2015). The reduction of distress using therapeutic geothermal water procedures in a randomized controlled clinical trial. Advances in Preventative Medicine, 5(81), 166-173, (http://bit. ly/303EIVZ)

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EMBRACES COMMUNITY & EDUCATION PROGRAMS LOVE BUTTON GLOBAL MOVEMENT UPDATES

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his year we have been fortunate enough to continue pushing ahead with our outreach programs and humanitarian activities thanks to the support of our ambassadors, donors, supporters, and volunteers! Our new Integrative and Research Program has been making headway as we recently launched a new lecture series to help support the psycho-social needs of students. Here's a small recap of important events we've done over the past several months.

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2ND ANNUAL BASKETS OF GRATITUDE EVENT LOVE BUTTON GAVE LOVE TO LOCAL IN-NEED KIDS Thank you to the Love Button family for supporting our 2nd annual Baskets of Gratitude event on November 30 in Los Angeles. Supporters of the Love Button Global Movement came together to prepare gift baskets for local underserved children. Love Button was joined by the Hearts Giving Hope Foundation and Present Parent, Vibrant Child nonprofit organizations to assemble the gift baskets. The baskets were filled with blankets, sweatshirts, toys, school supplies, books, and toiletries generously donated by Love Button supporters in anticipation of the holiday season. Love Button extends our deep gratitude to our supporters and volunteers for making this program a success for the children.

This gratitude program has special significance to Love Button. Dr. Sherry Sami, President of Love Button, stated, “We give gratitude to the children just for being here and adding so much to this world. Loving them is a privilege to us and this is our small token to let them know they are loved. I never forget Oprah Winfrey’s holiday story where she describes an event where someone dropped off a gift at her house that was quite empty at the time. Oprah described feeling so touched by the notion that someone in this world truly cared and she was loved.” This year’s basket program continued the loving theme of togetherness, underscored last year when musical artist Emmanuel Kelly sang the moving song, I Will Never Be Alone.

The baskets were distributed to 120 children on December 1 at the “Motel Kids” Christmas Party organized by St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange County. This annual event is organized for disadvantaged children, featuring fun activities and a special visit from Santa Claus. Attending this event was Love Button ambassador Christiane Kinney who is also the co-founder of the Hearts Giving Hope Foundation.

She was joined by Jasmin Danesch, of the Love Button board of directors, who described the excitement of the children and joyously watching their faces light up as they were given the baskets. The kindness in their eyes was inspirational to Love Button.

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The 2nd Annual Baskets of Gratitude event was initially scheduled for November 11 at 11:11 am but was compelled to be postponed due to the fires that devastated Los Angeles. Separately on December 4, Love Button held a Sharing Circle event for local survivors of the fires in service of healing of the community.

This event provided an opportunity for those impacted to tell their stories, receive encouragement, and begin the healing process. Led by Sister Jenna, host of the America Meditating radio show, this special evening featured group meditation and many opportunities to share experiences through the spoken word, music, dance, poetry, and more.

Both heart centered community outreach events were held at the Be Hive of Healing, an integrative medical center nestled in the heart of Agoura Hills, California, that was magically spared by the fires that devastated the nearby areas. The Be Hive has a tradition of generously hosting Love Button community programs and events. It is Love Button’s privilege to be of service to our community. As Love Button’s Ambassador Chris Martin of Coldplay has often said, “We are all in this together.”

Love Button is grateful for your compassion during the holidays and support in uplifting the lives of our human family. Please remember to #PauseAndLove and act with kindness each day. Join the Movement and show that you believe in the power of love to heal our world at www.lovebutton.org

If your company is interested in offering an internship to a disadvantaged child, please contact Love Button at volunteer@lovebutton.org

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NEW ENDOWED LECTURE SERIES TO FOCUS ON STUDENT WELLNESS Alane Daugherty, a Cal Poly Pomona lecturer and co-founder of the university’s Mind and Heart Research Lab, kicked off a new student wellness lecture series with “From Stress and Anxiety to Resilience and Success.”

A distinguished lecture series supporting the psycho-social needs of Cal Poly Pomona students launched in February 2019, thanks to a $50,000 endowment to the College of Science provided by the Love Button Global Movement Integrative Research and Outreach Program.

Love Button (Lovebutton.org), founded by alumnus Dr. Habib Sadeghi (’91, microbiology) and his wife Dr. Sherry Sami, supports initiatives promoting physical and mental health, such as parent workshops, homeless outreach, and prison projects. The couple’s idea for the nonprofit organization formed after Sadeghi was diagnosed with cancer in 1997 while he was a medical student. A week after having a comforting conversation with his close friend, Sadeghi wrote the word “Love” on his palm before going into surgery, later creating and wearing a Love Button as a reminder that healing comes from choosing love.

The first lecture in this series provided information and techniques to help students reframe their unhealthy perceptions and reactions to personal experiences, helping them manage their lives in a healthier way.

“People will learn how to rewire their stress response and experience life from a state of calm and connectedness,” Daugherty said about her lecture. “Through a better understanding of the physiology of stress, attendees will gain a blueprint for change and get practical tips they can apply in their daily lives and cultivate expansiveness and possibility.”

Daugherty’s research focuses on emotional healing and neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change and adapt throughout a person’s lifetime. Supported by scientific research, emotional responses associated with past experiences often trigger similar responses in current experiences, even though the present situation may be different. Individuals who can recognize their triggers and alter their reactions by actively practicing healthier responses could replace unhealthy emotions and actions. Repeating their new mind frame will reprogram the brain at a biochemical level, allowing individuals to improve their mental and emotional well-being.

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LOVE BUTTON GLOBAL MOVEMENT FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

#GiveLoveCampaign

SUPPORT #GIVELOVECAMPAIGN TO HELP THE LOVE BUTTON GLOBAL MOVEMENT CHANGE LIVES The holiday season is coming up, and around this time of year we often feel called to reach out and give to others in need. Although the urge to give may be strong, sometimes we don’t necessarily know how or where our donation of funds, food, or time will make the most impact.

This year, please consider extending your generosity to the Love Button Global Movement’s #GiveLoveCampaign. Established in 2014 by Dr. Sadeghi and Dr. Sami, the Love Button Global Movement exists to inspire others to reach out to those in their own communities and abroad with random acts of loving kindness to increase a sense of interconnectedness among people and improve social cohesion. We’ve helped cancer patients receive free hair, makeup, and consultation services from professional stylists, distributed baskets with clothing and personal care products to the homeless population throughout Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, and assisted disadvantaged children in need of critical surgeries with transportation services to countries where they could be treated, among other efforts.

The #GiveLoveCampaign specifically focuses on school outreach programs to counteract bullying and inspire empathy, integrative medicine and outreach projects to provide access to treatment for

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underserved patient populations, as well as educate medical and nursing students on the importance of compassionate care, and international humanitarian activities that help us continue to connect those in need around the world with the necessary health, education, and relief services.

Unlike much larger, institutionalized nonprofit organizations, when you donate to the Love Button Global Movement you can be confident your gift isn’t being absorbed by administrative costs. You can have peace of mind knowing that your donation is being used judiciously to reach as many people as possible in the ways that matter most to them. Visit us today and make a donation where you can show you care with confidence.

THE #GIVELOVECAMPAIGN IS REQUESTING DONATIONS TO FUND THESE PROGRAMS:

TO DONATE & SUPPORT THESE PROGRAMS PLEASE VISIT:

lovebutton.org/givelovecampaign

Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law and fuel Love Button’s critical programs, uplifting our human family. The world needs the healing power that love gives.

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Ideal Acquaintance

Chance encounters with people who change our lives

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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believe everything happens for a reason and that spirit puts the right people in our paths when we need them the most. Maybe we’re looking for a few words of encouragement or some more detailed advice about a bigger problem we’ve been struggling with that’s been weighing on our hearts. At the right time, the right people just seem to appear.

When we look at life from a spiritual point of view, there is no such thing as a chance encounter, and everyone we meet has something to offer us in the way of learning more about ourselves or life—if we’re willing to accept the gift. Recently, I had the pleasure of having one of those experiences on a business trip.

A STARTLING ADMISSION

I was returning to the U.S. on Virgin America Airlines after doing some publicity interviews for my book, The Clarity Cleanse, when I noticed the passenger seated next to me seemed quite restless.

He kept shifting in his seat and couldn’t seem to keep his attention fixed on anything. I had a copy of The Clarity Cleanse open because I was referencing a few things I’d mentioned in my interviews when he asked me, “Is that a good book?” I answered, “I should hope so, but then again I’m biased because

I wrote it.”

Intrigued by my answer, the man asked me what the book was about. As I proceeded to tell him, I could see him become more grounded, as he was finally able to fix all of his scattered attention on what I was sharing. After my explanation the man said, “I can’t believe it. If there was any time I needed this information, it’s right now.” He went on to share with me how his life had been in a very dark place for several months. Apparently, the man had been having an affair with another woman in a different state, and the drama and guilt that had ensued finally became too much for him to bear.

He said he loved his wife and children, as well as the other woman, and didn’t know what to do, so he was planning on ending his life once he got back home to California.

DIFFICULT DECISIONS

After the man told me about his planned suicide, I couldn’t help but share that The Clarity Cleanse was dedicated to my brother, Dr. Mehrdad Sadeghi, who ended his own life just two years earlier. I told him of the nine-month journey where I spent my life savings just to keep Mehrdad alive, as he rotated in and out of psychiatric hospitals, while he continued to resist every attempt to reach him

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“That’s the rule of life, and the dark is just as important to our growth and development as the light. One can’t happen without the other because that’s what life is.” on an emotional or spiritual level. After multiple medication changes and surgeries for his Parkinson’s disease, he called me and begged me to let him go.

He said he’d lost everything including his health, marriage, children, and career, and just wanted to make a conscious and controlled transition. It was the toughest conversation I’ve ever had, but I found the courage to tell my brother that I would respect whatever decision he made regarding his own life as a sovereign soul. Shortly thereafter, it was over.

As dinner was served, I noticed it came with a tiny clear plastic airplane. Thinking it was a toy I picked it up and noticed that one side was filled with salt, while the other side was filled with pepper. I asked the man if he could consider that life was like that little airplane. Perhaps spirit wanted him to recognize that life isn’t happiness all the time. It’s a combination of light and dark experiences that when taken together, as they were combined in the airplane, help us fly and navigate through our lives. In that way and without judging ourselves as good or bad, we stay mobile and keep moving forward, but only when we take all our experiences together. That’s the rule of life, and the dark is just as important to our growth and development as the light. One can’t happen without the other because that’s what life is.

if he chose to see it that way, but he had to embrace the internal shadows as well as the light that made him who he was. It’s through working our process that we begin to transmute more of our darkness into light, but we can’t do that if we shy away from our shadows. I told him he could be an important example for his children if he chose the path of personal growth, but the decision was up to him, just as it was for my brother.

A DIFFERENT DIRECTION

At that moment, the man broke down in tears.

His sobbing increased until the flight attendant approached and asked him if everything was okay.

Even the co-pilot came out of the cockpit to speak with the man.

Several weeks later, I received a letter from the man telling me that because of our conversation he’d chosen to not end his life and was determined to work things out. Enclosed in the small package was a donation check for the Love Button Global Movement and the tiny airplane salt-and-pepper shaker he’d kept as a reminder of when our lives crossed paths for a brief but crucial moment in time.

I told the man that his current struggle wasn’t some random mistake to ruin his life but an essential event required for his personal evolution, 163

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IN ONE

BASKET DEPENDING ON FROZEN EGGS TO DELAY MOTHERHOOD LEAVES WOMEN HEARTBROKEN

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

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B

rigitte Adams was on the top of the world. She was a graduate of Vassar College working in tech marketing for several prestigious international companies, spoke fluent Italian and earned a multiple six-figure salary. In her 30s, her plan was to work a few more years, then find Mr. Right, and start a family. So she contacted a fertility clinic, had a number of her eggs cryogenically frozen, and continued to climb the corporate ladder. During this time, she became a national role model for modern female empowerment when she appeared on the cover of Bloomberg Businessweek in a power suit with briefcase in hand under the title, “Freeze your eggs, free your career.”

The article celebrated Brigitte’s success as proof that women could use modern technology to delay motherhood in favor of a career in their quest to “have it all.”

Four years later Mr. Right never arrived, and Brigitte found herself scrambling to choose a sperm donor and thaw her frozen eggs in an attempt to have the baby she desperately wanted. Two eggs didn’t survive the thawing process. Three failed to fertilize. Six embryos were declared abnormal.

When the last embryo implanted into her uterus failed, Brigitte knew that by then, being over 40, there was a near 0% chance of ever being able to have a child of her own. In an interview with the Washington Post, she described screaming “like a wild animal,”1 throwing her books, papers, and laptop across the room, and collapsing to the floor.

CONQUERING THE FERTILITY CLOCK?

For years, the media has trumpeted the praises of fertility technology, an industry aimed almost exclusively at women. Among all other procedures, the cryopreservation or freezing of eggs has received a disproportionate amount of attention—or some might say promotion. Years ago the headlines were everywhere implying that the female biological clock had finally been conquered. “Motherhood on Your Own Terms,” “Take Control of Your Body Calendar,” “Extend Your Fertility,” “Leave Conception for Later.” The implication was that women could schedule motherhood as easily as they scheduled a client meeting or business trip. There was no need to worry about age anymore because eggs frozen at 30 would still be viable and healthy, even in a 40-year-old body.

The truth is science is nowhere near conquering the fertility cycle of the female body and giving women the option to put off motherhood to middle age (35+) and beyond. So little has been achieved in fertility science that it can hardly be called a science at all. For example, it’s been 44 years since the first baby was born via in vitro fertilization (IVF) and yet, there remains a 79% failure rate2 —and that’s for women under 35. If you’re older, it’s even worse.

Healthy men remain fertile into their 80s because they produce millions of new sperm daily. In contrast, women are born with a finite number of eggs, all they will ever produce in their lifetime. The younger a woman is, the more viable her eggs are, and the odds are much greater that she will have a healthy baby through a relatively uncomplicated birth. Because of this and the fact that a woman’s egg count starts to decrease with her first period around age 12, nature has intended that women have their children as early as possible with a relatively short fertility window peaking between the ages of 17 and 30. After 35, a woman’s fertility rate drops significantly in what’s known as the “fertility cliff,” making conception more difficult and bringing with it new risks and possible complications.

By age 40, a woman has only a 5% chance of conceiving.

This is the way nature designed women and why it still intends for them to have their children early, and no amount of social politicking will ever change that. So the idea that women can cheat Mother Nature when it comes to fertility and timing is simply not true. Unfortunately, the fertility industry would like women to believe the exact opposite and that freezing their eggs is the way to subvert their natural process. Unfortunately, this only makes billions of dollars for the fertility industry and leaves tens of thousands of women heartbroken and struggling with regret.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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“A study published in Fertility and Sterility found a 77% failure rate of frozen eggs resulting in live birth in women aged 30. At 40, the failure rate is 91%.”

HARVESTING EGGS…AND MONEY

FAILURE & FR AUD

Normally, a woman’s body releases just one egg per month. In order to retrieve a larger number for freezing, a woman must first submit to an extensive series of blood tests, ultrasounds, and other examinations in the days or weeks leading up to the retrieval. During this time, she will be injecting herself with a powerful combination of hormones over a series of days in order to hyper-stimulate the ovaries to release larger numbers of eggs. It should be noted that some of the hormones used in this process are done so “off-label,” meaning they have never been studied or intended for such use. Each harvest cycle of eggs costs around $20,000 with most fertility clinics charging a $1,000 per month storage fee.

In spite of what the media and fertility industry have told women about the benefits and flexibility of postponing motherhood, the process of harvesting large numbers of eggs comes with serious risks, and the percentages of actually achieving a live birth are extremely low. A study published in Fertility and Sterility found a 77% failure rate of frozen eggs resulting in live birth in women aged 30. 4 At 40, the failure rate is 91%.5

When the time comes to use her eggs, the woman must again inject herself with hormones in order to prepare the uterus to accept the embryo.

Once again, a heavy protocol of blood tests, ultrasounds, vaginal probes and more lead up to the implantation. Up to 15% of eggs don’t survive the thawing process. Because the sperm cannot penetrate the cold, hardened outer membrane of the egg, it must be injected directly inside through a process called Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). If any of the eggs fertilize successfully, they are monitored for five days with the most promising being transferred to the woman’s womb through IVF, which can cost about $12,000, even though the overwhelming majority of attempts (79%) 3 fail ending in spontaneous miscarriage.

According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the chances of just one frozen egg leading to a live birth in a woman under 38 is 2% to 12%. 6 As if those odds weren’t discouraging enough, the average age of American women freezing their eggs is 37.4.7 In an article published in the scientific journal, Nature, it was found that worldwide, fewer than 2,000 people were ever born from frozen eggs, and that only 10 of them had been born to women 38 or older. When asked about the effectiveness of frozen egg implantation, ASRM practice committee chair, Samantha Pfeifer stated, “That has not been evaluated in any randomized controlled studies.”8 The fact that the effectiveness of using frozen eggs for conception has never been subjected to a legitimate research study should come as no surprise. Fertility clinics that make millions off of 30-something women do their best to keep the massive failure rates a closely guarded secret. Even so, when researchers contacted every fertility

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clinic in the U.S. about their success rates, the responses, although limited, were very telling. In all, 64% of the clinics contacted responded. Of those 140 clinics, 45 had never even thawed their client’s eggs. Just over 30 achieved no live births from their thawed eggs, while 11 achieved just one live birth. Only 8 clinics said they achieved 10 or more live births.9 In the UK, which tracks fertility outcomes through its Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), only 20 people were ever born from frozen eggs.10 Even when the media reports the virtually nonexistent success rates for frozen eggs, it does so in a way that still leaves women with unrealistic expectations. The Washington Post article that told Brigitte Adams’ story featured a graph from a 2017 study published in Human Reproduction that promoted the newest selling angle for freezing eggs: freeze more eggs at a younger age. The unsubstantiated claim is that the younger the eggs are, the greater the chances will be of success. The graph makes the outrageous claim that a woman under 35 who freezes 30 eggs will still have a 58% chance of conceiving by age 41! Of course the fine print beneath the graph reads: “Study uses mathematical model based on extrapolated data, not real world percentages from live births.”11

“The idea that eggs harvested earlier are more viable and stay “frozen” at the age they’re retrieved is misleading. Time doesn’t stop for frozen eggs.”

The idea that eggs harvested earlier are more viable and stay “frozen” at the age they’re retrieved is misleading. Time doesn’t stop for frozen eggs. They continue to age too, albeit slower. Even so, no one seems to think that the woman’s body continuing to age at a normal pace will create any obstacles to conception. All the focus is placed on the age of the egg. It’s a typical reductionist approach of western medicine that looks only at isolated parts and never the whole. Putting a “young” egg into an older body is like trying to put new furniture into an old house and expecting everything to coordinate naturally. As a woman’s body ages, her energy changes along with her. Physiologically, hormonally, and energetically, she’s not nearly as primed for pregnancy at 37 as she was at 22.

Pregnancy is a whole body function in women. It’s not all about the egg, not by a long shot.

Dr. James A. Grifo, specialist at NYU Langone Health, and one of the pioneers of egg freezing, called the idea of women being able to control their fertility promoted by the media and fertility industry “destructive.”

“It’s total fiction. It’s incorrect,” Grifo said. “Your whole life it’s beaten into your head that you’re in control…There has to be more dialogue about what women can be responsible for and what they are not responsible for.”12 RISKS WITHOUT REWARD

In addition to the enormous failure rate, the entire process of retrieving and freezing eggs carries a number of known and unknown health risks for women and any rare embryo that happens to remain viable. Repeated injections of high amounts of hormones to increase egg release can lead to ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), which causes nausea, bloating, and discomfort.

Although rare, serious cases have occurred requiring hospitalization along with complications such as intra-abdominal bleeding, ovarian torsion, and severe pain.

According to the Center for Genetics and Society (CGS), there also remains concern about the long-term risks associated with using powerful hormone cocktails that contain hormones that were never medically approved for such purposes.

Concerns have been raised about infertility, cancer, and the effects on any children born from frozen eggs because the chemicals used in the freezing process are known to be toxic. Unfortunately, long-term health studies on women using frozen eggs for conception have never been done. At the same time, women using frozen eggs must undergo IVF which has been linked to an increase in stillbirths, cesarean sections, preterm deliveries, multiple gestations, and higher rates of fetal anomalies.13

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“A study that interviewed 500 women ages 27-44 two years after using frozen eggs between 2012 and 2016 found that 50% experienced moderate to severe regret.”

clear that the most immediate risk women face with egg freezing would be to their mental health, but no one seems concerned about that, either.

EXPERTS REFUSE TO ENDORSE

Much of the confusion and marketing around freezing eggs came after the ASRM removed the “experimental” label from the procedure. Almost immediately, fertility clinics began marketing the idea of controlling fertility and postponing motherhood to women. What they neglected to tell women was that the ASRM only approved of freezing eggs for younger women with cancer as a way to protect them from the effects of chemotherapy and to provide the patients with a very small opportunity of having a child later.

Approving elective egg freezing for healthy women or even implying that it was effective for such use was never part of their intention.

In 2012, ASRM committee chair Samantha Pfeifer stated, “While a careful review of the literature indicates egg freezing is a valid technique for young women for whom it is medically indicated, we cannot at this time endorse its widespread elective use to delay childbearing. This technology may not be appropriate for the older woman who desires to postpone reproduction.”

Writing for Obg y n.net, reproductive endocrinologist Ronald Feinberg stated physicians have a responsibility to accurately inform women of all the short and long-term risks associated with egg retrieval and implantation. Among those risks he included the “…potential for scar tissue formation around the ovaries and fallopian tubes…[that]…could interfere with future natural conception by preventing an otherwise normal egg from entering the fallopian tube after ovulation… for women looking to electively freeze their eggs, the process could worsen their chances of conceiving naturally.”14 Aside from the physical risks, women using frozen eggs find themselves on an emotional rollercoaster. With every failure or miscarriage comes a tidal wave of feelings like sadness, anger, and especially regret that can be overwhelming.

A study that interviewed 500 women ages 27-44 two years after using frozen eggs between 2012 and 2016 found that 50% experienced moderate to severe regret. Interestingly, the average age of the women was 36 with 80% holding a graduate degree and 70% earning over $100,000.15 Researchers stated that using frozen eggs was, “…emotionally more complex than people might have assumed initially” and expressed shock that a significant percentage of the women “grossly overestimated” their probability of having a child, with some believing the success rate was near 100%.16 It seems

She went on to say, “Marketing this technology for the purpose of deferring childbearing may give women false hope and encourage women to delay childbearing. Patients who wish to pursue this technology should be carefully counseled.”17 In 2013, the ASRM was joined by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) in publicly stating that freezing eggs should never be recommended to healthy women. The official statement said, “…there are not yet sufficient data to recommend oocyte cryopreservation for the sole purpose of circumventing reproductive aging in healthy women because there are no data to support the safety, efficacy, ethics, emotional risks, and cost-effectiveness of oocyte cryopreservation for this indication.”18 After the article was published, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) publicly declared they also would not endorse egg freezing for healthy women as an effective way to delay motherhood.19 CORPOR ATE CONNIVING

The fact that the ASRM, SART, and ACOG all came out publicly against egg freezing as ineffective and possibly unsafe for healthy women didn’t stop companies like Facebook and Apple from adding it to health benefits packages in 2014. The companies offered $20,000 to all female employees who chose to freeze their eggs. The decision released a firestorm of criticism. The

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accusation was that the companies only offered such a benefit in order to convince women to delay motherhood, keeping them on the job years longer so the company could avoid having to deal with the issues that come with pregnant employees. In the end, it was a policy that worked to benefit the companies and not the women, who would only end up disappointed years later when their frozen eggs almost certainly failed.

An official statement from CGS, a nonprofit agency that lobbies for responsible use and oversight of reproductive and genetics biotechnology criticized the alleged benefit to women. In a scathing indictment it stated that instead of encouraging women to delay motherhood so they could work longer, the Silicon Valley companies should have been focused on creating new policies for paid leave and schedule flexibility that would enable work-family balance for women.

CGS executive director, Marcy Darnovsky, PhD added, “Paying for egg freezing is being presented as a benefit for women, but it may be that discouraging women from balancing work and family is really a benefit to the companies.”

She later added in a National Public Radio (NPR) interview, “When you’re in a situation of your

employer offering you a choice, you really have to be careful that you’re distinguishing between something that’s an expanded option and something that’s actually subtle or even explicit pressure to do what your employer wants you to do.”21 Online, the outcry from women was just as loud.

Melissa McEwen seemed to be speaking for lots of other women in her message titled, “Egg Freezing: A Sign Your Workplace is a Dystopian Hellhole.”

She bluntly stated, “This is the kind of woman empowerment that makes me cringe. But if there is anything I’ve learned working in tech for almost a decade, it’s that this is par for the course. That corporate feminism like ‘Lean In’ (by Facebook’s COO) isn’t about making women’s lives better; it’s about increasing our productivity for the good of the company.”22 REFOCUSING ON FAMILY

The best chance any woman has at conceiving and having healthy babies is to have them as early as possible. That reality might not sit well with some feminists, but nature isn’t concerned with being politically correct. The fact remains that if women want to be mothers, they have some big decisions to make while still in their 20s. Just a few generations ago, it was the norm to begin

“The best chance any woman has at conceiving and having healthy babies is to have them as early as possible.”

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thinking about starting a family in your early 20’s but now, all young people think about is starting a career. The years soon fly by and after a decade or more of making work the focal point of life, those formerly young people find themselves scrambling to find mates to start the families they postponed, and it often doesn’t work out for many of them.

Of course, money can be an obstacle to starting a family, as is finding a good partner in the age of internet “hook up” culture. Even so, young people must find creative ways to overcome these challenges if they wish to have families

Sources (1) Eunjung Cha, Ariana, “The Struggle to Conceive with Frozen Eggs”, Washington Post, (Jan. 27, 2018), (wapo.st/2KBkLAx) (2) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Data, Success Rates, (bit.ly/305qO5Z) (3) Ibid.

(4) Pelin, A et al. (2013). Age-specific probability of live birth with oocyte cryopreservation: an individual patient data meta-analysis. Fertility and Sterility, 100(2), 492-499, (bit.ly/31HFBUA) (5) Marantz Henig, Robin, “Should You Freeze Your Eggs?”, Slate.com, (Sept. 30, 2014), (bit.ly/2OYgvPN).

(6) American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Fact Sheet, Patient Education, (bit.ly/2N0FWOe) (7) Schuman, L et al. (2011). Trends in age in non-medical oocyte cryopreservation. Fertility and Sterility, 96(3), 112-125, (bit.ly/2KyHUnk) (8) Motuk, A. (2011). Growth of egg freezing blurs 'experimental' label. Nature, 476(1), 382-383, doi:10.1038/476382a.

(9) Rudick, B et al. (2010). The status of oocyte cryopreservation in the united states. Fertility and Sterility, 94(7), 2642-2646, (bit.ly/2N85GYU) (10) Gafson, Irene, “The facts don’t lie: We haven’t cracked egg freezing. Not even close.”, The Telegraph, (Oct. 17, 2014), (bit.ly/2MiefAM) (11) Goldman, R et al. (2017). Predicting the likelihood of live birth for elective oocyte cryopreservation: a counseling tool for physicians and patients. Human Reproduction, 32(4), 853-859, doi: 10.1093/humrep/ dex008.

(12) Eunjung Cha, Ariana, “The Struggle to Conceive

because nature doesn’t change, and time moves on. We must help young people rearrange their priorities and once again place more importance on family and relationships. At the same time, young women must realize that motherhood is the most important and rewarding job they will ever have even though it doesn’t come with a fancy title, big office, and profit sharing deal. That doesn’t mean young women shouldn’t pursue careers, it simply means that work will always be there…but their fertility won’t, and it’s very dangerous to put all their hopes for motherhood in one basket.

with Frozen Eggs”, Washington Post, (Jan. 27, 2018), (wapo.st/2KBkLAx) (13) Damovsky, Marcy, “Egg Freezing Poses Health Risks for Women”, Center for Genetics and Society, (Oct. 15, 2014). (bit.ly/2H3QVCL) (14) Feinberg, Ronald, “Elective Egg Freezing: 10 Thoughts from an REI”, Obgyn.net, (Oct. 17, 2014), (bit.ly/2KBt1k6) (15) Greenwood, E et al. (2018). To freeze or not to freeze: decision regret and satisfaction following elective oocyte cryopreservation. Fertility and Sterility, 109(6), 1097-1104, (bit.ly/2KCXgY5) (16) Eunjung Cha, Ariana, “The Struggle to Conceive with Frozen Eggs”, Washington Post, (Jan. 27, 2018), (wapo.st/2KBkLAx) (17) ASRM Press Release, “Highlights from the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine”, (Oct. 22, 2012), (bit. ly/2Za4gj0) (18) Ball, D et al. (2013). Mature oocyte cryopreservation: a guideline. Fertility and Sterility, 99(1), 37-43, (bit.ly/2OYQFvh) (19) The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Committee Opinion”, (Number 584), (Jan. 2014), (bit.ly/33yvuTP).

(20) Damovsky, Marcy, “Egg Freezing Poses Health Risks for Women”, Center for Genetics and Society, (Oct. 15, 2014). (bit.ly/2H3QVCL) (21) Sydell, Laura, “Silicon Valley Companies Add New Benefit for Women: Egg Freezing”, NPR, (Oct. 17, 2014), (n.pr/31GsjaT) (22) Walden, Rachel, “Why Corporate Promotion of Egg Freezing Isn’t a Benefit to All Women”, OurBodiesOurselves.org, (October 28, 2014), (bit. ly/33Ar92x)

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LESS IS MORE

Natural Skincare Products Protect Yourself Against Harmful Skincare Products When it comes to healthy skincare product ingredients, less is more. Unfortunately, conventional skincare care products commonly contain many toxic ingredients including methyl, propyl, butyl and ethyl parabens that can cause serious allergic reactions and mimic hormones inside the body leading to imbalance.

Phthalates help lotions spread better, but cause great hormonal disruption, especially in the male fetuses of pregnant women. Unfortunately, manufacturers aren’t required to list phthalates on product labels.

The basis of any good beauty regimen is a quality moisturizer. You can completely avoid the toxic minefield of modern cosmetics with Healing Face Moisturizer and Healing Body Moisturizer. Each contains an organic, antioxidant-rich blend of ingredients formulated for maximum skin absorption, protection and rejuvenation that includes shea butter, cocoa butter, pomegranate seed oil, hempseed oil, sea buckhorn oil, rosehip seed oil, borage seed oil, coconut oil, kukui nut oil and essential oils of grapefruit, orange and lemon. Their deeppenetrating effects are also ideal for eczema and fading stretch marks and scars. Transitioning to healthier beauty products can be a daunting task, so begin with the basics. Try our healing moisturizers and discover that beauty and health are a natural combination.

CLEANSE YOUR SKIN Rejuvenate your skin of harmful toxins with Healing Body Moisturizer and Healing Face Moisturizer.

BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/BODYMO IS TU R IZER BEHIVEOFLIFE.COM/FACEMO IS TU R IZER These statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All medications and nutritional supplements should only be used after you consult with your physician or other healthcare provider.

Exorcising Your Inner Demons

It doesn’t have to be a horror story

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

t’s been almost a year since the release of my book, The Clarity Cleanse, and the approaching date has inspired me to share something else with you that involves another anniversary. Upon finishing the manuscript in 2017, I knew I wanted the book to be released on December 26th because December 26, 1973 is the premier date of one of the most famous and top-grossing films of all time, although it was initially screened in just 26 theaters nationwide. When I saw it, the storyline was so powerful it seemed to be the perfect metaphor for the healing message I was trying to convey in The Clarity Cleanse. That movie is The Exorcist.

I know it sounds crazy. How could one of the most famous horror movies in Hollywood history be the inspiration for a self-help book about emotional healing? Isn’t it all about darkness and evil? It wasn’t to me. Beneath the surface scariness, I saw a more complex drama play out that affects most of us every day.

For those who haven’t seen the film, it involves the mother

of a 12-year-old girl who seeks the help of two Catholic priests to rid her daughter of a demon that has possessed her by performing an exorcism. In the film, the young girl, Regan, is living in the midst of her parents’ nasty divorce and is more than a little disappointed when her absentee father doesn’t even call her on her birthday.

The priests that come to help her couldn’t be more different in character. Father Merrin is an older, compassionate man with much wisdom and a strong faith in God and his work. The much younger Father Karras, who is also a trained psychiatrist, is critical, skeptical, and rather linear in his thought process. His academic education has left him with serious doubts about his faith and is the cause for his contemplating leaving the priesthood.

Metaphorically speaking, I have a lot in common with the girl, Regan. In the movie, she finds herself being inhabited or taken over by a foreign personality and a false consciousness or sense of self. In much the same way many years ago, my sense of self was invaded by the

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demons of guilt, shame, and worthlessness. From that moment, I ceased to be Habib and instead became someone or something else that was dictating my thought processes and life choices.

The longer Regan remained possessed by this false consciousness, the more her physical condition declined with facial lesions and other deformities.

I carried my demons with me long enough for their negative energy to degrade my body into producing cancer. These inner demons can be so subtle in taking over our personal identity that we lose all sight of who we really are. We end up terrorizing ourselves with things like hatred, anger, resentment, guilt, shame, inadequacy, and self-judgment until our bodies finally break down from all the psychospiritual poisoning in a health crisis.

Psychotherapist Melanie Klein said that when we lose our sense of who we really are, when we take on a foreign entity and allow someone else’s guilt, shame, or judgment to inhabit and alter our identity, we experience a split in our personality (not to be confused with multiple personality disorder). We now have a good “internal object,” the true part of our identity that remains patient, loving, understanding, and nonjudgmental with faith in our potential. It’s the part of ourselves that knows we’re doing the best we can at any point along our path.

In The Clarity Cleanse, I refer to this as the Higher Self.

The negative internal object is the part of ourselves that has turned against us because of the foreign suggestion that has been introduced into our consciousness. It has no faith in our abilities, and is critical and unkind. It tries to convince us that we are it, there is no hope, and that God doesn’t care about us. In the film, the priests have

a related exchange.

Karras: Why her? Why this girl?

Merrin: I think the point is to make us despair.

To see ourselves as…animal and ugly. To make us reject the possibility that God could love us.

In the film, Father Merrin warns Father Karras not to listen to anything the demon says because it will only lie and attempt to confuse and torment.

When Father Karras gets caught up in the demon’s mind games, he is dismissed so Father Merrin can continue his efforts alone. I think we all understand how difficult it is to ignore the voices of our inner demons and how convincing their lies about us can be. In some ways, Father Merrin can be seen as the good internal object, the side of ourselves that knows who we really are and what needs to be done in order to achieve healing.

Father Karras with his critical skepticism might easily symbolize our negative internal object and why the mind games with our inner demons can be such a challenge. Ultimately, it’s Father Karras who must make the greatest sacrifice in order for Regan to be saved. Without spoiling the ending for you, I believe the same kind of sacrifice needs to be made on the level of consciousness if physical healing is to occur.

At its heart, The Clarity Cleanse is a modern-day guide for those seeking to exorcise their inner demons and release their bodies from all the misinterpretations that have been preventing them from healing. For Regan, it could be said metaphorically that her demon was feeling unworthy of love because of her parents’ divorce and her father abandoning her. Lots of children feel their parents’ divorce is their fault. What lies are your inner demons telling you? There are better and far less scary ways of exorcising them that don’t involve projectile vomiting!

“These inner demons can be so subtle in taking over our personal identity that we lose all sight of who we really are.”

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ON THE AIR DR. SADEGHI IS INTERVIEWED BY ARYEH BOURKOFF ON KINDREDCAST

NOVEMBER 16, 2018

K

indredCast is a podcast profiling prominent thought leaders and innovators in science, technology, business, and health. In this excerpt hosted by Aryeh Bourkoff, Dr. Sadeghi explores the health pitfalls of CEOs and how they can mitigate the risk of work-related illness through greater clarity without sacrificing performance. You can listen to the full interview under entry #42: The Microeconomics of the Soul at KindredCast by visiting http://bit.ly/2P0DQk1, or on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Facebook.

A: We're going to focus the topic of this

conversation on the microeconomics of the soul. We're talking about things that are very important to all of us, which is the clarity of the soul.

You have two books published. The latest one is The Clarity Cleanse. I'd love to understand how you can teach us to become better leaders with kindness and appreciation in a world that is fraught with pressure, and anxieties in pursuit of the greater good.

DR. S: I just love how you coined it the

microeconomics of the soul because it's very unique. My entire medical philosophy is based on the idea that we are souls first, having a human experience. The philosophy behind anthroposophical medicine is that consciousness precedes phenotypic expression. In other words, our soul affects the phenotypic expression. The phenotypic expression could be the color of my eyes, whether my hair is curly or not, or manifestation of the cancer that I was inflicted with in my second year of medical school.

A: Twenty years ago.

DR. S: Most people are unaware that one in two men are getting cancer. One in three women are getting cancer. I mean, talk about CEOs from Lloyd Blankfein to Benmosche, God bless him, lung cancer, right? Warren Buffet, I mean you name it. Steve Jobs, pancreatic cancer. We can't really stick our heads in the sand and pretend that stress, especially at the highest level, isn’t integral to disease. I truly believe that this level of micro-tension that builds up in our body, it

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takes a toll. It gets manifested as autoimmune diseases, depression, psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety and depression, as well as cancer.

A: You've practiced the belief that if you treat

the mind, I should say the soul, then you can prevent diseases even as severe as cancer or other things like that?

DR. S: I don't believe. I know. They basically

gave me a death sentence. All my medical records, it's published in the book, The Clarity Cleanse. I went to the mecca of oncology, City of Hope, here in Duarte, California. Seventy percent chance of metastasis. That was the diagnosis.

They said I wasn't going to be able to have any babies, right? Sherry and I have two children naturally. I'm healthy, knock on wood. I'm alive.

The doctors can't believe it. The whole idea of consciousness—we poo-poo it as something that is really far-fetched. It's hard science. Our lives depend on it.

A: What is consciousness?

all that. These feelings then upregulate and shift our hormones, testosterone, estrogen, growth hormone, pregnenolone, DHEA, and so on. This creates an emotional set point or personality. For most of us, this is where we get stuck. If you’re a CEO under continuous pressure, you’re always upregulating epinephrine. Now, if you don’t live in a world of chaos, you feel depressed because stress and anxiety have become your brand of normal. Your personality is continuously creating micro-trauma in your body, and you’re not even aware of it.

“If a person can slow down and learn to say no more often, they’re actually saying yes to themselves, to self-care.”

DR. S: The way I understand consciousness is

that mental space inside where we’re able to make decisions logically and intuitively at the same time.

A lot of people are going through life wanting to know things in black and white terms, but the reality is they don’t develop what I refer to in the book as negative capability. Coined by the poet John Keats, negative capability is the ability to sit with the mystery of not knowing.

We think that life is black or white. The light switch is on or off. The reality is it’s actually a dimmer effect. It's how much truth do you want?

How much integrity do you want? How much light do you want? That's consciousness. If you don't cultivate it, then what you get is chaos.

A: You have to be very truthful with yourself.

DR. S: Very truthful. Look at the language we

use. We still talk about sunrise and sunset. There is no sunrise and sunset. We’re rotating around the sun. It’s earth rising. The language we use takes us into a lack of clarity with how we see ourselves and the world. It’s these kinds of linguistic abstractions that, as mammals, really set humans apart. If you’re not careful, the language you use can start a trickle-down effect that overwhelms you.

These thoughts upregulate neurotransmitters like glutamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, melatonin, and histamine that create feelings. You feel good; you feel bad, up, down, 177

A: A lot of your patients are Type A people and incredibly successful. How do you improve someone who’s already at the top of their game?

What are they looking for?

DR. S: One of the first distinctions that I bring forward is that it’s okay to say no. Most people feel a false sense of obligation to say yes all the time. What happens then is they burn up; they completely burn out the adrenals. Then what happens is biological chaos and inflammation, which is followed by diseases of all kinds. That’s why we start with the microeconomics of the soul.

If a person can slow down and learn to say no more often, they’re actually saying yes to themselves, to self-care. Research shows regularly having healthy sex has powerful healing and disease prevention

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effects. How many of us are actually taking the time and making that a priority for ourselves?

A: So it’s about saying yes, and not about saying no.

DR. S: Correct. So much of it is about stopping

and taking the time to make real connections with people. When we hug someone, think about a person we love, or share sexual intimacy with another person, we experience an intense sense of connection. During those moments, the hormone oxytocin is up-regulated. There are thousands of studies on the healing powers of oxytocin and its protective effects against everything from depression to cancer. We know that people who have more sex over their lifetime have the lowest occurrence of cancer. So a great deal of wellness requires maintaining a sense of loving, being loved, and mutual connectedness. My teacher, Morton Herskowitz, wrote a book called Emotional Armoring that explains how unresolved emotional issues from the past prevent us from making real connections in our present lives and lead to disease in the body. I encourage all your listeners to read it.

A: So, while a great leader has to be there for

their head. The idea is to create this spaciousness inside so we can be reflective. What do we reflect on? We reflect on qualities that we cannot get at Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe's, qualities such as integrity, truth, and loving connection. These are qualities that must be cultivated for health.

A: I read an article recently that Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, gets up at around 4:15 in the morning, but he creates his own firewall, so to speak, so he doesn't check his phone, and he can be alone with his thoughts.

DR. S: That’s the microeconomics of the soul in action. I want to be alone with myself. What is the Self with a capital S? It’s the soul. That’s the ontological basis of the microeconomics of the soul. I’m not going to jump into the raging cold waters of information, demands, questions, and deadlines of the day from the instant I open my eyes until I pass out at night. I’m going to choose how I experience my day by first sculpting what I want it to look like.

A: What then is success?

DR. S: For me, success is gratitude. The more

nutrition?

things you can find to be grateful for in your life, the more successful your life is, and that has little to do with money. Yes, money is important, but I also know CEOs who have destroyed their health, happiness, and relationships. One could hardly call those people’s lives a success. If people could wake up every day and really make the time and mental space to experience gratitude for their blessings, shifts and changes would happen, but it’s much easier to complain instead.

DR. S: Health is the ability to think in a

A: You talk a great deal about humility and its

other people, he’s also got to be there for himself.

DR. S: The greatest wealth is health. You could

be the most innovative and successful CEO, but if you don’t put the oxygen mask on yourself first, you’re not going to survive professionally or physically.

A: Is health about running in the park, diet, or

specific way. If you’re a CEO traveling three or four times per month, ruminating over stressful business decisions on long flights, spending days or weeks away from your family creating more disconnection, eating poorly because you’re on the run all the time, and living an otherwise sedentary lifestyle, the end result can only be disease. If you’re already sick, it’s certainly not going to lead to a positive change in your prognosis. Health starts by slowing down and creating space in your mind and life where you can begin to say yes more often to yourself.

The concept of microeconomics of the soul is to first acknowledge that there is a soul, that your spiritual cultivation matters. Not everyone needs to go to India; not everyone needs to stand up on

root word, humus.

DR. S: Right—not the food. Humus means soil.

Exercising humility is going back to our essence, and our essence is love. I’ve been at the bedsides of a lot of people of significant influence during their passing, and not one ever said they wished they’d come up with another innovation or made another trillion dollars. I’ve seen the moments where they realize they wished they could have loved more.

I believe the reason we’re alive is to realize and release the misperceptions and misunderstandings that block us from giving and receiving love, the emotional armor that limits our lives and health.

If we can do that, we’ll have a truly successful life in all respects.

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LIFE AS AN

IMPROVISATION THEATER GAMES HELP NAVIGATE LIFE’S QUICK CHANGES

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

L

ife can change in an instant. A surprise divorce, job loss or serious diagnosis can turn our lives upside down overnight leaving us blindsided, not knowing where to go or what to do next. In such a situation, it’s easy to get bogged down in fear, leaving us feeling stuck with our lives not moving toward a solution, sometimes for years. It would be nice if life came with a script telling us what our next move is supposed to be in these situations, but it doesn’t. All of a sudden, the script we’ve written for ourselves (when we’ll get married, the kind of person we plan to marry, the career we’ll pursue, etc.), is cast to the wind, and we find ourselves staring at a blank page.

It’s like an actor walking on stage into a scene with all his dialogue and actions carefully scripted only to discover a prop crucial to the scene is missing. Freezing up is not an option. As in life, the show must go on. So the actor must improvise or go “off the page” as it’s called, creating dialogue and actions for himself that weren’t written and off the top of his head in order to work around the limitations he’s suddenly found himself within.

The goal is to get through the unexpected challenge and to the next scene without stopping the show or tipping the audience off that something has gone wrong.

INSTANT ADAPTATION

Improvisational skills are essential for actors because they help them adapt quickly to unexpected occurrences. They hone these skills in improv training and theater games. The training can take lots of different forms but the intent is always the same: to get the actors comfortable with uncertainty. If the actors can remain calm not knowing what’s coming next, their mental and emotional faculties will be flexible enough to come up with a perfectly appropriate and spontaneous response no matter what’s thrown at them. In order to do that, they can’t be worrying about the future or what might happen, but fully present in the moment. Naturally, when we’re not worrying about what comes next much of our stress disappears, and we can make choices that serve us with a quick and clear mind.

A recent study from the University of Michigan found that improvisational theater games significantly improved teenagers’ ability to deal with anxiety and social phobias.1 Results showed that improvisational skills help build trust, make people feel safer taking risks and more willing to make mistakes. This is the state of consciousness poet John Keats called negative capability, or the ability to maintain your peace in the midst of

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uncertain circumstances—the ability to be okay when things around you aren’t necessarily okay.

basic skills of improvisation were important for patients in healthcare. We ended up talking for nearly six hours.

INSTINCT & INTEGR ATION

“A recent study from the University of Michigan found that improvisational theater games significantly improved teenagers’ ability to deal with anxiety and social phobias. Results showed that improvisational skills help build trust, make people feel safer taking risks and more willing to make mistakes.”

AN ENLIGHTENING ENCOUNTER

Being able to improvise our way through life is vital to how we experience every part of our existence. This is especially the case with something as uncertain as health. I became aware of this connection many years ago during my residency in Florida.

I was the chief resident working at Northside Heart Hospital in Tampa and had just finished a long shift. I was more hungry than I was tired, so I decided to stop by Mirage, a Persian restaurant, on the way home to get something to eat. It was very late. Even the hostess had gone home, so I seated myself and opened the menu. After ordering, I noticed a man in a wheelchair come in. He looked a bit lost. When I asked if he needed help, he told me that he’d never been to the restaurant before, so I invited him to sit with me.

The man turned out to be Dick Shaul, the creator of the improvisational comedy troupe Second City in Chicago. He explained what improvisational theater was and that his group had trained many famous people like John Belushi and Robin Williams. He told me he was trained by Viola Spolin who’d created a lot of improvisational theater games. Quickly, I began to see how the 181

Although I felt strongly that improvisational skills could help patients, I had to know for sure.

I had to experience it myself, so I began training with Dick. Unfortunately, our schedules made our time together short, but he promised to help connect me with someone who could continue my training in California, as I was moving there soon after. In hope of referring me to a Los Angeles based teacher, Dick put me in touch with Paul Sills, the son of Viola Spolin. Although Paul was teaching in Wisconsin, his daughter, Aletha Sills, was a former teacher in Los Angeles. While Aletha was grateful that I felt her grandmother’s work had a place in healthcare, she told me she wasn’t teaching at the time and had no plans to start again. Even so, I asked her to keep my contact information. As fate would have it, she called me six months later, and I began training with her for a couple hours every Monday for two years.

What I learned about keeping the mind flexible, free of fear, and in the moment became fundamental to my work with patients. Not only did I incorporate elements of this training and these concepts into my patient care, but also in the other counseling services I offer such as Integrative Psycho-Synthesis (iPs), Couples Transformational Intensive (CT!), Strategic Healing Integrative Partnership (S.H.I.P.), and Conscious Completion among others.

For me, these skills can be summed up in a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet Act 5, Scene 4: “Lord, we know what we are, but not what we may be.”

We have no idea of the power we possess to achieve what we want and navigate our lives regardless of the changing circumstances if we can just get the worry out of the way. When we learn how to properly contain our anxiety—not repress it, but remain present and consciously channel that energy into finding a solution—we keep our lives moving forward and experience a sense of empowerment that provides calm and clarity.

Sources (1) Felsman, P et al. (2018). The use of improvisational theater training to reduce social anxiety in adolescents. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 43(2), 34-36. (http://bit. ly/2P70OGn)

MegaZEN

VOLUME 7

A Hot Topic Microwave ovens reduce food nutrient content and much more depending on your usage habits

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

f you’re old enough to remember life before microwave ovens, then you certainly remember all the discussion about a possible link to cancer that happened a few years after they became popular. While that has never been proven in any large-scale studies, what we do know for sure is that microwaving destroys much of the nutrient content in food, far more than traditional cooking, and that can be a problem if you’re using food to heal from an illness.

Traditional ovens heat slowly from the outside in, whereas microwave ovens heat very quickly from the inside out.

Technically produced microwaves using alternating

current bombard the molecules, cells, and atoms of food with electromagnetic radiation at very high frequencies, causing them to reverse polarity up to one billion times per second. This extreme agitation of the water molecules in the food creates friction, which forces them to convert to steam, heating the food from the inside out in a fraction of the ordinary time. Simultaneously, this violent action damages the chemical structure of other molecules in the food through a process called structural isomerism, rendering them dead or inactive. Because of this effect, it turns out microwaving food destroys much of its nutrient content.

A study published in The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture showed that microwaves caused broccoli to lose up to 97% of its beneficial antioxidants, compared to just 11% when it was steamed.1 Scandinavian researchers found asparagus, high in antioxidants and anti-cancer properties, loses a significant amount of its vitamins when exposed to microwaves.2 An Australian study found that microwaves alter the structure of protein in food more than conventional ovens when heated to the same temperature and cause a greater level of protein unfolding.3 Garlic is an extremely powerful food for healing, but it only takes 60 seconds of microwave exposure to render its anti-cancer active ingredient, the enzyme alliinase, useless.4

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“An additional concern with microwaves heating to high temperatures so quickly is the opportunity for chemicals in plastic containers to leach into the foods they contain.” contents into a glass bowl before doing so. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that all plastic food containers intended for microwave use be labelled as microwave safe, it’s much better to err on the side of caution. Plastic is still a petroleum product that contains many chemicals vulnerable to heat exposure. So if you’re using food as part of your healing protocol, as we all should, be sure to get the maximum nutrient impact from it and consider investing a little more time in conventional cooking. Your body will thank you for it.

Sources (1) Vallejo, F et al. (2003). Phenolic compound contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic cooking. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture , 83(14), 1511-1516. (http:// bit.ly/2JzeHXG) Since the dawn of the microwave oven, it has become very popular to use one to heat a baby’s bottle in a matter of seconds. For the obvious reasons, however, that’s not a good idea. Microwaves have been found to destroy the immuneboosting agents in breast milk that are essential for babies to develop a strong immune system. They also cause a decrease in lysozyme activity and antibodies in breast milk, which aids the growth of pathogenic bacteria. In fact, research shows more damage is done to breast milk by microwaving than any other form of heating.5 A Japanese study found that 40% of B12 is destroyed in milk after just six minutes of microwave heating.6 Although it might take a few more minutes, it’s very important to maintain the time-honored tradition of either heating a baby’s bottle under warm tap water or in a small pot of water on the stovetop.

An additional concern with microwaves heating to high temperatures so quickly is the opportunity for chemicals in plastic containers to leach into the foods they contain. Many of these chemicals, like bisphenol A (BPA) are powerful endocrine disruptors. When exposed to heat, this leaching process accelerates. In fact, when plastic is exposed to boiling water, the leaching of BPA is 55 times greater than at room temperature.7 Although many food containers are labeled as “microwave safe,” it’s highly recommended that if you choose to microwave your food, you empty the 183

(2) Kidmose, U. (1999). None. Agriculturae Scandinavica , 49(2), 110-117.

(3) George, D et al. (2008). Non-thermal effects in the microwave induced unfolding of proteins observed by chaperone binding.. Bioelectromagnetics , 29(4), 324-330. doi: 10.1002/bem.20382.

(4) Song, Kun. Milner, John, (2001). The influence of heating on the anticancer properties of garlic. The Journal of Nutrition., 131(3), 10545-10575. (http:// bit.ly/2Y7t0MA) (5) Quan, R et al. (1992). Effects of microwave radiation on anti-infective factors in human milk.

Pediatrics, 89(4), 667-669. (http://bit.ly/2Sf4Bz1) (6) Watanabe, Fumio et al. (1998). Comparison of a microbiological assay and a fully automated chemiluminescent system for the determination of vitamin b12 in food. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 46(4), 1433-1436. DOI: 10.1021/jf970807j.

(7) Hoa, H et al. (2008). Bisphenol a is released from polycarbonate drinking bottles and mimics the neurotoxic actions of estrogen in developing cerebellar neurons. Toxicology Letters., 176(2), 149-156. (http://bit.ly/2XTAPVW)

MegaZEN

VOLUME 7

MAXIMIZING

MEMORY SUPPORTING BRAIN HEALTH THROUGHOUT LIFE

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

t was once thought that memory was something we couldn’t improve and that our ability to remember things was static and unchanging. Now, we know that’s not true. Memory is a skill, and like any other cognitive abilities such as mathematics or foreign languages, we can strengthen it by consciously using it.

When people say they want to improve their memory, they usually mean their short-term memory, the function of the brain that helps us store and recall small bits of information like the name of a new co-worker or the phone number from a For Sale sign. Typically, the short term memory can hold up to seven pieces of information at the same time. After that point, something has to go.

Long-term memory is for those things we don’t need to recall in the immediate moment, such as important experiences and facts about our lives.

While there are many things we can do to improve our memory, it’s important to realize that memory is a function of the brain. As such, anything we can do for brain health will automatically work toward a better memory as well. In the same way, a healthy body means a healthy brain, so anything we do for our overall physical health will also benefit us on a cognitive level. When we learn to feed and exercise our brain properly, we don’t have to accept memory slippage as a natural part of aging, because it’s not.

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ANSWERS & ALTERNATIVES EAT A BR AIN BOOSTING DIET:

The brain is 60% fat and functions best when we eat healthy saturated fats that contain essential fatty acids like omega-3, which are crucial for brain function. Some healthy fat sources high in omega-3s are herring, mackerel, salmon, cod liver oil, sardines, anchovies, flaxseeds, chia seeds, walnuts, and pasture-raised meat and eggs. A Mediterranean diet, which is high in these foods, along with vegetables, non-sweet fruits like avocado, and a daily glass of red wine has been shown to boost memory and delay age-related cognitive decline.1 Seniors on the MIND diet, a version of the Mediterranean diet developed by neurologists, showed a 53% reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease.2 A ketogenic diet (high fat, low carb, moderate protein) has also shown promise in improving mild cognitive impairment.3 Avoid sugar. High blood sugar levels have been shown to decrease activity of the hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with memory, along with instigating attention and short-term memory deficits.4 Other brain boosting foods include broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and curry.

EXERCISE:

Physical exercise increases blood flow and oxygen to all parts of the body, including the brain. In particular, aerobic exercise causes the nerve cells to release proteins called neurotrophic factors that trigger numerous chemical reactions beneficial to cognition and learning. Research also shows that not only does aerobic exercise help the brain learn better and faster,5 but it expands the memory center (hippocampus) of the brain, even in aging people.6 GET GOOD SLEEP:

Getting a full eight hours of sleep every night is essential for overall health, but especially brain function. Studies show that not only is good sleep vital to memory,7 but deep REM sleep improves problem-solving capability and significantly increases creativity and generating new ideas.8 If you need tips for better sleep, see our article “Rest & Rhythm” in MegaZEN Volume 4.

SUPPLEMENT:

Even people with the best diet don’t always get the proper amount of nutrients they need. To ensure optimal brain function, take a food-based multivitamin every day. Proper amounts of vitamins C, D, E, K and B complex are vital to brain health, as well as magnesium, iron, iodine, and zinc. Plan on taking a good omega-3 supplement, as well, in the form of cod liver or krill oil. You might want to consider these additional supplements that have been shown to enhance memory: acetyl-l-carnitine, citicoline, curcumin, Ginko biloba, American ginseng, magnesium threonate, Arctic root, and vinpocetine. There is no need to take lots of pills, just a high quality vitamin, omega-3 supplement and anything else that works for you.

ESSENTIAL OILS:

Our senses are enhanced in many ways through essential oils. It’s been found that the aroma of rosemary oil improves memory function, while peppermint oil enhances alertness.9 UNPLUG:

Electronic gadgets are making us lazy and weakening our cognitive ability. The next time you take a trip by car, turn off the GPS and stimulate your brain’s visuospatial abilities to get you there. Dependence on GPS is destroying cognitive directional senses that have taken humans tens of thousands of years to develop.10 The brain is on autopilot during a routine commute. Taking a different route to work will stimulate the brain cortex and hippocampus.11 Don’t reach for the calculator; do the addition or percentage conversion by hand. Stop using speed dial on your phone and start putting in the numbers by hand.

AVOID OTC MEDICATIONS:

Prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications are well-known to contribute to memory loss, with cholesterol-lowering statins12 and sleeping pills being among the worst.13 Antihistamines, pain relievers, sleep aids, and those for acid reflux have all been shown to contribute to dementia.14

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STOP MULTITASKING:

The brain needs about eight seconds to commit any piece of information to memory. If we don’t give something our full attention for the proper amount of time to complete it before moving on to something else, the brain doesn’t have the time to fully encode the experience, making it difficult if not impossible to recall the details later. While a favorite in the corporate world, multitasking has long been known to interfere with short-term memory.15 In your life at home, do your best to only do one thing at a time. Talking on the phone and driving while eating a hamburger and listening to the radio is four things. Just drive or talk or eat or listen. Doing just one thing at a time is much harder than it sounds, but the effects are profound in the improved ability to focus and direct 100% of your attention anywhere at any time. When mastered, it also has a powerful ability to significantly reduce stress and increase present moment awareness.

MEDITATE:

Not only does meditation help us relax and destress, it’s a powerful way to learn to filter out all the mental noise and focus the attention. Hundreds of studies have proven the cognitive benefit of meditation, including improved memory and growth of the hippocampus and frontal gray matter.16 See our full analysis of the Science of Meditation in MegaZEN Volume 3.

MEANINGFUL ACTIVITY:

Taking up a meaningful hobby that isn’t a mindless pastime, but has real purpose and emotional investment has been shown to prevent brain aging 17 and help focus attention in much the same way as meditation.18 Activities such as gardening, home improvement, crafting, or painting can all work as long as they have an emotional purpose behind them. Taking up a musical instrument or learning a new language are great choices because the level of difficulty can be increased over time to keep the brain working harder. A difficult piano piece you’ve already mastered doesn’t stretch the brain in the same way as a new difficult piece you’ve never played before. At the same time, listening to instrumental music has been shown to positively impact memory and attention.19 People who speak more than one language often have better working memory and memorization skills.20

PRACTICAL TACTICS z

SENSE IT:

z

REPEAT IT:

z

USE MNEMONIC DEVICES:

Whatever it is you want to remember, the more senses you involve in the experience, the stronger the encoding will be. Just remembering a favorite meal can immediately bring it to mind in vivid detail. Why? Because of the aroma, texture, flavor, color, mouth feel, and even the sound of certain foods like sizzling.

Repetition is a powerful way to remember something, especially if you say it out loud. If you can recite it rhythmically, the encoding will be enhanced even more. Alliteration and rhyming work to strengthen memorization, too. For example, Tom takes the trash, but only on Tuesdays. To remember the months of the year with 30 days in them; Thirty days hath September, April, June and November.

These are memory tools to help remember words, information or

concepts. {

Acrostics: Make up a sentence in which the first letter of each word represents the first letter of each item in a sequence you want to remember. For example, to remember all the planets in proper sequence you might create the sentence, Mary’s Violet Eyes Made John Stay Up Nights Pining. This would help you remember Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.

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{

Abbreviations or acronyms: Create acronyms using the first letter of each item you need to remember. Have to pick up pasta, lettuce, avocados, tomatoes, eggs, and sausage at the grocery store? Remember it as PLATES.

{

Chunking: Break long lists of information down into manageable groupings that are easier to remember. Instead of 8034273298, it’s easier to remember 803, 427, and 3298.

{

Visualize: Make associations. Can’t remember Sandy’s name? Imagine her on a sandy beach and keep that reference picture of her in your mind. Does someone have a particular facial feature, personality trait, occupation, or anything else you can use to create a visual association that will help you remember what’s important?

{

Document: Of course, the old reminder list never fails. Be sure to place reminder notes for yourself in places where you’re certain not to miss them.

Sources

of Neuroscience, 113(1), 15-38, (http://bit.ly/2Kvhe6L)

(1) Hardman, Roy et al. (2016). Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet and effects on cognition in adults: a qualitative evaluation and systematic review of longitudinal and prospective trials. Frontiers in Nutrition, 3(22), 125-129, (http://bit.ly/2KFPzz3)

(10) Ruane, Isabel, “How Not to Be Clueless: navigating the smartphone world”, Harvard Magazine, (July-August, 2013), (http://bit.ly/2N2tgpZ)

(2) Bennett, D et al. (2005). The rush memory and aging project: study design and baseline characteristics of the study cohort. Neuro-epidemiology, 25(4), 163-175, (http:// bit.ly/2H3dmrz) (3) Krikorian, R et al. (2012). Dietary ketosis enhances memory in mild cognitive impairment.

Neurobiology of Aging, 33(2), 19-27, doi: 10.1016/j. neurobiolaging.2010.10.006.

(4) Aubele, Teresa, “Why a sugar high leads to a brain low”, Psychology Today, (October 18, 2011), (http://bit. ly/2YLop3x) (5) Rhyyu, I et al. (2010). Effects of aerobic exercise training on cognitive function and cortical vascularity in monkeys. Neuroscience, 4(2), 1239-1248, (http://bit. ly/2MZDTKn) (6) Brinke, L et al. (2014). Aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume in older women with probable mild cognitive impairment: a 6-month randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(4), 223-229, (http://bit.ly/2MYxvmn) (7) Ellenbogen, J et al. (2006). Interfering with theories of sleep and memory: sleep, declarative memory, and associative interference. Current Biology, 16(2), 1290-1294, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.05.024.

(8) Berlin, Leslie, “We’ll fill this space, but first a nap”, The New York Times, (September 27, 2008), (https:// nyti.ms/2Kxm3g1) (9) Moss, M et al. (2003). Aromas of rosemary and lavender essential oils differentially affect cognition and mood in healthy adults. The International Journal

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(11) Maguire, E et al. (1997). Recalling routes around London: activation of the right hippocampus in taxi drivers. The Journal of Neuroscience, 17(18), 7103-7110, (http://bit.ly/2H45s1d) (12) Wenner Moyer, Melinda, “It’s Not Dementia; It’s Your Heart Medication: Cholesterol Drugs and Memory”, Scientific American, (September 1, 2010), (http://bit. ly/33x4rbp) (13) Nordquist, Christian, “Emergency Visits Due to Ambien Skyrocket”, Medical News Today, (May 3, 2013), (http://bit.ly/2YHzYsB) (14) Paddok, Catharine, “Over the Counter Sleep Aids Linked to Dementia”, Medical News Today, (July 9, 2015), (http://bit.ly/2KKQzlg) (15) Telis, Gisela, “Multitasking Splits the Brain”, Science, (August 15, 2010), (http://bit.ly/2N06Qpw) (16) Luders, E et al. (2009). The underlying anatomical correlates of long-term meditation: larger hippocampal and frontal volumes of gray matter. NeuroImage, 3(15), 672-678, (http://bit.ly/2TwqP0i) (17) Wilson, Jacque, “This is Your Brain on Crafting”, CNN, (January 5, 2015), (https://cnn.it/2KvKj29) (18) Gutman, S. Schindler, V. (2007). The neurological basis of occupation. Occupational Therapy International, 14(2), 71-85, DOI: (http://bit.ly/33uEaum) (19) Klemm, William, “Does music help memory?”, Psychology Today, (December 1, 2013), (http://bit. ly/2Mh2WsG) (20) Morales, J et al. (2013). Working memory development in monolingual and bilingual children.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(2), 187-202, (http://bit.ly/2YMWfp1)

MegaZEN

VOLUME 7

7 WAYS TO REIGNITE SEXUAL INTIMACY

IN YOUR MARRIAGE BRING LOVE, PASSION AND FUN BACK TO YOUR SEX LIFE!

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By Dr. Dawn Michael, Relationship Expert & Certified Clinical Sexologist

K

nowing how to deepen intimacy and have a great married sex life is about more than looking at how often you have sex. It's an emotional process of learning and exploration that requires both husband and wife to do some conscious work within their marriage.

As a certified clinical sexologist with more than a decade of experience helping couples rediscover sexual intimacy and enjoy sex in their marriages again in fun, playful, and loving ways, I've found that while anyone can have "hot sex," not everyone can have hot intimate sex—the kind of sex many of us refer to as "making love."

The exchange of intimate touching, kissing, hugging, and caressing are all parts of intimacy, but this doesn't only relate to sex. Rather, it extends to what goes on between partners outside of the bedroom as well.

“True intimacy in marriage is about husband and wife connecting through frequent intimate exchanges—kisses, hugs, intimate words, special looks, holding hands, and even sitting next to each other watching television.”

Men and women often view intimacy differently, thus creating problems within some marriages.

True intimacy in marriage is about husband and wife connecting through frequent intimate exchanges—kisses, hugs, intimate words, special looks, holding hands, and even sitting next to each other watching television.

WHEN COUPLES GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO CREATE THIS INTIMACY INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE BEDROOM, THEY STRENGTHEN THEIR MARITAL BOND OVER ALL.

Intimacy in marriage is that special relationship between a husband and a wife, and the love and passion they share with one another. Taking steps to bring the intimacy back is a process, but one that is worth the effort.

Your marriage comes before anything else, and making time for it must be a priority.

Couples must understand that finding quality time to spend with each other alone every week strengthens the bond of the marriage and makes it special.

START WITH THE INTIMATE EXCHANGE OF FACE-TOUCHING, EXPLAINED IN DETAIL BELOW.

This exercise is about getting to know each other again on an intimate level, and it can bring about unexpected emotional exchanges many couples haven't felt in years.

Above all, remember that sex is not a duty in marriage, nor should it ever feel like one!

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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REIGNITE SEXUAL INTIMACY IN YOUR MARRIAGE WITH THESE 7 STEPS TAKE TURNS INITIATING:

This is the most effective way of working on the intimacy in the marriage. Each spouse is responsible for initiating the exercise equally, taking turns being in control of setting up the evening.

Start with the face-touching exercise, in which one spouse touches the other spouse's face, hair, lips, and ears. The person touching does this for their own pleasure, while the person being touched is the willing participant. There is no talking during the exercise.

After you complete the exercise, it is important to spend time talking about how it felt.

PLAN TWO DAYS WITH INTIMATE TOUCHING:

When I'm working with couples, we will talk about how the exchange in step one felt. I then recommend step two, where strong emotions are sometimes brought to the surface. It's good to seek help if you had strong emotions during step one, or were not able to complete the exercise.

Step two, which I refer to as home assignments, is to plan two days where one person is in charge and touching for their pleasure, while the other person is the willing participant.

It's very important to take turns initiating these exercises.

Have your spouse lie on his or her stomach, naked with the back exposed. The spouse in charge is to touch the body with hands and lips, softly touching and getting to know the other person's body.

Important note: There should be no talking or touching between the legs; this is not a sexual exercise.

Connect with your spouse when touching them by concentrating on how their skin, hair, muscles, and the shape of their body feel. When you finish the exercise, talk about it. Tell each other a positive thing you liked about it.

“Have your spouse lie on his or her stomach, naked with the back exposed.

The spouse in charge is to touch the body with hands and lips, softly touching and getting to know the other person's body.�

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“Touch is an amazing way to connect with another person, and in many ways, is more effective than talking. You break down more walls of hurt and past pain than simply rehashing old feelings.”

CREATE A DATE NIGHT:

Intimate conversation between a man and a wife can have a very profound impact on the sexual excitement in the bedroom. As you do the face-touching exercise and then the back exercise, also set up a date night for the two of you to enjoy together.

Talk to one another about what you want to do to turn each other on, what pleases you, and how you can please your spouse. The point of this exercise is to create desire for one another and keep the passion going.

Intimacy between spouses is what each partner makes of it. It is both the husband’s and the wife's responsibility to create intimate time for each other.

Marriage is about taking responsibility for the part each partner plays and how each will contribute to the relationship. There are reasons why spouses cheat, marriages end in divorce, and why one or both spouses forget intimacy with one another. Taking turns and not putting all the responsibility on one spouse can save your marriage.

Keep the sex passionate in your marriage for a lifetime by taking the time to do these exercises.

INCREASE SENSUAL TOUCHING:

After completing steps one and two, along with date

night, you are ready for step four.

This is the exercise where you lie on your back with your stomach and front exposed. The same rules apply as before. Take turns with sensual touching (not sexual touching), remembering that the person touching is doing it for their pleasure. Again, you can use hands and lips while light-touching and caressing to get in touch with your spouse.

These exercises make you aware of your spouse's reaction when touching them, feeling the exchange of energy between the two of you. This is why it's important to talk about the experience after the exercise and tell your spouse what you liked.

Touch is an amazing way to connect with another person, and in many ways is more effective than talking. You break down more walls of hurt and past pain than simply rehashing old feelings.

Always be mindful of your spouse when touching them. If you notice they are uncomfortable, stop and touch somewhere else; then, talk about the exchange after the exercise.

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SLOWLY ADD SEXUAL INTIMACY:

You should only start step five if you’ve completed the first four steps, you each have a better understanding of each other's bodies, and both spouses are ready to move forward. All the prior steps taken were to create intimacy; step five is to add in the sexual intimacy...slowly.

The same rules apply where each partner takes turns initiating the assignment. Start off this assignment by kissing your spouse, feeling their lips, tasting them, and exchanging passionate kissing. Chemicals released during kissing stimulate the mind to send powerful messages to the entire body.

After kissing your partner, place yourself in a sitting-up position in the bed with the other spouse behind you. The spouse behind you is the one initiating the touch, a touch that should have a more sensual feel to it.

Start the touching and kissing at the top of the head, face, and neck, working down the body and softly caressing the chest or breasts, stomach, thighs, and legs. Take the time to feel the other person getting aroused, and listen to breathing, moaning, or even laughing.

When venturing between the legs (for both male and female), use gentle touch, taking time to explore in a soft, loving way. This is not about bringing the person to climax or turning it into a sexual experience.

If arousal and natural climax happens, it's fine, but it's not the purpose of the exercise. When the exercise is over talk about it with each other.

EXPLORE EACH OTHER'S BODIES WITH LOVE:

After completing the first five steps, you are now ready to move onto step six — exploring each other's bodies more intimately. Again, the rules still apply with taking turns and touching the other person for your pleasure.

This step is about stimulation and a greater understanding of your spouse's erotic zones.

This exercise is not only about sensual touch, but teasing and having fun with your partner.

Taking control of another person's sexual pleasure should also be exciting and pleasing to you.

Explore with fingers, mouth, or even body parts of the other person's body. Kiss the entire body, including genitals and breasts, taking time to touch and tease. Watch as your spouse (and you) becomes aroused.

In this step, you are also allowed to bring your partner to climax, but not through intercourse.

You can do this by touching, sucking, licking, caressing, or even a sex toy.

“Chemicals released during kissing stimulate the mind to send powerful messages to the entire body.”

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“Sexual intimacy is a huge part of marriage and without it the marriage will suffer. Take the time to work on your marriage and create a deeper, more loving bond between you and your spouse.”

FINALLY, YOU'RE READY FOR ACTUAL INTERCOURSE:

After completing all the steps above, with the same rules applying, you can now move towards intercourse if you are ready. Often, when I'm working with couples, they want to learn more once they achieve a better understanding of each other's bodies.

Taking turns with each other can become fun and involve creating a scene, role play, setting up the room, or preparing a special evening. The act of intercourse becomes less of the main event and more of the sex play.

When taking the time to make sex better in your marriage, it's always important to understand that this is your spouse—a person whom you love and committed to for life.

Sexual intimacy is a huge part of marriage and without it the marriage will suffer.

Take the time to work on your marriage and create a deeper, more loving bond between you and your spouse.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dawn Michael is a relationship expert, AASECT certified sexuality counselor, certified clinical sexologist, sex educator, sex researcher, author, and public speaker. For more information, visit her website at www.thehappyspouse.com

MegaZEN

VOLUME 7

CLARITY Q&A HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRESS CAMPAIGN FOR THE CLARITY CLEANSE

Q: Describe the book in one sentence.

A: An in-depth exploration into how unresolved

emotional trauma creates a biological environment favorable to disease, and how healing emotionally helps the body respond better physically to treatment.

Q: What is your most basic definition of clarity?

A: Clarity is the ability to recognize the

subconscious emotional drivers that have been behind most of our decisions, coupled with the ability to use that information consciously to solve specific problems without identifying with or losing ourselves in them.

Q: Why The Clarity Cleanse, and why now?

process, and that’s what The Clarity Cleanse is about.

Q: What kind of feedback do you hear from people who have read the book?

A: They tell me how the concepts ring true for them, how they intuitively know that we live in a mind-body, and how just treating the physical body doesn’t bring full or lasting health. They express gratitude that they or a loved one have been given tools they can implement with their current treatment plan to begin addressing their healing in a more comprehensive way. They no longer feel like victims of their illness.

Q: What are the main action points?

A: The book contains a number of different A: The title was chosen because healing requires exercises, but in a general sense one thing people clearing the mind of all the mental noise and preconceptions about health in order to create a space for new realizations and healing to enter.

It’s time for a book like this because although diagnostic technology has advanced tremendously over the last 60 years, modern medicine has made little progress in actually curing the diseases we diagnose. There’s a missing element in the healing

can do to prepare themselves for The Clarity Cleanse is to practice meditation, not simply as a relaxation technique but to prime the mind for the realizations that are to come. Ending the blame game is also essential for healing old emotional wounds. It doesn’t mean we excuse anyone else’s behavior; it simply means asking oneself, “What could it be inside of me that led me into this situation

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or allowed this person into my life? In what way could I have consciously or unconsciously contributed to this situation?” Taking full responsibility for your life is the only way to take back your power to change any part or all of it.

Q: How did you come to work with so many top talents in the entertainment industry? What are some of their reasons for seeking you out?

A: People in the entertainment industry are

creative by nature and because of that, they’re always willing to look outside the traditional ways of doing things in order to find solutions. This naturally makes them more open to exploring things like integrative medicine.

The entertainment industry is a small world, and people are always talking to each other, searching for trusted referrals. So all my business has come from recommendations because I don’t advertise.

That means a great deal to me. It says I’m achieving results and doing something right.

Q: What kinds of patients do you see and how

perpetuating our problems, preventing us from moving forward or even getting well. The empty cup on the cover of The Clarity Cleanse is symbolic of our need to clear away the mental clutter to create a holding space where this kind of work can be done.

Q: How do you think we go about the lifelong process of achieving clarity?

A : Achieving clarity doesn’t have to take a lifetime. In fact, it shouldn’t. The whole idea is to use clarity to create a better life while you’re living it. The best place to start is to remember that every external part of life from your work, relationships, health, and so on all have an internal psychological or emotional component that, through a history of related choices, brought those conditions into being. With this reality in mind, our first response to a problem should be to look inwardly for our answers instead of attacking outwardly, which only perpetuates or exacerbates any situation.

do you work with them?

A: Patients, usually with chronic disease, come

to me after having exhausted all their options at some of the best medical centers in the world.

I’m the last stop for many of them. My approach is to apply various interventions for their physical condition while simultaneously guiding patients through a psycho-spiritual exploration of unresolved emotional issues from their past connected to things like trauma, fear, anger, resentment, shame or guilt. Held for years at a time, high stress emotions such as these suppress immune function and act as strong co-factors in making the body more vulnerable to disease, hampering our ability to heal. Once realized, we work to release them.

Q: Why the empty cup on the cover?

A: Clarity means creating space or an opening

through which you can see why your life is the way it is, honestly and without judgment, often for the first time. It’s in this space that we have the awareness to work through our problems without attaching our identity or self-worth to them. We can have the experience without becoming the experience itself or losing ourselves inside of it. Without this ability, we live unconsciously addicted to certain negative emotions that over time become our emotional set point and we fall into a kind of holding pattern where they keep us 195

Q: What was the impetus for writing this book?

A : I first began exploring the mind-body connection after being diagnosed with cancer as a medical student over 20 years ago. Even though I was given a 30% chance of survival, I opted to forego radiation and chemotherapy to explore more holistic interventions. It was on that journey that I discovered how my mind and unresolved emotions, particularly from a past trauma, had contributed to affecting my energy and body chemistry in such a way that I’d made myself vulnerable to disease. It stood to reason that if I unconsciously used my mind to contribute to my illness, I could consciously use it as part of my healing process. I’d been using the exercises I’d developed for myself with my patients for

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many years. It was when my brother, a brilliant physician, passed away unexpectedly a few years ago that the need to put everything into book form came to me.

circumstances isn’t in play, so it allows us to take bigger chances more often, while enjoying the great things we have now without clinging to them or fearing what might happen if they went away.

Q: What is the story with your cleanse? How Q: Can you tell us about the doubt spectrum and does it work and what are the benefits?

A : In addition to a series of emotional exploration exercises, The Clarity Cleanse provides a short-term diet that includes fish, apples, brown rice, and other high nutrient cleansing foods. The diet is designed to decrease the effects of the common high carb, high sugar diet by taking the pressure off of the body’s main organs of cleansing and detoxification, such as the pancreas, liver, kidneys and gall bladder. Opening up the body’s detoxification pathways while simultaneously performing an emotional cleanse has shown to provide the best results in both mind, body, and quality of life for my patients.

Q: How does achieving clarity help us take more risks in our lives?

A : Clarity allows us to take more risks in all areas of our lives because we no longer self-identify with the circumstances or outcome of any situation, whether we call it good or bad. Outcomes are information, not identification. So, we don’t have to fear the F-word, failure. Every situation provides information about how we need to change internally before our lives can change externally. In that sense, there are no mistakes, just choices, outcomes, and information that lead to new choices, and so on. Most of us avoid taking risks because we’re afraid of how a so-called negative outcome might reflect on us, how it would change what others think of us and what we think of ourselves. In a state of clarity, this unconscious habit of attaching our personal value to external

how we can learn to build a healthy relationship with doubt?

A : When we can’t trust life we experience doubt because we’re uncomfortable with the unknown.

The mind is filled with a thousand What ifs, and we begin imagining all the worst case scenarios.

The result is fear, the byproduct of doubt, and we become stuck, unable to make any change in our lives or move forward.

When we don’t understand how to ride the changing tides of life, we experience unhealthy self-doubt. We end up second guessing our abilities, circumstances, and even our self-worth.

From this mindset of not-enoughness, we make choices that don’t serve us and usually create more problems. Self-doubt can actually be healthy if we experience it from an attitude of surrender, allowing things to be as they are, while we examine the entire situation, without feeling frantic like we’ve got to fix everything right now. There is no fear involved here. It’s simply the ability to be okay with things not being okay for a while.

From a state of clarity, we can then do the necessary work and make our choices to move forward with no indecisiveness or fear. Everyone experiences doubt at times, but whether that doubt is healthy or unhealthy depends on our state of consciousness in dealing with the problem. One acts from a place of desperation, while the other from a sense of destiny, trusting in the process of life and knowing that whatever the outcome, it will always be in service of our greatest growth and highest good.

Q: As women prepare for birth, what can they take from The Clarity Cleanse?

A : In pregnant women, their conscious and unconscious stress not only resonates throughout their own body, but the body of their developing child as well. In this regard, I feel it’s important for women to prepare their mind, as well as their body for pregnancy, to seek out any unresolved emotional issues they may have that need healing before becoming pregnant. Doing forgiveness work and learning to release old grudges is important, too. Engaging in the right kind of emotional exploration is important because with enough

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time, we’re no longer aware of these feelings and attitudes, as we’ve consolidated them into an unconscious way of being. This is why I say that unborn children swim in the subconscious of their mothers. On some level, everyone’s biography, the emotional sum total of their life experience, becomes their biology. During pregnancy, mothers literally share their emotional biographies with their babies that change their body chemistry and in turn impact the babies’ developing biology. Of course, it’s ideal if this work can be done before pregnancy.

Some women do a physical cleanse to prep the body before conception. Clarity is an emotional cleanse that’s just as important and could easily be done in tandem with a physical cleanse.

Q: How do we benefit from embracing

suffering as we prepare for an event (or are experiencing an event) which very often is painful?

A : The only thing worse than suffering

is meaningless suffering, and I assure you there is no such thing. All the events we perceive as negative experiences occur for our own personal growth. If we can discover the deeper lesson we are to learn or how it is that we need to change as a result of the situation, we give meaning to the event and our experience of it shifts.

We’re no longer suffering for no reason.

We no longer feel we’re being arbitrarily punished by the universe. While the experience won’t become pleasant as a result of this change in perception, it’s no longer completely overwhelming. As it’s been said, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. When we give meaning to our pain, we cease to suffer. There is a difference between the two.

Q: How does the act of assigning meaning

to suffering enable us to achieve more in our lives?

A : Assigning meaning to our difficulties

allows us to shift from meaningless suffering to pain with a purpose. Once we understand the why of our problem, it serves as a very important motivator to help us move forward out of the situation.

In many cases, it can even generate a sense of gratitude. I have many patients who have 197

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said that being diagnosed with a serious illness was actually a blessing because it helped them make all kinds of positive changes in their lives and relationships that would not have occurred otherwise. Adding this kind of meaning to such a serious problem not only motivates my patients to improve their lives, but the positive energy that results from these changes resonates in their bodies and helps them respond to treatment better and even heal faster.

have people felt compelled to keep journals for generations? Knowingly or not, people have been physically unburdening themselves of emotions via writing for hundreds of years. The stresses of today's world have an undeniable effect on our mental and physical well-being. Purge Emotional Writing is an incredibly powerful tool that helps people alleviate intense emotional and mental stress to move closer to clarity and healing.

Q: What can we do during the interim of sitting Q: Cleansing the mind is of equal importance in with these difficult experiences, especially when your opinion. What is Purge Emotional Writing?

Tell us about its benefits on mental and emotional health.

they're really uncomfortable?

A : Anything you can do to better your situation,

A : Over the past dozen or so years I have so long as it’s not done from a sense of desperation prescribed Purge Emotional Writing to thousands of patients. In the same way that The Clarity Cleanse’s Intentional Unsaturation Diet cleanses our physical body of harmful byproducts, Purge Emotional Writing is one way to help detoxify our emotional body of the negative energy that’s generating its own physical toxins. Words have tremendous power, and this writing tool is essential to purging negative energy from our minds and hearts. Think about this—why

or fear will help you feel empowered while you do the rest of the work. Clarity isn’t passivity; it’s about action, but taking the right kind of action from the right frame of mind. What will help us sit with difficult circumstances is knowing that just as winter always gives way to spring, every dark night of our lives will always be faded away by a new dawn. It’s the law of nature, and when we understand it, we can help bring those changes about by taking action from a state of clarity.

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WORTH ITS SALT ALL SEA SALTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

F

or thousands of years, salt, as well as spices, was a highly desired commodity along trade routes.

In fact, salt is so essential for good health that it was long used as a form of currency in trade.

It was often said that an item for sale was “worth its salt.”

Today, the whole foods, healthy eating movement has put sea salt squarely at the forefront of its recommendations. Choosing sea salt over table salt is definitely a good thing, but just because a food label says a salt product is from the sea doesn’t mean it’s really sea salt. Food processors have jumped on the whole foods bandwagon to profit from people’s increased health consciousness while at the same time offering them salt products that, well, aren’t worth their salt.

SALT OR SUBSTITUTE?

One of the first absolutes someone with high blood pressure learns is that salt is bad. Quite often they’re put on a low or no salt diet as part of their treatment plan. This is largely due to the widely held misconception that the sodium in salt causes hypertension, which can lead to a heart attack.

This error comes from falsely equating sodium with salt. If you open up your kitchen cupboard and pull out your salt shaker, it’s probably filled with Morton’s table salt. That’s the fine white substance that looks indistinguishable from processed sugar. Nearly 98% of conventional table salt is made up of only two elements, sodium and chloride. The other 2% is made up of chemical additives, including anti-caking agents that prevent clumping and ensure a smooth flow when pouring. Table salt is a highly processed “salt product” that in no way resembles the nutrient profile of salt as it actually 199

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“The first tip-off is the color. If it looks snow white, you’ll know it’s been bleached and processed. True sea salt is full of minerals, which are very colorful. Some sea salts are gray, red, brown, black, and pink.”

occurs in nature in the sea.

In reality, sodium and chloride are just two of more than 50 elements that naturally occur in sea salt. Commercial producers strip sea salt down to its bare bones components of just sodium and chloride, then sell the other trace minerals to secondary companies for their own uses. To them, salt is worth much more when sold for its parts than individually as a whole food. Even worse, heavy metals like aluminum are used in the stripping process, which often leaves traces in the finished salt product. The loss of 50 trace minerals that are essential for health leaves consumers of table salt in a state of chronic malnourishment that plays a significant role in many disease processes over time.

Manufacturers always add iodine to their salt products because most people don’t get nearly enough iodine in their daily diets to support thyroid health. Never mind that iodine is not a part of salt as it occurs in nature. Bleaching also happens in the final stages to give it that snow white appearance, which only adds to its toxicity. What we’re left with is a product that occurs nowhere in the natural world. Is it any wonder then that our bodies would react adversely when we consume it?

REMOVING MISCONCEPTIONS

The assumption that high levels of sodium intake can cause hypertension isn’t correct. Blood pressure is more affected by an imbalance of other nutrients in relation to sodium levels, especially calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. However, for those already suffering from hypertension, most likely caused by a diet high in starchy

carbohydrates and sugar (see MegaZEN 2016 The Big Fat Lie), consuming excessive levels of sodium found in table salt can worsen the issue. One of the ways it does this is by causing the blood vessels to retain too much water, creating an increase in pressure against the arterial walls, forcing the heart to work harder than it should.

In healthy people, a diet that’s too low in sodium actually increases chances of cardiovascular problems. A study of nearly 70,000 people without hypertension recently showed that those eating more than 7g of sodium daily experienced no increase in death or risk of cardiovascular disease.

In contrast, those who ate less than 3g per day had a 26% increase in risk of death from cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke when compared to those who consumed 4g-5g per day. People who already had high blood pressure and consumed more than 7g of sodium per day saw their risk of heart attack and stroke increase by 23%, but when they consumed less than 3g per day, their risk grew even more to 34%.1 Naturally, sodium is essential for good health in everyone, even those with high blood pressure.

It is a crucial component of countless biological systems including regulating blood sugar, proper hydration, thyroid function, adrenal function, digestion of protein and carbohydrates, brain development and function, muscle contraction and expansion, and nerve conduction. In a low or no salt diet, all these systems suffer, posing a greater risk for health problems in the future. In fact, it’s the salt we consume that helps us retain the proper balance of water in our bodies because most of us don’t drink enough high-quality water anyway.

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“Some great choices include Himalayan Sea Salt and Redmond Real Salt. Both are pink varieties, sourced from ancient sea beds that have since dried up.”

MAKING BETTER CHOICES

The key with salt is finding the right balance— not too much, and definitely not too little. It seems 4g-5g is the right amount per day, although healthy people can certainly consume more. It’s always a good idea to get a nutritional panel from your doctor to see where your deficiencies lie. Increasing foods in your diet that contain higher levels of minerals that help balance sodium, especially potassium, can go a long way toward improving your overall health. Of course, choosing the right kind of salt is essential, but how can you tell when a salt is worth its salt?

Naturally, it goes without saying that you should stop consuming all commercially produced table salt immediately for its denatured state, additives, and heavy metals. “Where will I get my iodine?” you ask. Wild caught fish is a good source, as well as seaweed products. Dried kelp flakes are available that can easily be shaken onto salads and other foods for a healthy daily dose of iodine.

As part of a whole food diet, consuming whole salt just make sense—that’s salt with all its original trace minerals intact that hasn’t been exposed to caustic processing methods and no harmful additives. The trick is knowing how to choose the right kind of salt because all “sea salts” aren’t created equal.

In fact, there are no nutritional or legal standards for what can be labeled “sea salt,” in much the same way the term “all natural” holds no standards and is entirely meaningless on food packaging when it comes to the content or quality of the food. The reason for this lack of standards in salt labeling is because all salt does originate in the sea. So, technically speaking, all salt is sea salt, however, the most important issue is what happens to that salt after it leaves the ocean and whether or not it retains its natural state once it hits the store shelf.

Lots of salt products will claim to be sea salt when they aren’t. Still, you don’t have to be fooled by labels. The first tip-off is the color. If it looks snow white, you’ll know it’s been bleached and processed. True sea salt is full of minerals, which are very colorful. Some sea salts are gray, red, brown, black, and pink.

bag of salt around in your hand. If the salt moves freely inside the container without clumping, it’s most likely been treated with flow agents. True sea salt naturally forms clumps inside the container that can be broken up by shaking them apart.

Although some sea salts are finely ground, most are coarse or contain slightly larger granules than table salt. A salt that is too fine can be a give-away.

Don’t be fooled by titles such as Mediterranean Sea Salt and the like. Always do a color and texture test.

Some great choices include Himalayan Sea Salt and Redmond Real Salt. Both are pink varieties, sourced from ancient sea beds that have since dried up. Celtic Sea Salt is a gray variety and sourced from present-day oceans. Hawaiian Black Lava and Hawaiian Alaea Salt are black and brown, and originate from Hawaii. By understanding salt better, you’ll be able to make the right choice for you and your family and start enjoying the ability of sea salt to enhance food flavor and your health.

Sources (1) Mente, A et al. (2016). Associations of urinary sodium excretion with cardiovascular events in individuals with and without hypertension: a pooled analysis of data from four studies. The Lancet, 388(10043), 465-475. (http://bit.ly/2Y94j29)

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LABEL LANGUAGE

DECODING INGREDIENT LABELS TO MAKE BETTER FOOD CHOICES

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

n the last decade, Americans have become increasingly health conscious about what they eat. With a broader knowledge of organic standards, the risks of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food, the difference between good fats and bad fats and more, Americans are making smarter food choices for their families. Even better, many conventional grocery stores are now carrying more organic and whole food products, while chains like Whole Foods Market and Earth Fare are expanding far beyond the limits of the big cities.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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With wider access to whole foods, everyone has a greater opportunity to improve their health through nutrition. Still, much of that benefit depends on the products we choose, even in the so-called health food stores. There is a lot of junk on the shelves of Whole Foods Market and similar healthy grocers. If you don’t know what to look for, the products you purchase often contain the same harmful ingredients you’re trying to avoid, all while paying a higher price.

Most of this confusion comes down to packaged or convenience foods, things we can grab on-the-go or prepare in a hurry because time is important to all of us. We’ll look at six popular “healthy” brand convenience foods and read between the lines of their ingredient labels to discover what’s really inside—and it’s about much more than just being certified organic.

Credit for this amazing food label detective work goes to Kristin Michaelis at foodrenegade. com. Be sure to visit for more food label decoding profiles and lots of excellent whole food information and recipes.

Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base

BY SUPERIOR TOUCH

Beef and chicken bouillon save lots of time when making soup when real soup stock isn’t on hand. The problem is that nearly all bouillon contains scary ingredients, including monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that has neurotoxic effects. Here’s what the label says: “Better Than Bouillon concentrated bases are made from meat, poultry, seafood and vegetables.

This gives them a richer, more robust flavor than ordinary bouillons. No added MSG, low or no fat, lower sodium: Better Than Bouillon bases have 1/3 less salt than ordinary bouillons.”

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken meat including natural chicken juices, salt, sugar, corn syrup solids, chicken fat, hydrolyzed soy protein, dried whey (milk), flavoring, disodium inosinate and guanylate, turmeric The first problem is that this MSG-free product is actually full of MSG. How do we know that? By looking a little deeper into the ingredients label. Hydrolyzed soy protein is one of more than 40 food ingredients that contains MSG.1 The manufacturer of this product can get away with calling it MSG-free because it didn’t add MSG to the bouillon as a separate ingredient, but it’s still there. Equally of concern is any soy-based ingredient. More than 95% of all soy sourced from the U.S. is GMO. All soy, whether organic or not, contains high levels of phyto-estrogens that mimic biological estrogen in the body that increase cancer risk and decrease fertility in both men and women, among other serious health concerns. For more information, see The Dark Side of Soy, MegaZEN Volume 4.

Flavoring, natural flavoring or “spices” are generic terms for other ingredients that also contain MSG. Likewise, the process used to create dried whey also produces MSG.2 Disodium inosinate and guanylate are also dead giveaways that this product is full of hidden MSG. Why? Because they’re flavor enhancers that only work in the presence of MSG.3 Otherwise, there is no reason for them to be in this product.

Adding insult to injury, corn syrup solids are always derived from GMO corn. Unless an ingredient label specifically says it contains cane sugar, the source of its “sugar” is more than likely sugar beets, which are 95% GMO. HEALTH TEST—Better

Than Bouillon Chicken Base:

FAIL

Koyo Asian Vegetable Ramen

BY KOYO FOODS

It seems as though Ramen noodles are a staple food of college students. Not only are they very cheap, but they cook quickly in a pot of boiling water and can be dressed up with any kind of meat or vegetables for a fast meal. Here’s what the label says:

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“The Koyo Ramen Noodles are crafted from freshly milled organically grown heirloom wheat.

They are pre-cooked, and baked not fried. They do not contain any Additives, Preservatives or MSG. Authentic Asian flair for today’s modern lifestyle.”

INGREDIENTS (NOODLES):

Organic heirloom wheat flour, sea salt. (Soup Packet): Natural sea salt, Chinese mushroom powder, vegetable powders (onion and garlic), natural cane sugar, garlic, chili pepper, ginger, snow peas, sweet red bell pepper, green onion, black pepper, kombu powder While consuming lots of processed grains, particularly wheat, isn’t advised, this version of Ramen noodles is definitely a step up from its standard line of noodles by using organic heirloom wheat. Regular Ramen noodles are made from enriched wheat flour that are shaped into blocks, deep fried in soybean oil, then dehydrated and infused with preservatives. This version has none of those things.

Sea salt is always a better choice than regular salt. See Worth Its Salt in this edition of MegaZEN. The spices are specifically identified as garlic, ginger, etc. and although not organic, they don’t pose a great concern for the amount used here. The source of the sugar is also specified as natural cane sugar, so it’s not GMO. Kombu powder is simply dried seaweed finely ground.

While I wouldn’t recommend eating lots of Ramen noodles because simple carbs create insulin rushes that are bad for health, for a quick meal these noodles can be a safe choice. They also contain no preservatives or hidden MSG. HEALTH TEST—Koyo

Asian Vegetable Ramen:

PASS

Pacific Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup

BY PACIFIC NATUR AL FOODS

While canned soups have long been exposed as not the healthiest of choices, boxed alternatives have hit the shelves with claims of higher quality. Pacific Natural Foods provides a whole line of boxed soups and broths. While each one would need to be evaluated separately for its ingredients, today we examine their Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup. The label claims: “Organic Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup is a savory base of mushrooms combined with garlic and crème fraiche from our founder’s farms that delivers a delicious, robust flavor that your family is sure to love. It is as versatile as it is delicious; our cream of mushroom soup is great as a base for soups, casseroles and sauces. This organic soup is gluten free and soy-free. It is a chef-inspired hearty soup that delivers fresh home-made taste in an easy open tear package; no can openers or scissors required, no sharp edges. BPA-free packaging.”

INGREDIENTS:

Filtered water, organic mushrooms, organic crème fraiche (organic cultured cream [milk]), organic rice starch, organic rice flour, sea salt, organic whey powder (milk), organic onion powder, organic garlic powder The organic ingredients are always good. It’s nice to see crème fraiche used here, which is a higher end sour cream that yields a better taste. It’s organic, as well, which ensures that it was sourced from cows that received no antibiotics or hormones and were not given GMO feed. Organic rice starch and organic rice flour are used as thickeners, and are better choices than wheat. While there has been some concern with arsenic in rice in recent years, the larger issue is the amount of rice consumed, and there isn’t anywhere near that level in this product. Organic sea salt and specifically named spices like onion and garlic powder is always a good sign.

The only drawback is the whey powder. Although it’s organic, most whey powders are produced using high heat that oxidizes cholesterol and generates enough free glutamic acid to cause reactions in those sensitive to MSG.

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Although there is nothing like homemade soup, this isn’t a bad compromise to use in a pinch. It’s also important to note that the whey is the third to last ingredient on the list.

Manufacturers are required to list ingredients in order from the most abundant to the least.

This means that the quantity of whey in each serving of soup would be very small.

HEALTH TEST—Pacific

Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup:

PASS

OrganicVille Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinaigrette

BY SKY VALLEY FOODS

In any grocery store, salad dressings take up nearly one side of a full aisle. Although they’re not difficult to make at home, they’re easily one of most popular go-to convenience foods for busy people. Here, we take a closer look at OrganicVille Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinaigrette.

The label says: “The classic flavor you crave enhanced by the highest quality ingredients; flavorful expeller pressed extra virgin olive oil and the finest aged balsamic vinegar come together to compliment a fresh salad with a taste that is undeniably homemade. As always, our all organic dressing will satisfy your taste buds as well as your lifestyle. All flavors are USDA certified organic, gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and contain no added sugar.”

INGREDIENTS:

filtered water, organic expeller pressed soybean oil, organic balsamic vinegar, organic red wine vinegar, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic agave nectar, organic salt, organic minced garlic, organic black pepper, organic oregano, organic basil, organic marjoram, organic rosemary extract, xanthan gum (a natural thickener) Remember that ingredients are listed from most to least abundant on food labels. It’s odd that they’re watering down what’s supposed to be an oil-based salad dressing with filtered water. While that’s not necessarily bad, it does cheapen the product.

Of greater concern is the second most abundant ingredient in this supposed olive oil dressing, which isn’t olive oil at all, but soybean oil. As mentioned earlier, any soy product, even if it’s organic, contains dangerous phyto (plant-based) estrogens that mimic human estrogen in the body, raising cancer risk, decreasing fertility and causing many other problems. In addition, vegetable oils like soybean, canola, corn, safflower and sunflower oil are highly processed.

The seeds, grains and legumes that provide them do not give up their oil easily and must be put under enormous amounts of pressure and heat. During this process, the oil becomes oxidized, rancid and full of free radicals. In order to neutralize the strong unpleasant odor that results from its rancidity, the oil must then go through a bleaching process. As if that weren’t enough, the oil often experiences what’s called plasticization, a secondary process by which a certain percentage of the polyunsaturated fats of the oil convert into trans fats, which aren’t listed on the nutrition label because they occur during processing and weren’t specifically added by the manufacturer. For more information on good fats vs. bad fats, see The Big Fat Lie, MegaZEN Volume 4.

So, where’s the olive oil in this olive oil dressing? It’s number six on the list. There is more soybean oil in this olive oil dressing than olive oil, even though it says nothing about soybean oil on the front label. Nearly all salad dressing producers reduce their costs by cutting their salad dressings with cheap and dangerous vegetable oils.

The label says “no added sugar” and instead uses organic agave nectar as its sweetener. The bad news is that nearly all agave nectar produced in the U.S. is not made with traditional methods. This rushed production process yields a product that contains a higher percentage of fructose than high fructose corn syrup!4 The other questionable ingredient is xanthan gum, a byproduct of the process of sugar being fermented by bacteria that is then precipitated into a solid state using isopropyl alcohol,

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which is dried and ground into a fine powder. When added to water, this powder become gum-like and is used as a binder or thickening agent. It’s probably used here because the dressing is diluted with so much water to begin with. While not known to cause problems in small quantities, it is not recommended for infants.

HEALTH TEST—OrganicVille

Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinaigrette:

FAIL

Oroweat Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread

BY BIMBO BAKERIES, USA

Grains are a somewhat controversial topic when it comes to healthy eating. If you’ve read books like Wheat Belly and Grain Brain, or any on the paleo way of eating, you’ll understand what I mean. You can find a full overview on dietary grains in Against the Grain in MegaZEN Volume 5. Here, we examine Oroweat Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread, and our analysis has nothing to do with those philosophies and everything to do with the product’s ingredients.

The label says: “Our 100% whole wheat bread made with whole grains is a good source of fiber, and every slice adds hearty flavor to sandwiches and more. No high fructose corn syrup. No artificial colors or flavors. 22g whole grains per serving.”

INGREDIENTS:

whole wheat flour, water, sugar, wheat gluten, yeast, raisin juice concentrate, wheat bran, molasses, soybean oil, salt, monoglycerides, calcium propionate (preservative), calcium sulfate, datem, grain vinegar, citric acid, soy lecithin, whey, nonfat milk The biggest problem with whole wheat flour or any grain product is that grains contain phytic acid that binds to minerals like magnesium and prevents us from assimilating vitamins like D, A, C, and B12. Enzyme inhibitors make it very difficult for us to digest grains, as well. These properties aren’t destroyed through grinding grains into flour. The only way to reduce (but not completely remove) their effect is through long hours of sprouting and/or fermentation.

Anyone who has milled their own grain at home knows that it only lasts 5-7 days. How then can a loaf of bread sit on the store shelf for weeks? The truth is even the grains of whole grain bread have usually been irradiated, brominated or bleached to last longer. In the case of unbleached grains, they’ve been chemically treated with preservatives like calcium propionate.

Because the source of the sugar is not specified as in cane sugar, it’s very likely that the sugar in this bread is from sugar beets, which are 95% GMO. Since the bran isn’t removed from whole grain breads, they require more wheat gluten to be added to make them fluffy. Gluten is very destructive on the intestinal tract, so if you’re already sensitive to gluten, you should avoid whole grain breads altogether.

The yeast does not occur through a natural fermentation process as it does in sourdough, but is a commercially produced quick-rise product that takes bread-making from a process of two days to about two hours. Commercial quick-rise yeast has been a concern in upsetting the healthy balance of intestinal microflora for years.

Again, soy products like soybean oil and soy lecithin (added as a dough conditioner) are most certainly from 95% GMO crops and contain all the phyto-estrogens and cancer dangers that come with them. Monoglycerides are synthetically manufactured fats used to thicken the bread, while calcium propionate is an anti-fungal agent to prevent mold growth, so the loaf can sit on the store shelf for weeks and still look fresh. Calcium sulfate is well known by its more popular name, Plaster of Paris, added to the dough so it’s not too sticky and remains workable. Datem or Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Monoglycerides strengthens the gluten and makes the crust less spongy and a bit “crustier” than the rest of the bread. Grain vinegar and citric acid give the dough a slightly sour taste and are most likely derived from GMO corn. Whey and nonfat milk help keep the bread light and are used because the industrial

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yeast won’t activate in the presence of fat.

HEALTH TEST—Oroweat

Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread:

FAIL

So Delicious Coconut Milk - Original

BY TURTLE MOUNTAIN

Coconut milk is a great choice for everyone, especially those who cannot tolerate dairy. Not only does it contain healthy saturated fat, but is high in medium chain fatty acids, which boost metabolism. Whether used as part of a healthy breakfast or in a smoothie, quality coconut oil can go a long way toward supporting good health, but how healthy are pre-packaged coconut milks next to the real thing? Let’s find out. The label says: “Made with 100% organic coconuts. Cholesterol-Free. Dairy-Free. Non-GMO Verified. Smooth, refreshing, and naturally energizing with only 80 calories.”

INGREDIENTS:

organic coconut milk (water, coconut cream), organic dried cane syrup, calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, guar gum, xanthan gum, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D2, L-selenomethionine (selenium), zinc oxide, folic acid, B12 The first giveaway that this isn’t real coconut milk is that it says “beverage” in smaller letters right under the product title on the front label. True 100% coconut milk also does not require refrigeration, as this product does. So this is more like a coconut tonic than a real coconut milk, in spite of how the product is labeled.

Yes, it does contain actual coconut milk, but it’s been diluted with enough water to make it pourable like commercial milk. Unfortunately, this somewhat reduces its nutritional density.

It’s good that the source of the sugar is identified as coming from cane syrup, therefore we know it’s not from GMO sugar beets. Calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D2, selenium, zinc oxide, folic acid and B12 are all micronutrients added to mimic the profile of cow’s milk. The downside is that these synthetic vitamins are harder on your liver to process than they would be in their natural form in dairy milk. Still, that’s not a deal breaker.

While xanthan gum is derived from bacteria fermentation, guar gum occurs naturally in the guar bean. These gums are added as emulsifiers to thicken the milk in order to replace the portion of the coconut cream that the manufacture has removed as a cost-cutting measure to make its coconuts go farther. Guar gum has been shown to cause intestinal stress in some people, so if you’ve got irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you might want to avoid it.

Although it wouldn’t hurt to drink this coconut milk beverage once in a while, it’s not recommended as a daily part of your dietary routine. Still, in a pinch there doesn’t seem to be too many red flags here.

HEALTH TEST—So

Delicious Coconut Milk – Original:

PASS

Sources (1) “Names of Ingredients that Contain Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG)”, Update February 2011, Truth in Labeling Campaign, (http://bit.ly/2kOjJXY) (2) Ibid.

(3) “Disodium Inosinate”, Be Food Smart, (March 5, 2011), (http://bit.ly/2mkZYaU) (4) Michaelis, Kristin, “Agave Nectar: Good or Bad?”, (January 7, 2010), (http://bit.ly/2kg2KNQ)

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OPPOSITES ATTRACT:

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The secret of Healing Clay is that it carries a negative charge. Nearly all body toxins that contribute to illness are positively charged. As clay moves through the digestive system, it acts like a magnet immediately attracting all the toxins with which it comes into contact, sweeping them out of the body. One gram of clay has enough charged power to effectively cleanse 900 square yards of tissue. Considering that the surface area of the human intestinal tract would cover a tennis court if laid out completely, clay has the right amount of power to do the job thoroughly.

Healing Clay can be taken internally for digestive cleansing or used externally. Its powerful drawing effects are perfect for a poultice that’s used to extract venom out of an insect bite or as a detoxifying bath. Not all clay products can be taken internally. Only those free of heavy metals, such as Healing Clay, are fit for ingestion. Usually, 1-2 teaspoons in 8oz of water will do, followed by a second 8oz glass of pure water. Healing Clay is so simple to take and so powerful, it is a must for every cleansing or health maintenance program.

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CONSCIOUS CONNECTION LEADS TO

DELIBERATE DESIRE

THE INTEGRATIVE PELVIC EXAM PROTOCOL (IPEP) TM

By Dr. Debra Wickman

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n 25 years as an obstetrician-gynecologist, I’ve had the sacred honor of being privy to the inner feelings and attitudes of many women, across the age spectrum, from all walks of life and varied cultural backgrounds. I’ve enjoyed a pivotal role in the most special experience for a couple or family, helping welcome a new baby to the world.

It’s very rewarding to follow women through the cycle of life as they age and encounter challenges along the way. Few physicians are in a position as trusted as a gynecologist – hearing the challenges, from infidelities and relationship conflicts, to disappointment from not conceiving month after month, or grief with losing a much-desired pregnancy. Often, my patients tell me things never before divulged to another human – hoping to find elusive answers to painful problems, or maybe just to vent frustrations. In this confidential role, I’ve observed many common difficulties in the lives of women; and this has motivated me to devise a technique to support them through the process of self-discovery and empowerment.

that would have made us feel “whole”. Maybe we delay gratification by busying ourselves in daily duties, awaiting the freedom we plan to enjoy in retirement someday. Perhaps we numb ourselves with self-destructive habits that bring relief in the moment, but have negative consequences for our health or relationships in the long run.

Or, we drift away from social groups or avoid partnerships due to fear of judgment or criticism we might encounter. Whatever the departure, I find the most egregious area women vacate is the relationship “within”, the journey toward intentional love and care for one’s own sexuality.

The goal is for women to experience optimal sexual health on several levels, psychosomatic connection to their own bodies, harmony with their intimate partner(s), and fulfillment with the whole essence of life. Sexual intimacy is an essential channel for that connection. Beginning with self-exploration, a woman discovers unique pathways to pleasure that emerge into a reliable and reproducible repertoire with a partner. Then, as partnered sexual activity becomes familiar, she learns how her body functions in synchrony with another. Finally, as she actualizes in life, maturing through life goals as a partner, perhaps as a mother, and/or in a career role, she develops the confidence, inner happiness and serenity that underlie deep satisfaction. She exudes the qualities of sovereignty from her core; derived from expressing sexuality on her own terms, by her own definition. This embodiment is the ideal outcome.

OUR SEXUAL BEING IS MULTIDIMENSIONAL

“I find the most egregious area women vacate is the relationship “within” – the journey toward intentional love and care for one’s own sexuality.”

OUR FLOW WITH LIFE STARTS “WITHIN”

We often go through life disconnected from our goals and aspirations. We let life lead us rather than taking charge to deliberately move toward the things or activities that really matter to us.

We hunker down and “get through the day”, then “make it to the weekend”; and the calendar ticks off the years until we realize we’ve vacantly strayed far from the mark of finding the opportunity, career, relationship, expertise, or recognition 211

A holistic approach to sexual function embraces a bio-psycho-social framework. To be effective, medical diagnosis and treatment must acknowledge this as a central theme. Sexual wellness is not attained solely through optimum physical health. Commonly, women get sidetracked with expectations around a pharmaceutical prescription, an herbal remedy, or a surgical procedure that promise to deliver a “cure” for the troubling issue(s). They may experience partial or even significant improvement; but usually end up with disappointment as the results fall short, or only last a brief time. Physical, as well as emotional, intellectual, and spiritual/relational components play equal parts in comprising the four dimensions of sexuality. When attention is focused on the “physical” quadrant alone, the unmet barriers in the other areas may be temporarily silenced. But after awhile, they emerge again, screaming more loudly to be heard. Sexual “dysfunctions” must be evaluated from a holistic perspective, with all contributing obstacles identified, in order to enact an effective plan toward sexual health.

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“The “4-D Wheel of Sexual Being” template, created by Gina Ogden, PhD, provides a beautiful symbol for the multidimensionality of our sexual being, where the four aspects of life experience – those of the body, mind, heart, and spirit exist in synergy.”

The “4-D Wheel of Sexual Being” template, created by Gina Ogden, PhD, provides a beautiful symbol for the multidimensionality of our sexual being, where the four aspects of life experience – those of the body, mind, heart, and spirit exist in synergy.1 The 4-D process is an interactive creative structure through which patient/client explores their core sexual issues in the context of sexuality therapy, guided by a counselor/ therapist who is versed in the 4-D technique.2 When we are guided through a process to release or expel the blocks within each quadrant, our life force flows unimpeded, spiraling to the center of the wheel, with access to all the quadrants simultaneously. This is the place of “ecstasy and mystical revelation” -sexual wellness in its optimal form – satisfied, yet still exploring the depths of meaning within ourselves, our relationship(s), and life’s all-embracing offerings.

This “center of the Wheel” experience is a highly desirable - but lofty goal, and it’s normal to feel intimidated by it. How does one find her way to this prize?

IPEP TM AND THE 4-D WHEEL OF GENITAL EXPERIENCE©

Over the past five years, I’ve developed a gynecologic approach to sexuality counseling, based on the format of the 4-D Wheel of Sexual Experience, and had the blessing to collaborate with Dr. Gina Ogden in its creation. The Integrative Pelvic Exam Protocol (IPEP)TM is a creative, sexological process that transforms the pelvic exam, taking the basic therapeutic premise of the 4-D Wheel and shifting the focus of the experience to the woman’s vulva/genitals, allowing the story to be told from that unique perspective. The patient is invited to become an active participant in the exchange of information and education about her body. She is empowered to confront and heal old wounds then choose to move forward differently. The narrative unfolds

while incorporating equal elements of body, mind, emotion and relationship history in the recounting of pain/trauma and its consequences.

The technique continues to evolve, but is unique every time I work through it with a patient/client.

Since my knowledge and skills are deeply rooted in the medical practice of gynecology, I am most comfortable starting the work in the physical realm, then progressing methodically through the rest of the Wheel, combining my role of gynecologist with that of sexuality counselor.

In aspiring to this “whole-being” view of sexual health, it’s important to clarify a few specific points. Physical health starts with resolution of pain primarily, before other factors are managed.

I find that any hope of making progress is stalled by physical pain. It is impossible to convince the body to feel “desire” for intimacy when those intimate actions evoke pain. Sexual pain creates a subconscious bracing and clenching of pelvic floor muscles as a defense, and then arousal and orgasm become increasingly difficult, with decreased blood flow, lactic acid build-up, and inflammation in the tissues and glands. The reasons for pain deserve focused attention until a plan of resolution is enacted. Other “whole-being” factors involve balanced neuroendocrine function; psychological fitness, with freedom from mood disrupters like anxiety and depression; social/cultural acceptance within one’s group(s); relationship satisfaction with significant other(s) and family members; financial adequacy; and freedom from significant life stressors.3 Women may have disruptions in several, or all, of these categories, and spend years of their lives paralyzed because they don’t know how to identify the problems, and even less about how to craft solutions.

SEXUAL CONCERNS BECOME SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS

With all these requirements for optimal sexual health, it’s a wonder that anyone actually achieves it!

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Obstacles to sexual utopia are common, poorly recognized, and cause a great deal of unhappiness.

When sexual concerns persist for at least six months, and create distress, they are classified as “dysfunctions”. Estimates vary, but are reported to affect up to 43% of women, peaking at midlife, ages 45-64.4 Too often, women wait until their sexual concerns morph into full-blown sexual dysfunction(s) before they start seeking help. It is also difficult for us to see our own role in the strife we co-create with our partner(s), and we don’t know “what we don’t know” about how our bodies function. Further, when the topic is of a sexual nature, we are either embarrassed or ashamed to ask our usual resources. Both women and their doctors are often reluctant to ask about these issues.5,6 This communication barrier perpetuates the problem, prolongs the distress, and makes solutions seem increasingly distant. The more time that passes, while a woman continues to have sex through pain; or even “disengages“ from her genitals and sexual response, the greater the difficult in sorting out the layers of dysfunction to restore the mind-body connection. Speaking more readily about these issues would save precious time and relieve much anguish.

Women may have misconceptions and lack of information about their own body parts and how they function. Genital function can be significantly impaired by traumatic events in a woman’s history, or by current medical problems, medications, or prior procedures performed.

These factors create the “sexual story” of her genitals, with elements she is aware of, as well as many aspects that exist in the ebb and flow of her subconscious. This sexual story affects her choices, satisfaction and experience – and motivates her sexual behavior.

The first step is to allow the sexual story to be told, with her genitals/vulva in the role of “storyteller”.

Often, this is the first opportunity her body has had to “voice” her unique experience, through the journey of her life from her perspective, “good and bad”, “positive and negative”, “happy and unhappy”. The story is framed within the four elements of sexual being—physical, mental, emotional and spiritual/relational, using a tangible working model—a vulva puppet placed in the center of “the 4-D Wheel of Genital Experience©.”

My belief is that inquiry about pleasure in a woman’s life ranks equally with questions about illness. If physicians are not a resource for problems related to structure, function and satisfaction of intimate female anatomy, then we are not fully serving the women in our care. This matches with the “trusted” position gynecologists, and other providers, hold as “guardians” of female health.

I endorse a philosophy that takes this idea a step further—in the true sense of holistic sexuality, wellness is more than absence of dysfunction—and must awaken a sense of self-defined fulfillment in the physical, mental, emotional and relational elements of sexual being; a “vital sign” reflecting overall health.

Much of the time, I find that women have difficulty in describing what they want out of sex.

The default pattern seems to be to define good sex in terms of how well it pleases their partner, rather than how it meets their own needs. When our own needs are not addressed or met over time, it’s easy to see how the body starts to view the activity as mundane or unpleasant; and resentment likely ensues. Women need guidance in both defining what would bring them pleasure, as well as how to communicate it to their partner(s). This requires education as well as self-reflection to make the learning relevant to their experience.

EDUCATION FUELS EMPOWERMENT: THE JOURNEY WITHIN - IPEP TM

Education starts with a woman’s own body.

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The satin/silk vulva model 7 is whimsical, yet anatomically correct enough to provide a basis for discussion about the location of physical areas of pain, or distorted anatomy; and to explain basic elements of accurate structure and function for each body part. The woman is guided through the process of telling her story in a therapeutic fashion all at once, or in a sequential process, session by session, as needed. She’s encouraged to relate each element of her story with its related quadrant.

Relaying that her vulva “feels” sad or angry reflects the voice of the emotional quadrant. Describing beliefs like ugliness or “labia are too large” reflect the voice of the mental quadrant. Reporting issues like pain or numbness, the physical quadrant.

Finally, words like “detached” or “insignificant” stem from the spiritual/relational quadrant.

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“As we deliberately step into a framework of conscious choice, we set in motion the flow of radiant engagement with the ones who mean the most to us – starting with ourselves.”

Examination of one quadrant leads to others, back and forth, as the story unfolds and winds around the Wheel. It is by telling the story, with all its unique details, that allows particular barriers to spring up within each of the Wheel elements. As the story is told, it is often clear that portions of the story are linked to specific anatomic parts—for example, an abortion she may have been forced to undergo as a teen, relates to her cervix—where the instrumentation took place. She can hold so much guilt and remorse focused into that body part over the years, causing negative consequences like pain, or tight pelvic floor muscles. When she finally acknowledges that piece of the story, and then confronts that part of her own body, she can move through the pain, forgive, and release it.

The second step is to go into the examination room to participate in the physical experience of the “story”. The “storyteller” now sits in a special

gynecological chair that allows her to tip back slightly, in the usual “lithotomy” position, with legs and knees comfortably supported. She holds a digital tablet such as an iPad. The images of her body are beamed to the digital tablet in real-time, as the exam unfolds. She watches on the screen as the structures on the inside of her vagina, and her external vulva become revealed—the cervix, the erotic areas of the vaginal walls, the “G-spot”, the paraurethral gland ostia, the labia minora, the perineum, and clitoris—they all become familiar and relatable. I interact with her through this process, answering questions, explaining function, and relating specific events/concerns/issues from her verbal story to the anatomic structures at each step, guiding her through the encounter.

Sometimes the whole tour takes place in one session, as more of an educational experience to familiarize her with the miracle of her reproductive anatomy; and other times, only a couple structures demand focus, due to the intensity or difficulty of that portion of the story. A support person, as desired, can participate in the process, maybe her intimate partner, or even her psychologist/ sex therapist. She can record the process or take screen shots of specific areas, as she desires. I am able to clarify misconceptions, and resolve myths and false beliefs about her genitals, as well as reframe her body image as the sessions proceed.

Each session concludes with a wrap-up, leading to relevant recommendations for reflection and journaling to occur before the next meeting.

Once a woman becomes conscious about her intimate anatomy, she has a way to connect with

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it and understand her reality with much more insight. For example, when she sees the hidden fissure causing pain at the opening of her vagina, she tunes in to where that stinging originates, and is more capable to heal it by better localizing the application of prescribed medicine; and even more importantly, mentally visualizing the distinct area(s) to focus healing attention. When we become conscious about self-care, and send love and acceptance to our intimate structures,

we nurture that vital feedback loop to spark the chemistry of improved desire in the limbic area of the brain. This desire is not just for sex; but also for related drives and rewards enhanced by the shift in brain neurochemistry. Mood lifts and enthusiasm for life escalates. As we deliberately step into a framework of conscious choice, we set in motion the flow of radiant engagement with the ones who mean the most to us – starting with ourselves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Debra Wickman is a visionary, creator and collaborator. She has morphed her 25-year career as a medical doctor - obstetrician/ gynecologist into a one-of-a-kind, cutting edge exploration into helping women with sexual issues; finding new solutions to sexual pain, low desire, and all types of sub-optimal sexual function.

Frustrated by the lack of resources for women with these problems, she realized that achieving academic credentials was important, but she also needed to learn real-world information from all potential sources. She completed a fellowship in Female Sexual Medicine at UCLA; participated in experiential women’s workshops all over the world, and explored the range of sexuality teachings and philosophies. Through collaboration with the renowned sex therapist/author, Gina Ogden, she developed a new gynecologic approach to sexuality counseling: the Integrative Pelvic Exam Protocol (IPEP)TM– using a mind/body format to help women connect with their bodies, reframe their limitations, and remove the blocks and barriers holding them back. She is an academic professor, sexuality counselor, public speaker, researcher, author and emerging entrepreneur. She loves working with women both one-on-one, and in workshop settings, to improve self-image and sexual intention starting with shifting their mindset. Her most rewarding accomplishment is being a mother to three daughters who have become empowered young women, set to lead the next generation of conscious feminine role models.

Sources (1) Ogden, G. (2013). Expanding the practice of sex therapy: an integrative model for exploring desire and intimacy. 1st ed. New York(NY): Routledge.

(2) To learn more about the 4-D Wheel process, or to find a certified therapist: (www.ginaogden.com) (3) Naeinian, MR et al. (2011). General health and quality of life in patients with sexual dysfunctions.

Urology Journal. 8(2): 127-131.

(4) Shifren, JL et al. (2008). Sexual problems and distress in United States women: prevalence and correlates.

Obstetrics and Gynecology. 112(5): 970-978.

(5) Hinchliff, S et al. (2011). Seeking medical help for sexual concerns in mid- and later life: a review of the literature. Journal of Sex Research. 48(2-3): 106-117.

(6) Iglesia, CB. (2016). What’s new in the world of postmenopausal sex? Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 28(5):449-454.

(7) The Wondrous Vulva Puppet, San Francisco. (www.vulvapuppet.com)

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Love & Luck: Preparation Meets Opportunity Strangers come together to save a family from tragedy

By Dr. Habib Sadeghi

I

t’s been said that there is no such thing as luck, but rather that good fortune is the result of preparation meeting opportunity.

If you’re prepared, you’ll be ready to take advantage when an opportunity presents itself to create something good. Extending our love to others through acts of kindness, especially to strangers, doesn’t always come easily. It takes practice and preparation. While it may feel scary and even awkward at first, the more we open ourselves up and share our love with others, the more natural it becomes. Soon, extending our love feels completely effortless as a way of being, so we don’t have to consciously look for those opportunities to help others anymore. When these moments pop up in our lives, we’re fully prepared to jump right in and help because it’s like a reflex; the ability to extend our love has become second nature. These acts of love are no longer isolated incidents that punctuate our lives, but instead become a way of living.

Recently, a group of beach-goers’ preparedness to love met an opportunity to save nine people’s lives in a very dramatic way.

When Roberta Ursery saw her two sons struggling in the water off Panama City Beach, she and two other family members swam out to help. By the time Roberta realized her sons were caught in a riptide, she too was trapped in the same massive current and was also being carried out to sea. After an unsuccessful attempt was made by several bystanders to rescue Roberta and her family, a total of nine people had become trapped in the shifting tide.

While law enforcement was waiting on a boat to arrive, a large group of beach-goers came together and decided there was no time to waste. The family would be swept away if immediate action wasn’t taken. Knowing it was futile to swim out to the struggling family and with no rescue boat, more than 100 people came together to form a human chain, locking hands and extending themselves from the beach out to the family. Once they made contact, the entire chain reversed motion and pulled the terrified family back to safety.

That’s the kind of love that happens when preparation meets opportunity.

“There is no such thing as luck—rather, good fortune is the result of preparation meeting opportunity.”

Link to Video https://youtu.be/eRl41h4oM84

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POETRY LOU A WOUNDED KNIGHT’S TALE By Susan R. Johnson MD PART I Once, there was a Silver Knight, who sought to transform her soul.

Wisdom, compassion, and selfless deeds, were her ennobled goals.

She joined a group, of similar knights, who were also on this quest.

They all were in search, of this Holy Grail, and vowed, they’d never rest.

They rode by horseback, dawn to dusk, galloping ever so fast.

They avoided the paths, where dragons lay, so they would not be last.

They travelled over huge mountains, crisscrossing rivers and streams.

They travelled through thick forests, pretending they were a team.

There was no stopping at villages, where dragons lay in wait.

Nor time to talk with strangers, for that would make them late.

Their gaze was always forward, not ever, side to side,

And looking back, was forbidden, for that, would slow their stride.

They were focused on their mission, and kept a rapid pace.

For time, was of the essence, and there was no time, to waste!

PART II But now that Silver Knight, was beginning to lag behind.

For dragons of fear and doubt, had started to plague her mind.

Her thoughts were now consumed, with fears, of the unknown.

And now, her pace had slowed, until she was riding, alone.

And as that Knight experienced, her overwhelming fears.

She suddenly, fell off her horse, abandoned, by her peers.

PART III She landed hard, upon the ground; her head, struck a stone.

She was knocked unconscious, for quite a spell, then awoke, with a groan.

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UNGE The darkness, now, had overcome the light, and a scaly, monstrous tail. as she gazed upon a star.

It flew right down, to that Silver Knight, And then, she spied her horse a grazing, who appeared so scared and frail. in the meadowland, afar.

And then the Dragon, so sweetly spoke: The Silver Knight could barely stand, “Come, climb upon my back.” her right leg, now, was broken.

“For I will give you freedom, She used her sword, just like a cane, and nothing will you lack.” while angry words, were spoken.

“Come leave this loneliness and sorrow; The Knight removed her dented armor, come leave behind this earth.” and laid it in a pile.

“Come fly with me, away from here, Then hobbled over, to a clearing, to bliss and your rebirth.” and sat down, for a while.

“Come share my dreams, just leave your She rested in that meadow, Quest; pondering her path. you’re not needed, anymore.”

And then she heard a thunderous screech, “Come fly with me, into the moonlight, that filled the skies, with wrath. where both of us can soar.”

Her pulse, began to rapidly beat; her heart, filled with fear.

And now that thundering, screeching sound, grew louder, and more near.

That Dragon offered a burning death; Its words were full of lies!

So, the sword was grasped, by the Silver Knight, to fight, that beast, from the skies.

A fierce and fiery Dragon, descended from the sky.

Billowing smoke and spewing flames, that Knight, just wanted to die.

The Silver Knight and that Dragon, battled throughout the night.

The Knight fought bravely with her sword, exerting all her might!

That Dragon had such powerful wings,

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C ON T I N U E D. . .

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At last, the Dragon retreated; it flew back into the sky.

The Knight collapsed, within the meadow, releasing a huge sigh.

PART IV The Sun appeared on the horizon, bringing the morning light.

The Knight looked up, to see a cliff, just within her sight.

And then the Knight, spied a cave, within that cliff, nearby.

A place providing shelter, a hole, in which to hide.

For now, the Knight feared greatly, that Dragon’s swift return.

And did not want, to be carried off, away from Earth, to burn.

darkness, deep in this abyss.”

“For I, will always take care of you, and nothing will you miss.”

“Great riches will surround you, endless jewels, countless gold.”

“And pain will no longer plague you; you will have treasures, untold.”

“No longer, will you be burdened, with all these earthly woes.”

“Instead, you’ll have great power, to conquer any foes.”

“You also won’t be bothered, by other Human Beings.”

"For Humans always disappoint, at times, of greatest needs.”

“And becoming wise and loving, and performing selfless deeds.”

“These only lead to heartache, The Knight was able to climb the cliff, and unfulfilled, deep needs.” soon hiding in that hole.

“So give up these dreams you carry, Until a deep and trembling roar, abandon that old Quest.” did shake that Knight’s poor soul.

“Just crawl with me into darkness.”

“I know, what is best.”

For now, another Dragon appeared, from deeper in that cave.

That Dragon offered a cold, heartless A terrifying, skeletal beast, death, a dreadful hiss, it gave. devoid of light and bliss.

So, the sword was grasped, by the And then that Dragon, so sweetly Silver Knight, spoke: to fight, that beast, from the abyss.

“Please, have no fear of me.”

“For I am here to save your bones.”

The Silver Knight and that Dragon “Do not despair.” “Trust me.” battled throughout the day, “Come join me in my world of The Knight fought bravely, with her

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sword, to keep that Dragon, away!

The Knight was gently carried, to their village, to be tended.

The Dragon finally retreated, The Knight slept well, and was deep, within its lair. nourished, The Knight collapsed, within the cave, her wounds and heart were mended. exhausted, and in despair.

The Dragons, in that village, PART V had been banished, long ago.

Still the villagers, remained alert, The Sun appeared on the horizon, in case a Dragon, did show. bringing the morning light.

The Knight crawled down, to the And as that Knight recovered, meadow, under loving and watchful eyes. uncertain of her plight.

That Knight felt love and hope return, and was happy to be alive!

The Knight was so depleted; laying on the ground.

For now, the Knight was learning, But then, the Knight heard singing. the art of giving and receiving, Oh, what a beautiful sound!

The type of love, the villagers showed, that gave to life, its meaning.

And now appeared two children, with hearts as pure as gold.

PART VI Surrounded by their angels, For everyone in this village, of beauty, yet untold. was also on a Quest, for wisdom and compassion, So quickly ran the children, selfless service, at its best. to the side, of the injured Knight.

Their hearts so full of love; They all wore spiritual armor, their eyes so sparkling bright. that shone, brilliantly, like gold.

These Knights carried glistening One child sat close-by, swords, to bring comfort, to that Knight. that served to transform souls.

The other child, found the horse, and rode it out of sight.

Their eyes shone with brightness; their hearts glowed with love.

It did not take too long, Their armor, served to protect them, for other villagers, to arrive.

They brought sweet tea and blankets, while their strength, flowed from above. to keep the Knight alive.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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An inner Sun, so brightly shone, within these Golden Knights.

Radiating courage and love, as they, fearlessly, upheld the light.

and love, was finally able to heal.

This Knight was given golden armor, with a glistening sword to wield.

And unlike the Silver Knights, who avoided Dragons, on their trail, These Golden Knights, sought-out the Dragons, so others, would not fail.

She set off on her journey, again, now, with the Golden Knights.

Together, they sought the Dragons, battling day and night.

And as these Knights journeyed onward, across countries, far and wide.

They frequently looked behind them, and often, side to side.

They knew, that their weakest member, was just a tender seed.

Who only needed, extra care, to not become a weed.

They also kept, a watchful eye, on others, and their peers.

They knew the Dragons could return, and tempt them, through the years.

Their journey, was often slower, not speed, at any cost.

For the journey, was what mattered, so the goals, would not be lost.

For to be wise, loving, and selfless, are humanity’s goals; so love and transformation, can occur in all our souls.

For where the darkest forces appear, bringing sorrow and strife.

Are also the places, where the brightest light, can shine forth, into this life.

For Dragons, she had learned, are not meant, to be faced alone.

Support is always needed, when facing fears of the unknown.

And as that Knight journeyed onward, the Quest, upon her mind.

She frequently gazed side to side, and often, looked behind.

And she, too, needed to remember, to sometimes slow her pace.

For Quests, are shared by all, and not meant, to be a race.

And now there is a Golden Knight, who seeks to transform her soul.

Wisdom, compassion, and selfless deeds, are her ennobled goals.

PART VII The Silver Knight, through patience

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FROM OY TO JOY By Jacqueline Lindsay Singer You have lifted me from my deepest pain to my greatest joy Now I shed tears through laughter, when I used to cry “Oy!”

You may be my doctor, but you feel very “joon-ish” to me I may be near-sighted but I can definitely Farsi

This priceless yellow-orange hued tincture feeds me unconditional love, like pure oxygen My nerves have become so calm someday they’re gonna put me on the front cover of “MegaZEN”

Most people search for the prized tahdig at the bottom of the Tupperware My goal is to always make you laugh so hard you need to change your underwear

YOU ARE NOT ALONE ON THIS JOURNEY By Lisa Starr The title is a quote from Dr. Habib Sadeghi in the introduction to The Clarity Cleanse

When illness strikes the body we must choose, or not, to heal, and when it strikes our spirits we must choose, or not, to feel.

But the choice is only part of it; this is no child’s game— for we can only heal disease when we discover whence it came.

These scaffolds we call bodies are so much more than skin and bones and these organs that maintain us are more brilliant than we know.

And then there is the busy mind and the soul with all its yearning, and the fear that sometimes comes at night and the belly and its churning.

Our bodies are miraculous and they bring us grace and glory but even more importantly they help us bear our story.

So when sickness comes, in any form, we must treat it like a guest, even with its savage manners and its often brutal tests.

C ON T I N U E D. . .

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But saying it and doing it are very different things; especially when you’re gripped with fear that illness usually brings.

It takes work to live with clarity— it takes practice and commitment, and belief that you were meant to live a life of true fulfillment.

Some will give you facts and figures that rattle ‘round your head; some will give you odds so staggering you might as well be dead.

The tools are here, the time has come; your life’s been waiting for you to cleanse the body and the mind and look at things renewed.

Some will offer risky treatments and procedures that sound violent and though you’ll want to scream “not fair,” chances are you will be silent.

Doubt and fear will pay their visits, but you’ll no longer need them, and some will shout their bad advice but you’ll no longer heed them.

But there’s another way of healing that starts with love and kindness, then adds some self-forgiveness and a bunch of open-mindedness.

The path to curing illness is blazed by self-discovery; the source and not the symptom is the key to your recovery.

The goal is freedom from the pain of living with disparity, and it takes practice and hard work— this process known as clarity.

Every ailment, every challenge also brings the chance to grow-to transform the act of holding to the art of letting go.

You’ve come this far, despite it all— the scars, the grief, trauma.

And now you get to choose between a life of joy or drama.

Remember self-forgiveness; like faith it comes and goes, and remember to be patient with both the blessings and the blows.

Who knows where the journey starts or if it ever really ends… there’s a new song playing in your heart and it sounds like the Clarity Cleanse.

And Dr. Sadeghi—he’s the conductor, and your past the familiar refrain, but you, dear one, are the maestro, as you set out for higher terrain.

Let go the fear, set free the wounds you tried to bury long ago.

Let clarity guide you to the light that you were born to know.

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G A L L E R Y

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Lisa Starr's Birthday Event

Lisa Starr, founder of the Block Island Poetry Project and Poet Laureate of Rhode Island from 2008-2013, celebrates her birthday at Chris Martin's event, with renowned poet and translator Coleman Barks.

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Emmanuel Kelly's Birthday Event

Emmanuel was discovered on X-Factor and has performed at the Sydney Opera House and MGM Grand in Las Vegas. We had the pleasure of having a Birthday gathering for him at Be Hive of Healing.

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Gustavo Dudamel Birthday Event

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel, the music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, visits Be Hive of Healing.

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Helen Nooshei's Birthday Celebration Dr. Sadeghi and Dr. Sami joined the surprise birthday celebration for Helen Nooshei from Be Hive of Healing's loving team.

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Be Hive of Healing & Happy Kids Dental Planet Holiday Party The Be Hive of Healing Integrative Medical Center family celebrates the holidays with some fun and festivities

Omega Institute Dr. Sadeghi, Dr. Sami and the Be Hive of Healing team, visit the Omega Institute in New York with renowned poets Coleman Barks and Lisa Starr.

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MISSED T HE PR EVIOUS ISSUE?

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WELL-BEING JOURNAL

CON T R IBU TORS EDITORS IN CHIEF Dr. Habib Sadeghi Dr. Sherry Sami

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dr. Habib Sadeghi Dr. Sherry Sami Dr. Ron Hulnick Dr. Mary Hulnick

Dr. Susan R. Johnson Dr. Debra Wickman Dr. Dawn Michael Luke Cowles

Cynthia Liu Lisa Starr Jacqueline Lindsay Singer

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dr. Habib Sadeghi Elizabeth Pandolfi Luke Cowles David Ord

MAGAZINE DESIGN & CREATIVE DIRECTION Persius Creative

ART DIRECTION & ILLUSTRATION Persius Creative

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Kourosh M. Khajavi Vivian Liu Photography David Sand

MANAGING DIRECTORS OF BEING CLARITY PUBLICATION Dr. Habib Sadeghi Dr. Sherry Sami Hutch Morton

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