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December

2012

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letterfrompublisher

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n many kitchens this time of year, cookbooks are dusted off, recipe boxes opened and once-a-year treats and meals are lovingly prepared. We want to share a recipe created by some folks we met at a recent charity event. The ingredients comprise 3,200 turkeys, 160 gallons of gravy, 4,000 pounds of stuffing, 5,000 pounds of mashed potatoes, 8,600 pounds of vegetables and 1,800 pies.

Several community members came together and prepared this large-scale meal to feed hungry, homeless and lonely people. There was plenty of food to go around, and the unselfish kindness of a few benefitted many. As the organizers reflected upon the magnitude of their efforts, one staff member expressed, “We just planned for one meal and then repeated it 3,200 times.”

This month’s theme of Awakening Humanity features the story, “It’s All About We: Conscious Evolution: Why We’re Better Together.” We can accomplish anything as a community, a nation and a world when we have our neighbors’ best interest at heart.

The “Me to We” movement has been spreading, and we recently witnessed examples of this in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Natural Awakenings is a family of nearly 90 publishers, turning out magazines for local communities all across the country. While here in Indianapolis we were grateful to be following the storm from afar, several of our publishing family members were directly in the path of the storm and experienced devastating loss and damage.

Kelly Martinsen, publisher of the Long Island edition and a resident of Long Beach, New York, lost much personally, but joined the corps of volunteers that is helping families and businesses dig out of the ruins of their once-beautiful beach town. In turn, her magazine’s advertisers and neighboring publishers reached out to share office space and homes and give other heartfelt help to keep her own business afloat. “While I have lost much, I feel blessed to have lived through this event,” says Martinsen. “I was able to experience the wonderful nature of people helping people in the days after the storm.”

Tina Woods, publisher of Natural Awakenings’ New York City edition, changed the role of her delivery truck from distributing magazines to carrying food to residents and volunteers assisting Gerritsen Beach neighborhoods, in Brooklyn. She also participated in recovery work along the Jersey Shore and collaborated with her advertisers to raise $1,000 for relief efforts.

With my time split between Indianapolis and my hometown of Gainesville, FL in helping my aging parents, I’ve also been exposed to the needs of the elderly, the homeless and the hungry in multiple communities. Let’s work together to help one another. Donate canned goods, a turkey or chicken to a local food drive. Drop a pack of new socks into a donation bin to help someone stay warm. Give your time to a local senior center. We can work together to fight hunger and feed our community, clothe the homeless and lessen loneliness this holiday season. Come together this month to make a difference, for no other reason than it’s just more fun to work together!

Happy Holidays To You!

contactus Publisher/Editor Nancy Caniff Publisher@NACrossroads.com Editorial Beth Davis Linda Sechrist Randy Kambic Sales & Marketing Jennifer Seffrin Jennifer@NACrossroads.com 317-775-1418 Contact Info: P.O. Box 39375 Indianapolis, IN 46239 Phone: 317-862-6332 Fax: 317-608-6718

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© 2012 by Natural Awakenings. All rights reserved. Although some parts of this publication may be reproduced and reprinted, we require that prior permission be obtained in writing.

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

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

Natural Awakenings is printed on recycled newsprint with soy-based ink.

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contents

6 newsbriefs

9 healthbriefs

12 globalbriefs 14 ecotip 19 wisewords 22 healthykids 23 fitbody 24 healingways 26 naturalpet 28 calendarofevents 30 classifieds 30 naturaldirectory

advertising & submissions how to advertise To advertise with Natural Awakenings or request a media kit, please contact us at 317-862-6332 or email Nancy@NACrossroads.com Contact Jennifer our advertising consultant at Jennifer@NACrossroads.com or call at 317-775-1418 Deadline for ads: the 15th of the month.

Editorial submissions For articles, news items and ideas go to NACrossroads. com to submit directly online. Deadline for editorial: the 8th of the month. calendar submissions Go to NACrossroads.com to submit listings directly online. Deadline for calendar: the 15th of the month. regional markets Advertise your products or services in multiple markets! Natural Awakenings Publishing Corp. is a growing franchised family of locally owned magazines serving communities since 1994. To place your ad in other markets call 239-449-8309. For franchising opportunities call 239-530-1377 or visit NaturalAwakeningsMag.com.

NACrossroads.com

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

16 IT’S ALL ABOUT WE

Conscious Evolution: Why We’re Better Together

by Linda Sechrist

19 HOW UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HARMONIZES OUR WORLD Marci Shimoff Explores its

Transformative Power

by Judith Fertig

20 The Only Thing

That Matters An Interview with Author

Neale Donald Walsch

by Karen Moore

22 MINDFUL HOLIDAY

TRADITIONS Simple Ways to Add Meaning

and Family-Centered Fun

by Barbara Amrhein

23 BREATHE EASIER Try These Tips for Better Workouts

24 UNEXPECTED

UPSIDE Media Gadgets Can Boost

Family Connections

by Lisa Marshall

26 CRITTER

COMPANIONS Alternative Adoptions

Fit for Families

by Sandra Murphy

natural awakenings

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2012

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Kramer Suite Opens at Humane Society of Indianapolis

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he Humane Society of Indianapolis opened the new Kramer Suite, a free-roaming cat room with access to a safe, enclosed outdoor environment, on November 19. The unique adoption space for felines was made possible thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Kramer.

After taking a tour of IndyHumane, Mrs. Kramer decided she wanted to help further. She particularly enjoyed the McFadden Free-Roaming Cat Room and thought it would be even better if more cats could be housed in such a room with access to a safe, enclosed outside space. With the addition, half of IndyHumane’s cats in the main cat room are now free-roaming. The remaining group-housing cat corrals now have picture windows so sunshine flows freely through the room.

“When cared for properly, cats in free-roaming rooms benefit from reduced stress and illness,” says Chief Operations Officer Christine Jeschke. “Fewer than 10 adoptable cats will [now] spend time in cages during their stay at the shelter.

We’re thrilled we can provide so many free-roaming spaces for our animals.

Allowing cats to wander safely outside to enjoy fresh air makes IndyHumane one of the most unique shelters in the region.”

Cats housed in this type of close environment also get used to one another, important if one considers adopting multiple cats, as Mrs. Kramer recently did.

“After visiting IndyHumane, I wanted to do more,” Mrs. Kramer says. “When I toured the facility, it was evident to me that free-roaming cat rooms provide a relaxing environment for shelter cats, allowing them to de-stress and enjoy the comforts every animal deserves. My hope is that the new suite will be a place closer to home for them while they are on their way to forever homes.”

For more information, visit IndyHumane.org.

photos courtesy of Lisa Greil Photography

newsbriefs

Linking IndyWomen

Inspirational Linking Indy Women Events

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ach month, approximately 60 women gather to hear a compelling woman in business in Indy share her story, providing attendees with real connection, encouragement, advice, strategy, and most importantly, inspiration.

The organization was founded by Sarah Lacey from the principles that women are inspirational, each of us has a story to tell, has the ability to share life and businesses experiences in a unique way that can uplift and motivate each other, and are innately caring, strong, and determined.

“I had been to networking events in the past and left feeling like I wanted more from the experience,” says Lacey. “I wanted to connect and build business relationships on a deeper level. I set out on a journey to create an open group that would meet once a month.”

More than 900 women have joined the Linking Indy Women journey. The mission is to inspire women by sharing personal stories, connecting and providing real business experiences. Befitting the genuine atmosphere, dress is totally open.

For mor e information, visit LinkingIndyWomen.com.

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www.NACrossroads.com

Trade School Indianapolis Launches

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rade School Indianapolis, a u n i q u e , a l t e r n a t iv e , s e l f organized educational concept that operates via a barter system, opened last September and began its second semester last month at the Downtown Indianapolis City Market. Organizers Blaire Huntley and Brittany West have developed the school so that anyone can either attend or teach a class.

Teachers propose classes and ask for barter items from students. For example, if one teaches a class about making butter, students might be asked to bring heavy cream, jars or bread. Students can also register by providing general items like clothes or healthy food or help with something like finding an apartment or tips in improving a hobby or skill.

Organizers believe that the activity fulfills the dynamic that people have very different needs, but they also have so much to offer to each other.

Location: 222 East Market St. For more information including class schedule plus enrollment, sponsoring, partnerships or teaching opportunities, email Indianapolis@ TradeSchool.coop or visit TradeSchool.coop/Indianapolis/class.

Energizing Indiana and Supporting Arts for Learning

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nergizing Indiana, a collaboration of most of Indiana’s energy providers, is providing a way for consumers to both save on energy costs and support the Young Audiences of Indiana’s Arts for Learning program at the same time via free home energy assessments. Every time someone signs up for the assessment at EnergizingIndiana. com/YAIndy, the organization will receive a $25 donation–$50 in cases that a consumer has assessment done prior to the end of the year.

After enrolling on the website, an Energizing Indiana representative will contact you to schedule your in-home assessment within a few business days.

The assessment only takes an hour or so and consumers will receive a free Energy Saving Kit which includes light bulbs, sink aerators and more materials plus advice on how to reduce energy consumption.

In central Indiana, Energizing Indiana is represented by IPL, Vectren and Duke.

As long as you receive energy from one of these providers you can participate.

Your residence must be at least 10 years old to qualify. If you do not own your home or apartment, you may still be able to participate if the utility is in your name and you receive permission from the property owner.

If you are an IPL customer, you can also enroll in Cool Cents and Arts for Learning will receive an additional $25 donation.

FREE day of Acupuncture for Veterans Every first Sunday 1-3pm at our Downtown Clinic only — Walk-ins welcome —

For more information, call 317-925-4043, ext. 112, or email JHeavin@YAIndy.org.

Visit YAIndy.org and EnergizingIndiana.com/YAIndy natural awakenings

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2012

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Hypnosis Center Relocates to New Office in Carmel

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ndiana Hypnosis for Change is now operating in a newly opened office at 301 East Carmel Drive, Suite D200, in Carmel. Led by Certified Hypnotist and member of the National Guild of Hypnotists Toni Macri-Reiner, they focus on facilitating a personalized strategy consisting of brief solution-focused hypnotherapy sessions to help with many issues including smoking cessation, weight management, overcoming fears and phobias, anxiety and recovery prior to and after surgery, respectively.

In movies and TV, hypnosis is often depicted as being used to “control” a person. Actually, each person is totally in control of their own experience.

Trance is a naturally occuring state that each person experiences at least twice a day–upon awakening and falling asleep–those periods where you are on your “way to” either sleep or awakening.

During a hypnosis session, a client is led through a progressive muscle relaxation process, similar to a guided meditation. The difference is that after achieving a trance state, the hypnotist will give therapeutic suggestions, use metaphors and other guidance to help the client re-frame problems and achieve goals.

Research has shown that hypnosis can facilitate change and healing at a fast rate. A Harvard Medical School and Union Institute in Cincinnati study showed that of three groups of patients that underwent breast reduction surgery, the group that experienced hypnosis healed “significantly faster” than a control group and a group that received only supportive attention.

For more information, call 317-331-9555 or visit their website IndianaHypnosisForChange.com.

Breakfast with Santa at YMCA of Greater Indianapolis

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he YMCA of Greater Indianapolis is inviting families to its Breakfast with Santa events at various locations on December 8 and 15. Families will enjoy a delicious breakfast, fun activities and pictures with Santa.

Costs: members -- $15/family (two adults maximum), $5/person (10 and over), $3/person (three to nine); guests -- $6/person. Ages two and under are free. Register by calling your local Y. To donate or for more information about YMCA programs and services, visit OurCauseIsYou.org.

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Nutty Way to Help Preserve Cognition

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alnut consumption is associated with better memory scores and cognitive function, according to recent findings published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. In the Prevención con Dieta Mediterrnáea study, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health, results show that a Mediterranean diet, supplemented with olive oil or one ounce of mixed nuts, half of which are walnuts, is more beneficial than a low-fat diet when it comes to body weight, blood pressure, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation.

The nutrient-dense walnuts provide antioxidants and alphalinolenic acid (ALA), the plant-based omega-3 fatty acid. Both are key nutrients with anti-inflammatory properties that help protect brain cells from the oxidative damage associated with cognitive decline.

www.NACrossroads.com

healthbriefs One-Size Meditation Does Not Fit All

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n intriguing study recently posted online

by Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, suggests that new meditators are most likely to stick with the practice and reap its healthful benefits if they select methods with which they are most comfortable, rather than those that are most popular.

In one of the first studies to compare meditation techniques head-to-head, author Adam Burke, a professor of health education at San Francisco State University and the director of its Institute for Holistic Health Studies, taught 247 participants four popular methods—mantra, mindfulness, Zen and qigong visualization. He asked them to choose which they preferred to practice at home for six weeks before techniques were evaluated.

The simpler methods, mantra and mindfulness, each were preferred by 31 percent of study participants. Zen and qigong were selected by about 22 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Burke says the results showed the value of providing people new to meditation simpler and more accessible methods, and also emphasized that no one technique is best for everyone. He hopes to see more comparative meditation studies, especially to determine if particular methods are better at addressing specific health issues such as addiction.

“If that’s the case,” he advises, “healthcare professionals would be able to guide patients toward techniques that will be most effective for them. Additional studies are also needed to determine if there is a way to predict which method will be best suited for any particular individual.”

Giving Begets Happiness at Every Age

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o give is better than to receive,” is a maxim that appears to hold true even for the very young. A new study co-authored by three psychologists at Canada’s University of British Columbia observes that giving makes toddlers happier. The study, published in PLOS One, an online journal of the Public Library of Science, found that toddlers younger than 2 were happier when giving treats to others than when receiving them. They were also happier when they gave their own treats away, rather than an identical treat that didn’t belong to them.

Money doesn’t grow on trees... but it can make a tree grow.

This holiday season, give a gift that really takes root.

Plant a tree in an Indiana forest for just $10.

FOLLOW US:

Learn more and give today at: www.TheIndianaTreeProject.org natural awakenings

December

2012

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A Wise Man’s Gift for Arthritis Sufferers

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rankincense, an aromatic resin obtained from Boswellia trees native to Africa, is an age-old herbal remedy that may help alleviate the pain of arthritis, according to scientists at Cardiff University, in Wales. “The search for new ways of relieving the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis is a long and difficult one,” says Dr. Emma Blain, who led the research with co-investigators Professor Vic Duance, from Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences, and Dr. Ahmed Ali, of the Compton Group. The team believes they have been able to demonstrate that treatment with an extract of Boswellia frereana—a rare frankincense species—inhibits the production of key inflammatory molecules and helps prevent the breakdown of cartilage tissue that causes the condition.

The African Somali people have long used extracts of frankincense as a traditional remedy for arthritis. “Our research achieved the use of innovative chemical extraction techniques to determine the active ingredient in frankincense,” says Ali. “We will now be able to further characterize the chemical entity and compare its success against other anti-inflammatory drugs used for treating the condition.”

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Pitfalls of No-Fat Salad Dressings

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or those thinking about balancing a rich holiday meal by choosing a low- or no-fat salad dressing, consider this: To get the most nutrients from leafy greens and vegetables, we need to pair them with a healthy fat. A recent Purdue University study showed that the more “good” fat there was in a salad, the more carotenoids diners absorbed.

Th e r e s e a r ch e r s found that vegetable oils rich in monounsaturated fats like olive oil, or polyunsaturated fats like sunflower oil, help the body absorb essential carotenoids and other nutrients and increase their bioavailability in the intestines. The study also found that eating bread with butter with a salad was also beneficial, although to a lesser extent. www.NACrossroads.com

Raisins Yield P r e ss u r e Relief

Citrus Fruits Lower Risk of Stroke

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or individuals seeking a natural way to keep slightly elevated blood pressure in check, eating a handful of raisins each day might do the trick. New data presented at the American College of Cardiology 61st Annual Scientific Session suggest that among adults with hypertension or mild increases in blood pressure, routine consumption of raisins may lower readings, especially compared with eating other common snacks. The researchers noted that raisins are packed with potassium, which is known to lower blood pressure, and are also a good source of antioxidant dietary fiber, which may favorably alter the biochemistry of blood vessels, enabling them to be less stiff.

The study helps validate some current nutrient recommendations, such as 60 raisins—about a handful, containing one gram of fiber and 212 milligrams of potassium—as being helpful in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in three (28 percent) of American adults have prehypertension, defined as a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg.

Researchers cautioned that their study was small; larger trials are needed.

P

opular winter citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit come with an unexpected health benefit: eating them may lower the risk of ischemic strokes (clots), especially in women, per a study reported in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

The researchers analyzed 14 years of follow-up data from the National Institutes of Health Nurses’ Health Study, which included 69,622 women that reported their food intake every four years, including details on fruit and vegetable consumption. The study discovered that a high intake of flavanones, a subclass of flavonoids found in the greatest concentrations in oranges and grapefruit, was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of ischemic stroke.

In the study, the presence of flavanones came primarily from oranges and orange juice (82 percent) and grapefruit and grapefruit juice (14 percent). However, the researchers recommended that consumers increase their citrus fruit intake, rather than juice consumption, to avoid the sugar in many commercial juices.

Indy’s Source for Raw and Living Foods

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I

t’s time to step up to the plate—but not waste what’s on it.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that about 40 percent of all food in the United States goes uneaten. Each year, we are throwing away the equivalent of $165 billion in discarded food, making it the single largest component of solid waste in America’s landfills and costing the average family of four between $1,350 and $2,275 annually.

About two-thirds of household waste consists of spoiled food that’s not used in time; the rest is caused by people cooking or serving too much food. Learn easy steps to reduce food waste via the NRDC free online fact sheet at Tinyurl.com/StopFoodWaste. natural awakenings

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globalbriefs Smog Begone

Dramatic Decline in Los Angeles Air Pollution Legendary late-night TV host Johnny Carson made the thick, automobile-generated smog that covered Los Angeles the butt of jokes for decades, but times have changed. In the past 50 years, California’s Los Angeles Basin has shown a 98 percent decrease in levels of some vehicle-related air pollutants even as area denizens now burn three times as much gasoline and diesel fuel.

Between 2002 and 2010 alone, the concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOC) dropped by half, according to a new study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres. “The reason is simple. Cars are getting cleaner,” says Carsten Warneke, a NOAA-funded scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Primarily emitted from the vehicle tailpipes, VOCs are a key ingredient in formation of ground-level ozone, which at high levels can harm people’s lungs and damage crops and other plants. The magnitude of the drop in VOC levels was surprising, although it doesn’t mean that ozone levels have dropped as steeply, because the air chemistry is complex. Levels of ozone pollution in the basin are down, but don’t yet meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Warneke expects the decrease in VOC emissions by cars to continue, given that engine efficiency continues to improve and older, higher polluting vehicles will be taken off the roads.

Bird Brains

When the Warm Get Going

Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org, has enabled his organization to provide a record $40 million in funding for 300,000 U.S. classroom projects, simply by personalizing public appeals for charitable giving.

When potential donors enter their personal interests, an online database supplies a list of corresponding classroom projects. For example, artists might consider funding a silkscreen press for an art class. Hikers can purchase trees for a classroom to plant. When the funded project is completed, the donors receive a note from the teacher, along with photos.

DonorsChoose.org maximizes the personalization potential by asking the participants if they want to post their donation on their Facebook wall, where friends may read the post and feel compelled to make their own donation. Teachergenerated Facebook project updates garner even greater success; these two types of Facebook status updates have so far raised a combined $1.9 million.

Global climate change is a real, measurable phenomenon, according to a new study, based on the National Audubon Society’s North American Christmas Bird Count. It found that avian species have taken decades to adjust their ranges northward in response to warming winters.

Frank La Sorte, a researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in Ithaca, New York, and lead author of a study supported by the National Science Foundation, says in the Journal of Animal Ecology that because birds are highly mobile and migrate north and south with the changing seasons, they are better able to shift their ranges than less mobile, non-migrating species, such as amphibians.

“It makes sense that species move slower than the rate at which climate is changing,” says La Sorte.

“Many of them need to follow a prey base and a type of vegetation, or they need certain kinds of habitat that will create corridors for movement.

Species are responding under their own time frame.”

The challenge for humans is daunting. “We have to give species the opportunity to respond by providing corridors for movement and long-term maintenance of those corridors,” says La Sorte. “That requires cooperation across political boundaries.”

Source: SSIReview.org

Source: ABC News

Source: American Geophysical Union (Tinyurl.com/SmogBegone)

Smiley Face

Personalized Social Media Giving Gets Results

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Good News

Kwanzaa Celebration Spreads

Many Tongues

Human Rights Day is December 10 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Now, the office of the high commissioner for human rights has been awarded the Guinness World Record for having collected, translated and disseminated the declaration into more than 380 languages and dialects, from Abkhaz to Zulu, making it the world’s most universal communication.

The work sets out a broad range of fundamental human rights and freedoms to which all men and women everywhere are entitled, without distinction. It was drafted by representatives from all regions and legal traditions, and has over time been accepted as a contract between governments and their peoples.

Visit Tinyurl.com/UN-HumanRightsDeclaration.

The 46th annual Kwanzaa, an African-American holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1, may be observed by as many as 18 million people this year. Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, nor is it meant to replace Christmas.

It was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor of black studies, as a celebration to honor the values of ancient African cultures and inspire African Americans working for social progress.

The name comes from the Swahili phrase, “matunda ya kwanza,” which means, “first fruits of the harvest.” Its seven principles are believed to have been key in building strong, productive families and communities in Africa: unity, selfdetermination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, a sense of purpose, creativity and faith.

Source: InfoPlease.com Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. ~ Wayne Dyer

natural awakenings

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2012

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ecotip

coverartist

Green Christmas Holiday Planet Savers

Here are some fresh ways to tweak family traditions for a greener holiday this and every year.

Incorporate local, sustainable cuisine into the family feast. Ingredients for a traditional holiday dinner can travel up to 30,000 miles.

Instead, show support for local community farmers and reduce food transportation miles by choosing a heritage turkey or meatless entrée. Stellar complements may include organic cranberry jelly, mulled apple cider or wine from an area farm, orchard or vineyard.

The Christmas Star

Adopt or recycle the Christmas tree.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as many as 33 million live-cut Christmas trees are purchased each year in North America, and most end up in landfills. Fortunately, Christmas tree adoption services like Central California’s Rent a Living Christmas Tree are popping up across the country, allowing them to go on living. The potted trees can be rented and delivered.

If tree adoption services are not yet available locally, make sure to recycle a live holiday tree so it’s turned into landscape mulch for reuse as ground cover to hinder weeds and nourish plantings.

Reduce energy costs through efficient cooking. Wait to fire up the oven until the heritage turkey or organic ham is ready to go in; preheating is unnecessary for these slow-roasting items. For baked goods, opt for glass or ceramic pans, which allow cooking time to remain the same while lowering the heat by about 25 degrees. Another energy-saving trick is to place stovetop cookware on the smallest burner possible; more heat will embrace the pan, while less is lost to the surrounding air. A six-inch pan on an eight-inch burner typically wastes more than 40 percent of the energy generated. Crockpots work well for serving other small family dinners during the busy holiday season or anytime; an entire meal requires about 17 cents worth of electricity.

At cleanup time, load up the dishwasher fully. One load of dishes scrubbed in a dishwashing machine uses 37 percent less water than washing the same dishes by hand.

Send plant-able holiday cards. According to CalRecycle, an estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10 stories high. This year, instead of the usual snail mail, send a bouquet of flowers for the price of a stamp. Recipients can plant a GreenFieldPaper.com grow-a-note holiday card in the ground and see wildflowers bloom. For plant-able holiday cards that can be personalized with a corporate logo, BotanicalPaperworks.com offers card sets and party favors.

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Will Bullas Combining award-winning artistic skills with a humorous point of view, Will Bullas makes fine art fun. The whimsical birds and other animals that populate many of his watercolors reflect the artist’s ebullient sense of sparkle and mischief; plus, he often titles the quirky wildlife works with zany one-liners.

Bullas has been drawing since he was a youth. His first professional pieces were pencil portraits of fellow soldiers in Vietnam sent to loved ones back home.

Returning from military duty, he enrolled in the Brooks Institute of Fine Art, in Santa Barbara, California, and graduated with a degree in oil painting.

Today, Bullas is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society; in 1986 he was also elected to membership in the Knickerbocker Artists of New York.

His art currently enlivens a wide range of products, including high-fashion T-shirts, note cards and coffee mugs, and his books, A Fool and His Bunny and A Fool Moon, include introductions by fans Clint Eastwood and Doris Day.

When asked about the source of his inspiration, Bullas replies, “Absolutely everything—books, music, television… even listening to friends tell stories can evoke some kind of imagery for me. Life is a bottomless well of ideas.”

View the artist’s portfolio at WillBullas.com.

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2012

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It’s All About We Conscious Evolution: Why We’re Better Together

by Linda Sechrist

A

fter decades of studying issues of environmental destruction, poverty and war, Malcolm Hollick, Ph.D., author of The Science of Oneness: A New Worldview for the Twenty-First Century, concluded in 2006 that a better future for humanity requires a more holistic worldview. It must be one that reflects the evidence of both new sciences and established spiritual traditions, all of which point to a deep unity, or Oneness, the grand reality underlying and often belying the superficial testimony of the senses.

Hollick concluded, “We become open to the experience of this unity only when we recognize at the deepest intuitive level that we do not exist as separate selves.” The founder of

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the Findhorn College Foundation, in Scotland, recognized that while the old worldview has disintegrated, the concrete of a new one has not yet set.

He also observed how the acceleration of scientific findings—advancing knowledge and understanding of the universe, as well as the meaning and purpose of life—would continue to influence the general worldview.

Within a decade, of the publication of his book, hard scientific evidence across many disciplines—particularly physics and biology—as well as pioneering ideas and anecdotal evidence presented by leading philosophers and authors, affirmed the existence of a reality in which everything is connected and linked in a coherent whole.

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Such thinking further revealed that evolution has equipped humans with genetic wiring for co-creation, cooperation and collaboration. Martin A. Nowak, a professor of biology and mathematics at Harvard University and co-author of Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed, explains that most great innovations of life have resulted not from competition, but cooperation, the real “master architect” of evolution. Nowak believes that figuring out how cooperation comes about and breaks down is the key to human survival as a species.

Books such as The Bond: Connecting Through the Space Between Us, by Lynne McTaggart, a scientific researcher and award-winning journalist, and The Golden Motorcycle Gang: A Story of Transformation, co-authored by motivational speaker Jack Canfield, are helping individuals to see through the illusions of the old “survival of the fittest” and “I win, you lose” paradigms into one expressed in terms of connectedness and relationships. This new “Me-We” thinking and way of being has been

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spreading; it now informs everything from enlightened environmental stewardship to economics, as well as health and spiritual well-being.

How Community Works

Canfield emphasizes the valuable lesson of collaboration and cooperation he learned while working for W. Clement Stone, a philanthropist and self-help author: When working together, focus on overlapping goals and interests, and not on differences.

In Chicago, Illinois, where the Eat Fresh Eat Local movement sparks successful collaborations, the focus is on food, rather than issues of race, sex or economic disparity. There, hundreds of people are growing food together in communal spaces on city-owned land, privately owned empty lots and rooftops, as well as in school gardens, food forests and urban farm sites.

“Self-reliant, community-operated urban farms and the food centers that retail the produce to residents in surrounding neighborhoods—some in the city’s most isolated and impoverished communities—are economic drivers that create jobs,” says Erika Allen, projects manager of Chicago’s Growing Power office. The daughter of national organization founder Will Allen notes that local workshops resemble a crosssection of the world. “Participants from different countries, cultures and economic levels come together for three meals a day, where we connect, share perspectives and learn from one another.”

Another successful initiative, Building a Healthier Chicago (BHC), brings together the Chicago

“We are facing a critical moment in the unfolding of our human story, and feel called to create pathways to a better future.” ~ Craig Hamilton Department of Public Health, the Office of the Regional Health Administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Chicago Medical Society and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. The BHC agribusiness project develops and maintains a system of more accessible food supply, distribution and markets where people live, work, play, pray and learn.

Neighbors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, organized park cleanups with the long-range goal of replacing crime and litter with learning. Now, Riverside Park, once an area of urban blight, has both a college-level field research station and grade school outdoor classroom, offering innovative school, adult and community programs operated by the Urban Ecology Center (UEC). Programs serve 44 schools and have spawned two branches in Washington Park and Menomonee Valley to serve residents in those areas.

The UEC’s latest project, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, the River Revitalization Foundation, Milwaukee County Parks, private businesses and local landowners, is an arboretum that will protect and restore 40 acres of land for native species and wildlife habitat along

natural awakenings

the Milwaukee River. “With the creation of the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum, southeastern Wisconsin has a new, biologically diverse space for growing future environmental stewards,” says UEC Executive Director Ken Leinbach. He particularly likes creating spaces and resources that give people that wouldn’t normally connect a place to bump into one another.

Expanding Worldview College settings are similarly intended to encourage stimulating and expansive dialogue among diverse populations.

At Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, recent environmental study grads Dana Rubin and Hannah Blackmer met Frances Moore Lappé when she visited to share the message of her book EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want. As a result, the pair embraced the need to shift their view of the world away from looming negatives to focus on creating positive connections and meaningful relationships that recognize life’s interdependence and fuel constructive change.

After more research, the duo built a simple website named Convenient Resilience.com and created a blog before commencing a coast-to-coast, 100-day, solutions-oriented journey last summer. They posted nearly 30 “webisodes” of heartfelt interactions with individuals and organizations with stories to tell, like the group at 2100 Lakeside Emergency Men’s Shelter, in Cleveland, Ohio, that is using smallscale, practical and cost-effective solutions to lessen their impact on the

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environment. “The personal stories we heard affirm what we learned from Frances—that it’s possible to locally solve global problems together,” advise the sojourners, who travel in a greasepowered car.

“Learn to think beyond negative thought traps that engender fear,” advises Lappé. “Thinking, ‘There isn’t enough to go around, so I have to grab what I can now,’ for instance, focuses on separateness and lack, which is precisely what got us into the state we are in.”

One’s own new world perspective can even emerge as a result of a dark night of the soul, as Patricia Ariadne, Ph.D., author of Drinking the Dragon, has observed with clients that have undergone a personal metamorphosis as a result of the economic downturn. “Often, the entire process of transformation indicates a spiritual initiation—a renewal or rebirth—that acts as an induction into a level of expanded consciousness and new relationship with Spirit,” remarks Ariadne. “True spiritual progress Starting Within inevitably leads to a desire to be of A big-picture, more-whole-systems greater service to others, to go from ‘Me perspective forms naturally when to We,’ which I believe is our mandate individuals come together to explore for the 21st century.” the power of building intentional Living mindfully can literally coherence. The Art of Hosting (and change our brains, states Jon Kabat-Zinn, convening conversations that matter), Ph.D., in the introduction to A Mindful World Café, Vistar Method for Circles Nation, by Ohio Congressman Tim a n d O p e n S p a c e c o l l a b o ra t i o n s Ryan, which reports on the supporting leverage technology for the practice science. “Mindfulness… can improve of mindfulness to foster deeper our capacity for perspective taking and connections, authentic conversations decision making, and enhance our a n d o u t s i d e - t h e - b o x i d e a s , a l l emotional intelligence and our ability contributing to a more enlightened to act with clarity and wisdom, alone and in concert with others.” Kabat-Zinn collective intelligence. is the founding director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester.

“A peaceful revolution is being led by ordinary citizens across our nation,” confirms Ryan. “At the core of it is mindfulness—finding ways to Come fall infall love Come in love slow the mind, pay attention to the moment and see how you are with with our large selection of ofpresent our large selection connected to others and can work in a foodfood & supplements & supplements spirit of cooperation to get things done.”

The inner impulse to recognize — If you we it,willwe—will —the deeper unity of all life and sense — Ifcan’t you find can’tit,find SpecialSpecial ordersorders on almost on almost the reality of Oneness is bubbling up anything natural! within individuals, small groups and anything natural! organizations, and finding expression Hours: Monday-Saturday 9-7pm 9-7pm Hours: Monday-Saturday in writings and teachings, according to New Sunday 11am-6pm Starting April 1st April 1st NewHours Sunday Hours 11am-6pm Starting Barbara Marx Hubbard, author of Birth OrderOrder OnlineOnline Good-Earth.com Good-Earth.com 2012 and Beyond: Humanity’s Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution.

Individuals that feel compelled to join with others in expanding their consciousness to help foster systemic change and a culture of a higher order are invited to find a compatible group. Hubbard offers webcast training for Agents of Conscious Evolution 18

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(ACE), now 3,000 members strong; Craig Hamilton, founder of Integral Enlightenment, provides an online telecourse called Awakening to an Evolutionary Relationship to Life.

“Evolutionaries sense that we are facing a critical moment in the unfolding of our human story and feel called to create pathways to a better future,” says Hamilton. He notes that the 35,000 participants in his most recent introduction to his webcast were interested in where they could find a supportive community of kindred spirits committed to living life on the same level. He states, “We instinctively know that we can accomplish more together.”

A partnership with The Shift Network, which empowers a global movement of those intent on creating an evolutionary shift in consciousness, has enabled Hubbard, a featured sage in the documentary Awaken Soul to Soul, and her ACEs to launch a global initiative to mark the inauguration of a sustainable planetary civilization on December 22. Thousands of individuals are now working in collective hubs across the United States to prepare for the Planetary Birth Day celebration.

An initial concern for many individuals seeking to experience Oneness is, “What happens to my identity?” Christopher M. Bache, Ph.D., professor emeritus in the department of philosophy and religious studies at Youngstown State University, in Ohio, reassures us that within the matrix of connectivity, individuality is not suffocated, but paradoxically liberated into deeper forms of self-expression.

“While opening to the collective fields that surround us melts the boundaries of the private ego, bringing about the ‘death of self’ noted in spiritual literature, as the ego dies, a deeper form of individuality is born— not an isolated individuality, but one

“What you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.” ~ Desmond Tutu

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wisewords The Global Birth Day of a How Unconditional Love New Humanity Harmonizes Our World

December 22, 2012 – Birth2012.com Join the Conscious Evolution ArtOfHosting.org BarbaraMarxHubbard.com ConvenientResilience.com GrowingPower.org NewMomentumfhu.org SmallPlanet.org TheShiftNetwork.com TheWorldCafe.com VistarFoundation.org

that thrives in subtle give-and-take,” explains the author of The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness.

While the idea of a future in which American and other cultures reflect oneness can seem distant and idealistic, it is already present in South Africa’s Xhosa community in the form of Ubuntu, a worldview which means, “I am what I am because of who we all are.”

According to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, Ubuntu iterates the essence of being human and speaks to the fact that it’s impossible to exist as human beings in isolation. We are people through other people.

“We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected, and what you do affects the whole world,” he observes. “When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”

Linda Sechrist is a senior st aff writer for Natural Awakenings. For more information and in-depth interviews on It’s All About We, visit ItsAllAboutWe.com.

Marci Shimoff Explores its Transformative Power

by Judith Fertig

A

self-described “seeker from the g e t - g o ,” M a r c i Shimoff, is an expert at helping others effect greater personal fulfillment and professional success.

The noted transformational leader, speaker and author has written two bestselling books on happiness and unconditional love—Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out and Love for No Reason: 7 Steps for Creating a Life of Unconditional Love, and co-authored six bestselling titles in the Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul series.

What is the old way of looking at love, versus the new paradigm shift you propose?

We’ve been trained to think of love solely as energy between two people, usually experienced as conditional love—we feel love if the other person agrees with us, treats us a particular way or loves us back. But love is actually the essence of who we are, and when we live in a state of unconditional love, what I call “love for no reason,” we experience our essence that is love, which doesn’t depend on another person, situation or romantic partner.

It is the core of every spiritual tradition.

Why do our ways of loving often seem inadequate?

We each have a “love set-point,” the upper limit of our ability to give and receive love. We can’t feel more love by trying to change the outside—by relying on others to fill us up—because it will never work in the long run. We need to raise our love set-point higher; then natural awakenings

we experience everything more through the eyes of love.

Do challenging economic times help us grow spiritually?

We c a n u s e a ny l i f e challenges to help us grow and find fresh avenues of lasting fulfillment. Success and money don’t guarantee happiness, and I know that from my own wake-up call.

In 1998, I had three of my Chicken Soup for the Soul books on The New York Times bestseller list at the same time. One day, I spoke to 8,000 people and autographed 5,432 books and felt like an author rock star. Yet when I returned to my hotel room that night, I burst into tears. All of the success was great, but it still hadn’t made me happy.

That’s when I began my intensive study of happiness and love.

Does science support our capacity to daily experience and deepen a love for all things?

Science is finding that there is a neurophysiology of love. Studies by researchers in major institutions worldwide show that we can do simple things like breathe more deeply, walk barefoot on earth, listen to uplifting music or practice meditation that will support us in experiencing more unconditional love. These activities create greater heart rhythm coherence and new neural pathways in the brain.

How does having a heart that’s open to unconditional love benefit us?

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The Institute of HeartMath has discovered that the magnetic field generated by the heart—what’s measured on a magnetometer—is 5,000 times stronger than that of the brain. HeartMath research has also demonstrated that when we’re in a positive emotional state, our hearts beat in a coherent rhythm that causes all the other systems in the body—including the brain, immune system and hormones—to work more efficiently and harmoniously. Their research shows that experiencing this regularly leads to better health, slows the aging process and brings us greater creativity, resilience and happiness.

What are the seven doorways to practicing unconditional love revealed by your own research?

I’ve interviewed hundreds of people that are living examples of unconditional love. I’ve found seven access points to experiencing more love: safety, being grounded and present; vitality, energy and well-being; unconditional self-love, feeling empowered; openness, being comfortable giving and receiving love; communication, listening and speaking with love; vision, seeing through the eyes of love; and oneness, feeling connected with the greater wholeness of life.

How does one person’s loving larger bless our families, communities and world?

The more we experience love, the more we spread love to others. Our feelings are contagious. This idea is beautifully expressed in an ancient Chinese proverb:

“When there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.

When there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.

When there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.

When there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.”

Connect with Marci Shimoff at HappyForNoReason.com.

Judith Fertig, of Overland Park, KS, is a regular contributor to Natural Awakenings.

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The Only Thing That Matters An Interview with Author Neale Donald Walsch

By Karen Moore

“Y

ou can’t get to where you’re not going.”

I t ’s n o t o f t e n t h a t someone summarizes the problems of the world in eight words, but Neale Donald Walsch feels he has done it.

The author of seven New York Times best sellers, Walsch sat for an interview recently in his modest hilltop home in Ashland, Oregon. What is wrong with the world? he was asked. Why is humanity having so much trouble just making life work?

He didn’t hesitate with his reply.

“It’s really quite simple. We’re all going after the wrong thing.”

And that is?

“The whole world wants peace, prosperity, security, opportunity, joyful self-expression, happiness, and love.

Everybody on the planet wants that. We want it so bad, we’re willing to kill each other for it. In fact, that’s exactly what we are doing.”

The reason we can’t get what we want, the writer says, that is these are the wrong objectives.

“In the first quarter of the 21st century, nine-tenths of the world’s people

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are still deprived of these things...and most of the one-tenth who are not are still not peaceful and happy, because they’re spending their time worrying about how to hold onto what they have, or trying to figure out a way to increase it.”

So the problem is greed?

No, Walsch says. “Greed is good.

Greed is simply the intense and selfish desire for something. It is such desire that fuels the process of evolution. And the idea that selfishness is ‘bad’ is totally out of harmony with that process.

“The problem is that we are greedy for the wrong things. We are reaching for the wrong stuff. We’re heading in the wrong direction. We’re trying to get to one place, and we’re racing to another. We’re trying to get to a place of inner peace, quiet joy, global harmony, and deep, sweet happiness, and we’re thinking we can get there by scrambling for outer accouterment.

“We’ve been doing this scrambling now for thousands of years. But it’s not working, because you can’t get to where you’re not going. We’re yearning for, we’re greedy for, the wrong stuff.”

“When we change the focus of our

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greed, we will change the forces that work against us achieving what we say we want—and the whole world will change. When we change the idea that the so-called ‘Self’ includes only us, we will find that true selfishness serves all of humanity.

“This is the transformation for which the entire human race yearns, and which is now within our grasp at last, after thousands of years of searching and reaching for it.”

Walsch declares himself to be very sure that this dramatic shift in our objectives, in both our collective and individual lives, is our crucial next step, and that is the point he makes in his latest book, The Only Thing That Matters, just out from Hay House.

Perhaps best known for a series of books under the title Conversations with God that has sold millions worldwide and has been translated into 37 languages, Walsch says that his latest writing, too, has been informed by what he calls his “continuing dialogue” with Deity. While the information in his most recent books has not been presented in a conversational format, he asserts that it has all come from On High.

And no, he doesn’t even flinch when he says that.

“All of us are having conversations with God all the time,” he declares.

“We’re simply calling them something else. Serendipity, inspiration, women’s intuition, a stroke of genius...we’ll use whatever words or catch phrases we can devise to avoid saying what is really happening, because we’ve made it culturally unacceptable to announce that God is talking directly to us. But that doesn’t alter what is happening,. It merely renames it.”

Leaning back in a butter-soft leather chair facing picture windows offering a view of mountains on every side, Walsch says he is comfortable producing books with titles such as The Only Thing That Matters and Conversations with God. “Because it is ‘the only thing that matters’,” he smiles warmly, “and they are conversations with God. The worst thing an author can do, I should think, would be to tone down his words to meet someone else’s standards of acceptability.”

Walsch asserts that it is the “agenda

of the soul” that God invites us to pay attention to, and that, were we to follow this agenda, every one of the other things we have been striving and struggling for “would come to us automatically.”

He smiles again. “Someone else said this much better than I ever could.

He put it something like this: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all else will be added unto you’.”

And just how does one do that?, he was asked.

“Ah, well,” he winks, “how much time do you have? Entire books have been written on that topic. Hundreds of them. And here’s one.” He holds up a copy of The Only Thing That Matters.

Yet if there are so many other books on the subject, why add another to the pile?

“I think we are more ready and able now than ever to hear this message—and to apply it,” Walsch assesses. “Our past has been a struggle to simply survive.

That is, to just deal with the exigencies of every day life on the physical level.

Yet now our species has evolved to the point where we can take care of most of that, globally, if we want to. We have the technology and the wherewithal to do that.

“We also are able to communicate with one another instantly. Billions of us can connect daily—which we could never do before. So now we can hear, feel, share, and accept God’s ancient message, and put it ‘on the ground’ much more rapidly and ubiquitously than ever before. All we need now is to hear that message in contemporary terms, so that we can understand it in ways that relate to our own experience.

“That’s what my writing is all about.”

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. ~ Dalai Lama

Neale Donald Walsch is the author of the 9-book Conversations with God series, seven of which have placed on The New York Times Bestsellers List.

His most recent books include When Everything Changes, Change Everything, and The Storm Before the Calm, both distributed by Hay House, as is The Only Thing That Matters. Mr. Walsch lives with his wife, the American poet Em Claire, in Southern Oregon. The Only Thing That Matters is now available at major bookstores and online at HayHouse.com. natural awakenings

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healthykids

Mindful Holiday Traditions Simple Ways to Add Meaning and Family-Centered Fun

by Barbara Amrhein

T

oo many winter holidays whiz by in a blur of presents, parties and rich foods, muting the season’s true messages of love, hope and peace.

By slowing down and refocusing on what makes this time of year so special, we can help our children—and ourselves—create fresh, meaningful traditions and experience genuine joy.

“If the spirit of the season at your home is more ‘Gimme, take me, buy me,’ instead of ‘Deck the halls,’ don’t despair,” advises internationally renowned educator and child expert Michele Borba, Ph.D., author of The Big Book of Parenting Solutions:101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries. “There are more subtle ways to encourage your kids to appreciate the greatest gifts of the holiday season. The simplest way is to focus on gifts of the heart and letting your kids be participants, not just recipients.”

Try these tips for helping youngsters co-create traditions that celebrate family, friends, sharing with others and

ART CAN INSPIRE.

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ART CAN EDUCATE. www.NACrossroads.com

ART CAN PROVIDE HOPE.

Learn more about us at www.artwithaheart.us

the holidays’ festive delights.

Emphasize experiences, not things. Presents can never take the place of presence. Years from now, children will rarely recall what they unwrapped, but will remember special

times spent together as a family. Take a nature walk to collect pinecones and other seasonal items for holiday décor.

Designate a Family Night and let the kids choose the activity, like seeing a movie or a holiday performance such as The Nutcracker, playing a favorite board game or building a gingerbread house. At dinner, ask youngsters to relate their favorite holiday memories, and then build upon their responses to plan this year’s celebrations.

Treat cards as treasured gifts.

Gather the family ‘round when opening cards from others, catching up on their news and recalling funny or enjoyable shared moments. Skype calls and videos offer pleasurable immediacy while mailed cards become an appreciated, permanent memento.

Encourage children to create handmade or personalized cards for grandparents and other relatives, enclosing photos or drawings and a short note describing the reasons that person means so much to them.

Hand deliver other cards to neighbors, accompanied by a plate of homemade, healthy treats. Children can also send cards to military personnel overseas via a Red Cross program at Tinyurl.com/ HolidayHeroMail.

Practice creative giving. Adopt a less fortunate family or child for the holidays (local churches or social service agencies can provide information) and ask youngsters to be “Santa’s little helpers” by picking out and thoughtfully wrapping books, toys and other gifts. Help children research

good causes and earmark a small amount of money for them to gift to the cause of their choice, such as an animal shelter or other local nonprofit. Honor the gift of time, as well: Youngsters that spend a few hours helping out at a food pantry, caroling at a nursing home or wrapping gifts for Toys for Tots will experience and remember the true joy of giving.

Nurture a sense of the spiritual.

Worship services aren’t the only venue for sharing family values and beliefs with children. On the night of the Winter Solstice, December 21—the shortest day and longest night of the year—enjoy dinner by candlelight.

Afterwards, stargaze in the backyard and make some holiday wishes. On another evening, turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree, menorah or other special candles and talk quietly about your blessings. Listening to a CD of carols from around the world reinforces a spirit of unity and invites lively discussions about how other cultures observe their holidays.

Celebrate the season’s sights, sounds and fun. Ask children to help choose a tree and make or buy an ornament with special meaning for them.

Then join in an informal decorating party with holiday tunes (kids get to choose some favorites), cocoa and cookies. Set aside an evening to walk or drive around the neighborhood to admire holiday lights and displays. Those in northern climes can build a family snowman, forge a “snow angel” chain in the yard or go sledding at an area park. As a fun twist on traditional caroling, grab some kazoos and go humming with the kids and their friends. To capture these great holiday moments, ask each child to take turns as the official family photographer.

Borba believes these types of shared experiences help children understand the true meaning of the season and bring back the heartfelt joy it represents. “In the end,” she advises, “remember that the holidays are really meant to be about love, togetherness and wonderful memories.”

Barbara Amrhein is a freelance writer and editor for Natural Awakenings.

fitbody

BREATHE EASIER Try These Tips for Better Workouts

I

t’s easy to take breathing for granted.

But tune in to your breath—when, say, halfway through a sun salutation or headed for a finish line—and you’ll find that it not only feeds muscles fresh oxygen, but also indicates whether it’s time to increase the intensity of the activity. To get the most out of every breath, follow these exercise tips from acknowledged experts.

founder and co-owner of Virayoga, in New York City. If you’re gasping for air, back out of the pose. “Always give preference to deeper breathing over deeper postures,” advises Brower.

This controlled breathing technique is largely responsible for the yoga buzz that helps keep students coming back for more.

Running

Exhale through the mouth when lifting weights and inhale through the nose when lowering them. As a rule of thumb, take two seconds to raise weights and three to four seconds to lower them.

“Focusing on your breath keeps your brain in the game, so you’re more likely to pay attention to overall form,” says Tom Holland, an exercise physiologist, personal trainer and fitness consultant in Darien, Connecticut.

With closed lips, breathe in sharply and deeply through the nose. Then purse the lips as if trying to blow out a candle and exhale through the mouth.

While running, breathe in for one step and out for two.

“The rapid inhale and slower exhale in this technique fills lungs from the bottom,” explains Danny Dreyer, author of ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running. “Breathing exercises help take in more air when inhaling and empty lungs completely when exhaling.

Muscles receive more glycogen, which lowers the chances of their cramping up.”

Yoga Use the Hindu breathing method called ujjayi, in which the lungs are fully expanded. First, inhale once with the mouth open, and then exhale the same way, making a “Ha,” sound.

Then close your mouth and continue making the same sound while inhaling and exhaling through the nose (it will resemble the rushing sound that Darth Vader makes in Star Wars movies).

“Your breathing is the barometer of all your poses,” says Elena Brower, natural awakenings

Strength Training

Cycling

“The key to breathing on a bike is to go in through the nose and out through the mouth, and to be as relaxed as possible,” Holland counsels. As intensity increases on climbs or long rides, breathe more forcefully—deeper, quicker inhalations through the nose and rapid exhalations through the mouth.

“The more relaxed your breathing is, the more relaxed your entire body will be,” says Holland. “Relaxed breathing conserves energy, prevents fatigue and improves endurance.”

Using forceful breaths when you’re tired also sends more energizing oxygen to muscles to help counter fatigue.

Source: Women’s Health online © 2012 Rodale Inc. All rights reserved; used with permission.

December

2012

23

healingways

Unexpected Upside Media Gadgets Can Boost Family Connections

by Lisa Marshall

W

itness a gadget-obsessed family at the dinner table and it is easy to conclude that technology is fracturing family life: Mom’s emailing her boss; Dad’s watching a YouTube video on his tablet; sister’s texting her boyfriend; and little brother is playing Angry Birds on his smart phone. No one is talking with each other.

But dysfunctional dinner habits aside, it appears cell and Internet technologies haven’t turned out to be as harmful as once predicted.

“When we started this research, the dominant thought was that Internet

technology would make us lonely, socially isolated and threaten our family lives,” says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. “We have been asking people about this now for 12 years in our surveys and the dominant answer is ‘Actually, we feel more connected with our families than we did before.’”

Web-conferencing systems like Skype have enabled family members across the globe to chat for free and also see each other. Social networking sites like Facebook have enabled previously out-of-touch siblings to share photos

and revive contact. According to Pew studies since 2008, cell phones have led married couples to talk more during the day and parents to maintain more open lines of communication with their kids.

“There always seems to be anxiety in raising a teen, and now a lot of that can be alleviated,” says Larry Rosen, Ph.D., a research psychologist at California State University and author of Me, MySpace, and I: Parenting the Net Generation. “A scared mom or dad can text their kid, saying ‘R U OK?’ and get a one-word answer back, whereas before that kid would have had to find a pay phone, maybe wouldn’t have done it and Mom and Dad would have panicked.”

Rosen’s own research suggests that social networking can actually teach teens to be more empathetic, a trait that enhances their bonds with family members. For example, a cousin will post on Facebook that her cat died, then the teen responds warmly and their bond tightens. The teen gains empathy useful in face-to-face experiences.

“Research from the Pew Center has shown that active social networkers tend to have more friends and support and be more involved with their communities and families,” Rainie maintains, while cautionary studies from the Kaiser Family Foundation suggest that kids unhealthily obsessed with media tend to have lower grades and get into trouble at school.

Overall, according to a 2011 study by the Barna Group, a Ventura, California, research firm, 32 percent of parents and 47 percent of teens say technology has made their family life better, while 18 percent of parents and 6 percent of teens say it has worsened, because the news is not all good.

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down to watch a show together, family members often are in a room or vehicle watching their own show on their own tiny screen.

“People miss social moments around them because they are communicating with the network inside the screen, rather than the world immediately surrounding them,” says Rainie. (On the flip side, Rainie notes, families often share those moments with each other, too, like a funny YouTube video or a picture on Facebook.)

Rosen cautions that the smart phone could be a pivotal game-changer if consumers aren’t careful. “We are already finding that most people under the age of 40 check their phones every 15 minutes or less, and if they can’t, they become highly anxious. Their whole social world appears channeled through this device, and that is worrisome.”

Both Rosen and Rainie stress that the key to making any technology a positive for family dynamics is to set rules at the outset and know when to unplug. Here are some guidelines to consider.

Cell phones. Everyone can check their phone messages before dinner and then power it down while the family is eating. Don’t use phones in bed, or in the hour before sleeping, which can be particularly detrimental to a teen’s rest, Rosen’s research shows.

Facebook. “When your child says, ‘All of my friends are on Facebook and I feel left out,’ that is probably the time to let them join Facebook,” advises Rosen.

Reserve the right to look at their page periodically with them. Each parent and child pair can decide if they should “friend” each other, but don’t assume that gives a parent a backstage pass to the child’s personal life.

Pew reports that 80 percent of parents whose children use social media have friended their child. However, “Insisting that your child friend you on Facebook is often an invitation for them

to set up a phantom, or fake page,” notes Rosen.

Smart phones and tablets. Set specific times to ban technology. “As couples, we used to retire to bed at night and watch TV and talk. Now we watch TV, check our phone and play Words with Friends games, and that has taken the place of intimate communication.” It helps to set specific times to check the phone and leave it off for big chunks of time.

Lisa Marshall is a regular contributor to Natural Awakenings.

G IF T CA R D

Personal Media Use Stats n Kids ages 8 to 18 spend seven hours, 38 minutes per day with media, including video, TV, music and the Internet n 77 percent of teens own cell phones; 35 percent of adults own a smart phone n 38 percent of cell phone owners use it during TV commercials n 13 percent of cell phone owners say they have used their phone to avoid interacting with people Sources: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project; Kaiser Family Foundation natural awakenings

December

2012

25

Miniature Horses

naturalpet

Critter Companions Alternative Adoptions Fit for Families

by Sandra Murphy

W

hile dogs, cats, fish and birds populate most pet homes, other animals can be just as much fun to own.

Rabbits

“Rabbits are social and love routine.

Be late with dinner and a bunny will show displeasure by stomping its feet,” says Pamela Hood, founder of Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue, a state-licensed shelter in Foster, Rhode Island. Her four rules for happy, active

26

bunnies are: Find a veterinarian that knows rabbits, adopt rather than buy, get a bonded pair and spay/neuter them.

Since 2000, Sweet Binks has rescued more than 1,700 rabbits as recaptured strays or from shelters meant for dogs and cats. Bunnies can live more than 14 years.

“Rabbits eat more than just carrots. Pellets should be timothy hay-based, not alfalfa, for adult rabbits,” explains Hood. “But limit the amount. Hay should be 85 to 90 percent of their diet, because the sideto-side chewing of hay keeps teeth worn down to a livable length and ensures proper digestion.”

Rabbits can be litter box-trained and run free if the home is pet-proofed.

For example, keep electrical cords out of reach or covered with plastic tubing. A lonely, bored bunny can be destructive, so provide wooden and chemical-free wicker toys for chewing.

Play with them daily, although most shy away from cuddling. Bonded pairs need to be in sight of one another.

Indianapolis/Crossroads of America

Miniature horses are not to be confused with Shetland ponies. Minis are fully grown horses, bred for pulling carts, not riding. They require the same care as a larger horse and make good therapy animals. An adult mini is about the same size as a standard-sized horse’s newborn foal—about 34 to 38 inches tall at the withers (between the shoulder blades), although some are smaller.

“Trained minis are good, gentle interpreters of emotion,” says Veronique Matthews, founder of Hearts & Hooves, a nonprofit equine therapy organization in Austin, Texas. “We visit abused or autistic kindergarten-age children with a ratio of one child, one horse, one handler.” Walking on a handheld leash, a mini can help a child to cope with fear and anxiety.

Alpaca

A few years ago, alpacas were regarded as the next moneymakers when breeding and sales brought high prices for fleece, along with their waste, sold as soil-enriching manure.

After the trend peaked, many herds were sold, often to ill-suited owners, and some needed rescuing.

Michelle Zumwalt, a job consultant for people with disabilities in Spanish Lake, Missouri, has hosted rescued alpacas for eight years; the number fluctuates, based on new arrivals and adoptions. “There are enough of them to help supply local organic farms with fertilizer,” says Zumwalt. “These gentle creatures feel safest in numbers; when in danger, they will kick or spit.”

Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs are likeable for their social, nonaggressive character, ease in handling and low maintenance. All crabs are born in the ocean, although some species leave the water as adults.

Pet crabs in the United States are either Caribbean land crabs or the faster and more agile Ecuadorian crabs, which require access to both salt and fresh water.

A 10-gallon fish tank with sand of a consistency suitable for castle building that’s three

www.NACrossroads.com

or four times deeper than the height of the largest crab works well. Crabs can grow to six inches in length and live 10 years or more, although they don’t reproduce in captivity. As colony animals, they’re much happier in a group.

Hermit crabs periodically need to replace the shell they carry on their back. Provide a shell that is 10 to 15 percent larger and watch as the crab tries it on for size. When crabs molt their underside ectoskeleton, they burrow beneath the sand for four to eight weeks; place these crabs in a separate tank.

“Because crabs are scavengers, we feed them chicken, turkey, seaweed, scrambled eggs and fish. They love carrots, bell peppers, kiwi and coconut,” says Christine Richards, a maintenance management analyst and hermit crab caregiver in Montgomery Village, Maryland. “Crabs are nocturnal, so use a small flashlight to watch their antics,” she adds. “They love to climb.”

Chinchillas

Chinchillas, another night creature, can live up to 20 years. A round body, tiny hands and large ears make them easy to love, remarks Christina Pierce, a federal examiner of financial institutions in Little Rock, Arkansas.

“My chin, Gizmo, wants to be where the commotion is and likes to t r a v e l ,” s h e laughs.

A specialty vet is required for chinchillas, with attention given to

their teeth, which grow throughout their life. Give them things to chew on and fresh hay to help file down teeth.

Gizmo’s favorite chews are willow twigs, peanuts in the shell, alfalfa sticks and lava blocks. “A twice-daily dust bath keeps his fur clean,” notes Pierce, “plus, it’s fun to watch.”

It seems that everyone can find a pet that’s perfect for them. It’s just a matter of thinking outside the litter box.

Sandra Murphy is a regular contributor to Natural Awakenings.

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daily Pilates Reformer Classes – Mon–Sat. No Sun classes. Visit website for times. Engage the mind with the body to create exercises that involve whole body movement. $20-$35. Inner You Pilates, 14950 Greyhound Ct, Indpls. 317-571-8367.

InnerYouPilates.com.

Yoga Classes – Mon-Sun. Visit website for times. Classes range from Hot Vinyasa to Yin to Slow Flow. Flourish Yoga + Wellbeing, 10138 Brooks School Rd, Fishers. 317-841-0103.

Amy@flourishyoga.biz. FlourishYoga.Biz. Yoga Classes – Yoga classes all levels, plus private & workplace sessions. Inner Peace Yoga Center, 5038 E. 56th St., Indpls. 317-257-9642. IPYC.org.

monday Yin Yoga – 8:30-9:30am. Yin Yoga postures are beneficial to all, they allow you to go deeper into connective tissues. This class is appropriate for all levels of yoga practitioners. CitYoga, 2442 N. Central Ave., Indy. 317-920-9642. CitYoga.biz.

Coming in January

ongoingevents Listings by Day. NOTE: Dates and times shown are subject to change.

Please confirm event prior to attendance. Go to NACrossroads.com to submit calendar listings. Submission deadline for Calendar: the 15th of the month.

Meditation for Peace, Hope & Spiritual Evolution – 6 pm. This 20 min. oasis of guided meditation helps you get centered and start your week off in a positive way. Unity Church of Indianapolis, 907 N. Delaware. 317-635-4066. UnityofIndy.com.

Weight loss – 6:30-7:30pm. No diets or struggles.

Free chat and ebook available online. 317-4454203. MakingWeightLossEasy.com. $297. Inner Peace Yoga Center, 5038 E. 56th St., Indpls.

317-257-9642. IPYC.org.

The Power of Myth in Our Lives – 6:30-8:30pm.

Through 8/20. With Rev. Don Treadwell. An examination of myths and their influence in our lies based on the PBS series. Love Offering. Unity Church of Indianapolis, 907 N. Delaware. 317635-4066. UnityofIndy.com.

Ananda Mandala with Oneness Blessing – 6:308pm. Experience powerful breathwork through the chakras that elevates your spirit and awakens your soul. Receive the Oneness Blessing afterwards for a truly blissful state of higher consciousness. $10. Mother Nature’s Sun, 6516 Ferguson St., Indpls. 317-253-5683. MotherNatureSun.com, Wendy@MotherNatureSun.com.

Kundalini Yoga – 7pm. All levels. A unique blend of posture, breathwork, meditation and chanting.

Currently working through the chakras. Modifications available for any fitness level. $10. Pinecone Center, 841 W. 53rd Street, Indpls. 317-679-3717.

Haridattikaur.com.

Start the Year Well

Discover new paths to Health & Wellness – from nutrition and exercise to your daily lifestyle.

Good health is habit forming.

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

Simply Meditate – 7-8pm. Meditation Classes for Beginners. Learn meditation to relax the body and mind, achieve inner peace and mental clarity and develop a kind and patient attitude toward everybody. $10/$5 Students. Dromtonpa Kadampa Buddhist Center, 6018 N. Keystone Ave, Indpls.

317-374-5281 or Meditation-Indianapolis.org.

tuesday Hot Vinyasa Yoga – 6 and 8:45am. This class incorporates a series of postures in an exceptionally warm studio environment for an invigorating and rejuvenating practice. CitYoga, 2442 N. Central Ave., Indy. 317-920-9642. CitYoga.biz.

Restorative Yoga – 11:30am. Flourish Yoga + Wellbeing, 10138 Brooks School Rd, Fishers. 317-841-0103. Amy@flourishyoga.biz.

FlourishYoga.Biz. Live Music and Dinner – 5:30-8:30pm. Liven up your week with a tribute to the Crooners and Big Band favorites along with our wine specials!

Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville, 317-733-1700. TradersPointCreamery.com.

Yoga for Healing the Heart – 5:45-7pm. Yoga for those recovering from stress, grief, life crisis.

PeaceThroughYoga.com.

Meditations for Busy People – 7pm. Kathy Ryan will guide you through simple everyday meditations to still your mind, reduce stress, and invoke a peaceful inner state of well-being. This is a drop in class and no previous experience is required. $10. Nature’s Karma, Carmel City Center, 317-843-9999.

Tai Chi – 7:30pm. Energize, refresh, and renew with the subtle and powerful practice of Tai Chi with Pierre Couvillion. All levels welcome to this weekly class. Santosha School.

Santosha-School.com.

wednesday Half Price Glasses of Wine –5-9pm. Try one of our unique, sustainable and organic wines, half price on Wednesdays. Pair with our Artisan Cheese Fondue and other distinctive menu dishes.Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville, 317733-1700. TradersPointCreamery.com.

Sahaja Meditation – 7-8pm. A simple and spontaneous meditation technique, which destresses mind, improves attention and brings inner peace and joy harnessing one’s own inner energy. Free. Old National Bank, 4950 E. County Line Rd., Greenwood. 317-300-4560.

IndianaMeditation.org.

Vinyasa Flow Yoga – 7pm. With Sarah Megel int./adv. Shamrock Wellness, 14535 B Hazel Dell Parkway, Carmel 46033 (Inside the Riverview Health and Fitness Building). 317-703-4431.

ShamrockWellness.com.

thursday Hot Vinyasa Yoga – 6 and 8:45am. This class incorporates a series of postures in an exceptionally warm studio environment for an invigorating and rejuvenating practice. CitYoga, 2442 N. Central Ave., Indy. 317-920-9642. CitYoga.biz.

Half Price Bottles of Wine – 5-9pm. Organic and sustainable bottles of wine are half price. Pair with our Artisan Cheese Fondue and other distinctive menu dishes. The Loft Restaurant, Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville.

TPFOrganics.com.

Meditations For Everyday Life – 7-8:30pm.

Current Series: How to Solve Human Problems. $10. Dromtonpa Kadampa Buddhist Center, 6018 N. Keystone Ave, Indpls. 317-374-5281 or Meditation-Indianapolis.org.

More Than The Mat – 11:30. Explore yoga philosophy and lifestyle, along with complimentary modalities. $10. breath.life.yoga. 317-502-5630, BreathLifeYoga.com.

317-862-6332 28

Indianapolis/Crossroads of America

www.NACrossroads.com

friday Live Music & Organic Dinner – 5-9pm. Start weekend with our toe-tapping musical talent and a healthy organic dinner every Friday night in the rustic, candle-lit Loft Restaurant. Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville. 317-7331700. TradersPointCreamery.com.

saturday Heated Vinyasa – 8:30am and Metabolic Training at 9am. Yoga Monkey, 6160 Hillside Avenue, Indpls. 317-493-1521. YogaMonkeyFitness.com.

Winter Green Market – 9am-12:30pm. Shop our local food growers and crafters in the heated Red Barn every Saturday morning...Rain or Shine!

The Green Market, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville.

TPFOrganics.com.

Introduction to Yoga – 12:30-2pm. Second Saturday of every month. Free. All People Yoga Center, 1724 E. 86 St, Indy. 317-818-1800.

AllPeopleYoga.com.

sunday Hot Vinyasa – 9:45am and Total Body Conditioning – 9:45. Yoga Monkey, 6160 Hillside Avenue, Indpls. 317-493-1521. YogaMonkeyFitness.com.

Dharma For Kids – 11am-12:15pm. Suitable for ages 4-11. Children learn how to develop harmony, confidence and methods to calm the mind.

The topics of both classes will correlate to foster parent/child discussion after class. $5 per child.

Snacks included. Dromtonpa Kadampa Buddhist Center, 6018 N. Keystone Ave, Indpls. 317-3745281. Meditation-Indianapolis.org.

Kundalini Yoga – 11am-12:15pm. All levels. A unique blend of posture, breathwork, meditation and chanting. Modifications available for any fitness level. $7. Cityoga, 2442 N Central Ave, Indpls. 317-430-3875. HariDattiKaur@hotmail.com.

Sahaja Meditation – 12-1pm. A simple and spontaneous meditation technique, which de-stresses mind, improves attention and brings inner peace and joy harnessing one’s own inner energy. Free.

Old National Bank, 6135 N College Ave, Indpls.

317-300-4560. IndianaMeditation.org.

Warming Up to Hot Vinyasa – 2-3:15pm. Class for those new to yoga or anxious about the idea of practicing yoga in a hot room. $17. Flourish Yoga + Wellbeing, 10138 Brooks School Rd, Fishers. 317-841-0103. Amy@flourishyoga.biz.

FlourishYoga.Biz. Jazz Nights – 5-9pm. Jazz up your weekend with live jazz night at The Loft! Pair your “farm to table” dinner with a glass of organic wine and our local musical mavens every Sunday night!

The Loft Restaurant, Traders Point Creamery, 9101 Moore Rd, Zionsville. 317-733-1700.

TradersPointCreamery.com.

calendar ofevents Listings by Date. NOTE: Dates and times shown are subject to change.

Log on to NACrossroads.com for current information.

Winter Solstice Gong Meditation – 7:30-8:45pm.

The Gong releases stress and allows the mind to find a stillpoint. Easy physical exercises & breathwork, then sit or lay down as primordial gong vibrations wash over you. Bring a yoga mat / cushion and stay for a cup of yogi tea! Pre-register

by Dec. 14 $10 / $15 after. CITYOGA, 2442 N. Central Ave., Indpls. 317-920-9642. CitYoga.biz.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1

Travel Journal Workshop – 1-4pm. Bonnie Stahlecker will again be sharing her 30 years of bookbinding experience as she teaches you how to create your very own customized travel journal.

Personalize your handmade soft leather journal with inserts and pockets on pages of recycled paper. Class size is 8. $45. Nature’s Karma, Carmel City Center. Beth.NaturesKarma@Gmail.com.

317-443-0130.

Introduction to Meditation – Sat. 12/1 & Sun. 12/2. Achieve inner peace and a focused mind.

Breeze through the holidays stress free. $105.

Inner Peace Yoga Center, 5038 E 56th St., Indpls.

317-257-9642. IPYC.org.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4

Holiday Cooking Made Simple & Delicious – 5:30-7:30pm. Holiday favorites are here, without the fat, fuss or frustrations. $35. Reinventing Wellness, 8725 Gordonshire Dr, Indpls.

ReinventingWellness.com.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23

All Music Christmas Service – 10am. The Voices of Unity Choir and many outstanding musicians will contribute to this uplifting and inspirational service. Unity of Indianapolis, 907 N. Delaware St., Indy. UnityofIndy.com.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 24

Christmas Candle Lighting Service – 6:30pm.

This special service will include music, meditation, a readers theatre piece and a candle lighting ceremony as we celebrate the divine light within each of us. Bring your family and friends.

Unity of Indianapolis, 9th & Delaware, Indpls.

UnityofIndy.com.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6

Holiday Nourishment – Indy Holistic Hub presents this complimentary information-inspired call and Facebook event. Learn tips that fuel you through the holiday season. Holiday eating without the weight gain and full of cheer! Details listed in our Events tab at Facebook.com/ IndyHolisticHub.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8

Vision Board Workshop – 10:30am-1pm. Explore thought and belief patterns; Participate in a guided meditation; Practice gentle asana; Create personal vision boards to break through any limiting beliefs. Cityoga School of Yoga and Health, 2442 N Central Ave, Indpls. Cityoga.biz.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9

Reiki Healing Circle – 10am. Circle of love and healing to release illness or unhealthy emotional attachments, come and be blessed as our trained practitioners provide their gift of Reiki at no charge. Unity of Indianapolis, 9th & Delaware.

UnityofIndy.com.

Holiday Party and Silent Auction – 4pm. Gather your yoga buddies and join us for a holiday celebration with a delicious vegetarian pitch-in, singing of carols, and a Silent Auction. Bring a dish to share. Inner Peace Yoga Center, 5038 E. 56th St., Indpls. RSVP by 12/7 at 317-257-9642.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21

Solstice 2012 Weekend – Friday through Sunday. A Gift for the Beginning. A Celebration of the Light Within all Creation.

Overnight accommodations available by RSVP. Meals included. Donation. Rainbow Farm/ Oakwood Retreat Center. 765-747-7027.

OakwoodRetreatCenter@webstop.com.

natural awakenings

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30

Burning Bowl Ceremony – Release unhealthy emotional attachments through a symbolic ceremony utilizing a bowl of fire. If there is anything you want to release or anyone you need to forgive, come and be prepared to let go of the past so that you can move freely and joyously into the future.

Unity of Indianapolis, 9th & Delaware St., Indy.

UnityofIndy.com.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31

Gong in the New Year – 7-8:15pm. Engage in a lovely meditation prior to late dinner, or parties. Easy physical exercises & breathwork, then sit or lay down as primordial gong vibrations wash over you. “The sound of the gong creates deep relaxation, releases you from the torrent of thoughts and stimulates the glandular system to a higher level of functioning.” Bring a yoga mat or cushion and stay for a cup of yogi tea! Pre-register

by Dec. 14 $10 / $15 after. Cityoga, 2442 N. Central Ave., Indpls., 317-920-9642. CitYoga.biz.

December

2012

29

classifieds naturaldirectory Place your classified for only $1.00 per word, per month (10 word minimum). To place l i st i n g , e m a i l co n te n t to : Classified@NACrossroads.com.

Business Opportunities CURRENTLY PUBLISHING NATURAL AWAKENINGS MAGAZINES – For sale in Mobile/Baldwin, AL; North Central FL; Indianapolis, IN; Asheville, NC; Northeastern, PA; Columbia, SC; San Antonio, TX; southwestern, VA. Call for details 239-530-1377.

HELP WANTED HIRING FT/PT at Avon, West Carmel, Zionsville, Fishers, Southport, and Plainfield locations – At Massage Envy, massage therapists and estheticians are employees, not independent contractors. An employment opportunity with us means you can focus on your clients’ well-being. Just simply give our clients a wonderful experience and leave the rest to us. We offer consistent clientele, steady income, and a professional environment where all the equipment is supplied, including linens and lotions. MassageEnvyCareers.com.

INTUITIVE GUIDANCE Intuitive connections for your highest good. Spiritual guidance, energy, balance, animal communication and more.

Kristen 239-290-7036. Helpfulintuition.com.

Natural Networking at its best! Connecting you to the leaders of natural healthy living in our community. To find out how you can be included in this directory each month, call 317-862-6332 or visit: NACrossroads.com.

INDY ACUPUNCTURE & IDCA 6155 N. College Ave. & 111 E. 16th St., Indpls.

317-255-3030/317-423-9999 IndyAcu.com

Affordable holistic services to treat a wide array of health concerns. Community and private sessions.

Acupuncture, herbal medicine, naturopathy, nutrition, psychokinesiology, individual and family therapy. See ad on page 7.

antioxidant XOÇAI HEALTHY CHOCOLATE Joyce Kleinman - ID# 10753 855-835-1523 TheHealthyChocolateTeam.com

Meet up

THE PLAYFUL SOUL

6516 N. Ferguson St., Indpls.

317-253-0499 ThePlayfulSoul.com

A whimsical boutique for your spirit filled with books, candles, hand selected crystals, essential oils, jewelry, clothing, music, prayer flags, meditation aids and ever-changing surprises.

essential oils YOUNG LIVING ESSENTIAL OILS Marilyn York, Independent Distributor 317-536-0011, ext. 2 MarilynYork.VibrantScents.com

Over 130 Therapeutic-grade essential oils, and essential-oil enhanced nutritional supplements & products.

Visit my website for details. Income opportunities option is also available.

A delicious, diabetic-friendly, unprocessed Belgian chocolate with more antioxidants in one 33-calorie piece than 1/2 pound of raw spinach.

No preservatives or caffeine. See ad on page 21.

HYPNOSIS Indiana Hypnosis For Change – Assists you in making life changes that last. Smoking cessation, weight management, pain control, or moving away from unwanted behaviors, are just a few of the ways hypnosis can help! Further information at IndianaHypnosisForChange.com, 317-331-9555.

boutique

acupuncture

art education ART WITH A HEART

6002 Sunnyside Rd., Indpls.

317-823-9555 ArtWithAHeart.us

We use visual art to educate and inspire underserved youth in Indianapolis. Our programs help students develop creativity and explore the opportunities for art as a means to a secure, stable future. See ad on page 22.

Indy Holistic Hub – Indy Holistic Hub

promotes self-care, education, and helpful resources. All this comes with an inspiring message of optimism for a glowing today, and tomorrow. Engage with us at Facebook. com/IndyHolisticHub! *Check out our Dec. 6th calendar event*

YOUNG LIVING ESSENTIAL OILS

Nancy Arden, Independent Distributor 317-695-3594 NancyArden.VibrantScents.com

Understand why the Wise Men brought Frankincense to the Christchild and why essential oils are mentioned 200 times in the Bible.

Call for free CD.

farmers’ markets/ natural/organic THE GREEN MARKET

DON’T MISS OUT! Deadline for advertising in the Natural Living Directory is December 7th!

30

body therapies EDEN’S PATHWAY

9101 Moore Rd., Zionsville 317-733-1700 TradersPointCreamery.com

5496 Emerson Way, Indpls.

317-205-9377 EdensPathway.com

Achieve balance and healing in a total holistic approach through massage, skin therapies, nail therapy and body wraps. Herbal Wellness and Body Therapies. See ad on page 10.

Indianapolis/Crossroads of America

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

www.NACrossroads.com

Indiana’s yearround market, bringing you sustainably produced local goods. Summer hours, Saturdays from 9am12:30pm. See ad on page 21.

organic salon

spiritual counseling

“SILVER” THE ORGANIC SALON RETREAT Honoring the Second Half of Life 317-362-0288 SilverOrganicSalon.com

farms - organic

LAURA RAIN

Indianapolis- Broad Ripple 317-258-9844 MedialWoman.com

Got Issues? Join others who are Experiencing Quick, Exciting & Transformational Results of Deep Healing Work. Understand. Go to the Root. Release. Heal. Be Free!

Are you wearing your Silver hair proudly or thinking of transitioning?

Be power, bold, strong, beautiful.

Organic color, perms, custom cuts, hair restoration and more.

TRADERS POINT CREAMERY, THE LOFT RESTAURANT & DAIRY BAR

thermography

9101 Moore Rd., Zionsville 317-733-1700 TradersPointCreamery.com

INDY THERMOGRAPHY

450 E. 96th St., Ste. 500, Indpls 317-370-5111 IndyTherm.com

This artisan dairy farm is a serene break from the city hustle. Serving Brunch, Lunch & Dinner for the ultimate organic farm to table experience! See ad on page 27.

health foods GOOD EARTH NATURAL FOOD COMPANY 6350 Guilford Ave., Indpls.

317-253-3709 Good-Earth.com

Offering a distinctive and broad selection of natural and organic foods, supplements, beauty products, and apparel. Family owned and operated since 1971. See ad on page 18.

integrative health

Feeling miserable with allergy symptoms such asCLINIC itchy eyes, sneezing and congestion?

NRI Tired side effectsSt., fromSte. medications?

9135 N.ofMeridian B9, Indpls.

317-575-1111 Dr. Melanie MacLaren, a board certified naturopath, works with DragonFly360.net natural remedies to ease your symptoms while treating the root cause.

State-of-the Art thermal imaging scans are non-invasive, radiation free, affordable, no prescription required, and painless. Get results fast for any area of the body. See ad on page 13.

yoga

Retreats

breath.life.yoga

Oakwood Retreat Center at Rainbow Farm

8202 Clearvista Pkwy., Ste. 8C, Indpls 317-502-5630 BreathLifeYoga.com

3801 SCR 575E Selma, IN 47383 765-747-7027 OakwoodRetreatCenter.org

Oakwood offers groups seeking sacred space in a natural setting the opportunity to embrace and intensify their transformational work. Cozy accommodations, healthy food, supportive staff.

pet store PET SUPPLIES PLUS

Avon - Rockville Rd. Broad Ripple - 62nd St. & Keystone Greenwood - County Line & Emerson Noblesville - S.R. 37 North of 32 PSPIndy.com

Personalized holistic Do you struggle with: and preventive care through Chronic Fatigue • Weight Loss osteopathic• manipulations, prolotherapy, nutrition, yoga • Indigestion/IBS • Seasonal Allergies • Sleep Issuesin • Stress and Anxiety and natural remedies resulting Greatest selection of products that improve your weight improved energy, horScheduleloss, your appointment today and be on your way to relief and healing. pet’s well-being. See ad on page 27.

210 E. 91st Street, B | Indianapolis, monal balance, and Suite optimal diges-IN 46240 317-344-9840 | www.dragonfly360.net tion. See ad on page 24.

LIFE COACH SEFFRIN SYNERGY

Open your mind. Energize your life.

SeffrinSynergy.com 317-775-1418

Jennifer Seffrin, Certified Life Coach and Energy Leadership Practitioner. Offering 1-on-1 coaching, energetic profiles, and more for a fulfilling life! 15% off signature class with ad.

skincare FRANGIPANI BODY PRODUCTS

FrangipaniBodyProducts.com

Peaceful, Natural Skin Care. No chemicals, no synthetics, just plant-based ingredients. Products include Face Cleansers, Serums, Moisturizers, Body Oils, Hand and Nail Creams, and Healthy Balms. See ad on page 27.

natural awakenings

Enjoy smaller classes with personalized instruction. Exercise your body then join us for meditation, offered several times each week. Early morning and lunch classes available.

CITYOGA School of Yoga and Health 2442 North Central Ave, Indpls 317-920-YOGA (9642).

CitYoga.biz

Striving to improve total well-being and quality of life, utilizing twenty diverse and talented teachers. Plus, over fifty classes weekly to accommodate almost any schedule.

CITYOGA S C H O O L

O F

Y O G A

A N D

H E A L T H

FLOURISH YOGA

10138 Brooks School Rd., Fishers 317-841-0103 FlourishYoga.biz

Offering yoga classes as well as private instruction, massage, and counseling services. Our mission is to guide and nurture you to manifest infinite possibilities.

SOURCE YOGA

8609 E. 116th St., Fishers 317-915-9642 SourceYoga.net

Your source for Anusara© Vinyasa, Restorative and Prenatal yoga. Well-trained teachers guide you skillfully towards personal wellness on all levels. Private lessons available.

December

2012

31

ANNUAL

Natural Living Directory January 2013

Natural Awakenings - Indianapolis The Complete Natural Living Directory our readers will reference all year.

ART W

art education

6002 ITH A HE 317-82 Sunnyside R ART d., Ind ArtWit 3-9555 pls. hAHea rt.us

We use v inspire isual art to e du u Indian nderserved y cate and apolis. outh in Our pr studen og ts explor develop crea rams help e the o pportu tivity and a mean nitie s See ad to a secure, s s for art as table fu on pag e 15. ture.

* Sample Listing

RESERVE YOUR LISTING NOW DEADLINE DECEMBER 7th

Call Jennifer Today to place your Ad at 317-775-1418 Be seen all year in the Natural Living Directory!

32

Indianapolis/Crossroads of America

Visit NACrossroads.com and click on the ad to download media kit. www.NACrossroads.com