Natural Awakenings NYC April 2018

EE R F

HEALTHY

LIVING

HEALTHY

PLANET

Indigenous Honoring Climate WISDOM Earth Day CHANGE

Elders Urge Us to Reimagine Life

Local Events Why We Need a & Celebrations Healthy Planet

April 2018 | New York City Edition | na-newyorkcity.com

April 2018

1

As a Natural Awakenings publisher, you can empower yourself and others to create a healthier world while working from your home earning an income doing something you LOVE! No publishing experience is necessary. You’ll work for yourself but not by yourself.

We offer a complete training and support system that allows you to successfully publish your own magazine.

• Low Initial Investment • Proven Business System • Home-Based Business • Exceptional Franchise Support & Training • Publish One of the Nation’s Leading Healthy Living Magazines!

Contact us about acquiring an existing publication FOR SALE highlighted in RED* Natural Awakenings publishes in over 80 markets across the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic (listed below).

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Gulf Coast AL/MS* Phoenix, AZ Tucson, AZ San Diego, CA Denver, CO Fairfield County/ HousatonicValley, CT Hartford, CT New Haven/Middlesex, CT Washington, DC Daytona/Volusia/Flagler, FL NW FL Emerald Coast Ft. Lauderdale, FL Jacksonville/St. Augustine, FL Miami & the Florida Keys Naples/Ft. Myers, FL North Central FL* Central Florida/Greater Orlando Palm Beach, FL Sarasota, FL Space & Treasure Coast, FL Tampa/St. Pete., FL Atlanta, GA Hawaiian Islands Southern, ID Chicago, IL Chicago Western Suburbs, IL Indianapolis, IN Acadiana, LA New Orleans, LA Boston, MA Ann Arbor, MI East Michigan Wayne County, MI Western MI Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Charlotte, NC Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC* Southeast, NC Bergen/Passaic, NJ*

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Central, NJ Hudson County, NJ Monmouth/Ocean, NJ North Central NJ South NJ Santa Fe/Albuquerque, NM* Las Vegas, NV Albany, NY Long Island, NY Hudson Valley W., NY Manhattan, NY* Westchester/Putnam/ Dutchess Co’s., NY Central OH Oklahoma City, OK Portland, OR Bucks/Montgomery Counties, PA Chester/Delaware Counties, PA South Central PA Lancaster/Berks, PA Lehigh Valley, PA Northeast, PA Philadelphia, PA Rhode Island Charleston, SC Columbia, SC Greenville, SC* Chattanooga, TN Austin, TX* Dallas, TX Houston, TX San Antonio, TX* South Houston/Galveston, TX Richmond, VA Inland Northwest, WA Seattle, WA* Madison, WI* Milwaukee, WI Dominican Republic Puerto Rico

* Existing magazines for sale

For more information: NaturalAwakenings.com/MyMagazine or call 239-530-1377

Natural Awakenings Magazine is ranked 5th Nationally in CISION’S® 2016 Top 10 Health & Fitness Magazines

2

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

• • • • • • • • • •

Or start a magazine in an OPEN TERRITORY Los Angeles, CA Sacramento, CA San Francisco, CA Santa Barbara/Ventura, CA Santa Clara Co., CA Louisville, KY Southern, MA Kansas City, MO Saint Louis, MO Bronx, NY

* Inquire about other open areas

• • • • • • • • • •

Brooklyn/Staten Island, NY Upstate, NY Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Tulsa, OK Pittsburgh, PA Nashville, TN Ft. Worth, TX Plano, TX Salt Lake City, UT

THE TOXIN DESTROYER Intravenous Ozone Therapy

All Toxins, Virus, Bacteria, Fungus, Yeast and Parasites are Destroyed by Ozone Therapy, Safely!

Dr. Howard Robins has been helping people using Ozone Therapy for over 27 years and is considered by many to be foremost clinical expert in North America on Bio-oxidative Therapies for the SAFE treatment of diseases and illness with over 265,000 treatments performed.

DIV Ozone Therapy has successfully treated Herpes I and II, HIV, all forms of Hepatitis, Diabetic ulcers/neuropathy, Allergies, Chronic Fatigue, Candidiasis, MS, RA, Lyme Disease, Arthritis, Shingles,

Dr. Howard Robins

Acne, Psoriasis, HPV and now RSD/CRPS just to name a few diseases and conditions.

Please call and speak to Dr. Robins to find out more about this amazing treatment and/or go to www.ozonedoctor.net.

When all else has failed DIV Ozone Therapy may be your only hope and the answer!

The Healing Center

$50 off Initial Consultation with this Ad

The world leader in Bio-oxidative Therapies 200 W. 57th St. • New York, NY 10019 (corner 7th Ave by Carnegie Hall)

212-581-0101 DrHowardRobins@gmail.com April 2018

3

HEALTHY LIVING HEALTHY PLANET

NEW YORK CITY EDITION PUBLISHER Tina Woods EDITORS Alison Chabonais Linda Sechrist MARKETING DIRECTOR Roger Dubin DESIGN & PRODUCTION Julee Bode

CALENDAR EDITOR Janet Merryman

CONTACT US P.O. Box 482 Radio City Station New York, NY 10101 www.na-newyorkcity.com publisher@na-newyorkcity.com 212-726-1420

letter from publisher

E

arth Day is here! For most of us conscious New Yorkers, it goes much more beyond a day, but yet something you can honor all year by making a commitment to keeping our world healthy and whole.

On a local front, you can connect with others at Earth Day events in NY from April 15-21 as featured on page 25. If your passion runs deeper and you want to have a stronger voice and empower and inspire others to live in alignment with our planet and the universe, have we got an amazing opportunity for you! We are currently seeking a new publisher for Natural Awakenings of NYC! This once in a lifetime opportunity will positively alter your daily actions and interactions. To find out more, call us below! We look forward to finding the perfect individual who is seeking a passion project in the greatest city in the world!

Feel Good, Live Simply, Laugh More,

Natural Awakenings NYC

Manhattan Publisher Wanted

naturalnyc

NATIONAL TEAM CEO/FOUNDER Sharon Bruckman

NATIONAL EDITOR Alison Chabonais

MANAGING EDITOR Linda Sechrist NATIONAL ART DIRECTOR Stephen Blancett SR. ART/MKTG. DIRECTOR Steve Hagewood FINANCIAL MANAGER Mary Bruhn FRANCHISE DIRECTOR Anna Romano FRANCHISE SUPPORT MGR. Heather Gibbs WEBSITE COORDINATOR Rachael Oppy NATIONAL ADVERTISING Kara Scofield Natural Awakenings Publishing Corporation 4933 Tamiami Trail N., Ste. 203 Naples, FL 34103 Ph: 239-434-9392 • Fax: 239-434-9513 NaturalAwakeningsMag.com

© 2018 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. Please call to find a location near you or if you would like copies placed at your business.

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

Check with a healthcare professional regarding the appropriate use of any treatment.

Natural Awakenings Magazine is ranked 5th Nationally in CISION’S® 2016 Top 10 Health & Fitness Magazines

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

4

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

Amazing Business Opportunity Already Established • Be Your Own Boss Low Investment • High Personal Reward Call 212-726-1420

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.

Contents 16 HEALTHY CLIMATE, HEALTHY PEOPLE

19

Why a Warming Planet is Harming Our Health

19 PAUL HAWKEN Shares a Plan to Reverse Global Warming

20 CHANGING OUR DIET TO COOL THE CLIMATE Good Food Choices Enable Global Health

22

22 TOUCHING THE EARTH The Healing Powers of Going Barefoot

16

25 PLASTICS WARS Celebrate Earth Day Locally and Globally

26 GARDENING ASANAS

ADVERTISING & SUBMISSIONS

Yoga Poses to Stay Pain-Free

HOW TO ADVERTISE To advertise with Natural Awakenings or request a media kit, please go online at www.na-newyorkcity.com or email roger@na-newyorkcity.com.

Deadline for ads: the 15th of the month.

CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS Email Calendar Events to: publisher@na-newyorkcity.com.

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 multiple markets contact Roger at roger@na-newyorkcity.com or 917-699-6492.

For franchising opportunities call 239-530-1377 or visit NaturalAwakenings.com.

DISTRIBUTION To have our magazine placed at your residence or place of business free of cost, please contact publisher@na-newyorkcity.com.

28 HEALTHY HOUSE Easy Ways to Green It Up

DEPARTMENTS 6 news briefs 9 eco tip 10 health briefs 12 global briefs 19 wise words 20 conscious

eating 22 healing ways 22 inspiration

12 25 earth day

events 26 fit body 28 green living 29 calendar 30 resource guide April 2018

5

news briefs

Interfaith Minister Training in NYC and On Live Stream

T

hose who feel called to interfaith ministry can receive comprehensive training, culminating in ordination, at All Faiths Seminary International (AFSI).

Founded in 1999 by Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, AFSI offers inter-spiritual courses through which students explore various faith traditions and undertake extensive practical experiences, including wedding and funeral service ceremonies, baby blessings, spiritual counseling, visiting sacred spaces, worship services, interviewing spiritual leaders of all faiths and religions, and writing a thesis and reflective papers on their experiences. Significant features of AFSI are the availability of professionally skilled mentors/advisors who are interfaith ministers, as well as faculty who are nationally or internationally noted in their respective arenas.

Courses for each academic level are offered onsite in New York City or by correspondence classes through live-streaming. AFSI’s master’s and doctoral programs are accredited. Current ministerial program include a one-year Comparative Religion program or a Comparative Religions Program with a concentration in A Course in Miracles Studies; a two-year Comparative with a concentration in Judaic Studies; and one-year Master of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity programs.

For more information, including application and pricing, visit AllFaithsSeminary.org or contact AFSI at 212-866-3795 or InfoAllFaithsSeminary.org@gmail.com.

Documentary Producers to Attend World Qigong Taichi Day

D

irector Bary Strugatz and cinematographer Ken Van Sickle will attend the World Qigong Taichi Day celebration on April 28, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Eastover Estate and Eco-Village, in Lenox, Massachusetts. Renowned in the film industry, Straugatz and Van Sickle have coproduced a documentary, The Professor: Tai Chi’s Journey West, which will be screened at the event.

Both men studied under Cheng ManChing, who brought tai chi and Chinese culture to the West in the 1960s. Their film tells his story and features tai chi as a martial art and spiritual practice.

World Qigong Taichi Day will feature free presentations and lunch, demonstrations and mini-classes offered by nationally recognized leaders like Junfeng Li of tai chi, qigong, Chinese medicine and Eastern philosophy. Healthy food vendors and natural health providers will also be on hand.

“Anyone interested in learning about qigong and tai chi can bring their friends and family and dive into the wisdom of ancient Eastern healing traditions,” says Eastover founder Yingxing Wang. “With our knowledgeable teachers, they can discuss and experience practical, modern applications of these healing practices.”

Admission to World Qigong Taichi Day is free, but anyone planning to attend should register at Eastover.com. Eastover is also hosting two spring workshops, The healing forces of Harmonic Sounds and Vibrations using Qigong practice with Jay Emmanuel, from June 7 to 10.

Eastover’s Medical Qigong and Eastern Medicine Symposium will take place May 1318. Participants of all experience levels can join leaders in Eastern philosophy and practice and explore Eastern ancient healing traditions.

A pre-symposium weekend of events will include Sheng Zhen Meditation and Healing with Junfeng Li, Liz Ely and Arlin Hodinh, and Ba Gua Zhang with Rick Barrett and Fukui Yang.

For information and registration, visit www.eastover.com/upcoming-retreats.html.

6

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

We are proud to be the only Meal Replacement brand that offers savory flavors in addition to cold blends!

Levana™ Meal Replacement is an all natural curated blend of dehydrated and ground pure whole foods that form a complete meal, for people with special dietary needs and for people with limited time to prepare their meals from scratch.

Both sweet and savory flavors can be mixed with liquid, or added to your favorite recipes.

See the story behind Levana™ Meal Replacement.

Getting Stronger Everyday!

www.LevanaMealReplacement.com Special discount throughout February, use

Awaken Wellness Fair Comes to Tarrytown April 22

T

he Awaken Wellness Fair, which is in its 16th year and will return to Tarrytown in April, has long been billed as “Westchester’s best-loved body-mind-spirit-green expo.” While there’s plenty to be learned at this event, says Awaken Fairs founder Paula Caracappa, “the vibe is social as well educational, with lots of friendly interaction.”

Since 2002, this wellness-focused, experiential event has attracted more than 100 exhibitors to locations throughout the tri-state area. “Attendance has grown from 42 people at the first Awaken Fair to hundreds of people in recent years, but the goal remains constant: introducing people to the variety of wellness services and products available in our area today,” Caracappa says.

This spring’s fair in Tarrytown takes place April 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Grand Ballroom of the DoubleTree Hotel at 455 South Broadway. Three rooms will be dedicated to expert speakers; visitors can attend those presentations all day at no extra cost. There will also be vendors offering unique items for sale, and healers and readers offering sessions on site. Discounted reader/healer appointments can be made online at AwakenFair. com until April 21.

For more info, including exhibitor lists and information for interested vendors/businesses, visit AwakenFair.com. For questions, email AwakenUSA@aol.com.

Loads of great recipes on our web site !

code 30Levana

Spirituality and Success in the World: The Wisdom of Sufism

J

oin Musa Muhaiyaddeen as he guides us towards achieving our goals. This free six part series covers: Accountability, Integrity, Intention, Qualities, Surrender and Conscience.

“The steps taking us to success and wisdom are steps of appropriate inner thought and appropriate outer action, without this combination we cannot move forward.”

Musa takes us on an inner journey inspirMusa ing us to reflect and examine ourselves to find Muhaiyaddeen our inner strength and spirituality. The next meeting will be Sunday, April 8th at 2:30 pm.

The regular schedule begins again Saturday, May 19 at 4:30 pm.

These spontaneous talks are held the 3rd Saturday of every month at New York New Church, 114 East 35th Street, 4:30-5:30 pm, followed by Zikr, a prayer recitation in Arabic for those who would like to join in.

Hundreds of Musa’s talks are available to listen to for free at: TheWitnessWithin.com. His books are available on Amazon.

Please register with Sufi Study Center on Meetup.com.

If you would like to contact Musa you can email him at: musa@thewitnesswithin.com.

April 2018

7

Alkaline Lifestyle Should Replace Fluoride for Oral Health

R

esearchers have linked fluoride in pregnant women’s urine to lower measures of their children’s intelligence. A study published last September in Environmental Health Perspectives concluded that “higher levels of maternal urinary fluoride during pregnancy ... were associated with lower scores on tests of cognitive function in the offspring at 4 and 6 to 12 years old.”

Paul Connett, PhD, executive director of the New York-based Fluoride Action Network, says fluoridating municipal water violates people’s right to informed consent to medication. “It started at a time when asbestos lined our pipes, lead was added to gasoline, PCB filled our transformers and DDT was deemed ‘safe and effective,’” he writes.

Dr. Lewis Gross, owner of Tribeca Center for Holistic Dentistry, says that while fluoride has lowered rates of dental decay in children, it doesn’t benefit adults, and it accumulates in the bones and the pineal gland. Toothpaste, meanwhile, contains potentially harmful preservatives and foaming agents. “It would be cheaper and safer to give every child a fluoride rinse and let them spit,” he says.

To prevent tooth decay and bad breath, Gross recommends eating lots of fruits and vegetables and no processed food, drinking alkaline water, and using an alkaline rinse like Alka-White immediately after consuming acidic foods.

Tribeca Center for Holistic Dentistry offers complimentary pH testing, samples of Alka-white and nutritional counseling. For more information, visit Holistic-Dentists.com.

After #MeToo: A Weekend of Inspiration and Empowerment

B

efore knowing the call to action women would feel from the #MeToo movement, two entrepreneurial women created Rise Gatherings Weekend. Recent events have made their weekend getaway more relevant than ever. More than 200 women Women rising together at a are expected to gather at Trail’s End past Rise Gatherings event Camp in the Poconos from May 18 to 20. The goal is to “raise women’s voices and spirits” through a transformational weekend getaway, says co-founder Tami Astorino.

“The mission of Rise Gatherings Weekend is women rising together, so we model that another woman’s success is our success,” she says. “There is no time to waste on competition or judgment. When we help someone else rise, we rise too.”

Astorino is the mother of two teens, and co-founder Rachel Rubin is the mother of a toddler. Through Rise Gatherings Weekend, the two women are combining their experiences creating transformational retreats to provide a safe, supportive space for women of all ages and life stages to enjoy personal growth and connection.

“Away from their myriad roles as caregivers, partners, bosses and employees, attendees will let go of the ‘shoulds’ and ‘musts’ that fill their days and shed the layers of protection required to get through those days,” Astorino says. More than 20 female facilitators will lead workouts and workshops, building intimacy and community so participants can empower each other and work to create a different reality for their daughters.

“Women in Hollywood are banning together to overcome pervasive obstacles facing women,” Astorino says. “We need to form female community in our own hometowns to rise together and build each other up. Women are seeking experiences where they can come together to raise their voices and spirits. Rise Gatherings provide a beautiful getaway space as fertile ground for women to learn and grow.”

To learn more or to register, visit RiseGatherings.com, or contact Astorino at Info@RiseGatherings.com.

Access Your Own Super Powers Are you ready?

spreading light:

To have new experiences?

To transform stagnant situations?

To reinvigorate a project or dream?

to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Then this is your program!

Elly Molina, the creator of the MindPower Consulting Program will help you utilize the technology of your mind to shut down negative thoughts and beliefs, enabling you to access your own powerful intuitive abilities while harnessing and expressing your innate talents in daily life.

www.ellymolina.com

8

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

There are two ways of

~Edith Wharton

Elly Molina, International Mindpower Consultant returns to New York City after several years of living in the Pacific Northwest.

Jacob_09/Shutterstock.com

eco tip

We Need Trees

Arbor Day More Vital Now than Ever

The 147th annual Arbor Day on April 27 encourages tree planting worldwide to replenish lost tree cover including trees wiped out in the recent fires in California and hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) is committed to providing 5 million trees in these areas alone. More than 3,400 U.S. communities will participate as an ADF Tree City. Visit Tinyurl.com/USATreeCityDirectory for a current list and criteria for new communities to apply.

The ADF Alliance for Community

Trees (ACTrees.org) supports treegrowing programs for 200 nonprofit member groups nationwide via funding, information sharing and forging helpful connections. Trees are much more than aesthetics, says Program Manager Dana Karcher, who most recently welcomed Community Greening, in Delray Beach, Florida, and Outdoor Circle, in Hawaii, into the fold.

“Trees clean the air, are a habitat for animals, retain storm water and more.”

An affiliated nonprofit program online at NeighborWoodsMonth.org encourages tree planting each October.

Billings, Montana, earned the latest Arbor Day Celebration Award after 12 elementary schools there

CBD Improves Your Health. Naturally.

engaged in environmental education stations and 180 volunteers planted and pruned trees. Other recent biannual award winners included California’s ReLeaf program and the Atlanta Beltline Arboretum.

The need was great even before the world’s forests lost 73.4 million acres of tree cover in 2016, a 51 percent increase over 2015, due to poor forest management, climate changedriven drought and fires, says Global Forest Watch.

Hopeful global signs: The largest-ever tropical reforestation project in the Brazilian Amazon aims to plant 73 million trees in the next six years on 70,000 acres. A New Zealand participation goal for the Billion Trees Planting Programme targets planting 100 million trees annually for a decade.

In July 2017, volunteers in Madhya Pradesh, India, planted 66,750,000 tree saplings in 12 hours, exceeding the previous record by Uttar Pradesh of 50 million in 24 hours, as part of India’s reforestation pledge of 2 billion new trees by 2030.

A $10 annual ADF membership fee includes 10, six-inch-tall seedlings to plant or to donate to a national forest.

Karcher’s paramount planting tip: “Dig the hole twice as wide and the same depth of the root ball. If it’s too deep, it’ll suffocate. Give roots space to grow.”

Visit us in NYC at the CWCB Expo

BOOTH #247 May 30 – June 2

Discover the DaCrema Difference • Hemp-derived topicals, sublingual drops, and more.

• CO2 Extracted. Contaminant free. Solvent free. Lab certified.

• DaCrema out-performs other brands.

DaCremaBotanicals.com April 2018

9

health briefs

Whole Grains Help Us Eat Less DeryaDraws /Shutterstock.com

When overweight adults exchange refined grain products such as white bread and pasta for whole-grain equivalents, they tend to feel full sooner, eat less, lose weight and experience a reduction in inflammation, the journal Gut reports. Researchers from Denmark’s National Food Institute and the University of Copenhagen studying 50 adults at risk for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease found that test volunteers realized these benefits by eating whole grains, and rye in particular.

Ingesting a combination of five herbs while making healthy lifestyle changes significantly reduced symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome in a recent Australian study of 122 women published in Phytotherapy Research.

The herbs were Cinnamomum verum (cinnamon), Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice), Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s wort), Paeonia lactiflora (peony) and Tribulus terrestris (tribulus).

Menstrual cycles returned to normal duration for 55 percent of the women, and significant improvements occurred in body mass index, pregnancy rates, hormones, insulin sensitivity and blood pressure. Subjects also exhibited less depression, anxiety and stress.

High-Fat Diet Risks Multiple Sclerosis Relapse A high-fat diet increases the risk of relapse of multiple sclerosis in children by as much as 56 percent, reports The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.

A multi-university study of 219 children also found that each 10 percent increase in saturated fat as a share of total calories tripled the risk of relapse. Inversely, each additional cup of vegetables per week cut the risk of the disease by 50 percent.

ZenFruitGraphics/Shutterstock.com

Herbs Ease Polycystic Ovary Symptoms

A Harvard study of 325 women undergoing fertility treatments found that those consuming the most produce high in pesticide residues, such as strawberries, spinach and grapes, were 18 percent less likely to become pregnant and 26 percent less likely to have a live birth compared to women eating the least amount of pesticide-laden produce. Study co-author Dr. Jorge Chavarro suggests that women trying to conceive should eat organic produce or low-pesticide choices like avocados, onions and oranges.

10

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

All kind of people/Shutterstock.com

FRUIT PESTICIDES LOWER FERTILITY IN WOMEN

DeryaDraws /Shutterstock.com

Nature Videos Calm Prisoners

Maximum-security prison inmates in Oregon that spent an hour a day for a year watching nature videos were involved in 26 percent fewer violent acts compared with fellow inmates, and reported feeling significantly calmer, less irritable and more empathetic. The University of Utah study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, states, “An estimated 5.3 million Americans live or work in nature-deprived venues. Such removal from nature can result in an ‘extinction of experience’ that can further lead to disinterest or disaffection toward natural settings, or even biophobia (fear of the natural environment). People that infrequently or never spend time in nature will be deprived of the numerous physical and emotional benefits that contact with nature affords.”

Earth Day

should encourage us to reflect on what we are doing to make our planet a more

sustainable and livable place. ~Scott Peters

Luis Louro /Shutterstock.com

Air Pollution Linked to Psychological Distress Air pollution takes a toll on mental health, University of Washington researchers have concluded. By linking health data for 6,000 people to census tracts, they found that people living in areas with the highest levels of airborne fine particulate matter scored 17 percent higher in measures of psychological distress, including sadness, nervousness and hopelessness.

The higher the level of particulates—emitted by car engines, fireplaces and fossil fuel power plants—the greater the impact.

You will not solve global climate change by hitting the delete button. ~Tom Brokaw

GROW Your Business Secure this ad spot!

Contact us for special ad rates. email advertising@na-newyorkcity.com or call 212-726-1420

April 2018

11

Clear Gain

A study published in the journal Science found that forests across Asia, Latin America and Africa release 468 tons of carbon per year, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the annual U.S. carbon footprint.

Thus, tropical forests may no longer be acting as carbon sinks and could be releasing more carbon than they store.

Lead author Alessandro Baccini, with the Woods Hole Research Center, in Massachusetts, says, “These findings provide the world with a wake-up call on forests. If we’re to keep global temperatures from rising to dangerous levels, we need to drastically reduce emissions and greatly increase forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon.”

Researchers think nearly 70 percent of this loss of carbon storage capacity is caused by small-scale degradation from logging, drought and wildfire. Researchers say that policies to curb deforestation, reduce degradation and restore the integrity of the land could turn forests back into carbon sinks.

Distributed Power Energy Users Control Own Supplies

Some municipalities spend between 20 and 40 percent of their annual budgets on the energy needed to operate wastewater treatment plants. The city of Thousand Oaks, California, has transformed their biggest energy user into an energy generator.

Across the U.S., energy users of all sizes are taking control of their power supply and relieving stress from the grid.

That’s the idea behind distributed energy. Atlantic Re:think and Siemens have partnered to explore this burgeoning energy revolution. View a video at Tinyurl.com/ TheThousandOaksSolution.

12

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

Solar energy is now the cheapest form of new energy in dozens of countries, with record-setting solar farms being built worldwide. Researchers have been investigating ways to make transparent solar panels that resemble glass that could be used as window panels at the same time as converting the light that shines on them into electricity.

“Highly transparent solar cells represent the wave of the future for new solar applications,” explains materials scientist Richard Lunt, Ph.D., from Michigan State University. “We analyzed their potential and show that by harvesting only invisible light, these devices have the potential of generating a similar amount of electricity as rooftop solar while providing additional functionality to enhance the efficiency of buildings, automobiles and mobile electronics.”

As reported in Nature Energy, his team has developed a transparent, luminescent, solar concentrator that looks like clear glass, covered in small, organic molecules adept at capturing only ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths of light. The visible light that enables human vision isn’t obstructed, so we can see through the cell. If scaled up to cover the billions of square feet of glass surfaces throughout the U.S., it could potentially supply about 40 percent of our country’s energy needs.

SVIATLANA SHEINAtterstock.com

Tropical Forests Releasing Excess Carbon

Dirk Ercken/Shutterstock.com

‘Sink’ Setback

Window-Like Solar Cells Could Power 40 Percent of U.S. Needs

Scientists’ Security

France Welcomes Beleaguered Climate Researchers

French President Emmanuel Macron awarded 18 climate scientists from the U.S. and elsewhere millions of euros in grants to relocate to his country for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidential term. Macron’s “Make Our Planet Great Again” grants are meant to counter Trump’s intent on the climate change front following his declaration to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

One winner, Camille Parmesan, of the University of Texas at Austin, who is working at an experimental ecology station in the Pyrenees charting how human-made climate change is affecting wildlife, says that in the U.S., “You are having to hide what you do.”

Big Pants Production/Shutterstock.com

global briefs

SageElyseShutterstock.com Peter Bernik/Shutterstock.com

Transforming Plastics

Chinese Chokepoint

UK furniture and design company Pentatonic has invented the Trashpresso, a solar-powered, mini-recycling plant that transforms plastic waste into usable architectural tiles. Pentatonic doesn’t use raw goods that create excess waste because they are committed to using materials for their products that incorporate some element of recycling, says co-founder Johann Bodecker. They want their products to be reusable, too, so they don’t use glues, resins, paints or formaldehydes to create them, a philosophy that influences all company decisions.

The Trashpresso can be used in off-the-grid places where traditional recycling plants would be impractical.

It sorts, shreds and compresses trash into plastic fibers to create fully formed tiles. The invention has attracted the attention of companies that want to reduce their own contribution to plastic waste and ocean pollution. Starbucks UK, for example, has commissioned Pentatonic to turn their coffee shop waste into furniture, including bean bag chairs produced from plastic bottles and cups.

Companies that recycle cardboard boxes were overwhelmed after recordbreaking holiday shopping online. The U.S. Postal Service estimated it delivered 10 percent more packages in 2017 than the year before. Amazon, the leader in online shopping, said it shipped more than 5 billion items for Prime members in 2017. All of this cardboard is a huge recycling challenge. Americans routinely toss food waste and other garbage into their recycling carts, and China, the country that receives the bulk of these contaminated recyclables, says it has had enough.

China, by far the world’s biggest importer and processor of recyclables, has put the U.S. on notice that it will begin turning away all but the most pristine used plastics and unsorted waste paper by this fall and early next year. The pronouncement has alarmed U.S. government and industry officials, especially on the West Coast, that face the challenge of either cleaning up the vast, never-ending stream of recyclables to meet China’s strict standards or finding other places to dump the messy items— perhaps in landfills.

The uncertainty caused by China’s looming ban is beginning to slow down the entire West Coast system for sorting and shipping off recyclables. In Hong Kong, which ships its waste paper and cardboard to the Chinese mainland, mounds of the materials already are piling up at docks and in cargo ships being kept at sea.

Mobile Trashpresso Turns Trash into Tiles

Top Polluters

Photomontage/Shutterstock.com

Just 100 Companies Emit Most Global Emissions

In July 2017, historic new research from environmental nonprofit CDP, in collaboration with the Climate Accountability Institute, revealed in The Carbon Majors Report that 71 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 can be traced to just 100 fossil fuel producers. It’s the first in a series of planned publications to improve transparency and highlight the role companies and their investors could play in tackling climate change.

Offenders ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are among the highest-emitting investor-owned companies. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate for the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century, likely causing catastrophic consequences, including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks.

Read the report at Tinyurl.com/ CarbonTop100List.

U.S. Waste Paper Turned Away

You can print money to bail out a bank, but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. ~Paul Hawken

April 2018

13

CANDIDIASIS The “Great Impersonator”

From the Desk of Dr. Howard Robins at The Healing Center in New York City

The Problem

Irritability Headaches They come in each day all with different health complaints Intense cravings for sugars, sweets and and suffering in their own special way. No two are exactly breads (carbohydrates in general) the same. Most have been suffering for years and have tried Abdominal gas and bloating, stomach pain, everything, almost everything, that is, to get well. While digestive problems many treatments and medicines have offered hope and have Acid reflux helped, at least for a while, they finally fail to stop the neverHeadaches/migraines ending discomfort, pain and suffering.

Cravings for alcohol

Each doctor has told them that they have this or that Dr. Howard Robins Skin problems (skin infections, eczema, psoriasis, acne, itchy skin) condition or disease. They show the entire range of classic Vaginitis symptoms of it, don’t they? Then why didn’t their treatments Rectal itching work? The answer is that the true underlying cause was missed or ignored.

Diarrhea/constipation Ignored because it wasn’t recognized as the real “felon,” the real reason for Sinus inflammation their/your problem.

Pre-menstrual syndrome Hormonal problems The Cause Low sex drive Since the first time you had even one dose of antibiotics as a child or eaten Inability to become pregnant red meat or chicken that wasn’t organic (most contain traces or more of Dizziness various antibiotics), your good, healthy bacteria (probiotics) in your intestine Persistent cough were killed along with the harmful bacteria that needed to be destroyed.

Muscle weakness This allowed yeast, the different types of candida (also known as monilia), to Sensitivity to fragrances and/or other chemicals overgrow in your intestinal wall as well as bad bacteria to move in and inhabit Thrush your intestinal wall, continually secreting toxins into your system.

Athlete’s foot/fungus nails Sore throat The Results Chronic pain in muscles/joint pain So, what real difference does this make? Well, after years of research, scientists Herpes outbreaks have discovered that by allowing the yeast(s) to overgrow, your immune Environmental allergies system and body becomes weakened. Weakened to different degrees and in different ways, as each of us is unique, causing a wide variety of symptoms It’s hard to believe that this one problem can cause all these different health often leading to a misdiagnosis. issues. Regardless, do you suffer from one or more of these symptoms or

What’s worse is that while most doctors know the condition exists, know someone who does? Please don’t give up hope (though you may they “don’t see the forest because there are too many trees in the way”! They already have), read on. either don’t believe or don’t recognize the relationship between your health problems and the yeast overgrowth. The symptoms, conditions and illnesses The Answer are so varied that it’s hard to believe that this one cause could be the problem.

Finally, the answer to this persistent health dilemma consists of a necessary Believe it or not, this is just a partial list of symptoms that have been associated combination of three things: temporary dietary change (anti-candida diet); with this horrible illness (found on numerous anti-candidiasis websites): special probiotics (the kind that adhere to the intestinal wall); and most Constant tiredness, excessive fatigue and exhaustion Foggy brain/trouble concentrating/cognitive impairment Anxiety/depression Mood swings/irritability Poor memory Learning difficulties Hyperactivity Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) Anger outbursts 14

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

importantly, Intravenous Ozone Therapy. Without all three, failure to get well may be the result as it has with most people.

For more information, call Dr. Howard Robins at 212-5810101. Robins is considered the foremost clinical expert on the use of ozone in North America, with more than 24 years of clinical practice and 185,000 treatments performed.

Mention Natural Awakenings and get $50 off initial consult.

Why don’t we use antibiotics to treat sinusitis anymore?

Because they make the problem WORSE.

Try the products recommended by ENT specialists!

Sinus Relief – eliminate bacteria & fungus Sinus Support – relax, moisturize & heal damaged nasal tissues Congestion Relief – clear congestion & relax inflamed membranes Super Neti Juice – deep antimicrobial cleaning Herbal Neti Soother – soothe & restore the sinus tissues

20%OFF

Order online at MyNaturesRite.com or call 800-991-7088

with coupon code SINUS20

We get calls every day from sinus sufferers like you thanking us for bringing them our fine products.

Nothing makes us happier than hearing our customers proclaim, “I can breathe again”. Check-out our website & see all of the wonderful products that we offer to help you maintain your health naturally. Here at Nature’s Rite, we’re ridding the world of sinusitis… one nose at a time. Why don’t we heal yours next?

April 2018

15

Why a Warming Planet is Harming Our Health

by Lisa Marshall

S

amantha Ahdoot’s son Isaac was 9 years old when he collapsed from the heat while playing clarinet at band camp. It had been a record-hot summer following a mild winter and early spring, and Dr. Ahdoot, an Alexandria, Virginia, pediatrician, had already noticed a string of unusual cases: A toddler had contracted Lyme disease in the once tick-free region of Northern Maine. A teenager had suffered an asthma attack in February, a full month before she usually started taking allergy medicine. A displaced grade-schooler from out of town arrived traumatized after fleeing a hurricane-ravaged home with her family. But it wasn’t until she saw her son laying on a gurney in the emergency room with an IV in his arm that she fully connected the dots.

16

New York City Edition

“I was aware that the weather had changed a lot since I was kid. But it really didn’t hit home until that day that climate change could affect my health and the health of my children personally,” recalls Ahdoot. “I realized it would be a betrayal of my duty as a pediatrician to sit back and do nothing about it.”

Health Care Alert

Ahdoot, now a vocal climate change activist, is among a growing number of healthcare professionals that have begun to reframe climate change not as a concern for elsewhere or the future, but as a pressing U.S. public

na-newyorkcity.com

Ase/Shutterstock.com Boris Ryaposov/Shutterstock.com

Healthy Climate, Healthy People

health issue today. In one recent survey of 1,200 allergists, 48 percent said climate change is already affecting their patients a “great deal” or a “moderate amount.” In another survey of lung specialists, 77 percent said they were seeing patient symptoms grow more severe due to worsening climate-related air quality.

In a sweeping review published last October in The Lancet medical journal, a team of healthcare professionals proclaimed that the human symptoms of climate change are “unequivocal and potentially irreversible,” noting that since 2000, the number of people in the United States exposed to heat waves annually has risen by about 14.5 million, and the number of natural disasters annually has increased 46 percent.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also begun to weigh in with a Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative to help local health departments brace for everything from the hazardous air quality associated with more forest fires to the spread of vector-borne diseases like Zika and West Nile as the range and season of mosquitoes and ticks expands.

Meanwhile, groups like the newly formed and expansive Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, to which Ahdoot belongs, are being proactive. Its doctors are greening their offices, swapping cars for bikes, buses or carpooling, lobbying lawmakers and encouraging their patients to undertake measures to prevent the problem from worsening. In the process, they say, they might even improve their own health.

“We want the public to understand that climate change is not just about polar bears or receding glaciers in the Arctic, but also about our children and our health here and now,” says Ahdoot.

Mega Pixel/Shutterstock.com

Flora and Fauna Issues

During the past century, average temperatures have increased between 1.3 and 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit, with annual increases accelerating in recent years as 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017 all set records for ambient heat. Such rising temperatures, combined with increased rain and record-high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, can have a significant impact on plants— both those that irritate or nourish us, says Howard Frumkin, a medical doctor who co-authored the Lancet report and teaches environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington, in Seattle.

Wild, allergy-inducing plants like ragweed and poison ivy are flourishing.

Poison ivy is growing faster, larger and more toxic as excess carbon prompts it to produce more of its rash-inducing compound, urushiol. “We are seeing the season for ragweed productivity expanding, with pollen levels rising higher and earlier and lasting longer by several weeks,” advises Frumkin. In 2016, residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota, endured a ragweed season that was 21 days longer than in 1990. Other, desirable crops, like grains, do worse in hotter carbonrich climes, producing less protein and other nutrients, Frumkin notes.

Meanwhile, bugs are thriving, with longer seasons and wider ranges in which to reproduce.

Mosquitoes’ capacity to transmit dengue fever— the world’s fastest-growing mosquitoborne illness—has risen by 11 percent since 1950, more than half of that just since 1990, according to the Lancet report. Further, the tick that carries Lyme disease is now present in 46 percent of U.S. counties, up from 30 percent in 1998. “My physician colleagues used to treat two or three cases a month during tick season,” says Dr. Nitin Damle, a physician at South County Internal Medicine, in Wakefield, Rhode Island.

Five Steps to Take Today

1

Swap tailpipes for pedals: Bike or walk instead of driving, especially for distances of less than two miles, which comprise 40 percent of all car trips.

A study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that if everyone did this in just 11 cities in the Midwest, not only would carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fall, but it would extend 1,300 lives and save $8 billion in healthcare costs due to better air quality and less sedentary lifestyles.

2

Eat less red meat: Producing

red meat results in five times more climate-warming emissions per calorie than chicken, pork, dairy or eggs, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. It also creates 11 times more emissions than the production of potatoes, wheat or rice.

Eating less red meat can also decrease an individual’s risk of certain cancers.

3

Encourage hospitals and doctors’ offices to go green:

The healthcare system is responsible

“Now each of us sees 40 to 50 new cases each season.”

Heat Pollution

Rising heat can also aggravate lung conditions because it promotes the production of ozone, a major lung irritant. With prolonged heat often come wildfires. When one burned for three months in North Carolina in a recent summer, researchers discovered that residents of counties affected by the smoke plume showed a 50 percent increase in emergency trips due to respiratory illness.

Like Isaac, more kids are ending up in hospitals due to soaring temperatures, with U.S. emergency room visits for heat illnesses up by 133 percent between 1997 and 2006. Ahdoot recalls a young football player from Arkansas that showed signs of weakness and fatigue during practice, but wasn’t treated right away. He ended

for about 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent study by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut. Boston-area hospitals recently slashed their overall emissions by 29 percent in five years.

4

Plant more trees: As they grow, trees remove carbon dioxide from the air. Being around green space has also been shown to boost mental and cognitive health.

5

Show compassion: Americans,

per capita, emit six times more CO2 than the global average, according to research by Jonathan Patz, a medical doctor who directs the Global Health Institute at the University of WisconsinMadison. In a TED Talk, he observed that U.S. lower-income populations and those in developing countries are often hit hardest by gaseous emissions. “Those most vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change are often the least responsible,” he says. “Doing something about this is a matter of compassion.”

up with heat stroke, kidney failure and pulmonary edema and ultimately required kidney dialysis. “Every summer now, I see the impacts of increasing temperatures and heat waves on kids,” she says.

Climate change can also impact mental health, according to a recent review by the American Psychological Association.

Exposure to natural disasters can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. Plus, according to research institutions including the University of California, San Diego, and Iowa State University, chronic heat, especially at night, can interfere with sleep and even lead to aggressive behavior.

Then there’s the worry about what to do about it, and whether it will be enough.

“When you talk with people about what is affecting them, climate is definitely one of the things stressing them out,” says Thomas Doherty, Psy.D., a psychologist April 2018

17

in Portland, Oregon. “There’s a sense of mystery and powerlessness around it that weighs on people.”

Fresh Perspective, New Hope

Your Market is Our Readers.

Let Us Introduce You to Them!

Contact us today to advertise in our next issue email advertising@na-newyorkcity.com or call 212-726-1420 www.NA-NewYorkCity.com 18

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

Mona Sarfaty, a family physician who is now director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, attests that 69 percent of Americans are aware that climate change is occurring, and more than half agree that human activities are at least partly to blame. Yet only a third believe it could ever harm them personally. “So much of the early focus was on the receding glaciers and the penguins,” she says.

“People today still think it will affect ‘those other people over there,’ but not them.”

She agrees with the recent focus on imminent health issues, and is encouraged that a growing number of healthcare professionals feel it’s their duty to inform their patients about climate change to mobilize action.

“When you talk about climate change not only in terms of the health impact it has on individuals and families, but also in terms of the real-time benefits of taking action against it, people are a lot more interested in doing something,” says Sarfaty.

For instance, shifting to clean energy sources like wind and solar instead of coal can effect better air quality and easier breathing now. Cycling or walking to work rather than driving can reduce carbon emissions, boost feel-good brain chemicals and keep weight in check. Writing letters to editors or attending rallies to urge lawmakers to pass climate-friendly policies can not only fend off the anxiety and depression that comes with feeling helpless, but also effect real change.

Ahdoot is taking these steps now. She has solar panels on her roof, is assisting the local hospital to reduce its carbon footprint, takes public transportation to work and encourages her kids to walk whenever possible. “I don’t feel powerless at all. I feel empowered and optimistic,” she says. “The more we know, the more we are moved to act. We can all do something small every day to protect our climate.”

Lisa Marshall is a freelance health writer in Boulder, CO. Connect at LisaAnnMarshall.com.

wise words

Paul Hawken Shares a Plan to Reverse Global Warming

by Linda Sechrist

F

or author Paul Hawken, a leading environmental entrepreneur working with a coalition of research fellows, advisors and expert reviewers, the climate goal is drawdown, or reversing global warming—the point in atmospheric time when the concentration of greenhouse gases peaks and begins to decline on a year-to-year basis. Hawken edited Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, a compendium of the 100 most substantive solutions that already exist.

Are you optimistic about achieving the goal?

Why is drawdown the goal?

If we don’t name the goal, we are unlikely to achieve it. To date, language like mitigation, stabilization and reduction has been used to address climate change. These goals are not particularly ambitious and will do little to preserve civilization. Those verbs are about slowing the amount of released gases, but do not reverse them. If you are going the wrong way down a road which heads straight over a cliff, slowing down is not a helpful goal. We need to turn around, and that is what drawdown research is all about.

Why and how did you do the research?

We wanted to know if it was game over with respect to global warming, or could we reverse the buildup of greenhouse gases with techniques and practices already underway? We gathered a qualified and diverse group of 70 researchers from around the world to identify, research and model the 100 most substantive existing solutions.

They modeled the impact the solutions will have if they continue to scale in a rigorous, but reasonable way, and what the cost and profits would be. All carbon data was based on peer-reviewed science. Economic data came from respected international institutions like the World Bank. The goal of the

tion is the most powerful lever available for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty while mitigating emissions by curbing population growth.

Ranked seventh, family planning, particularly in low-income countries, impacts world population. For women to have children by choice rather than chance and to plan their family size and spacing is a matter of autonomy and dignity.

Together, these two solutions would account for significant reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. The United Nations estimates a difference between the high and median population projections in 2050 of 10.8 billion versus 9.7 billion. The difference is almost entirely determined by availability of family planning.

book was to present the findings and describe the solutions in ways that fascinated and informed, accompanied by images that enlivened and inspired.

What are the top 10 solutions?

The top 10 solutions, in order, are: refrigerant management, wind turbines, reduced food waste, plant-rich diet, tropical forests protection, educating girls, family planning, solar farms, silvopasture—the intentional combination of trees, forage plants and livestock as an integrated, intensively managed system— and rooftop solar. All 100 are listed at Drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank.

Did any of the solutions surprise you?

None of the solutions surprised us, but their rankings did. For example, educating girls, number six, has a dramatic bearing on global warming. Women with more years of education have fewer, healthier, children and actively manage their reproductive health. Educated females realize higher wages and greater upward mobility, contributing to economic growth. Educa-

Drawdown is not about optimism, hope or pessimism. It is a reality project. The science on climate change is amazing, if not stunning. It is the best problem statement humanity has ever created, which I see as a gift, not a curse. Global warming is feedback from the atmosphere. The Earth is a system, and any system that does not incorporate feedback fails. It holds true for our body, ecosystems, social systems and economic systems. The knowledge of global warming and its potential impacts is creating huge breakthroughs in energy, transport, agriculture, housing, urbanization and materials. If it wasn’t for the science of climate change, we would be destroying our planet faster than we already are.

Focusing repeatedly on the problem does not solve the problem. Diagnosis is not prognosis unless we give up. The science of what will happen if we do not act has been here for a long time. What Drawdown points out is that humanity is on the case. The plan we refer to in the book’s subtitle is not our plan; we found a plan being activated by the collective intelligence of humanity. This is a different story than one of gloom and doom.

It is a story of innovation, creativity and generosity—that is who we are.

Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for Natural Awakenings.

April 2018

19

Ekaterina Markelova/Shutterstock.com

conscious eating

Changing Our Diet to Cool the Climate

Good Food Choices Enable Global Health

by Judith Fertig

T

hree years ago, the New York Times added a new word to the world’s food vocabulary:

Climatarian (n.) A diet whose primary goal is to reverse climate change. This includes eating locally produced food (to reduce energy spent in transportation), choosing pork and poultry instead of beef and lamb (to limit gas emissions), and using every part of ingredients (apple cores, cheese rinds, etc.) to limit food waste.

Changing our food choices to support this model can have a ripple effect. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a 2017 study published in the journal Climatic Change, looked at how diets impact personal health, the healthcare system and climate. They found that adopting a more plant-based diet reduces the relative risk of coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer and Type 2 diabetes by 20 to 40 percent. National annual health care costs could drop from $93 billion to $77 billion. Direct greenhouse gas emissions could annually drop 489 to 1,821 pounds per person.

Such an approach involves consider-

20

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

ing the related water usage, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint—the energy required to cultivate, harvest and transport food—plus processing associated food waste. Here are some top choices.

Foods that Go Easy on Water

Hydroponic greens are hands-down winners.

The Shelton Family Farm, near Whittier, North Carolina, weekly produces 10,000 to 12,000 heads of hydroponically grown Bibb lettuce. The controlled environment and carefully engineered nutrient delivery systems maximize all resources.

“It’s an enclosed system that runs 24/7, and it’s highly efficient from a water-usage standpoint because we recycle the water,” says William Shelton Jr., a fourth-generation family farmer. “The only water that’s actually consumed is what’s taken up and transpired through the plants.” In a moderate climate, energy costs to recycle the water and keep the plants at an even temperature are moderate, as well.

Dry-tilled heirloom tomatoes, okra, melons and quinoa are drought-tolerant and only use available rainfall.

Foods that Go Easy on Greenhouse Gases

Plants beat meat. “Livestock farming produces from 20 to 50 percent of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions,” says nutritionist and climate activist Jane Richards, of GreenEatz, in Mountain View, California. “You can reduce your footprint by a quarter by cutting down on red meats such as beef and lamb.”

An exception is the vegetarian staple of rice. According to researchers at Project Drawdown, a climate solutions organization in Sausalito, California, rice cultivation is responsible for at least 10 percent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and up to 19 percent of global methane emissions. New farming techniques, like mid-season draining of the rice paddies, could cut methane emissions by at least 35 percent.

Richards notes, “Meat, cheese and eggs have the highest carbon footprint; fruit, vegetables, beans and nuts, much lower. The carbon footprint of a vegetarian diet is about half that of a meat-lover’s diet.”

Root crops such as carrots, radishes,

potatoes and beets have a lower carbon footprint than above-ground plants due to less food waste. A beautiful beet is easier to grow than a bell pepper that blemishes more easily.

Seasonal, regional fruit, vegetables, herbs and honey have a lighter carbon impact because they are transported shorter distances. Usually what grows best in a region and is consumed locally is also best for the climate.

Foods naturally suited to their environment grow and taste better, and are packed with more nutrients, reports Sustainable Table, an educational nonprofit that builds healthy communities through sustainable eating habits (SustainableTable.org).

Hopeful Developments

New agricultural developments can also benefit our climate environment. According to Project Drawdown research, perennial grains and cereals could be pivotal in reaching soil, carbon and energy targets.

The Land Institute, in Salina, Kansas, has been working with the Rodale Insti-

tute, in Berks County, Pennsylvania, to develop a perennial wheat that would not have to be planted from seed each year.

This would save soil, carbon and both human and machine energy.

Kernza, a new perennial grain proven to prosper in natural grasslands like the Great Plains, is not yet widely distributed.

Maria Speck, author of Simply Ancient Grains, advises, “With up to 15-foot-long roots, it can be harvested for five years and uses less fertilizer than conventional wheat. Kernza tastes almost like a cross between rice and wheat—sweet, grassy, mesmerizing.”

Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual and creator of the film Food, Inc., suggests we keep it simple: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Climatarians would add another guideline—eat as locally as possible.

Judith Fertig writes cookbooks plus foodie fiction from Overland Park, KS (JudithFertig.com).

April 2018

21

healing ways

~Aristotle

Touching the Earth The Healing Powers of Going Barefoot

M

Call for more information!

212-726-1420

22

New York City Edition

by Martin Zucker

elanie Monteith, of San Diego, California, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 24 and plagued by symptoms for 14 years. Simple daily tasks became challenging. She relied on walking aids and walls to keep from falling. Eventually, she quit her job. Every day tested her survival skills. Then, in late 2017, Monteith tried grounding and it changed her life.

Grounding, also called Earthing, refers to the discovery of major health benefits from sustained contact with the Earth’s natural and subtle electric charge.

Recent research published in the Journal of Inflammation, Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, Neonatology and Health indicates that grounding stabilizes the physiology in many ways, drains the body of inflammation, pain and stress, and generates greater well-being.

Grounding can be as simple as going barefoot in nature, including the backyard, for 30 to 60 minutes once or twice a day on surfaces like grass, soil, gravel, stone and

na-newyorkcity.com

sand. If this isn’t practical, special grounding mats and pads are available online for convenient indoor use while sitting or sleeping; people with compromised health often benefit from more time being grounded.

The activity restores a primordial electric connection with the Earth that has been lost with modern lifestyles. We wear shoes with insulating, synthetic soles and live and work elevated above the ground.

These overlooked lifestyle factors may contribute to increasing global rates of chronic illnesses. Grounding revitalizes us, akin to charging a weak battery, because our bodies operate electrically and our movements and thoughts are based on electrical signals. We are bioelectric beings.

Eighteen years of grounding research in a variety of indoor settings, plus grassroots feedback from around the world, clearly show that our bodies operate more effectively when grounded. We sleep better, have less pain, more energy and even look better. Here are some of the documented benefits.

WAYHOME studio/Shutterstock.com

In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.

Reduction of chronic inflammation “Inflammation is intimately linked to most chronic and aging-related diseases,” says Gaétan Chevalier, Ph.D., a visiting scholar at the University of California, San Diego, who has conducted multiple grounding studies. “Grounding seems to be nature’s way to reduce inflammation.”

Enhanced blood flow Thick, sludgy blood is a common feature of diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. Several grounding studies have demonstrated a significant decrease in blood viscosity and enhanced blood flow. “Grounding represents a potent circulation booster; a simple, yet profound preventive and therapeutic strategy,” says integrative cardiologist Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra, of Manchester, Connecticut, co-author of the book Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever!

Decreased stress Tracy Latz, a medical doctor and integrative psychiatrist in Mooresville, North Carolina, has found, “Patients with anxiety issues, including post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and depression, often benefit from grounding.”

Improved vagus nerve function The vagus nerve connects with and regulates key organs, including the lungs, heart and intestines. In one study, doctors at the Penn State Children’s Hospital, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, grounded hospitalized premature infants and documented improved vagal function that could potentially boost resilience and reduce complications. “These babies have a lot of health challenges,” observes Dr. Charles Palmer, former chief of the center’s division of newborn medicine. “It seems that they are more relaxed when grounded.” More research is needed.

Within a few months of grounding both day and night, Monteith’s disease symptoms receded dramatically. Her balance and stability improved when standing and walking. She sleeps more deeply and has more energy. An eye issue for which there is no drug subsided. She says her health continues to improve and she looks forward to living each day.

Troy Baker, a recovery consultant for special populations and chief program officer of the nonprofit Adapt Functional Movement Center, in Carlsbad, California, who has been overseeing Monteith’s exercise training schedule, has observed a reduction in the effects of multiple sclerosis since she started grounding.

“Her body is more fluid, not as stiff. She moves much better, with increased energy and stamina.”

Awaken your senses

while clearing your mind ® Ja’Mi Products aromatherapy essential oil body and room sprays assist in healing the mind, body and soul.

Balance the physical and metaphysical energies of the body, hydrate skin, balance chakras, awaken the senses and clear your mind to manifest love, peace and prosperity.

15% off all sprays with online code: NA18

For more information on grounding, visit EarthingInstitute.net.

Martin Zucker, a former Associated Press correspondent, has written about alternative medicine for 40 years and is co-author of the book Earthing.

Available online and at Whole Foods Markets, Spas, Wellness Centers and other retail locations.

jamiproducts.com April 2018

23

Meet Your

Natural Match This Spring On The Largest Online Conscious Dating Network We invite you to join and experience a truly conscious, loving, dating environment with amazing members.

Spring is here; be proactive by joining today. Your natural match is waiting to meet you!

Overcoming Obstacles in Couples’ Communication

Try for FREE at NaturalAwakeningsSingles.com

THE SLEEP BRACELET Wearers have experienced:

· Falling asleep faster · Increased quality sleep · Waking up more refreshed Recommended by

Sold exclusively online at If you choose to return your Philip Stein goods, please do so within 30 days of receipt in perfect condition and in the original packaging.

24

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com

By Michael Mongno, PhD

W

e communicate to fulfill seven basic needs: to impart information, solve a problem, express a need or desire, convey an opinion, express a feeling, show or request empathy, or connect through humor or shared experience.

For any of these to happen effectively, the speaker must be clear about the need(s), and the listener must register what’s being said.

This is a tall order, since often the speaker isn’t being totally clear or the listener is not actively listening.

For instance, if someone in a relationship is feeling hurt, rather than tuning in to that feeling and expressing it, what gets expressed can be a judgment (usually hurtful in itself), an unresolved historical reference, or an indirect feeling, which is often passive-aggressive.

The listener is left to figure out what the speaker needs. (It rarely occurs to him or her to simply ask.)

Worse, the listener often gets defensive, reacting emotionally or tuning the speaker out while preparing a rebuttal. What unfolds is a drama of someone being triggered and lashing out, and the partner responding in kind. This dynamic can grow in intensity, or it can flatten when one party withdraws altogether. Then the speaker feels even angrier, because not only is the partner not listening, but he or she is no longer even engaged.

So how can we prevent such escalating psychodramas, which can continue for hours in never-ending loops of hurtful interaction? The answer is a technique called “authentic dialogue.” It ensures that both parties engage in effective communication and strategic problem solving.

My next article will explore this solution more fully, but in the meantime, consider how this issue resonates with you personally.

Does it reflect your own way of communicating with your partner or other people in your life? Does it remind you of others—your parents, perhaps?

Dr. Michael Mongno is the founder of PresentCenteredTherapies.com, which won the 2015 Best Business of NY award for Counseling & Mental Health.

Pierre Sabatelli/Shutterstock.com

earth day events

PLASTICS WARS

E

Celebrate Earth Day Locally and Globally

arth Day, on April 22, will serve again as a galvanizing force on ways to save our planet. With the theme of End Plastic Pollution, the Earth Day Network (EDN) is setting a specific focus this year on the importance of reducing the use of plastics and finding more Earthfriendly alternatives (EarthDay.org).

The nonprofit notes that of the approximately 300 million tons of plastic annually produced to make bags, bottles, packages and other commodities worldwide, only about 10 percent is successfully recycled and reused. The rest ends up in landfills or as litter, leaching dangerous chemicals into soil and water, endangering humans and wildlife alike.

EDN asks everyone to pledge to switch to sustainable alternatives, subscribe to its newsletter, spread the word via social media, educate and mobilize citizens to demand action, and donate to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution that will engage individuals, companies and governments worldwide.

Further, EDN is extending people’s ability to take personal responsibility by self-rating and guiding their involvement via practical toolkits. “People can create and follow a plan to reduce their plastic footprint

and also share that data to help others via the Billion Acts of Green online campaign,” says Valeria Merino, vice president of Global Earth Day, adding that participants will be able to create an ongoing record and track their commitments. The initiative is also providing materials, tips on organizing cleanup events and social media tie-ins.

Help New York City celebrate and forward progress in sustainability efforts by participating in these local Earth Day 2018 events.

Local Events SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2018 Earth Day New York 2018 In Union Square 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM Union Square West NYCEarthDayNY.org

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018 Earth Day 5K Green Tour 2018 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM EarthDayNY.org

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2018 Planet Heart’s 11th “Annual World Peace Earth Day Celebration” 6:30pm The New York New Church 114 E 35th St, NYC PlanetHeart.org

www.newyorkkneedoctor.net April 2018

25

4. Standing Scissor Twist (Parivrtta Hasta

fit body

5. Locust pose (Salabhasana) 6. Squat Pull Spinal Traction (Ardha Malasana in traction)

Take a Breath

“Conscious breathing involves both the body and the mind. Long, slow inhalations and exhalations help us tune into our body,” says Schwartz. “Using long breaths when stretching in the garden can help muscles find relief.”

To reduce pain:

Gardening ASANAS Yoga Poses to Stay Pain-Free

by Marlaina Donato

G

New York City Edition

n Don’t resist the pain or allow self-judgment. n Wait for a release.

Enjoy Being Outside

ardening is good for body and soul, but long hours and repetitive movements can negatively impact even the fittest body. While stiffness and pain patterns might manifest in the lower back, shoulders, legs and hands, performing a few yoga poses can lessen pain, increase flexibility, boost stamina and prevent injury.

“Every action needs a counter action for structural balance to be maintained.

Repetitive movements can tighten fascia, restrict movement and compromise nerve impulses,” explains Ashville, North Carolina, yoga teacher and back care specialist Lillah Schwartz, author of Healing Our Backs with Yoga: An Essential Guide to Back Pain Relief. “What goes into spasm tends to remain in spasm,” observes Schwartz, who has helped many people overcome back pain and other chronic structural issues.

Practicing yoga before, during or after spending time outside also promotes mind-body awareness which helps us tune into our body’s natural rhythms and prevent physical problems in the first place.

Here are some basics to consider when working in the garden.

26

n Stop and breathe. Take slow, deep breaths with a pause (inhalation retention) between inhalation and exhalation.

Be Aware

Great agility and strong muscles cannot compensate for being in one position too long, over-reaching or fatigue. “Listen to your body’s messages such as, ‘It’s time for a rest,’ or, ‘That’s too heavy,’” recommends Schwartz. Remember to take regular breaks to rest, stretch and drink water.

Strike a Pose

Doing yoga regularly will condition the body, but incorporating asanas, or poses, while gardening can be both a fun and practical way to avoid overstressing certain muscle groups and keep the spine and hamstrings supple. Using props in the garden environment such as fences, a wall or a chair can provide convenient support.

Feel free to perform all poses before or after gardening, and all except numbers one and five in the garden.

1. Downward Facing Dog pose (Adho

Mukha Svanasana) with feet placed against a support

2. Warrior 1 pose (Virabhadrasana I) 3. Straddle Forward Fold pose (Prasarita Padottanasana)

na-newyorkcity.com

Bringing mindfulness to garden work not only helps prevent injury, but helps make it a more enjoyable experience. Here are a few more tips. n If rising early, begin time in the garden with a Warrior 1 pose while facing east. n Be mindful of feeling the breeze when it brushes the skin and pause to breathe deeply. n Notice the music of the birds or other pleasing sounds in the surrounding environment. n Stop to drink some water and take pleasure in the garden’s beauty and bounty.

Marlaina Donato is a freelance writer, author and multimedia artist. Connect at MarlainaDonato.com.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock.com

Padasana) standing close to and bracing against a wall or fence

ment the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical levels. Healing can take many forms, based on tradition, the healer, patient and nature, yet four basic elements or practices are consistent: listening, supportive relationships, unconditional love and committing to creative, positive action.

Rtstudio/Shutterstock.com

inspiration

Power of Hope

INDIGENOUS WISDOM Elders Urge Us to Reimagine Life

by Anita Sanchez

F

irst, 27 indigenous elders from 23 North American tribes, two African tribes, a Tibetan Buddhist and a Sami from Finland gathered at Turtle Mountain, in Dunseith, North Dakota, in 1994.

Recently, 13 elders from 10 tribes from Russia, Columbia, South Africa and the U.S. gathered in Kauai, Hawaii. Other such gatherings, too, are participating in a shared prophecy supporting world salvation.

They offer humanity four sacred gifts of wisdom rooted in their life experiences.

This is our invitation to receive them.

Power to Forgive the Unforgivable

unity, there is strength. Each of us has an important part to play in the circle of life to sustain precious relationships among people, Earth and spirit for ourselves, our children and future generations.

Power of Healing

Indigenous elders tailor their healing practices to the whole human being, using good medicine, defined as anything or anyone that brings into positive align-

Hope springs from the choice to tap into an infinite energy source. It may not be understood by modern science, but indigenous wisdom keepers behold an inner certainty of something bigger than us all. When we open ourselves to hope, it is possible to release the pressure and desire to try to know something about everything, and instead free our imagination to create expansive possibilities.

Anita Sanchez, Ph.D., is a transformational leadership consultant, speaker, coach and author of the new book, The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times, from which this was adapted. For videos and a song, visit FourSacredGifts.com.

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. ~Edith Wharton

Start Your Day Off on a Healthy Note

Forgiveness is releasing ourselves from the prison of pain, hurt or mistreatment. It takes courage and self-love to do this. The reward of this act is freedom to use our energy to create what is life-giving to our self and the lives of those we touch.

MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY! MENTION THIS AD WHILE BOOKING + ENJOY 10% OFF YOUR FIRST VISIT*

Power of Unity

Clinical Nutrition with a Functional Approach by Jennifer Clemente MS, CNS

This is a time for us all to become and remain united and steadfast, repairing the world from the misuse of power and greed.

When we choose to stand in the circle of

*Offer only applies to new clients

90 Broad St., Suite 215, New York, NY 10004 646-665-3394 • www.bodyblissnutrition.com

April 2018

27

green living

In the Bathroom

Healthy House Easy Ways to Green It Up

Instead of air freshener sprays, hang petand child-safe plants.

Use fast-drying towels up to four times before washing. Hand towels see more frequent use, so change every other day. Longer wear makeup stays longer on a washcloth; to prevent reintroducing germs to the face, use a facecloth only once.

All-natural cleaning products are easy to find or make. For some tips, see Tinyurl. com/LovelyEcoLoo.

by Avery Mack

In the Bedroom

L

iving green isn’t difficult or expensive. Start small, one room at a time.

In the Kitchen Defrosting trays have been available for a while, and although they aren’t a miracle solution, they are eco-friendly and easy to clean; thawing most meats, seafood and vegetables usually takes just 30 to 60 minutes. It’s one way to avoid using the microwave.

Most cutting boards of sustainable bamboo or cork originate in China, creating a big carbon footprint. Glass boards are breakable and hard on knives. Consider planet-friendly boards made of recycled cardboard and food-grade plastic combined with flax husks.

A countertop convection oven set about 25 degrees lower circulates heated air to cook food 25 to 30 percent faster and more evenly than a conventional oven; it uses less energy and has fewer emissions.

Foods come out crispier, which also makes for great veggie chips. A conventional oven is still best for soufflés, breads or cakes that rise as they bake.

Replace chemical-coated nonstick pans, disposable parchment paper and aluminum foil with reusable, eco-friendly, U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved silicone mats. They are easy to clean, affordable and available in many sizes and shapes.

Run the dishwasher when full and at night. Off-peak hours won’t cut the electric bill, but are more efficient for the power 28

New York City Edition

plant, reducing its energy footprint.

Skip the garbage disposal to save water and energy. Use food waste for plant-nurturing compost. Plastics numbered 1, 3, 6 or 7 are prone to leaching into food or drinks. Recycle or repurpose those already on hand to store craft items, small toys or office supplies.

On the Floor Keep floors clean and healthy by leaving shoes at the door. They track in dirt, pesticides, chemicals, pet waste and leaked fluids from vehicles. Slippers or socks with a grip sole keep feet warm and prevent falls.

Bamboo flooring is sustainable and eco-friendly, but is also shipped from China. Using local products reduces shipping costs, supports American businesses and can give the home a unique design. “Logs salvaged from the bottom of the Penobscot River turn into flooring, ceilings and accent walls,” advises Tom Shafer, co-owner of Maine Heritage Timber, in Millinocket.

“The cold temperature preserves the wood and gives it a natural patina. It’s now available in peel-and-stick, affordable planks called timberchic. Planks have an ecofriendly, UV-cured finish.”

For more flooring tips, see Tinyurl. com/Eco-FriendlyFloors.

na-newyorkcity.com

From sheets and bedding to a fluffy robe, choose eco-friendly organic cotton in white, or colored with environmentally safe, non-metallic dyes.

Blue light from a smartphone, computer, tablet or TV can foster sleeplessness.

“I keep all devices out of my bedroom and block all unnatural light,” says Leslie Fischer, an eco-minded mom and entrepreneur in Chicago, who reviews mattresses for adults and babies at SustainableSlumber.com. “I sleep on a fantastic mattress that won’t fill my room with pollution.”

A good pillow is a necessity. Citrus Sleep rates the Top Ten Eco Options at Tinyurl. com/NaturalPillowPicks.

Mattresses should be replaced every eight years. In the U.S., an average of 50,000 end up in landfills each day. California law requires manufacturers to create a statewide recycling program for mattresses and box springs. An $11 recycling fee, collected upon each sale, funds the Bye Bye Mattress program. Connecticut and Rhode Island also recycle them.

“An alternative is extending mattress use with a topper,” says Omar Alchaboun, founder of topper-maker Kloudes, in Los Angeles.

What and Where to Recycle Find out where and what to recycle at Earth911.com. Enter the item and a zip code or call 1-800-cleanup.

Going green is money-saving, environmentally wise and coming of age, which makes eco-friendly products easier to access. Earth Day is a perfect time to make simple changes that can have long-lasting and far-reaching results.

Connect with the freelance writer via AveryMack@mindspring.com.

calendar of events NOTE: If you would like to add your event to our calendar, please email publisher@na-newyorkcity.com for guidelines. View our entire calendar online at na-newyorkcity.com

FRI, APRIL 6-SUN, APRIL 8

FRIDAY, APRIL 20

Women’s Qi Cultivation with Susan Krieger – 4pm check-in; 6:30pm dinner; 7:30-9pm introduction to workshop. Learn a holistic Qi practice to help you create balance, beauty, nutritional health and vitality in your life during this rejuvenating women’s weekend away.

Eastover Estate and Retreat, 430 East St, Lenox, MA. events@eastover.com, 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

Earth Day 5K Green Tour 2018 – 10am-1pm.

Join our annual walking tour of green sites around NYC! It’s a fantastic way to get outside on Earth Day and get involved with some of the great green NYC groups. Learn about what each group is doing to help green the city. The tour is great for school groups, employee engagement teams, or anyone who wants to learn more about some of the environmental work being done here. Purchase discounted early bird tickets now! Thanks once again to Official Partner, Cantor Fitzgerald! For information, including sponsorship opportunities, contact info@earthdayny.org, 212-9220048 or earthdayinitiative.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 8 A Course in Miracles – 1:30–4pm. Lecturediscussion with Jon Mundy, Ph.D. Ongoing monthly class, the 2nd Sunday of each month except May. Class will be May 20, 2018. Introduced to the Course by its scribe Dr. Helen Schucman in 1975, Jon has been an active student-teacher/author ever since. Help us celebrate our move to our new location, The Society of Jewish Science, 109 E. 39th St (3 blocks south of Grand Central Station off Park Ave), New York, NY. Visit miraclesmagazine.org or call 845-496-9089. $20 suggested donation. No one turned away who cannot pay.

Musa Muhaiyaddeen Speaks on Spirituality and Success—2:30 pm. This is a new six-part series. All are welcome to join any time for these free spontaneous talks. Begin the journey of self-discovery, spirituality and the different ways to connect to the vibration of God. These talks are followed by Zikr, a prayer recitation in Arabic for those who would like to join in. Except for April the meetings are the 3rd Saturday of every month at 4:30 pm at New York New Church, 114 E 35th St, New York, NY. Please register with Sufi Study Center on Meetup.com. If you have any questions you can email Musa@thewitnesswithin.com.

THUR, APRIL 12-SUN, APRIL 15 Spiritual Qi Gong Healing with Healer and Psychiatrist Dr. Paul Hannah – During this workshop, Dr. Hannah will help the students identify their mental blockages that keep them from fully blossoming. Learn to utilize “soul qualities” that improve optimal lung, heart and liver function. Learn Qigong and breathing techniques to calm the mind and relax the body. He will also cover energy blockages and treating meridian acupoints associated with anxiety, stress and depression.

Learn to neutralize stress and toxic energy! Eastover Estate and Retreat, 430 East St, Lenox, MA. events@ eastover.com, 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 15 Earth Day New York 2018 in Union Square – Noon-7pm. Join us at the most high-traffic Earth Day event in the country! This annual outdoor event features dozens of exhibitors, including environmental non-profits, green businesses, kids’ activities and live performances. With more than 70 organizations represented, there is something for everyone. Looking to make a simple green change to your lifestyle?

Bring your utility bill to our booth at E 17th and Park Ave to make the switch to clean energy in just minutes and receive $25 off your next bill! For info on sponsoring/exhibiting: info@earthdayny.org, 212-922-0048 or earthdayinitiative.org.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21 Planet Heart’s 11th Annual World Peace Earth Day Celebration – 6:30-9:30pm. Doors open at 6pm.

Produced by Andrew Kaen in Association with We, The World (fiscal sponsor), and Jodi Serota. Come join us in NYC in a Conscious Community Gathering in Unity, to Honor Mother Earth and The New Earth with inspirational talks, live music performances, meditation, ceremony and celebration with Host Mitchell Rabin (A Better World TV and Radio). $25 pre-paid by April 20th or $33 cash only at door, (all non-refundable).

Portion of the proceeds helps support We.Net. The New York New Church, 114 E 35th St, New York, NY. More info and tickets, info@PlanetHeart.org, 212-222-5432 or planetheart.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 22 Awaken Wellness Fair - 10am-5pm. Awaken to Your Best Self at New York’s best-loved holistic expo all about body, mind and spirit in Tarrytown!

Speakers, healers, vendors and readers, 100+ exhibitors, and 1,000 guests. Exhibitor spots still available.

See back cover for more details. Double Tree Hotel, Tarrytown, NY. AwakenFair.com.

activity. This seminar takes it back to basics, from body mechanics to energy cultivation to moving meditation. Open to all levels, provides a good foundation for continued study as well as solo practice.

Eastover Estate and Retreat 430 East St, Lenox, MA. 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

FRI, MAY 11-SAT, MAY 19 Sheng Zhen Meditation & Healing with Junfeng Li – Not just a Qigong practice, this timeless wisdom, delivered in the most original, basic form, guides the way of life. It is the sacred truth of unconditional love, the key to open one’s heart and the path to feeling free and liberated. It helps cultivate and merge our consciousness with the Universe. The simple moving and non-moving parts of Sheng Zhen exercises help relax the body, calm thoughts, empty the mind and quiet the heart so that inspiration and creativity become the norm. Eastover Estate and Retreat 430 East St, Lenox, MA. 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

SUN, MAY 13-FRI, MAY 18 Medical Qigong and Eastern Medicine Symposium – Participants of all experience levels can join leaders in Eastern philosophy and practice and explore Eastern ancient healing traditions. A pre-symposium weekend of events will include Sheng Zhen Meditation and Healing with Junfeng Li, Liz Ely and Arlin Hodinh, and Ba Gua Zhang with Rick Barrett and Fukui Yang.

Eastover Estate and Retreat, 430 East St, Lenox, MA. events@eastover.com, 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

MAY 18TH-20TH Rise Gathering –A Weekend to Unite and Empower Women, Pocono Mountains, PA Women’s Circles.

Yoga. Dance. Body Confidence. Mindful Parenting.

Acupuncture. Creative Arts. Entrepreneurship. Rehab Workout. Emotional Mastery. Plant Based Nutrition.

Ecstatic Dance. Live Music. Kayaking. Bonfire. Much MORE! Promo Code: RISE, For $50 off. For info or Register at RiseGatherings.com.

THUR, JUNE 7-SUN, JUNE 10

World Qigong Tai Chi Day – 10am-6pm. World Qigong Tai Chi Day will feature free presentations and lunch demonstrations and mini-classes offered by nationally-recognized leaders like Junfeng Li of tai chi, qigong, Chinese medicine and Eastern philosophy.

Healthy food vendors and natural health providers will also be on hand. Free admission, but registration is required. Eastover Estate and Retreat, 430 East St, Lenox, MA. events@eastover.com, 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

Harmonic Sounds and Vibrations using Qigong Practice with Jay Emmanuel – Magnetic Harmonic Vibrational Therapist Jay Emmanuel, A.K., N.S., V.M. shares powerful energy techniques that use the forces of the sounds produced by the human voice in combination with Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls and The Himalayan Bowls in order to activate the natural self-healing response of the body. Jay believes every person possesses an infinite force or power that helps stimulate his or her own “Inner Natural Pharmacy.” Eastover Estate and Retreat, 430 East St, Lenox, MA. events@eastover.com, 866-264-5139 or eastover.com.

save the date

SAT, SEPT 2018-SAT, JUNE 2019

SATURDAY, APRIL 28

FRI, MAY 11-SUN, MAY 13 Introduction to Ba Gua Zhang with Fukui Yang and Rick Barrett – Ba Gua Zhang is an exquisitely beautiful, powerfully effective Chinese internal martial art. It emphasizes spiral movements, graceful footwork, and whole-body energetic connection.

Regular practice develops agility, flexibility, grace, and internal power while also cultivating a calm, focused mind, even while engaged in vigorous

AFSI - For the Training of Interfaith Ministers – All Faiths Seminary International (AFSI) is currently accepting applications now until August 15th for the fall of 2018 for our Interfaith programs. Monthly classes start the 2nd Saturday of September 2018 and end the 2nd Saturday in June 2019. Check out our website at allfaithsseminary.org. Call 212-8663795 or email infoallfaithsseminary.org@gmail. com for more information, application and/or pricing.

April 2018

29

community directory ACUPUNCTURE LOTUS HEALS

Lotus Huang L.Ac., MSTOM 20 Park Avenue, Suite 1A New York, NY 10016 347-405-4558 or 646-578-6448 LotusHeals.com Do you have aches and pains? Are you stressed, anxious or depressed? Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you want to lose weight or feel better? At Lotus Heals we specialize in holistic treatments for both women and men that heal the body and spirit naturally. Call or visit us online to book an appointment and blossom like a lotus.

CONSCIOUS CENTERS & SHOPS ALL FAITHS SEMINARY INTERNATIONAL

212-866-3795 • AllFaithsSeminary.org Classes held at CRS (Center for Remembering and Sharing) 123 4th Ave (Between 12th and 13th Street) New York, NY All Faiths Seminary International is dedicated and committed to foster respect and honor to the integrity of the individual and the individual’s own spiritual search and path. We welcome students from all faiths and all spiritual traditions including those who do not practice or follow a particular religious traditions.

AUM SHANTI BOOKSHOP

226 E 14th St., New York, NY 10003 212-260-2866 • AumShantiBookshop.com Aum Shanti Bookshop is a community oriented spiritual gallery providing offerings that inspire clarity, guidance, and inspiration on one’s journey. They offers “HighVibration”, “Reiki-Charged” and “Spiritually Energized” items such as a semi-precious gems and tumbled stones, one of a kind rare crystal specimens and clusters, beautifully hand crafted jewelry made with Love and empowering energy. Join us for tarot, psychic and astrology readings.

EDGAR CAYCE CENTER

153 West 27th St., NYC 10001 212-691-7690 • EdgarCayceNYC.org Holistic health and personal growth resource in midtown Manhattan since 1997. This non-profit Center offers: NYC’s largest selection of Cayce remedies & books, with affordable instruction on using them to bring body, mind and spirit back to a natural state of health.

30

New York City Edition

NAMASTE BOOKSHOP & HEALING CENTER

2 W 14th St., New York, NY 10011 212-645-0141 • NamasteBookshop.com Namaste Bookshop and Healing Center offers a unique and large selection of Eastern & Western philosophy books, tarot cards, crystals, pendulums, calendars, wind chimes, incense, greeting cards, yoga accessories, meditation cushions, instructional & music CD’S & DVD’s, salt lamps, and 20 sections of books- including Spanish.. The event space, in the same building above the bookshop, holds classes, workshops, and book signings as well as provides rooms for regular readers and practitioners.

NEW YORK OPEN CENTER

22 E. 30th St., New York, NY 10016 212-219-2527 • OpenCenter.org The Open Center presents programs of exceptional depth and integrity, concentrating in five major areas: Contemplative and Spiritual Traditions; Health and Wellness; Psychology; Society and Ecology; and Creativity and the Arts. Programs and teachers focused on understanding health and mind-body healing, depth psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions, compassionate dying, socially responsible investing, humanity's impact on the earth and renewable energy, untapped sources for creativity in the arts and what we can learn from world cultures.

REFLECTIONS CENTER FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING

227 E 24th Street, NYC 10010 212-974-2288 • ReflectionsYoga.com Reflections Center for Conscious Living and Yoga is an East Side urban oasis in Murray Hill/Gramercy, near Gramercy Park’s well-walked paths. We invite you to transcend the tensions of city life and join us for a “just right” yoga class with some of the best and most skilled teachers in NYC, an illuminating talk, or a super cool dance party.

Come to Reflections and celebrate all of who you are!

We are located steps from the 6 or N/R trains to 23rd St., at 227 E. 24th St. between 2nd & 3rd aves.

COUNSELING & MENTAL WELLNESS MICHAEL MONGNO MFT, PH.D

Present Centered Therapies Upper West Side drmongno@presentcenteredtherapies.com 212-799-0101 • PresentCenteredTherapies.com Awarded the “2015 Best Business of New York for Counseling and Mental Health”, Dr. Mongno is located on the Upper West Side of our great city. He has helped both couples and individuals communicate better, heal faster and achieve a better quality of life for over 20 years. Dr. Mongno’s practice originates from his own personal work over the course of his own life journey, along with the integration of the most effective therapeutic modalities. His clients report he is both compassionate and professional with an ability to create insightful and emotionally corrective experiences leading to lasting change. Dr. Mongno is available for appointments in person, on the phone and via Skype. Email him today at drmongno@presentcenteredtherapies.com.

na-newyorkcity.com

GETAWAYS & RETREATS EASTOVER ESTATE AND RETREAT 430 East St, Box 2282, Lenox, MA 01240 866-264-5139 • Eastover.com

Eastover is a 600-Acre sanctuary and residential holistic retreat center in Berkshire Lenox, MA, A dedicated facilitator of Holistic events and retreats. Minutes to Stockbridge and Great Barrington, next to October Mountain with views of Mt. Greylock.

HEALING & WELLNESS EVE FISCHER

PULSE Manifestation™ 914-262-7426 eviefischer@gmail.com Eve Fischer, MAed and channel, is cofounder and co-developer of PULSE Manifestation™, a technique for creating whatever you want in your life, while releasing old patterns that block you. PULSE (Perception Uniting Life Spiritual Energy) works on a psychological and physiological level and is designed to become a daily practice and a lifetime tool. It’s fast, easy, enlightening and effective. PULSE is also used by large groups of people for the transformation of the World in a moving ceremonial meditation called “The Ultimate Manifestation”. While PULSE Manifestation is usually taught in a workshop format, Eve is currently offering individual (or partner, friend, family member) intensive sessions, a whole day or two day experience convenient to Manhattan, Bronx and lower Westchester. Virtual experiences are also available.

MEG HAGAR MS, RD, CDN, CHHP Registered Dietitian/Holistic Nutritionist 115 Broadway, Suite 1800, Virtual appts 347-395-2815 MegTheDietitian.com

Specializing in helping stressed, busy women find relief from digestive and skin issues, Meg uses the right healing nutrition therapy and stress management to provide a well rounded and comprehensive regimen for healing. Visit the website to schedule your complimentary strategy session and find out how you can finally break free of troubling skin and tummy issues!

THINK AT

646-632-5181 • Think-AT.com Think AT is a new small business located in Battery Park city, dedicated to teaching Alexander Technique, mainly through individual lessons. The name is inspired by the focus of Alexander Technique on "thinking," which affects the way we live, including how we move whether with patterns of tension or ease. Teachers at Think AT have expertise with more than 15 years of training.

Think AT Alexander Technique

INTUITIVE GUIDANCE NATALIE DAVIS

8514 5th Ave. 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 718-688-2959 • NatalieDavisPsychic.com Gifted intuitive, Natalie Davis, has been helping people with intuitive readings for over 45 years, since the age of 7. She is a 5th generation psychic and provides guidance on your past, present, and future. She can answer all your questions, tell you about love, soulmates, business, work, marriage, health and family. She can also provide names and descriptions of meaningful people through your life. Her specialty is reuniting loved ones and she can advsie you on finding your soulmate. Her intention is to bring love, peace, and light to all.

NATURAL BEAUTY MAURICIO HAIR STUDIO

210 Fifth Ave. Suite 1102, New York, NY 10010 212-532-3030 • MauricioHair.com Mauricio is a hair artist who provides a holistic approach to the beauty industry—one that focuses not only on the physical but also on the overall well-being of his clients, through unique services, truly organic products, a tailored experience and Zen-like environment that all work together to support the mind, body and soul.

Mauricio’s private hair studio mission is to be the first of its kind: an innovative eco-friendly hair studio and ‘inner beauty salon’ that seeks to unlock every guest’s beauty. Natural color services are available for both pregnant and everyday clients.

NATURAL DENTISTRY TRIBECA CENTER FOR INTEGRATIVE HOLISTIC DENTISTS 17 Park Place, NYC 10007 212 732 2200 • Holistic-dentists.com

Dr. Lewis Gross has over 31 years’ experience providing holistic dentistry to adults and children with his staff of dental specialists and integrative practitioners. Offering less invasive and more natural solutions for patients with difficult dental issues and those who seek just a good family dentist. Our recently renovated, state-ofthe-art facility, offers among other things, Laser Dentistry, metal free implants, non-invasive oral cancer screening, ozone, and alternatives to surgery and root canal.

OZONE THERAPY DR. HOWARD ROBINS The Healing Center 200 W. 57th St., Suite 807, New York, NY 10019 212-581-0101 • DrHowardRobins@gmail.com If you have a disease or condition that you haven’t been able to get rid of, Ozone Therapy will most likely be the answer, even for people that have suffered for years and have lost all hope. If you are questioning if your condition can be treated, call or email Dr Robins contact information above.

PRODUCTS AUNT ALBERTA’S REMEDY

Homeopathic Pain Relief Cream 973-715-9097 • info@AlbertasPainRelief.com AlbertasPainRelief.com Need Relief from Arthritis? Try Aunt Alberta’s Remedy to ease muscular aches and joint pain. Her Remedy is a homeopathic pain relief cream that penetrates deep into the skin and muscle tissues. Get beneficial relief from sciatica, fibromyalgia, arthritis, neuralgia, gout, and more. All-natural ingredients! Do you want to feel a real difference from the nagging aches of arthritis? Feel less pain & have more range of motion? Use Aunt Alberta’s Pain Relief Cream! Get relief today! Great buy, get a 4oz jar for $15! See website for other options. See what people say about Aunt Alberta’s Remedy and Purchase Now on our website. www.albertaspainrelief.com.

HERBASWAY

800-672-7322 • Herbasway.com Founded in 1996, HerbaSway Laboratories is located in Wallingford, CT. Our formulas are based on traditional herbal combinations that have been used for thousands of years. Using only the purest ingredients and wild-crafted herbs, in combination with the latest Western scientific research, HerbaSway’s formulas are synergistically blended to produce optimal balance in your body.

LEVANA™ MEAL REPLACEMENT www.levanamealreplacement.com levana@levanamealreplacement.com

Finally, an all-natural alternative to most worthless corn-syrup-waterchemicals meal replacements offered on the market! Levana™ Meal Replacement is Cookbook Author and Restauranteur Levana Kirschenbaum’s brainchild: an idea whose time has finally come! It is a curated blend of dehydrated and ground pure whole foods that form a complete meal, for people with special dietary needs and for people with limited time to prepare their meals from scratch.

We offer both “sweet” and savory options that mix with liquid or combine with your favorite recipes.

Levana™ Meal Replacement meets all compliance standards: It has No Added Sugar, and is Kosher, Vegan, Certified All-Natural, Soy-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free and Non GMO.

OPTIMAL FRUITS & VEGGIE PLUS

543 West 43rd New York, NY 646-320-8999 www.M4HF.COM Fruitsveggs2go@gmail.com Juicing in a jar. Save time. Save money. No more cleaning up. 24 Organic freezed dried fruits & vegetable powder. Finally, your RDA. Protection from: inflammation, diabetes, macular degeneration,heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cancer. Add one scoop to 8oz of water and shake. Read more at www.m4hf.com

SPIRITUALITY MUSA MUHAIYADDEEN

TheWitnessWithin.com Sufi Study Center on Meetup.com Musa Muhaiyaddeen (Emanuel L. Levin) has been teaching Sufism around the world for many years and is a direct disciple of Sufi Master, M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.

Musa devotes his time serving others, inspiring everyone to clear out what blocks them from connecting to their inner spirituality and to understand their relationship with God. See his article on page 6 and calendar listing to lean more about him, his practice, and the FREE program he is offering in NYC.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT SIERRA BENDER® 888-794-3330 • SierraBender.com Sierra Bender, a modern day Renaissance woman and leading pioneer in the Women’s Empowerment, leadership movement for over 25 years. She is the founder of the SBEM Core Institute, Sierra Bender Empowerment Method®(SBEM), Boot Camp for Goddesses® internationally renowned retreat, and author of Goddess to the Core. She’s been featured on Oprah Radio, CBS, Univision TV, USA Today, Yoga Journal, Fit Yoga and other media outlets in Australia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, U.K., Germany and the U.S.

April 2018

31

32

New York City Edition

na-newyorkcity.com