Life and the desire for more...

Laughter

2008-04-04T04:38:00Z

Laughter is the best medicine. It is also the easiest way to release tension in the body.

A good belly laugh can have the same effect as an aerobic workout. You don’t have to check with your doctor before belly laughing but I do advise caution for women, like me, over 40 or who have had children. I suggest grabbing a ‘Depends’ prior to, or crossing your legs during a good belly laugh – It can happen! As I see it, this is the only drawback.

On a chemical level, laughter releases endorphins. These are biochemical compounds produced in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus and there is not a prescription or non-prescription drug that can measure up to these natural anti-depressants and pain blockers. It’s like eating chocolate without the calories.

If you find it difficult to find things to laugh about, at or with then you may want to enrol in a Laughter Yoga class. Dr. Madan Kataria created laughter Yoga a decade ago and today there are more than 5000 clubs/classes in more than 50 countries worldwide. You can potentially laugh yourself healthy in just 20 minutes a day.

Laughter boosts the immune system, can help lower blood pressure, reduces stress, improves our mood and provides an effect of overall well-being. It is difficult to be tense and laugh at the same time TRY IT!

Touch

2008-03-16T03:30:00Z

Our most powerful experiences as human beings come through the medium of touch. As infants, our parents caress and care for us and we respond and reciprocate, reaching out to explore the world around us. Touch can make us feel nurtured it plays a strong role in developing social bonds and helps us feel connected to the outside world as well as the way we feel about ourselves.

Many studies have shown that the quality and quantity of appropriate loving touch is crucial for our healthy physical, emotional, and mental development. One interesting study, conducted in the mid 1960’s by psychologist Harry Harlow, demonstrates how fundamental touch and attention is as it relates to human development and provides us food for thought.

Infant rhesus monkeys, raised in a lab, were given the choice between two surrogate mothers. One mother covered in terry cloth was lit from behind with a light bulb for warmth and the second was constructed of wire mesh and possessed a nipple that supplied milk. The monkeys consistently clung to the terry cloth mother for comfort and only when extremely hungry would dash to the wire mesh mother and then quickly return to the comfort mother. When the lab raised monkeys were introduced into a population of monkeys of the same age that were raised by natural mothers they were unable to socialize. When it came to raising their own infants there was no maternal attachment and one of the lab monkeys ate its offspring.

While we’re not monkeys, we are tactile creatures and touch is an instinctive, natural language that we all speak and understand. Touch is essential for stimulating our nervous system and promoting healthy physical development and vital for our mental, social and self-development. The best thing about touch is that is not one sided and there is benefit to both the giver as well as the receiver.

The Healer's Role

2008-03-09T01:25:00Z

I apply the term ‘healer’ to individuals who work in the field of complementary care and alternative healing modalities such as Reflexology, Reiki, Energy Therapies or legitimate types of massage, individuals who work in the field of traditional western medicine, Doctors and Nurses as well as Ministers and Counsellors. The practitioner, regardless of modality, facilitates the healing response – they do not cause it.

The role of the ‘healer’ practicing complementary care or energy work is to be present in the moment on all levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual acting as a witness to empower, support and move their client to self-awareness and wholeness. This is not an ego led role and in order for clients to receive the most benefit from their treatment of choice, the practitioner needs to – get – out – of – the - way – and allow the internal process of healing to happen.

The first rule of therapeutic work is – Do No Harm. The healer works from a place of honesty, non-judgement, and trust, acceptance, and reverence for their client. Their tools are their positive intent and their knowledge of the body’s energy systems that facilitate the body’s natural restorative process.

The Healing Process

2008-02-23T02:07:00Z

Have you ever had the experience of making healthy changes to your lifestyle? You may have chosen to start eating healthier foods or quit smoking, maybe start taking vitamin supplements or have started therapeutic body work. It’s wonderful, you get that initial burst of well-being, you’re gung ho and you feel great about your new course of action – only to experience a cold, flu or various aches and pains a few days later. Leaving you to wonder why you bothered in the first place. You made these changes to feel better and now you feel worse. Well, don’t abandon your health wise choices just yet what you may be experiencing is called ‘The Healing Process’.

The healing process is the body’s return to it’s natural balance or homeostasis. Your body is working overtime to detoxify and eliminate your excesses. Remember, in the past you either ate it, drank it or smoked it and now your body is trying to get the junk out of the trunk – so to speak. You may realize changes during the process that could include:

q General Fatigue

q Mental Irritability

q Restless Dreams

q Fever or Chills

q Increased Thirst

q Frequent Urination

q Aches or Pains ie headaches or low back pain

q Increased Perspiration/Body Odours

The body is infinitely intelligent and knowing that the healing process in a natural event will keep you from becoming alarmed or discouraged. Resorting to medicating the symptoms will impede the healing process. To support your body through the healing process and alleviate some of the symptoms drink additional water, eat plenty of raw fruit and steamed vegetables, get plenty of fresh air and proper sleep. Our bodies are programmed to heal and re-establishing health is an automatic response

Biography of a psychic

2007-12-11T03:03:00Z

My field of study is complementary care and the healing arts. I assist my clients in their journey toward wholeness using energy and touch therapies. I am a certified tarot reader, and have studied under one of Canada's Grandmasters.

The tarot resonates with my intuitive abilities bringing the unseen to the seen, providing insight to overcome obstacles, make positive decisions, and move fluidly, with deliberate intent, to balance body, mind and spirit. I care deeply for people and their plights and I take a candid, practical approach with my readings seeking bottom line answers for positive outcomes ~ Life is not fated: we have options, we have choices. We just may not know them yet.

From age 4, I have experienced precognition through dreams, visions and later voices. It was a sense of knowing for which I had no explanation and there was no one who could provide insight into why. My dreams revealed bizarre images and messages it was confusing, at times frightening. I felt like a stranger in a strange land. Without guidance or understanding of this ‘gift’ I deliberately filled my life with busyness, spinning at times like a whirling dervish in order to stop the free flowing information. This ‘gift’, finally acknowledged and understood, has provided opportunity for change in direction and has kept loved ones safe. It has imparted foreknowledge of emotionally devastating natural life events in order to prepare for acceptance and has helped others through their struggles and life crisis events.

I understand the quest for answers, the desire to know, to feel complete and at home in your own skin. In my own journey, I have learned you must honour and share your gifts and be ready for the adventure of their discovery. When you dance to the rhythm of your heart, the music of your spirit and the footsteps of your soul, life is a graceful dance.