Earth Star Magazine

Transcription

Earth Star Magazine

EARTH STAR
FEB/MAR 2007
CYCLES OF CHANGE
EVOLVE YOUR BRAIN
ONENESS
REV. EVROL OFFICER
GM JUMPS INTO
ELECTRIC CAR RACE
WALKING YOUR
BLUES AWAY
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2007
EARTH STAR
3
EARTH STAR
CONTENTS
ON THE COVER
22 Evolve Your Brain
The Science of Changing Your Mind
by Dr. Joe Dispenza
26 Walking Your Blues Away
How To Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being
by Thom Hartmann
32 Cycles of Change
by Gail Gorman and Marilou & Jerry Seavey
49 Oneness
by Rev. Evrol Officer
74 GM Jumps into the Electric Car Race
by Paul Scott
FEATURES
Page 49
12 Heart and Mind
Cover Art
Alignment
by Kynthia
Kynthia is a California
The Dangerous Link Between Heart Disease & Depression multi-platform artist who
by William Davis, M.D., FACC
creates visions that speak
18 Down To Earth Astrology
by Tim Gunns
38 Divine Intervention
by Andrew Cohen
38 Can Chiropractic Help Your Headache?
by Pheng Kouch, D.C.
40 Vision Tips
by Rosemary Gaddum Gordon, D.B.O., M.A.
42 Conversations With God
Reveals The Spiritual Side of Homelessness
by Jill V. Mangino
Page 22
66 Mystical Stones
Ocean Jasper
by Robert Simmons & Naisha Ahsian
directly to the Heart. The
beauty of her art is multidimensional and deeply
evocative; they are visions
that inspire and uplift.
“My passion is ecstatic
energy and states of being.
Art is my path of self
discovery and creative
expression. Encounters
with Life drive my art and
the ordinary moments
become extraordinary. I
seek to reveal the Vibrant
Force behind the cloud and
sky.” www.KynthiaArt.com.
DEPARTMENTS
5
24
Page 26
4
EARTH STAR
36
41
46
50
51
68
72
Up Front
Health News
Yoga Listings
Green Living
Calendar of Events
New England Notebook
Directory of Professional Services
Book Reviews
Classified Marketplace
Kynthia
For more great visionary art
visit: www.artainment.com
Earth Star Up Front
BRAZILIAN BERRY
Destroys Cancer Cells In Lab
Brazilian berry popular in
health food contains antioxidants that destroyed cultured
human cancer cells in a recent
University of Florida study, one of the
first to investigate the fruit’s purported
benefits.
Published recently in the Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the
study showed extracts from acai (ahSAH-ee) berries triggered a self-destruct
response in up to eighty-six percent of
leukemia cells tested, said Stephen
Talcott, an assistant professor with UF’s
Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences.
“Acai berries are already considered one of the richest fruit sources of
antioxidants,” Talcott said. “This study
was an important step toward learning
A
what people may gain from
using beverages, dietary
supplements or other products made with the berries.”
He cautioned that the
study, funded by UF
sources, was not intended to
show whether compounds
found in acai berries could prevent
leukemia in people.
“This was only a cell-culture model
and we don’t want to give anyone false
hope,” Talcott said. “We are encouraged
by the findings, however. Compounds
that show good activity against cancer
cells in a model system are most likely
to have beneficial effects in our bodies.”
Historically, Brazilians have used
acai berries to treat digestive disorders
and skin conditions, he said. Current
marketing efforts by retail merchants
and Internet businesses suggest acai
products can help consumers lose
weight, lower cholesterol and gain energy.
“A lot of claims are being made, but
most of them haven’t been tested scientifically,” Talcott said. “We are just
beginning to understand the complexity
of the acai berry and its health-promoting effects.”
—University of Florida News
Prince Charles: Climate Change 'Biggest Threat'
T
he Prince of Wales has
described climate change
as the “biggest threat to
mankind” and warned that we
must act now before it is too late.
The environmentalist Prince
called for greater determination
and political will from governments across the world to fight
global warming.
“Climate change is now a critical issue for every
Commonwealth country,” he wrote in CPQ, the quarterly
magazine of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU).
“The challenge is to find ways to mobilize the whole of
their society in tackling this ultimate threat to mankind.”
The Prince said climate change affects every part of the
planet but could not be seen and was therefore easily
ignored.
“I believe that mankind has all the necessary skills,
resources and ingenuity to tackle climate change effectively,” he wrote.
“The question is not whether we can do this, but
whether we will, and whether we will do so in time to affect
the outcome.” —London Evening Standard
Ride Your Way To Health
A
fter years of mountain-biking enthusiasm, road bikes are making
a comeback. According to the National Bicycle Dealers Assn., the
road bike market share grew from five percent of bikes sold in
2002 to sixteen percent in 2005. Much of that growth is in the sales of
high-end bicycles, dealers say.
The trend may be part of the Lance Armstrong effect—the cancer survivor's seven wins of the Tour de France brought road bike racing to the
attention of the general public. But it's more than that. Aging baby
boomers with bad knees and the cash to spend on fancy bicycles are now
taking up road cycling as a low-impact alternate to running for cardiovascular exercise. — L.A. Times
Save Bicycles from the Landfill
ResourceRevival.com recycles old bicycle parts into clocks, tables, picture
frames and jewelry. For a list of more bike programs, visit the International
Bicycle Funds website, iBike.org.
EARTH STAR
5
Free Night on an ISLAND!
Would you like to be pampered for a day?
Book a full or
half day
retreat by calling:
508-693-0001 or
800-595-9996
Well why not take the day off and spend it with us
here at Martha’s Vineyard Holistic Retreat. Imagine a
full day of Spa Treatments and total relaxation from
9:00am to 5:00pm. LOSE A POUND A DAY with our
famous detox program. MVdiet/detox allows you to cleanse and lose
weight while having fun juicing, colonics or massage, body wrap and
private consult with N.D. We would provide a free room with private
bath, soothing music, feet reflexology or, if you prefer, infra red
sauna…for a day you won’t want to end. ALL FOR $350.
Visit our website at www.mvholisticretreat.com
We’ll be waiting for you!
EARTH STAR
The Leading Magazine for Holistic Living
in New England
EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Cody Bideaux
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tim Gunns
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DESIGN & PRODUCTION
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
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Joe Dispenza • Rosemary Gaddum Gordon
Gail Gorman • Tim Gunns • Thom Hartmann
Pheng Kouch • Jill V. Mangino • Evrol Officer
Paul Scott • Jerry Seavey • Marilou Seavey
Robert Simmons
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Manuscripts, artwork, and photographs
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Earth Star Magazine, Copyright © 2007
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All Rights Reserved. No articles may be used
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Volume XXlX, No. 174 — February / March 2007
www.earthstarmag.com
6
EARTH STAR
Earth Star Up Front
Wine and Pine May
Slow Aging
H
arvard medical professor David
Sinclair, whose research focuses
on finding the genes and small
molecules that slow aging, has regularly
seen his work reduced to oversimplified
pronouncements like “the secret to living
longer is found in red wine and pine trees.”
Tuning In To ET
I
t’s an alien idea to some, but not to scientists
at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astro-physics. The center is set to announce
plans to scan about a thousand stars for signs of
extraterrestrial life with its new radio telescope.
“We may pick up spurious signals from people
that never meant for us to hear them and get an
inkling that something’s going on,” said David Aguilar, communications
director for the center. —New York Post
New Blood Test for
Heart Disease
When asked directly, Will we live longer if
we drink copious amounts of wine and
chew on pine cones? The associate professor of pathology whose work is featured on
a ‘NOVA: science—NOW’ airing on PBS
television said, “The amount of red wine
you’d have to drink would kill you. But
what we did find is that there are molecules
found in red wine and other things that can
slow down aging in complex organisms
like mice.” Professor Sinclair is also an
associate member of the Harvard-MIT
Broad Institute for bioinformatics.
A
n inexpensive blood test
may identify which heartdisease patients are at the
highest risk of a stroke or heart
attack, allowing doctors to move
more aggressively to help them.
The study, published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, followed nearly a thousand people for three years.
The blood test, which measures a combination of amino acids
called NT-proBNP, would cost from twenty to forty dollars.
Researchers found that heart-disease patients with the highest levels of the substance had nearly eight times the risk of stroke, heart
attack or heart failure as those with the lowest levels. –Reuters
Vision And Hearing Loss Connected
V
ision and hearing loss are likely to occur hand-inhand in older people, research suggests. Australian
scientists examined about two thousand people with
an average age of seventy. They found the volunteers with
restricted eyesight were more likely to suffer hearing impairments and vice-versa.
Writing in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology, the
researchers said the underlying causes for these sensory
impairments may be the same.
Among the participants, all from the Blue Mountains
region in New South Wales, Australia, one hundred and seventy-eight had a visual impairment, categorized as eyesight
worse than 20/40.
And a further fifty-six had “best-corrected” visual impairment, meaning even when using glasses or contact lenses their
eyesight was worse than 20/40.
Of this combined group, two hundred and six people
(eighty-eight percent) also had a hearing problem.
The researchers discovered that, for each line of the eye
chart used by ophthalmologists that a volunteer could not see,
there was an eighteen percent (for the visually impaired) and
thirteen percent (for the
best-corrected visually
impaired)
increase in
the
likelihood of hearing loss.
Conversely,
those in the group that suffered hearing loss were one-pointfive times more likely to have eyesight problems than those
with good hearing.
The authors, from the University of Sydney and the
National Acoustics Laboratories, Sydney, said the connection
between vision and hearing could be explained by the fact that
both are consequences of aging.
They suggested common risk factors can predispose people to these sensory impairments. —BBC News
EARTH STAR
7
Call Now to Reserve Your Space for
Two Special ‘Feel the Energy’Tours of
This Magical Healing Property
SEALED BID SALE
Join us on Sunday, March 4 and Sunday March
18 for a tour of a very special healing property
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This sacred space and property will be sold
through ‘sealed bid’. The opportunity to own this
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owner (a Boston Globe Home of the Week).
Tour - by appointment only
Sunday, March 4
Sunday, March 18
Private viewings at: www.lenair.com/thesanctuary
For reservations, details of time and sealed bid process,
call Tim or Cody at 987-465-1128 or
Bill Barrows at 800-516-0177/ 978-423-6150.
8
EARTH STAR
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2007 EARTH STAR
9
Earth Star Up Front
Rosehips ‘Could
Help Tackle
Inflammatory
Diseases’
R
osehips could provide new
ways of tackling a whole
range of inflammatory diseases, research suggests.
The red berries, one of the richest sources of vitamin C, have been
used in cooking and medicine for
hundreds of years.
More recently, a rosehip extract
has been shown to reduce pain and
improve movement in patients with
osteoporosis.
Experts now believe the same
rosehip ingredient may combat
rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease
and even heart disease.
All are conditions in which
inflammation plays an important
role.
Biochemist Dr Kaj Winther,
from Frederiksberg Hospital in
Copenhagen, Denmark, who has a
special interest in rosehips, said:
“There’s emerging evidence that the
anti inflammatory and antioxidant
compounds in rosehips might have
quite a wide therapeutic effect. The
preliminary findings are very exciting.”
A small trial run by Dr Winther
showed that a herbal remedy called
LitoZin, made from the ground up
seeds and shells of hips from the dog
rose, Rosa canina, had a big impact
on pain suffered by osteoarthritis
patients. —Evening Standard, London
10
EARTH STAR
Sat., April 14, 2007 –– 9AM - 5:30PM
11
Heart and
Mind
The Dangerous Link
Between Heart Disease
and Depression
By William Davis, MD, FACC
12
EARTH STAR
Heart disease and depression often go
hand in hand. Shared biochemical
similarities between the two conditions suggest that common treatment
strategies may address both illnesses.
Here we provide a primer on nutritional supplements that may help navigate the complex interplay of these
two major health issues.
Heart disease and clinical depression
present with different symptoms and
are conventionally managed with different treatments. While heart disease
can be acutely life threatening, depression tends to be slow and insidious.
How can the seemingly unrelated conditions of heart disease and depression
possibly be related?
Emerging research indicates that
the deeper we probe, the more alike
the two disorders appear to be. While
the ultimate manifestations of heart
disease and depression differ, the
underlying biochemical pathologies
are surprisingly similar. Beneath the
emotional surface of mood and
depression can be a raging physical
undercurrent of hormonal distortions,
impaired immunity, and inflammation.
These disturbances of physiology contribute to the growth and abnormal
activity of coronary plaque, eventually
leading to heart attack. Depressed people, in fact, suffer a fourfold greater
risk of heart attack compared to nondepressed people.
If the two seemingly disparate disorders of depression and coronary
heart disease share common causes,
can there also be common treatments?
Exciting new insights suggest that
strategies to address both conditions
do exist. These therapies work by
treating the shared metabolic origins
of heart disease and depression. The
good news is that some of these treatments are powerful nutritional therapeutics, readily available to all.
Depression:
More Than a Feeling
Everyone has had the experience of
feeling sad or blue. How do these
everyday feelings differ from clinical
depression? Symptoms of depression
include loss of interest in activities
previously enjoyed, struggling to sleep
or awakening early, difficulty concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or
guilt, loss of appetite or weight, and
suicidal thoughts. Symptoms that
interfere with daily activities and that
last longer than two weeks may signal
clinical depression.
Far more than just a state of mind
involving sadness or hopelessness,
depression is a disease in the true
organic sense, with measurable symptoms. In the last decade, clinical investigations have uncovered the myriad
physical manifestations of depression.
Until recently, these manifestations
have been little understood, but growing evidence asserts that they have
very real consequences.
Feeling good can hinge on a precarious balance of internal dialogue
and external events. This balance can
easily tip, setting the stage for negative
emotions and the resulting metabolic
consequences. At what point do negative emotions begin to add to risk for
heart disease?
The line that separates depression
from the more commonplace feelings
of sadness and anger that are part of all
our lives can be somewhat hazy. It is a
matter of the degree and duration of
symptoms. Full-blown depression is
not necessary to increase heart disease
risk, as even moderate feelings of
hopelessness and sadness can more
than double the risk of heart attack.
People who chronically experience
negative emotions—such as unexpressed anger, hostility, and resentment—also have a higher risk for
heart attack. They experience a level
of risk similar to that of the fully
depressed.
Metabolic Underpinnings
of Depression
Beneath the surface of sadness and
hopelessness blazes an inferno of
metabolic phenomena. Increased levels of inflammatory proteins, such as
interleukin one-beta (IL-1ß) and tumor
necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), circu-
late in the blood, suggesting that lowgrade, body-wide inflammation
accompanies depression. IL-1ß and
TNF-a levels correlate with the severity of depression, with higher levels of
inflammatory proteins linked to more
serious depression. C-reactive protein
is another inflammatory protein
found at higher levels in depressed
persons. All these inflammatory mediators have been clearly linked to
increased risk of heart attack.
Extensive clinical trial data show that
when the fires of inflammation are
burning, coronary plaque is unstable
and more prone to “rupture,” an event
that can lead to heart attacks.
Just as a life-threatening event
such as a car accident triggers biochemical reactions in the body, depression activates the release of stress hormones. The feelings of anger, frustration, hostility, and anxiety are also
associated with increased levels of
stress hormones. Hypersecretion of
corticotrophin-releasing
hormone
from the hypothalamus triggers the
release of cortisol and norepinephrine,
both of which are involved in the survival response that occurs when the
human organism is threatened. These
hormones are potent contributors to
hypertension, insulin resistance, and
diabetes, three well-established risks
for coronary disease. When negative
emotions become chronic and deeply
rooted, the risk for developing pathological heart disease grows.
Cortisol and norepinephrine also
contribute to development of metabolic syndrome, a combination of abdominal obesity, hypertension, low highdensity lipoprotein (HDL), and higher
blood sugar (above 110 mg/dL). The
epidemic numbers of overweight and
obese people in America are fueling a
skyrocketing increase in metabolic
syndrome, estimated to currently
affect forty-seven million US adults.
Metabolic syndrome is a rapidly growing cause of heart disease, and
depressed people are particularly
prone to develop the features of metabolic syndrome.
During periods of depression, the
“fight-or-flight” response of the symContinued on page 16
EARTH STAR
13
Earth Star Up Front
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or what may be the first
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On Tegua Island in Vanuato, a
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Rising oceans, swollen by melting polar ice caps, threaten coastal
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Free Night on an ISLAND!
Would you like to be pampered for a day?
Book a full or
half day
retreat by calling:
508-693-0001 or
Well why not take the day off and spend it with us here at Martha’s
Vineyard Holistic Retreat. Imagine a full day of Spa Treatments and
total relaxation from 9:00am to 5:00pm. LOSE A POUND A DAY with
our famous detox program. MVdiet/detox allows you to cleanse and
lose weight while having fun juicing, colonics or massage, body wrap
and private consult with N.D. We would provide a free room with private bath, soothing music, feet reflexology or, if you prefer, infra red
sauna…for a day you won’t want to end. ALL FOR $350.
800-595-9996
14
EARTH STAR
SENIOR STUDENTS
T
hey’re from the old school,
but one Chinese official
wants to send them to a new
one—a university for the elderly.
“These institutions may even
award degrees to answer the dreams
of many seniors who yearn to be
university graduates but were
robbed of such chances in their
younger days, as they had to till and
toil for their families,” said Leong
Chi-hung of the government’s
Elderly Commission.
—Dan Kadison, Wire Services
Earth Star Up Front
HEART-HEALTH
WEED
E
chium, a fast-growing
plant—known to some gardeners as a pesky weed—
may soon prove to be one of the
best plant sources of omega-3 and
omega-6 fatty acids. Unlike other
plant sources of essential fatty
acids, such as borage and evening
primrose, echium contains a significant amount of stearidonic acid.
The acid, which is typically more
common in fish oil than plant oils,
plays an important role in fatty acid
metabolism and might also fight
inflammation in the body. The plant
genus Echium comprises dozens of
species, many of which have long
histories of medicinal use. Echium
lycopsis has been used as an
antivenom against snake bites, for
example, and Echium nervosum has
been used to calm frayed nerves.
Lab studies show that Echium
vulgare has some antibacterial
activity, and animal studies suggest
Echium amoenum can reduce anxiety levels. In a small clinical trial
published in the Journal of
Nutrition last year, oil from Echium
plantagineum lowered blood
triglyceride levels in people with
hypertriglyceridemia (high blood
lipid levels). Scientists at the Wake
Forest and Harvard Center for
Botanical Lipids research center at
Wake Forest University are studying echium’s effects on atherosclerosis, asthma and arthritis.
—L.A. Times
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Heart & Mind....Continued from page 13
pathetic nervous system operates in a
continuous state of heightened activation, releasing stress hormones into the
bloodstream. The calming parasympathetic system is simultaneously suppressed. This reaction can be measured as blunted, beat-to-beat variation
in heart rate, or heart-rate variability,
even when the heart rate is normal.
Decreased heart-rate variability predicts heightened potential for dangerous heart (ventricular) arrhythmias
and sudden death.
For years, epidemiologists have
explored the unexpectedly low risk of
both heart disease and depression in
cultures in which fish is eaten in abundant quantities. The common thread
seems to be the high content of omega3 fatty acids in fish oils. Through his
studies across numerous cultures, Dr.
Joseph Hibbeln of the National
Institutes of Health has documented
the remarkable association between
higher levels of fish consumption and
lower rates of depression. He was also
among the first to draw the connection
between greater fish consumption and
the lower likelihood of heart attack.
Indeed, both depression and heart
disease are associated with low concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in
red blood cells. Conventional prescription antidepressant medication fails to
correct an imbalance of omega-3 fatty
acids. It is tempting to suggest that
supplementation with fish oil rich in
omega-3 fatty acids might provide a
common therapy for both depression
and heart disease. Research discussed
later in this article suggests that it
does.
Homocysteine represents another
intriguing connection between depression and heart disease. Homocysteine,
an amino acid associated with the deficiency of certain B vitamins, has been
clearly and conclusively associated
with increased risk of heart attack.
Less well known is homocysteine’s
role in emotions. Depression, poor
response to antidepressant medication,
and dysthymia (a lesser form of
depression) have all been linked to low
blood levels of folic acid. Folic acid
deficiency causes high homocysteine
blood levels. Folate-deficient people
are also more likely to be deeply
depressed and for longer periods. Up
to fifty percent of depressed people
have homocysteine levels that are significantly above normal, considered to
be greater than 10 micromoles per liter
(mmol/L) of blood. This variety of
depression responds poorly to antidepressant medication, but does respond
to folic acid. Studies examining
depressed people in a number of settings have firmly established that folic
acid replacement, resulting in reduced
homocysteine blood levels, is an effective treatment for depression and a
useful addition to prescription antidepressant therapies.
Depression and feelings of anger,
hostility, and anxiety share several
biochemical traits that are similar to
those that form the foundations of risk
for heart disease. These include a tendency toward inflammation, increased
levels of stress hormones, the presence
of metabolic syndrome, blunted heartrate variability, reduced levels of
omega-3 fatty acids, and elevated
homocysteine levels. Nutritional supplements may be powerful tools in
managing the overlapping syndromes
of depression and heart disease.
The Omega-3 Connection
Fish oil, containing abundant quantities of the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), is a dual-action
supplement with compelling data to
support its use for both depression and
heart disease. Some have called
omega-3 fatty acids the “missing link”
between the two disorders.
The human brain contains an
extraordinarily high concentration of
omega-3 fatty acids. This simple fact
has prompted extensive investigation
of the role of essential fats in various
brain functions and diseases. A deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids has been
associated with conditions as diverse
as hostility, cognitive decline with
aging, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Several studies have
demonstrated that people suffering
from major depression are measurably
deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. Not
surprisingly, these and other studies
have highlighted the failure of conventional antidepressant medication to
correct the omega-3 deficiency. From
an epidemiological viewpoint, cultures
marked by abundant fish consumption
and omega-3 intake, such as Eskimos
and some of the coastal natives of
Japan and Canada, are far less likely to
suffer
from
depression
than
Americans. Conversely, cultures consuming less fish than Americans, such
as New Zealanders, suffer substantially higher rates of depression.
An ultra low-fat diet (with less
than twenty percent of calories derived
from fat) may be contraindicated in
individuals who suffer both heart disease and depression. Although low-fat
diets have demonstrated benefits for
some people with heart disease, such
diets tend to be seriously deficient in
omega-3 fatty acids. Some authorities
have proposed that low-fat diets may
even contribute to depression because
of their low omega-3 content. All too
often, low-fat diets are high in carbohydrates. For the forty-seven million
Americans estimated to have metabolic syndrome, a high-carbohydrate diet
may magnify heart disease risk. It can
also result in most fat intake coming
from omega-6 fatty acids, compounds
that increase thromboxane A2, a proinflammatory and vessel-constrictive
agent that contributes to heart disease
and may promote the depressive syndrome.
When fish oil is given to people
suffering from depression, mood is
substantially improved. A small,
placebo-controlled trial conducted by
Lauren Marangell, MD, chief of psychopharmacology at the Baylor
College of Medicine, demonstrated
improved mood in depressed persons
following six weeks of treatment with
2 grams per day of DHA in a trial of
thirty-six patients. A similar study at
the Taiwan Medical University in
China compared higher doses of fish
oil (9.6 grams per day) with placebo in
twenty-eight patients with major
depression. Substantial improvement
Continued on page 62
16
EARTH STAR
17
FEBRUARY - MARCH 2007
A
powerful full moon in Leo late on the 1st could elicit some emotionallycharged dramatic outbursts for a day or two around this date. Don’t push too
hard now, or be overly assertive or aggressive towards colleagues or work-mates,
as there’s a tendency to exhibit a “my way is best” attitude during this period.
Nonetheless, full moons are often a time of enlightenment, when perceptions are heightened and fresh insights may be forthcoming. The Leo-Aquarius axis emphasizes personal creative efforts that, if selflessly applied, may be of benefit to others, which represents
a higher manifestation of the potential this full moon holds.
Mercury enters Pisces on the 2nd for an initial visit, before it retrogrades back into
Aquarius on the 26th. Intuitive and telepathic abilities increase during its transit through
this perceptive sign, and yet, discerning fact from fantasy could prove challenging.
Maintain contact with reality now.
The sun aligns in conjunction with mysterious Neptune, ruler of Pisces, on the 8th, before
moving on to form an opposition with Saturn on the 10th. Strike a balance between addressing your own needs, and your obligations to others during this latter, more serious transit.
Don't take on more than you can comfortably handle. Avoid speculation. Working alone
brings greatest satisfaction now.
Cosmic messenger, Mercury, planetary ruler of logic and reason,
turns retrograde late on February 13th for the first of its three
annual directional shifts. During these three-week periods, in
which Mercury actually appears to move backwards through the
zodiac, astrological lore advises that we should avoid making
binding agreements, embarking upon ambitious new ventures,
nor to boldly go where we haven’t been before. The good news
is, though, that these brief retrograde phases are wonderfully
appropriate for editing previously created literary works, going
over facts and figures for errors or inconsistencies, for reviewing
plans or strategies for a new venture, or simply for revisiting local
haunts you’ve not frequented in a while.
February’s progressive Aquarius new moon on the 17th favors
goal-setting, and planning for the future. Be a visionary during
this inspiration-laden lunar cycle, allow your creative imagination free rein. Flashes of pure genius could inspire bold, new
objectives, enhanced by a helpful sextile to Pluto. Consider technology upgrades and innovations that could help you to be more
productive in the weeks ahead.
The sun glides out of the airy, intellectually stimulating environment of Aquarius and enters the ethereal waters of tropical Pisces
on February 18th. During this reflective four-week cycle, tune in
to your dreams and meditations for guidance or inspiration.
Balance what you put “out there” in helping others with some
quality quiet time by yourself. Dance, film, and myth can also
have greater appeal and meaning now.
18
EARTH STAR
Down To Earth Astrology
The Chinese New Year of the fire Boar
begins on February 18th. Good will to all
is a general theme of Boar years, in which
business and commerce can flourish. An
air of abundance is all-pervasive, and we
are encouraged to be thankful for what we
have. Indeed, contentment and security are
keywords for the Boar year. New friends
and social connections can be readily
made (at the trough, presumably). Do
guard against excess, though, as overindulgence in la bon vie can overtake one at the
drop of a hat. In terms of celestial influences and cosmic coaxing, this is likely to
be anything but a Boar-ing year!
Passions rise as Venus enters Aries on the
21st, encouraging us to be more socially
outgoing; for some, perhaps, in pursuit of
romance, while others may simply want to
broaden their circle of friends, or to become
more actively involved in creative pursuits.
Seek out new sources of personal income
over the next month, while the money planet transits the sign of drive and initiative.
Creative artistic pursuits are also favored.
The inferior conjunction between the sun and
Mercury retrograde occurs on the 22nd
releasing subconscious memories or ideas
into our cognitive awareness. Intuitive flashes can provide insight into and a better understanding of your current life path—or perhaps reveal alternatives. Communicate your
bright ideas to those who could be of help.
Mars enters innovative Aquarius on the
25th, for a six-week sojourn, a transit well
suited to actively pursuing goals and objectives. Projects requiring teamwork can fare
particularly well now.
When Mercury revisits Aquarius on the
26th review recent work for errors. The
study of metaphysics, science, or astrology
can provide intellectual stimulation, during
what can often be a mentally frustrating
period with Mercury in retrograde.
As February draws to a close, the ringed
planet, Saturn forms a precise opposition
with distant Neptune on the 28th, the second
in a series of three potent alignments. The
same alignment occurred on August 31st,
2006, and the polarity culminates for the
third time on June 25th, after which the
opposition gradually separates. As with all
opposition aspects, we are challenged to pay
attention to key relationships. Make sure
you're on the same page with associates and
significant others and above all, be honest,
sincere, and respectful; strive to do the right
thing. Clarity of intent is important now.
firm grip on reality.
A total lunar eclipse occurs at the Virgo full
moon (6:17pm) on March 3rd, visible on
the East Coast, low on the eastern horizon
(but not, alas, on the West Coast). Don’t
sweat the details around this fastidious
Virgo full moon period. If you’re well
organized and focused, much can be
accomplished now. New information may
come to light that could facilitate progress
at work, or a breakthrough that allows a
personal project to quickly reach fruition.
The new moon on March 18th in 29° of
Pisces is also a partial solar eclipse and
portends a four-week period in which
open, sensitive communications could
very much help to not only clear the air or
dispel the fog, but contribute to healing
some old wounds or rifts. This is a time for
sharing your fears and philosophies,
dreams and creative visions with those
closest to you. Perceptions will be
sharp...perhaps scarily so. The irony is,
however, that, with all of this additional
psychic input, discerning fact from fantasy
could, itself, pose a significant challenge.
The sun makes its annual conjunction with
Uranus, planet of innovation, on the 5th.
Investigate new technology or computer
software, particularly to increase work efficiency. Revolutionize business or career
strategies to incorporate new methodologies. Research spiritual “technologies”
with which you resonate. Above all, allow
your creative self-expression free rein.
To the relief of many, Mercury, planet of
choices and decisions, resumes direct
motion on March 7th, in 26° Aquarius, signaling the “all clear” to sign important documents, make travel plans, or to move
ahead with new projects—cautiously at
first, as an element of impulsiveness may
still prevail until the winged messenger
gathers forward momentum.
When Jupiter makes the first in a series of
three trines to Saturn on March 16th,
review your long-range goals or objectives; seek clarity of purpose or intent.
Restructure your business affairs to optimize assets. Schedule a job interview now.
This aspect will culminate again on May
6th and finally on January 21st, 2008.
The vernal equinox occurs on March 20th
signaling the long-awaited arrival of
spring, as the sun makes its grand entrance
into tropical Aries—the first zodiacal sign.
As with New Year’s Day, consider what
you want to accomplish in the next twelve
months and, with increased determination,
go after it! A grand trine in fire signs
between the moon, Jupiter and Saturn adds
a powerful infusion of perseverance to
assist your best efforts.
Mars forms a series of energizing aspects
towards month's end: an opposition to
Saturn (22nd), requiring patience, especially with authority figures; a high energy
sextile to Jupiter (23rd), auguring an active
period; and a beguiling conjunction with
Neptune (25th), when unconscious desires
are powerfully stimulated. The doors of
perception could open wide now, providing intuitive insights into business or career
matters, but be realistic if making financial
or business decisions at this time.
Venus makes several flowing alignments
during the first two weeks of March,
before moving into its more preferred territory of Taurus on the 17th. Trines to
Jupiter (8th) and Saturn (9th) favor bold
business moves, and efforts to grow your
financial worth, while a sextile to Neptune
(16th) aligns mind, mood and feelings,
enhancing awareness and artistic abilities.
Upon its ingress into Taurus, money, possessions, and personal values are emphasized through April 11th. Treat your home
to a few new indoor plants.
Tiny, distant Pluto, planet of birth, death, and
metamorphosis, makes its annual retrograde
station on the 31st (till September 7th),
heralding what can often be a cathartic period for many, when the darker side of life may
be encountered. This is the time to eliminate
any psychological, or physical, obstacles that
may be impeding your growth and evolution.
Be aware that smoldering anger or resentment can erupt without warning around this
potent planetary station, much like a volcano
that suddenly blows its top. Take care not to
vent your own frustrations unnecessarily on
your nearest and dearest.
Mercury, now direct, enters Pisces once
again, just hours before a potent new
moon. While one's intuitive and telepathic
abilities can increase, discerning fact from
fantasy could prove challenging. Keep a
Following is a general overview of how the
planetary trends for February/March 2007
apply to each sun sign. If you know your
rising sign (Ascendant), read that, too,
for additional insights.
19
Aries
(March 20—April 19)
With action planet, Mars, your sign’s ruler, still cruising
through your solar tenth house of success till Feb. 25th,
pursue career options or opportunities, as this stellar transit
only occurs once every two years. Mind you, later this year, the week
before Christmas, in fact, lucky Jupiter enters this sector of your solar
chart for a year, so don’t despair if you're not quite ready to make a step
up the career ladder just yet; next year could be exceptional. Meanwhile,
you'd do well to set some new professional goals in the four weeks
following the Aquarius new moon (17th), when planning for the future
is strongly supported. You could feel on top of the world when Venus,
planet of love and money, crosses your solar ascendant on the 21st, lifting
your mood and increasing your luck and personal magnetism. By early
March, Mars has moved on into your solar eleventh house of friends and
collaborators, who could provide the motivating force that encourages
you to assume a leadership role in a creative project or venture. Be sure
to make some quiet time for yourself after mid-month, to reflect on
recent gains and the progress (or lack of it) you've made thus far this year,
and the next steps you plan to take.
Taurus
(April 19—May 20)
Friends continue to be a source of luck and inspiration
for much of February, when your stock-in-trade is riding high. Saturn’s continuing presence in your solar
fourth house may have elicited some serious soul searching from time
to time, which can be helpful in working through any fears of success
(or failure) that may be lurking just beneath the threshold of your conscious awareness. Such a process could be particularly successful and
indeed, therapeutic, now, while your confidence and sense of self
worth are elevated. This would allow you to take full advantage of the
pioneering influence conferred by February’s Aquarius new moon
(17th) in your solar tenth house of professional activity, following
which a new career opportunity could arise, which would surely challenge you to rise above any self-conceived limitations. During March,
your prospects for worldly success receive a further boost by the presence of Mars in your tenth solar sector. Tap into your dreams and intuition for useful guidance, as great benefits can accrue from these
sources. Draw inspiration from March's Pisces new Moon (18th) to
set some radical new goals for your future progress. Input derived
from friends, or groups with which you're associated, might also be
helpful to you now.
Gemini
EARTH STAR
(June 21—July22)
Much of the action taking place in Crab-clan members
lives these days appears to be focused in the closely
linked areas of interpersonal relationships and mutual
resources and assets. The presence of Mars in your solar seventh
house could spark heated interactions with others from time to time
during February, yet it can also foster a willingness to work more
closely with a partner towards a mutually beneficial objective. The
Aquarius new moon on February 17th occurs in opposition to Saturn
in Leo, powerfully energizing your solar financial sectors, the eighth
and second houses respectively, while each are favorably linked to
Pluto on your solar seventh house cusp. This planetary pattern suggests that a workable solution can be found in the weeks ahead to any
contentious issues involving your financial affairs. In March you're
keen to broaden your horizons and may consider a completely new
area of endeavor. For some this might entail going back to school,
while others may wish to share their wisdom and experience with others. Your work can feel much more rewarding as spring rolls around,
when you could be in a position to call the shots.
Leo
(July 22—August 22)
The increase in personal discipline conferred upon
Lion-clan members by Saturn's presence in your
solar first house has not been missed by your partners, friends and
close associates, who may see you now as being far more serious
about your professional undertakings. Some may not know quite
where they stand with you these days, so be sure to reassure the
significant others in your life that your feelings towards them
have not changed, and keep those that need to know appraised of
your intentions so they don't feel alienated. In the weeks
following February's Aquarius new moon (17th) new
collaborative alliances can be formed with innovative individuals
and groups that share your objectives. One creative project in
particular may be especially close to your heart and securing the
necessary funding and resource support may be given a high
priority during March. On another level entirely, a yearning for
intimacy may need to be addressed, and yet you set such high
ideals that it may take a very special individual to satisfy all your
requirements. Nevertheless, this is a time when just such a
paragon of your ideal partner could enter your life.
Virgo
(May 20—June 21)
The expansive trend that began in January gathers
momentum in February, as the sun continues its excursion through your solar ninth house of outreach and higher learning
till the 18th, accompanied by Mercury, your sign’s ruler, and Neptune,
encouraging you to broaden your horizons. When Mercury begins the
first of its three annual three-week retrograde phases on the13th,
review the progress you've made so far this year, and make any necessary course corrections, or alterations to your success strategy. The
innovative Aquarius new moon (17th) provides fresh impetus and new
ideas to synthesize into your existing plans, for implementation after
Mercury’s direct station on March 7th. Your chances for success can
be greatly enhanced by incorporating the latest technology or webbased media to propagate your message or information about your
ventures to a wider audience. Your experience, products, or services
could be much in demand following March’s Pisces new moon (18th),
energizing your solar tenth house of professional attainment. A partner or significant other could be instrumental in helping you to
enhance your career prospects.
20
Cancer
(August 22—September 22)
There are times these days when it may seem as
though your dearest hopes and dreams are always
just out of reach, and yet at other times appear eminently
attainable. During February, you once again sense that a muchcherished objective could be near at hand. Whether it's an ideal
job, or the perfect home—or both—the possibility of you reeling
in the big one is certainly in the stars between now and the end of
spring. Friends could very likely be instrumental in making such
a dream come true, so maintain regular contact with those in a
position to help and keep them fully appraised of your plans. Ever
the consummate pragmatist, you prefer to work with cold hard
facts and down to earth realities, but you also recognize the more
esoteric value of having and holding a vision of what you want,
in order that you may more quickly manifest your desires. During
March, and indeed throughout the spring, by combining these
divergent approaches to achieving an objective you stand a very
good chance of being successful.
Libra
(September 22—October 23)
Many Librans have been enjoying the lighter side of
life of late, with several planets, and currently the
sun, occupying your solar fifth house of fun and
frolic. Creative visioneering could be a breeze for you now, so
make hay while the sun shines there. Put your powers of
visualization to work on formulating a workable plan for the future,
and set a few new challenging goals for yourself while you're at it.
If romantic love is not a factor at this time, focus on work you love
to do, as much pleasure and satisfaction can be derived from it.
Nonetheless, the possibility of romance does indeed exist while
your sign's ruler, Venus, moves through ardent Aries till midMarch. The unique attributes you bring to your vocational activities
could open new doors for you during March, when an opportunity
to take on additional work may also bring you significant financial
gains. Passions rise another notch when Venus sashays into your
solar eighth house on March 17th. Great potential for both love and
money exists now and throughout the spring.
Scorpio
(October 23—November 22)
A longing to retreat to your inner sanctum to explore
your emotional impulses and creative drives too often
must make way for professional responsibilities and obligations
these days, it seems. Saturn in your tenth house of worldly achievement can be a tough taskmaster, and yet the less obvious benefits of
its transit here are often overlooked. Because the ringed planet is the
natural ruler of the solar tenth house, it currently holds the most elevated position in your solar chart, and it's influence can be a powerhouse in helping you to achieve any worthwhile professional ambition. It is also retrograde in Leo, not exactly its favorite sign, so it's
important to understand what's driving your ambition, and that your
professional conduct in pursuit of your goals must be beyond
reproach—as Saturn is also the lord of karma. Observe its rules, and
attainment can be yours. In early September it moves on into Cancer
and your solar eleventh house, so you're on a timeline, and the clock
is ticking. Now explore those creative impulses, because they could
facilitate your progress along the road to success.
Sagittarius
(November 22—December 21)
Hope springs eternal, and especially when you have
magnanimous Jupiter, your sign's ruling planet, in
the middle of your solar first house of drive and initiative, as you
do now, making even the improbable possible if you have the
desire. With Mars in your solar second house of personal income
through February 25th, focus on new ways to generate a cash flow,
to help you on your way. Ideas could be flowing free and fast now,
and throughout this forecast period, so be sure and note the best,
and act upon them when Mars moves on into Aquarius and your
solar third house on the aforementioned date for a six-week
sojourn. Unsettled and restless Archer-clan members may
consider relocating in March. Just make sure it's not a whim, based
upon a desire for greater personal freedom, rather than on practical
realities. Besides, such restive feelings may by symptomatic of a
need to examine your current emotional requisites.
Capricorn
(December 21—January 19)
With Mars boldly strolling through your solar first
house till February 25th, sharpening your initiative
and increasing your drive to get ahead in the world, move forward
confidently with innovative plans to further your ambitions. If it
seems like financial matters have stalled temporarily, it may be
because you have not yet discovered or incorporated a key
ingredient of your success strategy. Your intuition and instincts
can guide you here, so make sure to take some quality quiet time
for yourself to contemplate the big picture, as a fresh solar wind
is about to blow through the money sector of your chart,
following February's Aquarius new moon (17th). Seek new ways
to increase your revenue stream, with the cosmic wind at your
back to assist your best efforts. Clarity of intent and direction are
important now. Likewise, a clear sense of your intended
destination will help you to stay on course.
Aquarius
(January 19—February 18)
With your solar new year now underway, this is your
prime time to shine. Make your resolutions for the
solar year ahead with confidence and conviction, and set your
course accordingly. February's new moon in your sign (17th)
augurs progress with personal projects, and endeavors geared
towards self-improvement. If financial gain is one of your goals,
the planetary auspices are good for adding to your income
throughout this forecast period. However, don't count your
chickens before they've hatched. Neither should you speculate
wildly with your hard-earned resources. Instead, look before you
leap into any new venture, and do any necessary homework.
When action planet, Mars, crosses your solar ascendant on
February 25th your assertiveness increases dramatically, while
your self-confidence receives a major boost. Use this extra
personal power and forcefulness with wisdom, lest you alienate
any allies who may be helpful to you in your quest.
Pisces
(February 18—March 20)
Dreams and visions are your stock in trade, gentle
Pisces, so pay close attention to them for valuable
insights throughout this forecast period. February's
Aquarius new moon (17th) occurs conjunct your solar ascendant
and in the weeks that follow, revelations, in the form of
premonitions, could provide clues to advancing a personal agenda.
This is also a good time for making peace with elements of the past
that could undermine your best efforts to get ahead in life. Review
the results of past endeavors, taking strength from your successes
and seek the lessons in any failures, then release your emotional
attachments to those events and prepare for the new beginning that
comes with March's Pisces new moon (18th). Because this lunation
is also a solar eclipse its influence will be felt for many months to
come, so be prepared to ride the wave of enthusiasm and inspiration
it promulgates that could carry you to greater levels of
accomplishment as the year continues to unfold..
Tim Gunns is an astrological consultant, conference
coordinator and producer, new age market and speaker
consultant to the entertainment industry, and formerly
program director of the national Whole Life Expos.
Tim prepares personalized no-nonsense interpretations of Natal Horoscopes ($40), Future Forecast
Transit Reports ($75 for 1 full year), and
Relationship Compatibility Reports ($45). Shipping
is free. Send: Name (as you'd like it to appear on the
chart), Date of Birth, Time (as close as possible),
Place of Birth (city/country, etc.) for each person,
and your return address, phone# and check to: Tim Gunns, c/o
75 Scotland Road, Newbury, MA 01951. (310) 281-7882.
21
Evolve
Your
Brain
THE
SCIENCE
OF
CHANGING
YOUR
MIND
By Dr. Joe Dispenza
hy do we keep getting the same jobs,
taking on the same relationships, and
finding ourselves in the same emotional traps? In Evolve Your Brain:
The Science of Changing Your Mind,
Dr. Joe Dispenza not only teaches why people tend to
repeat the same negative behaviors, he shows how readers
can release themselves from these patterns of disappointment. With the dynamic combination of science and accessible how-to, Dispenza teaches how to use the most important tool in one’s body and life-the brain. Featured in the
underground smash hit of 2004, “What the Bleep Do We
Know!?,” Dispenza touched upon the brain’s ability to
become addicted to negative emotions. Now, in his empow-
W
22
EARTH STAR
ering book, Evolve Your Brain, he explains how new thinking and new beliefs can literally rewire one’s brain to
change behavior, emotional reactions, and habit forming
patterns.
Most people are unaware of how addicted they are to their
emotions, and how the brain perpetuates those addictions
automatically. In short, we become slaves to our emotional
addictions without even realizing it. By observing our patterns of thought, and learning how to ‘re-wire the brain’
with new thought patterns, we can break the cycles that
keep us trapped and open ourselves to new possibilities for
growth, happiness and emotional satisfaction.
An Interview with Author Dr. Joe Dispenza
What inspired and motivated you to
write this book?
An experience I had twenty years ago
inspired me to investigate the power of
the brain to alter our life. As I describe
in the book, much of my spine was
crushed in a bike accident, and four
surgeons said my only option to avoid
paralysis was a type of surgery that
would have left me with a permanent
disability and possibly, lifelong pain. I
had to make the toughest decision of
my life, but I turned down the surgery
and turned instead to the innate intelligence that constantly gives life to
every one of us. Ten weeks later, without surgery, I was back at work, completely healed and pain-free. I give
credit in the book to many factors that
contributed to my healing.
Because of that experience, I
promised myself to spend a major portion of my life studying the phenomenon of mind over matter and spontaneous healing, meaning how the body
repairs itself or rids itself of disease
without traditional medical interventions such as surgery or drugs. And so
I’ve spent many years studying about
human potential, about our ability to
transcend or be greater than our personal limitations, and about the interconnectedness of the brain, the mind,
the body, and consciousness.
Until just a few decades ago, science had led us to believe that we were
doomed by genetics, hobbled by conditioning, and should resign ourselves
to the proverbial thinking about old
dogs not being able to learn new
tricks. However, what I’ve discovered
in studying the brain and its effects on
behavior for the last twenty years has
made me enormously hopeful about
human beings and our ability to
change. We have just needed to know
how to change, and today, neuroscience has a very solid explanation
for how mind over matter works; it’s
no longer a pie-in-the-sky concept.
The science of changing our mind is
now available, and I wrote Evolve
Your Brain to help make this science
accessible to everyone.
Is Evolve Your Brain a self-help
book? How is it different from other
books that concern human potential?
Helping us understand and accept that
we truly can modify our brain and
change our life is a major focus of this
book. My approach is to unify the
most helpful new findings from neuroscience, neurophysiology, biology,
and genetics, and build the reader’s
knowledge in a systematic, easily
understandable, and hopefully engaging way. Yet as the book makes clear,
knowledge must be experienced
before it can become wisdom. Evolve
Your Brain is designed to serve as a
practical tool to guide us as we experience the processes that we can use to
change our mind and evolve our brain.
Unlike self-help or human potential books that focus on the mind, the
emotions, or the body but place little
attention on the brain, this book
embraces the structure and function of
this crown of our evolution.
Everything that we do takes place
through the brain—how we think, how
we act, how we feel, our relationships,
our perceptions of the world around
us—because our “self” as a sentient
being, is immersed and truly exists in
the electrical web of our cellular brain
tissue. Then, since we can’t hope to
evolve our brain without changing our
mind and understanding the role of our
feelings, Evolve Your Brain explores
how they all interact with the body to
create our life.
Many of us learned in school that
once we become adults, the brain is
static and rigid. How much potential
do we have to change our brain?
Those of us who went to school twenty or thirty years ago were taught that
the brain is hardwired, meaning that
by the time we’re adults, we have a
certain number of brain cells that are
arranged in fixed patterns or neural
circuits, and that as we get older, we
lose some of those circuits. We
thought that we would inevitably turn
out like our parents in many ways,
because we could only use the same
neural patterns that we genetically
inherited from them.
Neuroscientists now say that was
a mistake. The great news is, each of
us is a work in progress, throughout
our life. Every time we have a thought,
different areas of our brain surge with
electrical Current and release a mob of
neurochemicals that are too numerous
to name. Thanks to functional brain
scanning technology, we can now see
that our every thought and experience
causes our brain cells, or neurons, to
connect and disconnect in ever-changing patterns and sequences. In fact, we
have a natural ability called neuroplasticity, which means that if we learn
new knowledge and have new experiences, we can develop new networks
or circuits of neurons, and literally
change our mind.
So, why is it hard for us to change?
In my practice as well as my personal
life, I have seen that change isn’t easy.
When people want to commit to a
goal, they start out with good intentions and ideas, but quite often they go
back to their unwanted habits. The
concept of change means that we are
going to do something differently
within the same environment; we’re
not going to respond to our environment with our customary thoughts and
23
reactions. That, however, is easier said
than done. Many of us tend to think
the same thoughts, have the same feelings, and follow the same routines in
our life. The rub is, this causes us to
keep using the same patterns and combinations of neural circuits in our
brain, and they tend to become hardwired. This is how we create habits of
thinking, feeling, and doing.
Don’t get me wrong, hardwiring
isn’t a bad thing. Thanks to hardwiring, when we learn a new skill such
as driving a car, the more we practice,
the more we hardwire what we learn
into our brain’s circuits, and eventually we can operate a car automatically.
But if we want to change something in
our life, we have to cause the brain to
no longer fire in the same old
sequences and combinations. We have
to create a new level of mind by disconnecting the old neural circuits and
rewiring our brain in new patterns of
nerve cell connections.
The good news we’re learning
from the latest brain research is that
we can change the brain and thus
change ourselves, if we take just a few
simple steps. Evolve Your Brain will
take the reader step by step through the
knowledge and “how-to” steps needed
to change any area of our life.
What does stress do to the body? Can
Evolve Your Brain help people to
overcome stress?
As a doctor of chiropractic, I’ve seen
first-hand the effects of stress on my
patients. It is not short episodes of
acute stress, but chronic, long-term
stress that most weakens the body.
Most of us rarely face the immediate
threats to physical survival that our
ancestors had to deal with, so we may
fail to realize the impact on us of years
spent worrying about job security,
credit card debt, whether our kids will
experiment with drugs, and so on.
When we chronically live in highstress mode, or when we are constantly looking for problems that may
affect us at some future moment, we
engage the body’s emergency
24
EARTH STAR
response to stress all the time.
Why is this such a problem? The
chemicals that continually flood our
body when we are under long-term
stress are the culprits that begin to alter
our internal state and pull the trigger of
cellular breakdown. Moreover, when
we’re always on high alert or in emergency mode, our body doesn’t have
the time or the resources necessary to
repair and regenerate itself. The body
can even become addicted to the
chemical state of being under stress.
But as we will demonstrate, the
ability to overcome stress lies right
between our ears. Most stress ends up
as emotional/psychological stress, and
that means it’s the autosuggestions of
our own thinking that affect the body
so intensely. In other words, we can
turn on the stress response by our
thoughts alone, and they can have the
same measurable effects as any threatening stressor in our environment. In
Evolve Your Brain, we will learn how
to overcome the thoughts that initiate
stress responses.
Can evolving the brain help people to
overcome emotional addictions?
Aside from dealing with physical ailments, this book is also intended to
address another kind of affliction—
emotional addiction, which always
accompanies high stress levels in our
life. We’ve all experienced emotional
addiction at some point in our life.
Among its symptoms are lethargy, a
lack of ability to focus, a tremendous
desire to maintain routine in our daily
life, the inability to complete cycles of
action, a lack of new experiences and
emotional responses, and the persistent feeling that one day is the same as
the next and the next.
What was once scientific theory
now has practical applications for us
to heal our own self-inflicted emotional wounds. The methods I suggest are
not a wouldn’t-it-be-wonderful, selfhelp miracle cure. Be assured, this
book is grounded in cutting-edge science. How is it possible to end this
cycle of negativity? The answer, of
course, lies in you. And in this case, in
a very specific part of you. Through an
understanding of the various subjects
we will explore in this book and a willingness to apply some specific principles, you can heal yourself emotionally by altering the neural networks in
your brain.
Can you explain the mind/body connection? What is the relationship
between thoughts and the physical
body?
An emerging scientific field called
psychoneuroimmunology is demonstrating the connection between the
mind and the body, and is beginning to
help us understand the link between
how we think and how we feel. We
now know that our every thought produces a biochemical reaction in the
brain. The brain then releases chemical signals that are transmitted to the
body, where they act as messengers of
the thought. In this way, the thoughts
that produce these chemicals in the
brain allow our body to feel exactly the
way we were just thinking.
Essentially, when we have happy,
inspiring, or positive thoughts, our
brain manufactures chemicals that
make us feel joyful, inspired, or uplifted. For example, when we look forward to a pleasurable experience, the
brain immediately makes a chemical
neurotransmitter called dopamine,
which turns the brain and body on in
anticipation of that experience, and we
feel excited. If we have thoughts of
hate, anger, or insecurity, the brain
produces chemicals that the body
responds to in a comparable way, and
we feel hateful, angry, or unworthy.
Another chemical that our brain
makes, called ACTH, signals the body
to produce chemical secretions from
the adrenal glands that make us feel
threatened or aggressive.
When the body responds to a
thought by having a feeling, the brain,
which constantly monitors the status
of the body, notices that the body is
feeling a certain way. In response to
that bodily feeling, the brain generates
thoughts that produce corresponding
chemical messengers, so that we begin
to think the way we are feeling.
Thinking creates feeling, and then
feeling creates thinking, in a continuous biological feedback loop. This
cycle eventually creates a particular
state in the body—what we call a state
of being—that determines the general
nature of how we feel and behave.
For example, say a person lives
much of her life in a repeating cycle of
thoughts and feelings related to
unworthiness. The moment she thinks
about not being good enough or smart
enough or enough of anything, her
brain releases chemicals that produce a
bodily feeling of unworthiness. Now
she is feeling the way she was just
thinking. Her brain notices that, and
she begins to have thoughts of insecurity that match the way she was just
feeling. Her body is now causing her
to think. If her thoughts and feelings
continue, year after year, to generate
the same feedback loop between her
brain and her body, she will exist in a
state of being that is called “unworthy.” These repeated chemical signals
cause the cells of the body to function
in undesirable ways, making us sick.
This starts to explain how the
mind can physically modify the body.
In the book I talk about a man I called
Tom, who developed one digestive ailment after another. This finally led him
to examine his life, and he realized he
had been suppressing feelings of anger
and desperation over being in a job
that made him miserable. Tom’s mind
and body were in a feedback loop of
thinking and feeling that amounted to
toxic attitudes that his body just
“couldn’t stomach.” He had been living in a state of being revolving
around victimization. His healing
finally began when he paid attention to
his habitual thoughts and realized that
his unconscious attitudes were the
basis for the person he had become.
There is significant scientific evidence suggesting that the mind has a
direct effect on the body.. both for better and for worse. Research demonstrates that we can cause our bodies to
be sick just by the anticipation of a
future event or the memory of a past
experience. In both cases, it is our
thoughts that are creating powerful
chemicals of stress to alter most of the
systems in our body. So what we think
about and the intensity of these
thoughts directly influences our
health, the choices we make, and our
quality of life.
What, then is the mind, and how is it
related to the brain?
Now that we have the technology to
observe a living brain, we know from
functional brain scans that the mind is
the brain in action. This is the latest
definition of mind, according to neuroscience. When a brain is alive and
active, it can process thought, learn
new information, invent new ideas,
master skills, recall memories, express
feelings, refine movements, and maintain the orderly functioning of the
body. The animated brain can also
facilitate behavior, dream, perceive
reality, and most important, embrace
life. In order for the mind to exist,
then, the brain must be alive.
The brain is therefore not the
mind; it is the physical apparatus
through which the mind is produced.
The brain facilitates mind. We can
think of the brain as an intricate data
processing system that enables us to
gather, process, store, recall, and communicate information within seconds,
if need be, as well as to forecast,
hypothesize, respond, behave, plan,
and reason. The brain is also the control center through which the mind
coordinates all of the metabolic functions necessary for life and survival.
So when your bio-computer is “turned
on” or alive, and it is functioning by
processing information, it produces
the mind.
The brain has three individual
anatomical structures with which it
produces different aspects of mind. We
also have a conscious mind and a subconscious mind, and both are the result
of a brain that is coordinating thought
impulses through its various regions
and substructures. Therefore, there are
many diverse states of mind, because
we can easily make the brain work in
different ways.
What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is our natural ability to
change how the brain’s neurons are
connected and organized into circuits,
which we call its synaptic wiring.
Every time we learn something new or
have a novel experience, the brain
makes new synaptic connections to
form new neural patterns or networks—and this happens at any age.
When we utilize new circuits in new
ways, we rewire the brain to fire in
new sequences. From a neurological
level, then, we are changed moment to
moment by the thoughts we think, the
information we learn, the events we
experience, the reactions we have, the
feelings we create, the memories we
process, and even the dreams we
embrace. All of these alter the way the
brain works, producing new states of
mind that are recorded in our brain.
Neuroplasticity is an innate, universal genetic feature in humans. It
affords us the privilege to learn from
experiences in our environment, so
that we may change our actions and
modify our behavior, our thought
processes, and our personality to produce outcomes that are more desirable.
Merely to learn intellectual information is not enough; we must apply
what we learn to create a different
experience. If we could not synaptically rewire our brain, we could not
change in response to our experiences.
Without the ability to change, we
could not evolve, and we would be at
the effect of our genetic predispositions. How neuroplastic our own brain
is depends on our ability to change our
perception of the world around us, to
change our mind, to change our self.
What is mental rehearsal and how
can we use it to change?
Mental rehearsal allows us to change
our brain—to create a new level of
Continued on Page 65
25
26
EARTH STAR
We Can (and Do!)
Heal Ourselves
Healing is a matter of time but it is
sometimes also a matter of opportunity.
—Hippocrates
rauma is nothing new to the human race. We
are certainly familiar with trauma in the
modern world, from acts of war and terrorism
to crime, child abuse, and the pain our dysfunctional, standards driven schools cause so
many of our children. And many of us don’t handle trauma
well: suicide is the third leading cause of death among
Americans ages fifteen to twenty-four. In the last decade
over fifty-one million prescriptions were written in the
United States just for the SSRI family of antidepressants
(including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft), with sales topping
three-point-six billion dollars for the six most popular
SSRIs, and the numbers have more than doubled since tben.
Sociologists may argue about whether early human
societies were comfortable and egalitarian, like many of the
modern-day hunter-gatherer peoples living in the world’s
remaining rain forests, or whether our forebears instead
lived in violent dominator cultures ruled by the members
who were physically strongest (the fantasy of philosophers
and scientists from Rousseau in the seventeenth century to
Freud in the twentieth century). However; sociologists and
anthropologists and other social thinkers do not disagree
that trauma and death have always been part of human life.
So how has humankind historically dealt with trauma
for the past two hundred thousand years, before the advent
of psycho-therapy? Humans experienced mental and emotional wounds in ancient times just as we do today. Family
members became sick and died; friends and family were
lost to battles with other tribes and with wild animals; after
the introduction of agriculture, famine and plagues were
periodically visited upon us.
In times past, if four of us set out as a hunting party
every few days, odds are that over time at least one person
in our party would get eaten by a predator or die in an accident. When that happened right in front of the other three of
us, how would we deal with the psychological trauma that
resulted from witnessing such an event? We would be in a
state of trauma-induced shock. How would we cope with
that? How would we deal with the trauma from a near
escape from death?
The answer that occurs to most people is that we’d
engage in some sort of ritual when we returned to the village, a ritual that usually involved drumming and dancing,
two forms of bilateral activity known to induce trance. But
this ceremony may have been more to help the people back
in the village, such as the family of our lost companion, to
work through their grief.
The human body is a self-healing organism. When you
cut your finger; it heals. If you break your leg, it heals. Even
T
if part of you is
cut out in surgery,
the
surgeon’s
wound heals. We
heal from bacterial and viral invasions,
from
injuries, and from
all variety of traumas. The mechanisms for healing
are built into us.
Five
million
years of evolution, or the grace
of God, or both,
have made our
bodies automatic
Thom Hartmann
healing machines.
So why wouldn’t the same be true of our minds and emotions?
All of the traumas that we experience in life leave their
wounds; if humankind hadn’t had ways of healing from
those emotional and psychological blows, over time society would have become progressively less functional.
Instead, history shows us that people usually recover from
even the most severe psychological wounds, often learning
great lessons or gaining important insights in the recovery
process.
The famous Kauai longitudinal study of children of
children raised in stressful, disadvantaged conditions found
that a higher percentage of the children grew up “highly
resilient” than did a middle-class comparison group. The
generation that survived the Great Depression and the Nazi
Holocaust in Europe went on to create important social
institutions, build nations, and offer comfort and hope to
humankind. Elie Wiesel’s experience specifically comes to
mind: although he would never have wished on another the
horrific experience of being in one of Hitler’s death camps,
through his writing of that experience he has given a particularly inspiring model of resilience and healing to the
world.
The reality is that although adversity breaks some people, it strengthens others. And when people heal from
adversity, the old cliche’ of “what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger” usually rings true.
But, just as with the production of scar tissue in the
healing of a wound to the skin—a process involving millions of cells producing very specific compounds in
response to the trauma in the tissue—there must be an
inborn mechanism for healing the mind and the emotions.
And just as healing from a cut can be speeded up by keeping the wound clean and dry or can be slowed down by letting the wound get wet or dirty or irritated, this emotional
healing is also a process that can be either stimulated or
thwarted by our interventions.
27
In this book (Walking Your Blues
Away) I’ve identified a specific healing mechanism and process that nature
has built into the human mind and
body that enables us to process trauma
in a way that is quick, functional, and
permanent. Just like the skin’s mechanism for forming scabs and scars and
eventually even making the scars vanish, this mechanism is simple, fundamental, and elegant.
In its simplest form, this mechanism involves rhythmic side-to-side
stimulation of the body. This side-toside motion, or bilateral movement,
causes nerve impulses to cross the
brain from the left hemisphere to the
right hemisphere and back at a specific rate or frequency. This cross-patterning produces an organic integration of left-hemisphere “thinking”
functions with right-hemisphere and
brain-stem “feeling” functions. This
integration is a necessary precursor to
emotional and intellectual healing
from trauma.
This steady movement of nerve
impulses across the hemispheres of the
brain is stimulated in the bilateralmovement processes of a variety of
modern forms of psychotherapy, such
as Eye Movement Desensitization and
Reprocessing, Emotional Freedom
Technique, and Thought Field
Therapy. In its purest form, however;
I’ve discovered that the natural and
rhythmic left-right-left-right process
of walking, while performing a simple
mental exercise, can also stimulate this
same internal integration process.
This, I posit, is the way humans
have healed themselves from trauma
for the hundreds of thousands of years
of human history, and it is only
because so few of us walk anymore
that we have to resort to office-based
psychotherapeutic processes to produce the same result.
And that result is impressive.
When we stimulate the nervous system in this bilateral manner while calling to mind a persistent emotional distress, the emotional “charge” associated with that memory quickly and per-
Rhythmic
bilateral
activity as
a healing
agent has
been known
to aboriginal
peoples for
millennia
28
EARTH STAR
manently dissipates. This isn’t a
process of producing amnesia or forgetting; instead, it’s a way of reframing the past, a way of re-understanding, of putting into context that which
has been so “unnerving” for us. When
we perform this bilateral process correctly, the pictures of painful past
events in our memory transform from
stark, scary, sound-filled color movies
into black-and-white still pictures that
are flattened out and lose their sound.
The internal dialogue we have about
the events—the “tag line” that we tell
ourselves, and actually hear in our
own heads in our own voices—
changes, usually from something like
“That was a painful experience that
still scares me” or “I was victimized in
that relationship” to a more productive
synopsis, such as “Yes, that happened
to me, but it’s well in the past now and
I’ve learned some good lessons from
the experience. I can let go of it.”
Inciting the movement of nerve
impulses across the brain hemispheres
helps people to come to terms with
their past. They stop being frightened
by their imagined futures and feel
comfortable and empowered in the
present. Walking while holding a traumatic memory in mind in a particular
way can produce this result in a very
short time.
Rhythmic bilateral activity as a
healing agent has been known to aboriginal peoples for millennia, and in
the past few hundred years the secret
of using bilaterality to heal emotional
and psychological wounds—particularly those that produced psychosomatic physical results—was most
famously discovered by Franz Anton
Mesmer in the 1700s (called “mesmerism”), refined by Dr. James Braid
in the early 1800s (and renamed “hypnosis” by Braid), and brought into
widespread and mainstream use in the
late 1800s by Sigmund Freud.
However; in an odd historical
event in the late 1890s, the growing
power of yellow journalism (sensationalized “news” by publishers such
as William Randolph Hearst) merged
with European anti-Semitism, and the
synergy of those forces compelled
Freud to abandon these techniques. Freud spent the rest of
his life searching in vain for a replacement for hypnosis
that actually worked, experimenting with cocaine, developing his early concepts of penis envy and the Oedipal
complex, and finally promulgating his largely unsuccessful “talk-therapy” systems. When Freud committed suicide in 1939 he still hadn’t found anything that worked as
well as the beloved bilateral therapies he’d been forced to
abandon by the amazingly synchronous and unusual
events of the 1890s.
From the 1890s until the past few decades, hypnosis
and the bilateral therapies on which it is based were for
the most part ignored or shunned by medical and mental
health professionals, in large part because of the uproar of
the 1890s. Only with the development of NeuroLinguistic
Programming (NLP) in the 1970s, the NLP development
of eye-motion therapies, and the 1987 development of
Eye Motion Desensitization and Reintegration (EMDR)
by Francine Shapiro did bilateral therapies begin to make
a comeback.
There is now a whole spectrum of variations on these
systems for integrating brain function and thus encouraging healing from psychological and emotional trauma.
They all involve stimulating one hemisphere of the brain,
then the other; then back to the first, then back again, and
repeating this bilateral stimulation over and over. In this
book I will show you how you can accomplish this same
kind of stimulation using the simple process of walking.
This bilateral stimulation gives you access to healing
powers, creative states, and emotional and psychological resilience beyond what you may have ever thought
possible.
How Trauma Sticks
The Mechanism of PTSD
No experience is a cause of success or
failure. We do not suffer from the shock
of our experience’s so-called trauma—but we
make out of them just what suits our purposes.
—Alfred Adler
One of the enduring mysteries in the field of psychology
is why the same event produces such different memories
and responses in different people. As the New York Times
reported in a July 1, 2004, article by Anahad O’Connor;
one out of every six soldiers coming home from the war
in Iraq is showing signs of emotional difficulties, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.
Citing a report in the New England Journal of
Medicine, the writer noted, “The researchers surveyed
more than six thousand soldiers in the months before and
after service in Iraq or Afghanistan. Almost seventeen percent of those who fought in Iraq reported symptoms of
major depression, severe anxiety or post-traumatic stress
disorder; compared with about eleven percent of the
EARTH STAR
29
troops who served in Afghanistan.”
In World War II, postwar depression and anxiety was called battle
fatigue; in World War lit was referred
to as shell shock. The question isn’t so
much why it happens—we know GIs
in war do and see horrific things. The
question that perplexes us is why postwar anxiety and depression haunts
some veterans and not others. Of
course, some vets see harder combat
than others. But even that doesn’t
account for the statistics. There are
still huge variations among individual
soldiers in how they respond to the
same event.
The Limbic Brain:
The One-Day Scratch Pad
In order to understand why some people are still “shocked” months and
even years after a traumatic event, it’s
necessary to first understand how the
brain and the mind process trauma.
The brain is a complex collection
of deeply interconnected parts and
processes. I will vastly oversimplify
here for the purpose of description;
this oversimplification is partly for
ease of understanding and partly
because brain science still doesn’t
really understand how most of the
brain works. (And science certainly
doesn’t yet understand how memory
works.) In light of those caveats,
here’s a possible scenario that is not
inconsistent with much of what is
known about brain function and is
quite consistent with what we observe
“from the outside”—that is, by watching how people react and store information.
There is a part of the limbic brain,
or visceral brain, called the hippocampus that is believed to function as a
one-day scratch pad for memory.
Everything you experience throughout
the day is stored in the hippocampus;
in order for the impressions of the
experience to become a long-term
memory, they must pass through the
hippocampus into the rest of the brain.
(People with a damaged hippocampus
remember past events but have
extreme difficulty learning new
30
EARTH STAR
things.) Although the rest of the brain
is able to integrate recent information
from the hippocampus in relation to
stored past memories, in order to
understand that one thing happened a
week ago and another thing happened
a month ago, the hippocampus knows
only one time: today.
During the night, as we sleep, the
hippocampus dumps its information
from the day into the rest of the brain
for processing, sorting, storing, and
disposing of irrelevant information. As
the brain is processing the details of
the day from the hippocampus, we
experience a state that we call “dreaming.” Many sleep researchers are convinced that when we experience rapid
eye movement (REM) sleep—when
our eyes move back and forth rapidly
underneath our eyelids—most of the
events, including the traumas, of our
daily life are processed. The process of
information management completed,
when we wake up in the morning the
hippocampus is once again empty and
ready to record another day.
The problem emerges when the
hippocampus is carrying information
that’s too much, or too “hot,” for the
larger braini mind to handle. When a
recent memory is too strong to be easily and unremarkably processed, it
presents in our dream world as a nightmare. If that still doesn’t “download”
the information from the hippocampus, then the trauma either becomes
buried in the subconscious (the
process that Freud termed repression)
or it gets thrown back into the hippocampus the next morning. It’s as if
the brain says, “Whoa, that’s too much
for me to process in one evening, so
please just hang on to it for now.”
When the person wakes up the next
morning, the information is still there
in the hippocampus, still “remembered” and known and felt as if it had
happened that very day.
The conjecture that the hippocampus knows little about the more distant
past accounts for the unique feature of
true post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD): that the person feels, every
day, as if the past event happened
today, or in the very recent past. The
trauma is always front and center;
new, fresh, and raw. The consequences
can be psychologically and emotionally disastrous. Every day is affected by
a past event: the traumatic event never
passes from “now” into “then,” and is
never processed and filed away in a
memory bank, where it loses the
power to cause pain and problems on a
daily basis. The impact of this on the
mind and the emotions is staggering.
Brain scans even demonstrate that
before a PTSD event has been
processed, the amygdala—a part of the
brain responsible for strong emotional
states, such as those involved with survival (or the perception of a threat to
survival)—and the hippocampus are
not functioning normally. The brain
scan makes it possible to, in a way,
see’ the effect of (or perhaps the mechanism of) the stuck memory. After processing the memory, these parts of the
brain usually return to normal functioning.
Access To Resource States
One of the key concepts of many
schools of psychology is that human
beings are most functional when every
part of the mind has access to all other
parts. In particular; this functionality is
a matter of having full access to positive resources, such as memories of
times when we were successful in our
undertakings and the good feelings we
associate with those accomplishments.
Working from this level of functionality, then, when we take on a new task,
for example, we first remember times
in the past when we attempted something similar and accomplished our
goals. This functionality can be
accessed in all endeavors, from
embarking on a new love relationship
to taking on a first public-speaking
engagement.
Memories of past accomplishments and capabilities are stored in
parts of the brain far from the amygdala and hippocampus. The amygdala
and hippocampus, parts of our nervous
system’s most primary and primitive
structures, lie deep in the brain.
(Humans share the amygdala and hip-
pocampus structures with all other
mammals, unlike our frontal lobes,
which we share with only the highest
of the apes.) Thus, having a negative
memory stuck deep in the hippocampus blocks the pain and fear associated
with that memory from reaching and
“associating with” positive memories
and resource states, which are housed
in more-distant parts of the brain.
One of the most elegant and truly
useful aspects of walking therapy (and
other forms of bilateral intervention) is
that, by their very process of side-toside motion, they cause the right and
left lobes of the brain to alternately
take responsibility for processing
information. Holding your head
steady, when you look to your left, the
right side of your brain is processing
what it is you’re seeing. As your line
of sight travels past your centerline
and to your right, some of the information travels across the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers that
connect the two hemispheres, and is
handed off to the left side of the brain
for processing.
The two aspects of the hippocampus lie deep within the brain hemispheres, closer to the ancient midbrain
than most of the more evolutionarily
recent “thinking-function” parts of the
brain, which are closer to the surface
and generally reside specifically on
either the right side or the left side of
the brain. This physical/anatomical
detail has led researchers to guess that
one very significant way in which
bilateral therapies function is by keeping the hippocampus (and the amygdala and other parts of the limbic brain
and brain stem) engaged through
actively recalling the traumatizing
memory, while simultaneously and
alternately activating the left and right
hemispheres of the brain. This process
integrates the function of the hippocampus with the two hemispheres
of the brain and at the same time connects the two hemispheres. Because
the hippocampus is engaged, the pro-
cessing that would typically happen
during sleep happens instead while the
person is wide awake, provoking an
“emptying” of the hippocampus and
the filing and storing of the information it had contained in an appropriate
“this-is-the-past” part of the brain.
When people who undergo bilateral therapy wake up the next day, they
know that what had been bothering
them is now in the past. (Often they
will dream of the original event
overnight.) With the walking therapy
that I have developed, in most cases
this recognition that the experience is
in the past happens during the walk
itself. That is the key indicator that the
session has been successful.
Excerpted with permission from Walking
Your Blues Away: How To Heal the Mind
and Create Emotional Well-Being, ©2006 by
Thom Hartmann, Park Street Press,
www.ParkStPress.com.
31
Cycles
of
Change
By Gail Gorman and Marilou & Jerry Seavey
“Centuries ago, people didn’t think the world was changing
at all. Their grandparents had the same lives that they did,
and they expected their children and grandchildren would
do the same… and that expectation was largely fulfilled.
What is not fully understood is that the pace of change is
itself accelerating, and the last twenty years are not a good
guide of the next twenty years. We’re doubling the paradigm shift rate, the rate of progress, every decade.”1
Especially in the emerging global community change is a
natural part of life, but what is the nature of change? Why
is it that so many people, sane stable people under normal
circumstances, seem to crack under the pressure of it?
You’ve seen it happen to your friends, family, perhaps even
to yourself. When things change, people get stressed and
stress costs more than you think. In the U.S. the annual figure is somewhere around $300 billion2
Change in our personal and professional environment
is widely acknowledged to be the number one cause of
adult on-set stress. Euphemistically called “Life Events”,
personal life changes (moving, death, birth, jobs) are such
stress based motivators that large and successful financial
institutions bank their future on selling you relief in the
form of a financial plan. Change causes stress and stress
drives everything from a species to a company to an individual to make adaptive and evolutionary change.
Yet change is the only real constant in life. So why is
change so hard for us? Perhaps a dispassionate look at what
happens on the personal level is in order. Although our
graphic shows a circle, it is useful to imagine change as a
spiral or a dynamic system that winds and arcs from its start
to deal with increasing complexity.
In the beginning, we all start out competent at least enough
so to do the job, but then things change...
32
EARTH STAR
Competent: When you’ve mastered a skill, you
know it almost at the level of subconscious or
‘muscle’ memory. You can perform your duties
without much conscious effort.
Challenged: When you are faced with change, you
realize that you don’t even know what you don’t
know yet. Some people will respond with excitement and some people will respond with fear.
Response to change is not a good predictor of suitability for the new organization.
Crisis: Once you start down the path of change, you begin
to discover what you didn’t know when you started. This
is usually an ought-oh moment. Stress reaches all time
high as you realize that you need to scramble to catch up.
At this stage everyone experiences discomfort: those who
are pushing harder for change because of perceived opposition, and those who oppose change because of the unexpected disruption.
Control: Finally, after a lot of concentration and significant learning, at last you know what you need to know, but
you must continue to tightly control it in order to do it right.
When you’ve controlled it well enough for long enough,
you’ll move back into your nice comfortable groove.
You’ve again become competent, until significant new
change occurs.
Turbulence is the result, as pressure mounts both for and
against change. Turbulence reaches maximum force levels
and stress hits an all time high. It is precisely at this
moment, just before disintegration of the old status quo,
that everyone in the organization needs the personal
resource to embrace change.
Change then, by its very nature, challenges us to step outside of our comfort zone and into a world where we have to
try harder. In an organization, as each person’s anxiety
goes up, emotional intensity of the group goes up and misunderstandings go up in occurrence exponentially. It is difficult to speak clearly and to hear accurately if emotional
intensity is raised, or if people feel rushed.3
Of course organizations are comprised of people who
work together in a system, making it useful to look at all of
the disruption that is taking place at the systemic level.
Unfortunately it is precisely at this moment when those in
the throes of change are most likely to be the least resourceful. You’ll recognize this as loud but petty arguments, disrupted meetings, higher than normal complaints, both formal and informal grumbling. Cooperation goes down, territorial behavior goes up as does tattling, sabotage and selfmarketing.4
There are useful ways to encourage yourself and others of
the staff to behave resourcefully and we’ll cover those later
but for now just think of positive resources as possessing
qualities such as humor, introspection, patience and vision
to name a few.
Continuing through the system’s cycle, assuming the forces
of change including momentum are sufficient, the organization will move from turbulence to disintegration of the
old status quo. There is never one precise moment, but
rather a general knowing that, even if you wanted, there is
no going back. The only way out now is through. For a
brief period, turbulence in fact motion in general comes to
a halt, almost as if the organization is holding its collective
breath.
Quietly a time of reflection is entered. This is the stage at
which most people in the organization will begin to selfselect. Either they will elect to be a part of the new way or
they will resign themselves to moving on.
Reflection moves into formation, where teams begin to gel.
Innovation takes root and after a rehash of plans, construction starts. After sufficient construction, the organization
moves into the new status quo.
All change starts with Status Quo. This part of the cycle is earmarked by predictability. There are only minor variations, day
to day. Generally organizations move into Status Quo after a
period of growth. Everyone settles down and even disruption
occurs only within the narrow band of the expected.
Change begins when forces, either internal or external, drive
toward a new goal. Natural forces resist those drivers and disruption outside of the normal band begins to occur.
The graphic clearly reveals that less than half the organizational cycle of change is focused on pro-active behavior.
The remainder is force, both for and against, in opposition
to each other followed by finality. Taken in conjunction
with what is happening at the personal level, it’s pretty easy
to see where the sweaty palms and sleepless nights come
from.
So what can be done? There are any number of great
33
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EARTH STAR
change management texts and professional guidance
organizations such as the NLP (Neuro Linguistic
Programming) as presented by MindBridge Trainings
(www.mindbridgetrainings.com). Also, hiring a
Personal/Professional Coach is highly recommended. In
the meantime here are a few options to think about when
you think about planning change in your environment.
Change is Your Ally:
A remark attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Plans are
nothing, planning is everything.”
We all know the power of inviting those that will be
involved into your plans for change. The importance of
the product is not the plan itself, but the ongoing process.
By inviting others to help the system to change, you gain
the opportunity to co-opt those who are important to
your plans. By giving them a piece of the future to
design, you help them to see change as something of
their own crafting.
It’s a time-honored approach, so why not take it to
the next level? Change is an ally. Face it and encourage
people to shoot for rapid recovery, perhaps viewing their
situation not as a change, but as if it is an entirely new
and different situation.5 By marketing the change as positive opportunity for all and by inviting their feedback
you set the tone and pace for those who will recover to a
new realignment.
Positive Resources
Understanding the power of emotions sets the best leaders apart from the rest – not just in tangibles such as better results and enhancement of talent but also in the allimportant intangibles such as higher morale, motivation
and commitment.6
This NLP process works best if done on a one-onone basis. Specifically for those involved in the change
process, ask each of them to write a list of personal positive resources they possess. They do not need to share
the list, only to spend the time writing it down. Positive
resources are such things as patience, humor, empathy,
generosity, kindness, open-mindedness, vision, information sharing, courage, self confidence, a sense of security, fairness and the like.
When each person returns with the list, challenge
him or her to remember the list when reviewing the day.
We all review our day, sometimes assigning blame to
others or ourselves. This exercise simply invites us to
review with the intention of developing more positive
resourcefulness when living through periods of high
stress. Basically the exercise proceeds as follows:
Whenever you naturally take the time to review the
day’s events, whether it’s on the ride home after work or
perhaps after dinner or before going to sleep, notice the
times when you might have acted with less than positive
behaviors or perhaps reacted with a less than positive
response. Don’t dwell on those times,
simply notice them as if you were an
objective observer. Then, recall your
list of positive resources. Choose
from among the resources on your list
selecting the one that, if you had
more access to it at that moment in
time, would have allowed you to
respond differently. Actually see
yourself going through that situation
again, only this time with the
resource you needed ready at hand.
Be sure to focus for a moment on
handling the situation resourcefully
and then let the entire review fade
away knowing that if a similar situation arises again you’ll have the
resource to deal with it more successfully.
, Ph.D.
NOTES
1 Quote from Ray Kurzweil, inventor and futurist
2 Chrysallis, the Costs of Stress,
September 2001 Volume 2 number 2
3 Managing Transitions, William
Bridges, Addison-Wesley, 1991
4 Coping with Difficult People, R.
Bramson, Valentine Books, 1981
5 The Employee Handbook of New
Work Habits for a Radically
Changing World, Price Pritchett
6 Primal Leaderships, Realizing the
Power of Emotional Intelligence, D.
Goleman, R. Boyatzis, A. McKee
About the Authors: Jerry and Marilou
Seavey are authors, personal/professional coaches, international speakers
and NLP Coach Certification trainers, founders of MindBridge
Trainings and successful thirty-year
veterans of Human Engineering and
Change Management.
Gail Gorman is an author and successful entrepreneur.
For more info call: 1-800 307-9026,
www.mindbridgetrainings.com.
©2003 MindBridge Trainings
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Hatha, Kundalini, Meditation, Reiki Trainings
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Yoga in the Financial District
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508-697-3273 and 508-697-3592
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Hatha & Ashtanga Yoga, Teacher Training,
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36
EARTH STAR
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Intro-special: 2 classes for $10.
Beginning Yoga Series.
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Astanga/Vinyasa/Power yoga/Pilates,
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A variety of Yoga and Pilates for all levels.
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37
DIVINE
INTERVENTION
By Andrew Cohen
I
f we want to change the world
in a significant way, if we’re
serious about creating a better
future for us all, then we have
to face the fact that the only
way it’s going to happen is the only
way it’s ever happened: through the
evolution of consciousness itself. And
for the universe to evolve at the level
of consciousness, you and I have to be
the ones to make sure it happens. We
have to be the ones to create the
future. What does that mean? Well, it
means first of all that we have to wake
up to the fact that there’s no one else
who is going to save us. Even in the
twenty-first century, some of us still
cling to the hope that there is someone
“up there” or “out there,” a kind of
divine principle, higher power, or
Godhead that is directing the process
and is going to intervene and make
sure that everything will turn out all
right in the end. Of course, many of us
have long since outgrown such
beliefs, and it may seem utterly obvious to us that we need to save ourselves from self-annihilation. But I
wonder how much we have considered the deepest and most profound
implications of accepting ultimate
responsibility for the future.
To accept responsibility for the future
means we know without a doubt that it
is on our own shoulders—each and
every one of us—to create that future
right now. And now means NOW.
Those of us at the leading edge have to
stop waiting, stop hiding, and stop
pretending. We have to be the ones to
take this leap—because there literally
isn’t anyone else to do it. Yes, it is
38
EARTH STAR
going to take divine intervention, but
we have to be the divine interveners.
We literally have to choose to be
God—which I define as the creative or
evolutionary impulse itself. Billions of
years ago, something exploded out of
nothing. And who but God could have
made such an audacious choice—to
create an entire universe? That powerful urge to become is now actually
beginning to wake up, through the
unique capacity for self-reflective
awareness that is our human
birthright. Through us, God, or the
energy and intelligence that is driving
this whole process, is just beginning to
awaken to itself. So becoming God in
an evolving universe means we have
to be the ones to carry this process forward at the deepest and highest level,
to consciously evolve in the biggest
way possible for our collective salvation and transformation.
Spiritually, the enormous challenge
for each and every one of us is to look
directly into what it actually means to
be the one who is going to do this.
From the absolute or nondual perspective that emerges in spiritual revelation, there is only ONE. There literally is no other; there is only one without a second. To truly understand conscious evolution, we have to grapple
with the profound implications of that
absolute fact. I believe we can only
consciously evolve to the degree that
we have actually realized at the deepest level of our being that we are that
one without a second. Facing into the
truth of nonduality—that the many is
the one and that the one is ultimately
who we always are—in an evolutionary context forces a confrontation
with any relationship to the life
process that is less than whole, complete, and fully committed. To consciously evolve is to surrender unconditionally to the truth that there is no
other and at the same time to accept
responsibility for what that means in
an evolving universe—a cosmos that
is slowly but surely becoming aware
of itself through you and me. That one
without a second is simultaneously
awakening to itself as it develops, as it
evolves, and it is that one, as you and
me, alone, that can now begin to take
responsibility for endeavoring to consciously create its own future. That is
enlightenment in an evolutionary context: the profound recognition that
God is that singular energy and intelligence that initiated the creative
process and is just now awakening to
itself as we awaken to it. In that revelation, there literally is no other. And
therefore, the only question is: Do we
have the courage, audacity, and boldness of spirit to be that one without a
second, right now, in this world? Our
future literally depends on it.
Andrew Cohen is the founder of
EnlightenNext, an educational nonprofit
dedicated to a revolution in consciousness
and culture. He is also the founder and editor
in chief of What Is Enlightenment? magazine. He will be leading an eight day intensive in Lenox, MA, February 24-March 4.
For more information call 800.
376.3210 or visit www.andrewcohen.org.
Reprinted with permission from What Is
Enlightenment? magazine; June-August
2006. ©2006 EnlightenNext, Inc. All rights
reserved. http://www.wie.org.
Can CHIROPRACTIC
Help Your HEADACHE?
By Pheng Kouch, D.C
hiropractic is one of
the most popular alternative therapies currently available. We all
know about chiropractic care for “slipped disks” or
“pinched nerves,” but few are aware of
its benefits for headaches. Most
headaches in the general population
are caused by problems in the neck,
and are consequently named cervicogenic (“born from the neck”) or tension headaches. These headaches are
typically localized to the back part of
the skull, and tend to extend upward
and forward to the top of the head and
into the temple region. There is an
anatomical bridge between a neck
muscle called the rectus capitis posterior minor (RCPM) with the outside
covering of the brain called the dura
mater. When there is tension on this
muscle, caused by prior trauma,
stress, or lack of motion or alignment
C
in the cervical spine, pulling of
this very pain sensitive dura
mater sends signals to the brain
that are interpreted as a
headache.
Your chiropractor will be
able to evaluate your symptoms
with a detailed history, x-ray or
other diagnostic imaging technique, and by feeling the vertebrae and muscles in your neck.
If chiropractic treatment is indicated,
the chiropractor will use a specific,
short, quick thrust called an “adjustment” to relieve the tension in these
muscles and to regain motion in these
vertebrae. Chiropractic adjustments
work very well in reducing many of
these headaches, all without the side
effects of commonly prescribed medications or over-the-counter aspirin or
ibuprofen. These over- the-counter
medications are very dangerous to
your stomach and digestive system,
and cause tens of thousands of deaths
per year. In addition to these side
effects, these pills are merely masking
or blocking the transmission of the
pain, and do nothing to address the
underlying problem at its cause.
These headaches, often confused
with migraines, can be devastating to
your life and those you love. When
present, the person is often overlysensitive to light and noise in a similar
fashion to persons with migraines. If
indeed, your symptoms are due to true
migraines, chiropractic may still offer
a great source of relief. Migraines are
caused by changes in blood flow to
your brain, and chiropractic adjustments have been shown to be effective
by normalizing this blood flow, again,
all without the side effects of prescription medications. In a study comparing chiropractic care with medications, when treatment was discontinued, patients who had received chiropractic care continued to have fewer
and less intense migraines than those
who discontinued medications.
There are many instances where
your headache may NOT be suitable
for care with chiropractic adjustments.
These include significant trauma
where you are bleeding into your
brain, brain tumors, aneurysms, cluster headaches, rebound headaches
when discontinuing medications,
headaches from hangovers, and
headaches without a clear origin.
Chiropractors are specifically trained
to identify the source of your
headache and recognize red flags that
may signal something more serious.
Your chiropractor will be able to tell
you if your headache can be helped
with adjustments or whether you
should be referred for further evaluation. Ask your chiropractor if you are
a candidate for care.
Dr. Pheng Kouch is a chiropractor with the
D’Arcy Wellness Clinic in Natick, MA, tel.
(508) 652-1795, www.darcynat.com/clinic.
39
VI S I O N
By Rosemary Gaddum Gordon
CROSSING
hen I was little, I was standing in a
crowd waiting for a parade and overheard a parent saying “Don’t cross
your eyes, Tommy, the wind may
change and they’ll get stuck that
way.” It sounded horrifying. It wasn’t until I was studying at Moorfields Eye Hospital that I discovered how
important it is to be able to cross or converge the eyes
when looking at something
up close.
As our vision develops,
our eyes need to learn to
work together as a team so
that we can aim each eye
onto the same target. This is
a learned skill called fusion.
It develops naturally between
eight to twelve months of
age, as we interact with what
is going on around us. Since
we have two eyes the brain
receives two images. Over
time we learn to coordinate
our eyes so that we can fuse
these images and instead of
seeing
two
mommys
approaching us, we see one.
If the anatomy or physiology
of the brain or eyes is not
normal, or if there is trauma
during this developmental
stage the ability to coordinate
the eyes may be compromised, resulting in strabismus.
Different activities in our lives can strengthen or
weaken our fusion. Playing sports like tennis, ping pong
and baseball develop fusion, as do near activities like
embroidery and blocks. However, activities that require
us to use just one eye, like monocular microscopes, or
covering one eye with bangs, can disrupt our fusional
abilities.
As we grow up our ability to fuse may become
weakened through tiredness, bumps to the head or other
W
40
EARTH STAR
D.B.O., M.A.
TIPS
YOUR EYES
stressors. There are, however, simple ways to strengthen and maintain this ability. One of them is to practice
crossing our eyes—just the opposite of what many of us
heard as children.
If you’d like to explore your fusion in the near range,
hold a pencil at arms length and look at the tip. Do you
have a single image? If you do, bring the pencil towards
your nose as you blink and breathe. You are asking your
eyes to cross. Stop if you see
two pencils or if you experience any discomfort. Now
bring the pencil away from you
as you continue to blink and
breathe, noticing when it
becomes single again. Follow
it out to arms length and then
look at something as far in the
distance as possible.
If the pencil never went
double and looking at it on
your nose was perfectly comfortable, then you need not
practice. If you experienced
doubling or discomfort, practice this little exercise a few
times a day for short periods.
Be gentle with your eyes so
you don’t further weaken them
by trying to go too fast. Over
time the muscles will strengthen, the eyes become better
coordinated and you will have
greater stamina for reading, sewing and working at the
computer.
If you notice that as you look at the pencil you see
double of the objects behind it, or when looking in the
distance you see two pencils, don’t worry, this is normal.
We’ll discuss it next issue.
Rosemary Gaddum-Gordon, D.B.O., M.A., Holistic Vision
Improvement, Cambridge, MA: (617) 354-8360, and Eliot,
ME: (207) 439-9821, www.visioneducators.com.
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organic cotton towels are a perfect blend of softness and silkiness. Generously sized,
absorbent and natural colored. (866) 485-4187, www.myorganichouse.com.
41
CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
A Review by Will Arntz
The movie, Conversations with God is faithfully based on the
life of Neale Donald Walsch. It focuses intensely upon the
period of time when Neale was descending into homeless status, and is a riveting portrayal of a man whose ego is slowly and painfully - being eroded so that something finer can flow
through him. Ultimately his journey is a healing one, eventually leading to the publishing of the enormously popular
Conversations with God books.
The movie is an excellent telling of this epic story of spiritual
realization. And epic it is. As Cate Montana, our What the
BLEEP newsletter editor, said: “It’s amazing what spirit has to
put us through before we’re ready to listen.” All of the elements of a great storytelling are here - Fine acting, photography, direction, all combine to maximize the impact of this very
human story. And because it is so effectively told, it’s a story
that I’ve gone back to in my mind for days afterwards.
For me it’s great to watch a film about a true hero. Not some
“hero” who miraculously dodges twenty thousand bullets to
shoot everyone else, but someone who wrestles with the selfbullets, and comes out the other side to help millions (seven
million + books sold!).
On a more personal note - there are really two people behind
this film. The one in front of the camera (as acted by Henry
Czerny) is Neale. The one behind the camera is
producer/director Steven Simons. Steven has been on his own
journey to get these films made for decades. Mark Vicente one of the BLEEP filmmakers - even took a film class fifteen
years ago taught by Steven about making mystical movies.
Steven has produced spiritual movies, written books and articles about it, created a new way of distributing films, via the
Spiritual Cinema Circle, and finally made this film. For his
unrelenting passion to make this all happen, we fellow filmmakers are all most grateful.
Will Arntz is the co-creator of the movies What the BLEEP
Do We Know!? and Down the Rabbit Hole. For more information please go to www.whatthebleep.com .
CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD
Reveals the Spiritual Side of Homelessness
By Jill V. Mangino
L
ast Fall I joined five hundred people at a special
screening
of
Conversations with God
in New York City, not
knowing that the movie I was about to
see would forever change how I view the
homeless. Conversations with God
depicts the true life story of New York
Times Best-Selling author Neale Donald
Walsch. The film portrays Neale’s soulful
and emotional journey into his “Dark
Night of the Soul” as a homeless man and
reveals the illuminating moment that
called him to become a modern-day spiritual messenger.
Neale found himself homeless, at fortynine years old, after surviving a car accident in which he broke his neck. He was
separated and divorced from his wife
and supporting his children as best he
could. Out of work and forced to wear a
Philadelphia collar neck brace he was
unemployable.
What little benefits the government
gives a single man ran out very quickly
and before he knew it, he found himself
42
EARTH STAR
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
homeless living in a tent in a makeshift
campground. He lived outside for the
better part of a year panhandling for
quarters and dimes on the street and living under the stars.
Neale’s plight, as depicted so poignantly
in the film, uncovers the stark reality of
the homeless situation in this country. It
sheds light on the circumstances that
lead many of society’s outcasts to find
themselves without shelter and often
without hope. I’m sure Neale never
envisioned eating out of a garbage bin—
one of the more uncomfortable and compelling scenes in the film. However, it
can unknowingly happen to any of us.
As many as three-point-five million people experience homelessness in a given
year (one percent of the entire US population or ten percent of its poor), and
about 842,000 people in any given week1
While there is on-going legislation and
initiates to address the homeless situation, many critics of social policy assert
that a failure to live responsibly and lack
of determination are what keep people
homeless. However, such thinking is
largely accredited with fueling a stigmatization of homelessness. It is not uncommon for Americans to think of the homeless as lazy, apathetic, irresponsible or
worthless. Such people typically believe it
is by choice that people are homeless.
Many Americans complain about the
presence of homeless people and feel that
their requests for “hand outs” are
unjustified. Likewise, many homeless
feel they are ignored, despised or even
hated.
During a recent Spiritual Cinema
Circle tele-class Neale recounted a
story about how one person refused to
tell him the time, when he was homeless, and how incredibly painful and
humiliating that experience was for
him…to be literally not “worth the time
of day”.
It is often thought that such experiences
can actually encourage substance abuse
or exacerbate mental health issues,
which in turn increase the difficulty of
functioning within mainstream society.
Some believe these social views and
lack of concern provide an obstacle to
the elimination of poverty.
Neale had one “angel” in the film a
woman named Sunny who helped him
get “cleaned up” for a job interview. If
she had not seen his potential or had a
biased view towards his homeless situation, he may have never been able to
have picked himself up. Just one person
made such a huge difference and
changed the course of his life forever.
Neale and Sunny
Eventually, after finally finding work,
another streak of bad luck compelled
Neale to finally cry out in desperation,
frustration and anger to God…and surprisingly… God answered. From his darkest
hours he found the greatest light, God
Walsch was asked what he learned from being homeless.
“Judge not and neither condemn,” he said, then added with
a twinkle, “You never know who may become your next New
York Times best selling author.” He offers some sound
advice for dealing with the homeless that you may
encounter:
Don’t judge because we can never know what circumstances
led to the person’s situation.
Be generous. Please, don’t ever pass any body on the street.
We’ve all got a quarter or a dime or a dollar or a fiver that
we can let go of. And you can make somebody’s whole day
with fifty cents or a dollar. So try never, ever, ever to pass
anybody in need. If you see somebody on the street that has
his or her hand out, dig deep & try to be generous.
Look them in the eye and say hello. This simple, dignified
human interaction could make their day. So many of them
feel as if they have disappeared from society. Sometimes
they just need someone to acknowledge their presence.
Get a window into their life, it could be very telling. Spend
time, be present and listen to their story, if you feel safe and
have the time to reach out and connect.
revealed himself in that moment and
offered answers, not only for Neale personally, but with a profound message
which has become an exceptional and
gripping spiritual dialogue (with over
seven million books sold and translated
into thirty-four languages).
While Conversations with God immerses you in the reality of homelessness,
Neale’s story offers hope for those who
find themselves down-and-out literally
and spiritually. As Neale’s life unfolded
on the big screen, it revealed a courageous man who rose like the phoenix
from the ashes to touch all of our
lives. And one thing is certain this
movie will forever change the way
you view the homeless.
It’s encouraging when movies can not
only address social causes in an entertaining way but inspire us to take action
or behave more positively with compassion, ultimately trickling down and
hopefully creating a paradigm shift.
Neale’s personal triumph reminds us all
that God is listening and is our true
home, our our true shelter.
NOTE
1 National Coalition for the Homeless.
If you see a homeless person who looks like he or she could
use immediate attention, please don’t ignore it. By calling
the police/paramedics, you are taking the first step in linking
people to much needed services and housing
For more information on homelessness and how you can
help please contact the following organizations:
National Coalition for the Homeless — a national network
of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, communitybased and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission. That mission, our common bond, is
to end homelessness. (202) 462-4822, www.nationalhomeless.org.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness— a nonpartisan, mission-driven organization committed to preventing
and ending homelessness in the United States.
www.endhomlessness.org.
Conversations with God is now available on DVD by Fox Home
Entertainment. For more information about the film please visit:
www.cwgthemovie.com.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007 EARTH STAR
43
SEE AND HEAR
“She healed my family for alcohol, smoking, and trauma. She is my family’s healing angel ...
she can be yours too.” — Elaine Caskey, Georgetown, Texas
Linda Hodges
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have not had anything to drink since
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Denise Hunter
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my desire to drink was simply gone.”
Mary Day
“I went to see Rhonda 6 years ago and
have never had a drink since. More so, I
have never wanted a drink since.”
Norm McIver
Silvia Schoch
Heather Fougnier
“I want to express my gratitude to Rhonda
for helping me overcome an eating disorder.”
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craving for alcohol. Immediately after first
seeing Rhonda, I was relieved of the craving from alcohol and experienced no
seizures or withdrawal illness.”
Brett Rosen
“I feel very privileged and deeply grateful
to Rhonda for her willingness to share her
exceptional ability with me.”
Lesia Stanchak
Alty Weinreb
“She made such a profound difference in my
life and my children’s lives; I’m incredibly
grateful to her. She’s a unique and incredibly
gifted human being.”
44
EARTH STAR
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
“The sessions I had with Rhonda were
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OUR CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
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Michelle McClennan
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Tara Daly
Dan McKeon
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days; it’s now coming up on 7 years.”
Joseph Taylor, M.D.
Elaine Caskey
Eileen Wladyka
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to where I wanted to go. Rhonda has been
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Hyla Cass, M.D.
“She healed my family for alcohol,
smoking, and trauma. She is my family’s
healing angel ... she can be yours too.”
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Brenda Tucker, Nutritional Consultant
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discover and resonate with whatever the
traumatic events are … you can start
fresh, start clear. I highly recommend
Rhonda and her work.”
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THE LENAIR HEALING CENTER
Visit our client testimonials section at www.lenair.com/meet.shtml.
Call for our complimentary 48-page brochure.
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45
CALENDAR
events workshops
festivals classes
Top Photo
2/17: CJ Chenier features at the15th Annual
Cajun & Zydeco Mardi Gras Ball, Rhodes on
the Pawtuxet Ballroom, Cranston, RI. For
tickets & information call (401) 783-3926.
FEBRUARY
2/4: Super Yoga Sunday. Our yearly benefit for Voices Against Violence. Yoga classes,
info on domestic violence, great food, and
community. www.centerforyoga.us, (508)
654-0443 to register and/or make a donation.
2/10-2/11: Reiki I Certification with John
Harvey Gray and Lourdes Gray, Ph.D.,
Rindge,NH. Awaken your healing skills
studying with the longest-practicing Reiki
Master in the West. Two days of learning,
hands-on practice and no cut corners certifies you immediately to work on yourself,
others and pets. 16.0 CEUs Visa/MC. (603)
899-3288 www.reiki.mv.com.
2/17: Mass Audubon's Merrimack River
Eagle Festival, Saturday, February 17th,
featuring Bald Eagle Tours, starting in downtown Newburyport; Eagle Spotting
Locations, along the Merrimack with on-site
interpreters; Live Eagle Demonstrations, at
Newburyport City Hall; Nature Fun for the
46
EARTH STAR
whole family at Joppa Flats Education
Center and Parker River National Wildlife
Refuge Headquarters. All free. Eagle tours
will be scheduled throughout the day. Space
is limited and advance registration is
required. Please call (978) 462-9998 to register. www.massaudubon.org/eaglefestival.
2/17-2/18: Cymatron Sound Course February 17 & 18, 2007, 10:00am-5:00pm.
Faculty: Maureen Spencer, RN, M.Ed. Fee:
$275.00. Location: Healing Tree Yoga,
N.Quincy, MA. Cymatron sessions are highly effective for shifting and healing the subtle frequencies causing deep-seated diseases.
The session includes use of a color test and
set of questions to assist in developing a stated intent for healing. 15 contact hours
awarded to nurses. For more information go
to www.cymatronsoundhealing.com, or call
(617)-754-5332.
MARCH
Rindge, NH. Awaken your healing skills
others and pets. 16.0 CEUs Visa/MC. (603)
899-3288 www.reiki.mv.com.
3/9-3/11: Family Matters - Connecting
with the Family Soul. Weekend Hellinger
Approach Constellation seminar facilitated
by Jamy and Peter Faust. Held at Kripalu
Yoga and Retreat Center, Lenox, MA. Cost:
$200 - tuition only. CEUs available. For
information about the Hellinger Approach,
please visit www.HellingerBoston.com To
register, go to www.Kripalu.org or call (866)
200-5203.
3/10-3/11: EOL Emotional Release
Acupressure System Level I, Module 2
Earth Star Calendar
contain information about physical, mental
and emotional states. We will show you what
to look for, and how to develop your inner
vision to see auras around people, animals
and plants anytime you wish. The process is
surprisingly easy! $125 tuition includes
practice tape, manual and your Kirlian photograph. Visa/MC. (603) 899-3288
www.reiki.mv.com.
3/24: The National Institute
of Whole Health begins its
Spring Whole Health curriculum
Guest Lecturer Series with Mona
Lisa Schultz, M.D., Ph.D. on
Saturday, March 24. Reservations
required. For more information
about the series and NIWH Nutrition
Educator Certification and Whole
Health Educator Certification
programs, visit www.niwh.org or
call (888) 354-HEAL (4325).
Laypersons and experienced practitioners
will learn highly-effective point sequences to
Increase Cellular Resonance, Release
Guilt/Shame/Regrets, Release General
Emotional patterns. Discover and practice
head, neck, arm and shoulder releases,
explore dialoguing with the body to achieve
deeper Emotional Release, and more!
9:00am.-6:00pm. both days; 36 contact
hours $350; EarlyPay discount available.
Details at www.TheWayToBalance.com;
(978) 834-0341.
3/17: Experience your Past Lives with
John Harvey Gray and Lourdes Gray,
Ph.D., Rindge, NH. The same popular seminar John gave for years at the Maine Healing
Arts Festival and Interface. Two regressions
are provided. Your subconscious selects the
dates and places and protects you from
bringing back any uncomfortable emotions.
$75.Visa/MC.
(603)
899-3288
www.reiki.mv.com.
3/17: Reiki Certification, Wilton, NH.
Libby Barnett, MSW. 26 years experience.
Reiki Energy Medicine co-author. Notebook,
pin, certificate awarded. Visa/MC accepted.
CEU's. To register call 1-888-REIKI-4-U or
(603) 654-2787 Reiki II: 3/18.
3/18: Learn to See Auras with Lourdes
Gray, Ph.D., CCHT, Rindge, NH. Auras
3/24: The National Institute of Whole
Health begins its Spring Whole Health curriculum Guest Lecturer Series with Mona
Lisa Schultz, M.D., Ph.D. on Saturday,
March 24. A neuroscientist and medical
intuitive, Dr. Schultz is the author of The
New Feminine Brain and Awakening
Intuition. Using her extensive background in
health and brain research, she will teach how
specific emotional situations in one’s life are
associated with the increased risk of illness
in a specific organ and how one can
acknowledge, trust and develop their intuition. Free to the public, this lecture series
will be conducted March 24–June 2, at the
Newton Wellesley Hospital, Newton Mass.
Lecturers are from 2:00pm-5:00pm. The
series will feature other well-known experts
and leaders in the health and nutrition, such
as Mark Hyman, M.D., former medical
director of Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA,
Bernie Siegel, M.D., C. Norman Shealy
M.D., Ph.D., and Anne Louise Gittleman,
Ph.D, CNS. Reservations required. For
more information about the series and
NIWH Nutrition Educator Certification and
Whole Health Educator Certification
programs, visit www.niwh.org or call
(888) 354-HEAL (4325).
others and pets. 16.0 CEUs Visa/MC.
(603) 899-3288, www.reiki.mv.com.
4/28: Reiki Certification, Concord, MA.
CEU's. Call 1-888-REIKI-4-U or (603) 6542787 Reiki II: 4/29.
5/5: Reiki Certification, Wilton, NH.
(603) 654-2787 Reiki II: 5/6.
Cambridge, MA. Awaken your healing
skills studying with the longest-practicing
Reiki Master in the West. Two days of learning, hands-on practice and no cut corners
certifies you immediately to work on yourself, others and pets. 16.0 CEUs Visa/MC.
(603) 899-3288 www.reiki.mv.com.
UPCOMING
4/7: Psychic Development, Past Lives, &
Angel Workshop with Ross Miller, psychic
medium, regression therapist, healer. In this
unique, experiential workshop you’ll learn
how to identify your guardian angels and
spirit guides by name and receive their guidance and healing; discover your soul’s life
purpose; experience two of your past lives;
give psychic readings to others in class and
more. Saturday, 10:00am-5:00pm, Newton,
MA. To register for the workshop or to
schedule a psychic or past-life reading in
person or over the phone with Ross Miller,
please call (617) 527-3583 or visit
www.TheMysticWay.com.
Rindge, NH. Awaken your healing skills
February at the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
Come in from the cold this February,
and explore the array of exhibitions
and programs at the MFA. Enjoy two
concerts featuring the songs of
Gershwin, Ellington, and Porter to
get you in the mood for Valentine’s
Day; participate in the Cogan Family
Foundation
Vacation
Week
Adventures with artmaking activities
focused on Italy, in conjunction with
the
exhibition
Donatello
to
Giambologna: Italian Renaissance
Sculpture. For more information call
(617) 369-3447.
47
Earth Star Calendar
5/18-5/20: Join us for a very special
Women's Spiritual Retreat, May 18-20 on
Cape Cod, at the Craigviele Conference
Center. The retreat will include yoga and
meditation. Please call (508) 477-2967 or
(941) 729-2594 for info.
5/19: Reiki Certification, Boston area.
(603) 654-2787 Reiki II: 5/20.
Ongoing
Classes
in
Shamballa
Multidimensional Healing and Healing Art
offered at the Natick Community Organic
Farm, by Joyce Cerutti. SMH may be
thought of as an expansion of the energies
we know as Reiki. No prior attunements necessary. Healing Art classes offered for both
individuals and families, combining energy
healing and art healing for greater benefit.
Call for dates, times, and further information. Intuitive healing paintings also available. (508)-380-8273.
ONGOING
Reiki 1, 2, & Master — Teacher
Certification classes, offered by Healing,
Reiki & Shamanism LLC, Saturdays,
10:00am to 5:00pm, September 9, 2006 to
April 22, 2007, in Johnston, RI. Call
(401)-447-3671, contact us by email at:
[email protected], or visit our website: http://members.cox.net/shamanism.
With Shamanism... Anything is possible!
Shamanic Drumming Circle, founded
1993. Usually Second and Fourth Fridays of
every month, 7:00pm. Quaker meetinghouse, Cambridge. Open to all, but please call
first for full details and directions. Terrence
(978)-952-2704 or Emily (781)-641-3980.
Buddhist Meditation Group with Peg
Travers, Ordained Priest, Buddha Heart USA,
Sunday evenings, Haverhill, MA, 5:00pm6:00pm. Learn and practice the ancient arts of
meditation, chanting, QiGong, Buddhist Yoga
& Reiki. Call the Center for Spiritual
Development, Haverhill MA, (978)-372-5173
or online @www.uuhaverhill.org/happenings.
Workshops for Pain Management and
Improved Wellness. Offerings for
Bodyworkers, athletes, Personal Trainers,
Coaches and general pain-sufferers. Check
website: web.maynard.ma.us/biz/bmassage,
or call Barry Bailey at (978)-897-0110 for
information and brochure of current offerings.
The
Labyrinth
Ladies
Spiritual
Empowerment Workshops, go to
www.thelabyrinthladies.com for our latest
programs and walks or call (401)-847-6551
for more information. Facilitator Trainings,
site consultations, workshops for schools,
hospitals and businesses.
Christine McCullough, MA, offers
Essential Healing; integrative, holistic
counseling, BodyTalk, Energy Medicine,
shamanism. (401)-847-6551. New location:
435 East Main Rd Middletown, RI. Grand
Opening Special, receive 30% your first session. FibroMyalgia support group and
Women's Spirit group forming now! Call
(401)-847-6551, or visit our website:
www.essentialhealing.org
FireWalks with Richard Lanza. Step
Beyond Fear - Step Beyond Belief. Call
Richard at (781)-843-8224 for more information, www.opebdoors7.com.
48
EARTH STAR
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
Nationally Registered Power Yoga
Teacher Training, 200 & 500 Hour
Programs Beginning in October, Day &
Evening. Training held in Weymouth and
New Boston Location, Call Richard on
(781)-335-3090 for more information.
www.OpenDoors7.com.
Drumming Circle with Kristine Malpica
(of Imagine Studios) on third Friday of each
month. 7:00pm-8:30pm. Center for Spiritual
Development, 15 Kenoza Ave, Haverhill, MA.
(978)-372-5173.
Interested in Whole Health continuing
education or Career Training? Attend a
free introductory Whole Health education
class at the New England School of Whole
Health Education. NESWHE offers CEUs
and on-going continuing education certificate programs for medical professionals as
well are our unique Whole Health focused
Career Trainings in Medical Assisting, and
Life-Work Coaching. Classes are conducted
on Saturdays, in Boston, at the New England
Medical Center, Stearns Auditorium. For
audit availability and further information
about Whole Health career trainings, visit us
at www.wholehealtheducation.org, or call
toll free 1-888-354-HEAL (4325).
Stress Management, Imagery, and a range
of Reiki programs, with CEUs for nurses,
led by holistic nurse educators. Centered in
Amesbury, MA with other locations in
Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Visit www.LymanCenter.com or call
(888) TLC-8485.
4/21: The National Institute
of Whole Health continues its
Spring Whole Health curriculum
Guest Lecturer Series with Bernie
Siegel, M.D., one of the world’s
foremost physicians, authors, motivational speakers and advocates, on
Saturday, April 21. Reservations
required. For more information
about the series and NIWH Nutrition
Educator Certification and Whole
Health Educator Certification programs, visit www.niwh.org or call
(888) 354-HEAL (4325).
Readings with Richard Lanza at Open
Doors, Braintree. Call (781) 843-8224 for
times and to make your appointment.
$60/Half Hour. For more information visit,
www.opendoors7.com.
The Hellinger Approach to Family
Constellations - Monthly Saturday seminars
(10:00am-5:30pm) facilitated by Jamy and
Peter Faust. Held at Healing Arts of
Belmont, Belmont, MA. Cost: $100/day.
CEUs available. Call (617) 484-HEAL
(4325). Visit www.HellingerBoston.com for
this month's seminar date and to register.
Christ Church Unity - Experience the healing power of music, prayer and meditation,
every Wednesday at 7:00pm. Daily Word
Discusion Sundays at 10:00am. Sunday
Service, 11:00am. Corner of Colchester &
Chapel Streets, Brookline, MA 02466. Call
(617) 232-4548 for more information or
visit: www.unityboston.org.
The
Deadline for listings in the
April / May issue
is March 20th
Oneness
By Rev. Evrol Officer
ore than sixty
years ago the
world stood silent
while six million
Jews went to their
deaths in Nazi concentration camps.
At that time, many in the world
vowed that the attempt to
exterminate a people would
never happen again. Yet
today a similar situation is
happening in the Sudan.
To date more than four
hundred
thousand
Sudanese have been killed,
with the worst of the
slaughter taking place in
the region of Darfur. Two
and a half million people in
the region have already
been displaced. This time
we are determined not to
remain silent in the face of
what is the first genocide of
the twenty-first century.
At Christ Church Unity
Brookline, we have asked
the question: What’s the
best way to help? Our first
response as a church community is build awareness
and promote education
about the situation by
affirming a basic principle
of Unity—peace in Darfur,
in the Sudan, in Africa, and in the
world is truly possible, and that it
begins with the peaceful actions of
each one of us.
Christ Church Unity, along with
leaders from Temple Sinai, the Lam
Rim Buddhist Center and The
American Jewish Committee recently cosponsored an event at Christ
Church to support the production
and distribution of the documentary
M
film A Glory From The God. The
film, currently in production by TV
journalist Liz Walker of CBS 4 in
Boston, is the story of the work of
one woman, pastor and pediatrician
the Reverend Doctor Gloria WhiteHammond, and her commitment to
Rev. Evrol Officer
end the killing in the Sudan and help
support families at risk in that strifetorn region.
We hear that the roots of conflict
in Darfur and in other parts of the
Sudan are grounded in religion, race,
culture, land and oil. In the end the
immediate causes of the conflict may
not be as important as what will stop
it. Once we are able to understand
that we are all one, and that the
divine nature each of us name differently and worship separately is one
and the same, the need to demonize
and destroy those who do not adhere
to our religious beliefs disappears.
The fear that others present a threat
to our way of believing goes
away.
For if we embrace the
understanding that everything
is part of God, then we must
admit that we are all part of
God, we are all one with God
and one with each other.
There can be no quarrel, no
conflict, and no war among
people who truly understand
that we are all one.
Each Sunday at Christ
Church Unity, we acknowledge and affirm that all the
world’s religions contain the
seeds of truth. They may
include different beliefs,
styles and approaches, all
seeking the Source at the
center of all life. We invite
you to come and share in the
understanding that we are all
one in the unity of spirit, and
that peace begins with each
of us. Services are at 11:00
AM at Christ’s Church
Longwood, 70 Colchester
Street, at the Longwood T Stop on
the Green Line. For more information, call Reverend Evrol Officer at
(617)
232-4548
or
email:
[email protected]
Website: www.unityboston.org
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
EARTH STAR
49
Middlesex Conservation District Spring
Tree, Shrub And Perennial Sale
he Middlesex Conservation District will be
holding its annual Spring Tree, Shrub and
Perennial Sale on Friday April 27 from
3:00pm-6:00pm and Saturday April 28 from
8:00am–12 noon.
The Sale will be held at the 4H Fairgrounds on
South Chelmsford Road in Westford, MA. All items
can be pre-ordered through March 30 and picked up
on the sale days—they encourage early ordering as all
items are sold on a first come, first served basis. To
place an order, you can download an order form from
their website at www.middlesexconservation.org, or
call (978) 692-9395 to request a brochure. (Ask about
their new customer discount!) Offerings will include
T
tree and shrub seedlings, perennials, herbs, fruits,
groundcovers, and hardgoods such as compost bins,
deer repellent, kitchen scrap buckets, fertilizer and
garden gloves. We will also be selling excess first
quality stock on the days listed above.
The Middlesex Conservation District is a not-forprofit environmental agency whose purpose is conservation of natural resources in Middlesex County.
Proceeds from their biannual plant sales provide programs to improve water quality and quantity, for
preservation of open space and erosion control and
provide environmental education. For more information about their sale or programs please visit
www.middlesexconservation.org.
Angelbare P e r m a n e n t C o s m e t i c s
any women wouldn’t want to wear the same
shade of lipstick every day, but for some, having makeup permanently applied, or tattooed
onto the skin, is a lifesaver. Shahla Whitmore is a makeup artist, esthetician and an advanced cosmetic makeup
instructor. She teaches permanent makeup known as
micro pigmentation and has her own practice called
Angelbare Permanent Cosmetics. Here, she answers
your frequently asked questions:
M
Who can benefit from Permanent makeup/micro pigmentation?
“Permanent makeup is ideal for many people, who lost
there eyebrow do to natural cause or illness, surgery, or
injury and want the natural shape and color enhance
there look. Is for people who want to camouflage their
scars from breast reconstruction or face lifts, or injury. It
is ideal for some women who wear glasses, or have allergies, and use eyeliner. It is a perfect solution for those
who want to have makeup done right that won’t come
off, wash off, or smudge.
How qualified to do permanent makeup?
“Look at their certification. Ideally you want to find an
experienced advanced permanent cosmetic technician.
The license for an advanced technician indicates she has
had extra training and more experience than the basic
technician. Even better—find an instructor. Look for a
technician who also has a background in skin and makeup.
50
EARTH STAR
What happens at the consultation?
“Ask to see the technician’s portfolio. Everyone has a
different idea about what looks good. Do you like the
eyebrow shapes she has created? Does her makeup
appear natural-looking? The technician needs to take
your skin, eye and hair colors into account when choosing makeup shades.”
How does it work?
“The technician will apply a numbing cream to the area
having work done and then apply pigment under the first
layer of skin.”
Is it comfortable?
“In general, after I apply a numbing cream, most of my
clients don’t feel any discomfort. But remember, pain
threshold varies.”
How long does it take?
“It takes about one hour and some clients may need two
sessions.
“Remember, when choosing permanent cosmetics, opt
for “daytime” makeup colors. “Evening” makeup shades
are dramatic. Select soft colors. You can always add
color to change your look.”
“Start with less; you can always add more. You may
want to start with lash enhancement. It looks very natural when adding color between lashes.
For more information please visit www.angelbare.com
directory
New England’s Premier
Professional Resource Guide
category
Astrological Consulting ....................52
Bookstores & Awareness Centers ...52
Centers ...............................................53
Classes ...............................................53
Healing & Bodywork .........................54
Herbs ..................................................56
Medical Health Care Services ..........57
Metaphysics .......................................57
Psychics .............................................57
Psychology & Transformation .........58
Readings ............................................59
Schools & Institutes ..........................59
Shamanism.............. ..........................61
Profiles of businesses,
centers and individuals
that offer holistic services
that nurture and support
the body, mind and soul.
51
ASTROLOGICAL CONSULTING
Astrology and Esoteric Psychology — Monique Pommier
Twelvefold science of the twelvefold soul,
Astrology illuminates the unique landscape of a psyche – inner characters and
dynamics, gifts and directions – and charts
the course of a life, timing new developments
and uncovering their purposes.
As an esoteric astrologer and counselor, I
focus on the evolutionary meaning of per-
sonal, relational and spiritual challenges, and
offer insights and methods that elicit transformative perspectives and facilitate self-actualisation.
By accessing the deeper order of your
life you gain the freedom to appreciate its
complexities and the power to participate in
your evolution.
My background includes an MS and
PhD in Esoteric Psychology and Philosophy.
Jungian psychology, Eastern and Western traditions have been key foundations in my
eighteen years of consulting and teaching.
To inquire about services, classes, or
publications, please call:
(617) 524-7072
Astrologer and Clairvoyant – Serena Wright-Taylor
Serena gives readings that touch your soul.
She blends the ancient wisdom of Vedic astrology with her remarkable intuition to help you
use perfect timing to bring joy and fruition to all
areas of your life.
She is highly sought after by celebrities, business executives, speakers, and authors. She
has made numerous appearances on TV and
“Serena’s work is extraordinary—a
stunning blend of mind, heart, and soul,”
says Judith Orloff, M.D., author and
clairvoyant psychiatrist.
Serena gives readings by telephone
all over the country.
radio and you may have recently heard her
name on Coast to Coast AM.
Serena has been gifted since childhood
with the ability to see many dimensions of
life. She has spent many years in spiritual
practice and enjoys working on her own
healing and evolvement so that her service
to others is of the highest quality.
Serena Wright-Taylor
310.335.5617
Website: www.vimana.org
BOOKSTORES & AWARENESS CENTERS
Enchantments
10 Boothbay House Hill
Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538
207-633-4992
Largest New Age Store in New England!
We’ve knocked through a wall and doubled our space! New coffee, tea and
dessert bar with eye-of-newt scones.
enlarged clothing section featuring
Geetah & Sacred Threads; Celtic &
Renaissance-style clothing, including
52
EARTH STAR
reversible floor-length capes in velvet
and satin; Dirks, knives & swords; Crystal
balls and bowls; Scrying mirrors & wiccan supplies; Magic wands; Magic spells;
Harry Potter; Candles, candles & more
candles. Eastern incense & Native
American sage, cedar & juniper; Drums
& rainsticks; Large variety of pipes &
Grateful Dead memorabilia; Extensive
New Age/metaphysical book section;
300+ tarot decks; runes; Egyptian
canopic jars & statuary; Eastern religious
items & statuary–Buddha, Ganesh, Quan
Yin; Fabulous fountains & fantasy statuary of all kinds; angels & fairies, puppets
& dolls, dragons, frogs, & gargoyles;
Meyda Tiffany lamps; Hundreds of
chimes; Cards & calendars; Crystals, jewelry, gems & minerals; Massage & essential oils; Henna; Body jewelry; Tapes &
CDs; Psychic readings. Don’t miss our
second store “Enchantment Too” right
across the street!!!
Open daily . . . call for hours!
Visit our website:
www.enchantments.bz
CENTERS
Kriya Yoga is a complete holistic health management system
Institute For Personal Development, Inc.
A Kriya Yoga Ashram
Classes, Courses, and Personal Training
652 Lafayette Rd. - Hampton, NH 03842-3348
1-603-929-0303
[email protected]
IPD Web Site - http://www.ipdtransform.com
Private Residential Retreat & Personalized Programs
Weekends and longer plans available as low as $44 a night
Call toll free 1-888-545-8597 ask for:
Kenneth Toy (Swami Jayananda)
Call for Prices on your personal program
Uniting Science with Religion
CLASSES
“Reiki speaks to our heart and deepens our connection to self and others.”
Libby is a gifted, knowledgeable Reiki
Master with 26 years experience. She is
coauthor of Reiki Energy Medicine,
Bringing Healing Touch into Home,
Hospital, and Hospice - over 55,000 copies
sold in seven languages.
©
Use Reiki to create more joy and ease in
your life. Let Libby’s warm, heart-centered approach help you to take your next
step toward self-love and inner peace.
Reiki brings balance and harmony, supporting you doing the work you were
born to do. Reiki facilitates transitions,
promotes creativity and wisdom, and
accelerates spiritual growth, helping you
manifest your magnificance.
Libby Barnett, MSW
Libby has taught medical and nursing
students at Harvard, Brown, Tufts, and
Yale as well as staff at Massachusetts
General, Beth Israel, Mt Auburn,
Emerson,
Dartmouth-Hitchcock,
Reiki Master
“Love is the healer and
Reiki is love.”
Southern New Hampshire, New York
Foundling, and New York Columbia
Presbyterian. Libby was featured in a Reiki
segment for the PBS nationally televised
series, Body and Soul. For the past seven
years, Libby has conducted Reiki classes at
the University of Maryland School of
Social Work and at Kripalu Center for
Yoga and Health. One of Libby’s current
passions is teaching hospice staff and volunteers. Fueled by Reiki energy, their healing touch is enhanced, affording greater
effectiveness in calming agitation, soothing
pain and providing comfort.
In class, a powerful slide presentation captures the essence of Reiki. You hear the
Reiki story, receive attunements and practice giving and receiving Reiki. You leave
class with an illustrated notebook, certificate, and pin, fully trained and certified to
do Reiki on yourself, family, friends, and
pets.
“My commitment to teach the Usui System
of Reiki Healing in the authentic, traditional manner inspired me to visit Japan
to retrace the roots of Reiki. I am dedicated to teaching this sacred healing art to
promote health and conscious living on the
planet. I invite you to give yourself the gift
of Reiki. It is an easy, effective way to love,
heal, and empower yourself. I look forward
to meeting you and sharing Reiki.”
Boston Area Classes
April 28 or May 19
Wilton, NH Classes
March 17 or May 5
To register, call the Reiki Healing
Connection: 1-888-REIKI-4-U
(1-888-734-5448) or (603) 654-2787.
Visa/MC accepted. Social Work and
Nursing CEU’s available. Reiki Master
Training information avaliable on request.
Reiki Healing Connection • phone (603) 654-2787 • fax (603) 654-2771 • email [email protected] • www.reikienergy.com
HEALING & BODYWORK
Rolfing
Rolfing© is a deep bodywork method
developed by Ida P. Rolf, Ph.D., in the
1940's, which frees, releases and
reshapes the body to bring it towards
greater balance and verticality.
Through Rolfing©, body structure is
restored and improved, stress is
reduced, and movement becomes more
fluid, efficient, and graceful. Freedom
and range of movement are enhanced,
and breathing becomes fuller and easier.
As out of balance parts of the body
are brought into alignment, chronic
aches and pains often disappear. Gravity
becomes an ally, rather than an enemy; it
is no longer an effort to hold oneself up.
In addition to the physical results, Dennis Bailey, Marshfield (South Shore):
(617) 472-2699
clients often experience the release of old
emotional traumas, an enhanced self Garret Whitney, Brighton, Concord,
image, increased spontaneity of expres(978) 371-2188
sion and increased agility to be assertive Eric Jacobson, Arlington:
and nurturing in relationships.
(781) 643-6874
For information about Rolfing contact Beate Gottschlich, Cambridge:
these certified practitioners:
(617) 661-9291
Boston Area Rolfer Group:
Out of State:
Aline Newton, Cambridge:
Kevin Frank, Holderness, Concord, NH;
(617) 661-6409
Norwich, VT: (603) 968-9585
William Redpath, Bedford, Cambridge: Bruce Dow, Concord, NH: (603) 225-3595
(781) 861-0184
Holistic Vision Improvement
Rosemary Gaddum Gordon,
DBO, MA
How we see can be affected by
our frame of mind, state of
health, and environment. In
response to Life we may begin to overfocus at one distance and lose clarity at
another, or exhaust our eyes so they can't
focus comfortably anywhere, or even let
one eye drift in and out. These adaptations
may become chronic. We use muscles to
focus our eyes. You can learn techniques
to relax and coordinate them so that you
can see comfortably and clearly again.
Your dependence on glasses or contacts can be prevented, eliminated, or
reduced. Rosemary draws on her twenty years experience and training in
orthoptics, the Bates' Method, Gestalt
Psychotherapy, and EducationalKinesthetics to form a comprehensive
approach to vision improvement. She
offers individual and group sessions for
adults and children.
ROSEMARY GADDUM GORDON,
D.B.O., M.A.
CAMBRIDGE, MA
(617) 354-8360
and
ELIOT, ME
NEAR PORTSMOUTH, NH
(207) 439-9821
53
HEALING & BODYWORK continued
Betty Solbjor has been practicing and
teaching Reiki since 1996, and in 2002
became a Karuna Reiki® Master, a Bach
Foundation Registered Practitioner, and was
ordained as an interfaith minister. She has
extensive experience using Reiki on both
people and animals to gently treat many
Betty L. Solbjor, BFRP illnesses and emotional problems. Reiki
brings about a deep sense of relaxation and
Usui Reiki Master
inner peace. Combined with Magnified
Karuna Reiki® Master
Healing, crystal singing bowls, and guided
Interfaith Minister
meditation, a session can help to restore
balance and harmony to body, mind and soul.
Services offered:
•
Reiki treatment sessions and training
for all levels of Reiki and Karuna Reiki
•
Bach Flower Essence® consultations
and creation of custom formulas
•
Weddings and other ceremonies
(781) 258-7712 Waltham, MA
web: www.reikiflowers.com
Member, International Association of Reiki
Professionals and Better Business Bureau®,
Serving Eastern Masschusetts
Call or e-mail to schedule an appointment
or inquire about classes.
Change your life in ways you have always dreamed!
Give yourself the gift of full empowerment and improved health
22 STRAND DNA
ACTIVATION
Your DNA holds the master plan for
your life purpose and divine potential.
Through this sacred process your 22
strands of DNA are activated and
strengthened, while unwanted debris
from the DNA structure is cleared.
YOUR HIGHEST POTENTIAL
BECOMES YOUR REALITY!
Further benefits include: gained energy,
clarity and focus, a stronger immune
system, the use of more of your brain.
Benefits your nerves, blood, skin, muscles and respiratory system. This activation helps you to discover new talents
and abilities, releases unconscious patterns, facilitates clearing of genetic and
family karmic patterns and enables you
to bring in and hold more LIGHT in your
physical body. This activation is a huge
acceleration step on your personal
path. Also available: Energy Clearing,
karmic Matrix, Life coaching and More.
CLAIRE LUFT - HEART'S SINGING
HEALING CENTER
Woburn, MA 781-281-2888
www.heartssinging.com
Healing with Sound and Sacred Geometry: The Cymatron Sound Table
Cymatron Sound Course
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Cymatron sessions are highly
effective for shifting and healing the
subtle frequencies causing deep• Decreased physical and emotional pain seated diseases.
February 17 & 18, 2007
• Profound relief from stress
• Heightened sense of empowerment
• Increased creativity, clarity and focus
• Stronger connection to Self and Source
Faculty: Maureen Spencer, RN, M.Ed.
10:00am-5:00pm Fee: $275.00
The session includes use of a color
test and set of questions to assist in
developing a stated intent for healing.
Location: Healing Tree Yoga,
N.Quincy, MA.
15 contact hours awarded to nurses
• More lucid dreaming and higher sense Music is selected by applied kinesiology.
For more information go to
www.cymatronsoundhealing.com
perceptions
Whether one is in conflict with
their higher self, spouse, or another
individual, spiritual mediation
serves as a bridge to new levels of
balance, peace, and harmony; and a
greater spiritual understanding of
the relationship.
Spiritual Mediation
Higher Level
Channeling
The Natural Path
Alternative, Inc.
54
EARTH STAR
Laura Barry is a spiritual mediator
with shamanic and clairvoyant
abilities. She works in the unconscious
realms to retrieve relationship
dynamics/patterns surrounding the
Services Offered:
• Colon Hydrotherapy
• I-ACT Certified Practitioners
• FDA Registered Instruments
• Slow and Continuous Fill (simulates
gravity flow) systems available
• Over 20 years of colon hydrotherapy
experience
• Iridology is the science and practice of
analyzing the Iris, pupil and sclera of the eye
to determine inherited and accumulated
health patterns.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2007
nature of the conflict. This process
assists the individuals involved to shift
perception in order to understand the
underlying patterns of conflict, and
move towards resolution.
Laura communicates and connects
with the Archangels and Spirit
Guides to provide guidance, insight
and healing for your life path.
Channeled information along with
shamanic techniques works to heal
emotional wounds, and inner
• Herbal/Nutritional Consultation in
which an herbalist/pharmacist with over 10
years of experience creates individualized
cleansing, fasting, and wellness programs
using herbs specified for the client.
• 3 and 7 day cleanses
• Kidney cleanses
• Liver & Gall Bladder cleanses
• Weight Loss cleanses
• Lymphatic Therapy is a therapy used to
help move the lymphatic system, an integral
part of our immune system. High-Frequency
conflicts, retrieve lost aspects of
self and promote soul integration.
Readings are available by telephone
or in person. To schedule an
appointment or to arrange a
speaking engagement, call:
Laura Barry
978-263-8596
Acton, MA
www.alternativehealing.com
[email protected]
and Manual Therapy available.
• 10-Day Cleanse Program
• 30-Day Detox/Rejuvenation Program
Holistic Lecture Series
Check out our website for future dates and topics
The Natural Path Alternative, Inc.
214 Market Street
Brighton, MA 02135
617-787-5040
[email protected]
www.healthycleansing.com
America’s Most Experienced Reiki Teachers
John Harvey Gray has been a Reiki
Master instructor since 1976, actively
teaching and practicing Reiki longer
than any other living teacher in the
West.
He took his entire Reiki training with
Hawayo Takata, who brought Reiki to
the West from Japan. John has conducted over 850 Reiki workshops, teaching
more than 15,000 students, and was
named the 1994 Interface Presenter of
the Year.
Lourdes Gray, Ph.D., his wife, is a
Reiki Master instructor certified by John.
brings years of extensive experience
John Harvey Gray She
using Reiki to treat degenerative diseases
& Lourdes Gray, Ph.D. such as arthritis, cancer, HIV/AIDS, as
well as emotional problems.
Basic Classes (1st Degree) (16.0 CEU credits available.)
• Feb 10-11
Rindge, NH
• Mar 3-4
Rindge, NH
• Apr 7-8
Rindge, NH
Advanced Classes (2nd Degree)
• Feb 17-18
• Mar 10-11
• Apr 21-22
Rindge, NH
Rindge, NH
Rindge, NH
Questions? Call or write for information
about workshops or private Reiki sessions. Third Degree/Master Instructor
training available.
Read our new book!
Hand To Hand
Available now at reiki.mv.com, local bookstores
and Amazon.com
Reiki 2nd Degree Advance Workshops
• Apr 28-29
Rindge, NH
THE JOHN HARVEY GRAY
CENTER FOR REIKI HEALING
15 Dolly Lane, Rindge, NH 03461
Advanced Skills Practice Workshops
• Feb 24
Rindge, NH
• Mar 31
Rindge, NH
603/899-3288
Register online! www.reiki.mv.com
Regressions into Past Lives
• Feb 3
Rindge, NH
• Mar 17
Rindge, NH
Visa/MC accepted for all courses.
Contact Hours available
Learn To See Auras
• Feb 4
Rindge, NH
• Mar 18
Rindge, NH
TIBETAN SCIENCE OF HEALING
Keyzom Bhutti, Doctor of Tibetan
Medicine, corrects any imbalances of the
body and mind using finest quality
Medicinal Herbs—Mineral Supplements
and Moxabustion in some cases.
For information or an
appointment call
(617) 666-8635
Cleansing for the body, the mind, the spirit
Experience colon hydrotherapy
in a safe, relaxed environment
using state-of-the-art
FDA registered equipment.
“Energy
flows where
attention
goes”
Nancy Ames, a graduate of the Bancroft
School of Massage Therapy, has been a
massage therapist for over 16 years. She is
also a member of the American Massage
Therapy Association.
Nancy offers many different styles of
massage modalities including: relaxing Swedish
massage, therapeutic deep tissue, trigger
point therapy, myofascial release and Reiki.
Stephanie Dumas,
I-ACT certified
Colon Hydrotherapist, Owner
Lexington Medical Building
16 Clarke Street
Lexington, MA
[email protected]
(781) 860-5116
Her treatments include luxurious hot
towels placed on tight and sore muscles
that help to relieve tension and stress.
Nancy tailors her massage sessions
to meet her clients’ needs.
Visit her on the web at:
www.nancyamesmt.com
Nancy Ames
Massage Therapy
481 Great Rd. Suite 9
Acton Ma.
(978) 263-6886
Or you can email her at
[email protected]
55
This is an ancient & sacred modality
recently reintroduced to humanity by
Spiritual Master & World Teacher Derek
O'Neill. As amazing as it sounds the
Masters tell us the Rising Star actually
encompasses all healing modalities that
are present on the planet at this time,
plus a lot more...
The Rising Star
Healing System
Through this healing system you will:
• Remove misqualified or negative ener
gies from the chakras and the 7 body
systems, allowing your being to clear
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
and heal on all levels and open to
your true self
Gain access to yor 5th dimensional
lightbody
Activates as many strands of DNA
that you are ready for
Connect with yor highest consciousness
Begin to open your 4th eye — the
Masters Eye
Rejuvinate your body on all levels
Rejuvinate all cells of your body within
one week
Begin and expand the ascension
Rolfing® produces lasting improvements in
posture, breathing, movement, and overall
relaxation. The Rolfer uses manual pressure
to help you feel into and let go of rigidities in
the connective tissue that wraps every muscle and bone. As you let go the tissue
changes state, becoming more elastic and
conductive of energy. This enhances freedom of movement, sensation, and circulation. Rolfing is done in specific patterns
throughout the body to allow a more erect
posture, easier breathing, improved balance, and more graceful movement. These
changes lead to a more positive self-image
and increased confidence. Once elasticity
has been restored it will remain unless the
Eric Jacobson, Ph.D.
is re-injured subjected to emotional
Rolfing® * Craniosacral Therapy area
trauma or very long-term tension, so the
Psychotherapy
benefits are relatively permanent.
ISIS Holistic Clinic
introduces
The Waters of ISIS
Body Purification Spa
We have moved into our new
expanded facility at
One Harvard Street
in Brookline Village
617-734-4708
www.isisboston.com
Seven Days a Week.
Mark Levin
Energy Healer
Certified Hypnotherapist
Reiki Master
Devoted to Helping You Feel Better
EARTH STAR
CLAIRE LUFT - HEART'S
SINGING HEALING CENTER
Rev.
Woburn, MA 781-281-2888
www.heartssinging.com
Other Benefits:
My Background includes training in
Rolfing with Ida Rolf, and in
Craniosacral Therapy with John
Upledger. I am a graduate of the
Gestalt Training Center of San Diego
and the Cambridge Family Institute
and have a private practice in psychotherapy. I have worked in these
modalities in the Boston area for the
past thirty years.
Increases ability to sense emotions and
other energetic states.
Releases negative emotional memories.
Accelerates progress in psychotherapy
or spiritual practice.
Restores flexibility and circulation to
scar tissue and joints, both post-injury
and post-surgical.
Craniosacral Therapy gently increases
the mobility of the bones in the head, spine
and pelvis. This is especially effective in
relieving cranial compression from head
injuries. Patterns of distress and dysfunction going back as far as birth and childhood can be treayed. Benefits include relief
from chronic pain and tension in then head,
neck, or lower back, and the release of
negative emotional memories.
• Japanese Ofuro Soak Tub
• Ozone Jacuzzi
• Mud & Clay Bath Treatments
• Swiss Lymphatic Drainage
• Organic & Natural Skin Care
• Ayurvedic Therapy & Treatment
• Infrared Sauna
• Comprehensive Treatment Plans &
Detoxification Packages
• Deep Tissue Massage Therapy
• Acupuncture & Oriental Healing
• On-Site Naturopathic Advice
• European Spa Foot Reflexology
• In-House Clinical Herbal Lab
• Food-Based Treatment Options
For free literature or an appointment:
781-643-6874
10 Ramsdell Court,
Arlington, MA 02476
www.eric-jacobson.com
We believe that nature is the very
essence of life on this planet. We
have created programs of detoxification and healing that use the
resources of nature for our clients,
families and friends. Based on the
European model, we not only offer
complete healing packages, but also
private ritual bathing, cancer support
and natural fertility options. We
encourage you to change your life
and your body… today.
Please call us....
Mark Levin was able to create very powerful For an office appointment or to place
healing processes for hundreds of satisfied a remote healing request please call
clients both within physical realm of his office
and remotely throughout entire world.
617-779-8765
Specializes in: Hypnotherapy, Reiki, Polarity
There are many clinically documented cases of
Therapy, white light healing, remote healing.
spontaneous healing performed by him.
By combining traditional healing methods
121 B. Tremont Street, Suite #19
such as Reiki, hypnosis, polarity therapy with
Brighton, MA
his original white light healing therapy,
HERBS
56
process on all levels: soul, spirit
and physical
• Helps to create Unity Consciousness
This healing system has enormous
significence to the planet, with the
potential to bring about Unity and
profound planetary shifts.
In urgent cases, please call
617-233-3986
Major credit cards accepted.
MEDICAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES
At M.A.S.H. we feel that complementary
Main St. Animal Services of Hopkinton medicine is state of the art health care for
your pet. We offer homeopathy, acupuncture, nutrition, chiropractic care, body
work, physical therapy, and Reiki as part
of your pet’s whole health program. Our
caring staff is dedicated to guiding you
toward total health for your pet.
Now offerinig ozone therapy.
Est. 1983
Margo Roman D.V.M. is a 1978 graduate of
Tuskegee Veterinary School. She interned at
Angell Memorial and was on the teaching staff
Main Street Animal
at Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine. She
Services of Hopkinton
studied homeopathy with Luc DeShepper of
the Renaissance Institute of Classical
www.mashvet.com
Homeopathy. Dr. Roman is a member of the
Homeopathic, Holistic &
American Veterinary Medical Association and
the American Holistic Veterinary Medical
Traditional Veterinary Medicine
Association as well as International Veterinary
Acupuncture Society and Massachusetts
Margo Roman, D.V.M.
We are truly a whole health center, Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Roman has
also offering surgery, diagnostics, completed Tufts Veterinary advanced Herbal (508) 435-4077 or (508) 435-MASH
and Chiropractic courses.
vaccination/titering, and x-Rays.
72W. Main St. - Hopkinton, MA
Please call for a holistic consultation today!
Holistic Dental Practice grows to Biologic and Physiologic Dentistry
Herbert S. Yolin, D.D.S.
“I am committed to helping people
keep all their teeth all their lives.”
Dentistry for the 21st Century — Today!
Gum surgery is history, say goodbye to
the drill, the pain, the noise and the needle.
Miracle Bite Tabs™ (MBT) &
Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT),
are used to treat Dental Distress Syndrome
(DDS) as written about by Dr. Hans Selye
MD, Dr. Fonder, a dentist, & others.
Your teeth and jaws are an extension
of your brain and spinal cord. Any imbalances caused by improper alignment of
the jaw (commonly referred to as dental
proprioception) can play a major role in
all disease and pain. Faulty dental proprioception can cause improper neurological feedback to the brain affecting
most, if not all body functions. Temporary
relief is easy and inexpensive, and can
enhance your present treatment whether
it is Chiropractic, Acupuncture,
Massage, Physical or Neural Therapy,
Pain Management, and TMD/TMJ.
There are over 230 positive studies from
81 universities in 37 countries involving
24 different dental procedures with an
astounding 94% success rate. This
included procedures as sensitive teeth,
pain control, speed of healing, periodontal disease, and others.
Carisolv™ a 5 yr. old gel from Sweden,
approved by the FDA(2001) that softens
decay so it can be scraped out without
drilling, causing less pain and discomfort.
Add this to Micro-dentistry and Air
Abrasion and it becomes true needle
free, mercury free filling procedure.
Dr. Yolin has offered an alternative to
traditional periodontal surgery for more
then 15 years and now adds a Soft
Tissue Laser for enhancing the sterilizing of the diseased gum pockets. He
is a certified member of the Academy of
Laser Dentistry (exam based). Phase
contrast microscopy, bacterial cultures
and anti-microbial natural oils are used
in the never ending commitment to
avoiding unnecessary gum surgery.
Mercury (Hg) in your saliva from
chewing? Take the chewing test and
have your saliva analyzed for Hg at a
very reasonable cost. You may not need
them removed. Defective amalgams are
removed following IAOMT protocol.
Dr. Yolin has been trained in the
specialty of Prosthetic Dentistry but does
not limit his practice. He utilizes hypnotherapy for dental phobic, cosmetic
dentistry, oral devices for snoring and
sleep apnea, 28 years experience in
treating head/neck facial pain syndrome,
metal free crowns wherever possible,
and extensive training in dental implantology.
His treatment philosophy is
based on the fact that at the end of every
tooth is a human being and although he
fixes teeth, he treats human beings. And
that will never change.
Call now for a consultation
and share the excitement at:
Northeast Dental Associates
Herbert S. Yolin, D.D.S.
1842 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146
(617) 730-8989
DrYolin.com
a mercury free office
METAPHYSICS
Experience The Healing Power of
Christ Church Unity
is affiliated with Unity
School of Christianity ,
publisher of the Daily
Word and Silent Unity
Music, Prayer & Meditation
Wednesdays 7:00 p.m.
Sunday Service
Daily Word Discussion Sundays
11:00 AM
10:00 AM
Listen to Our Radio Program “Peace Be Still”
Sundays 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m
WBIX 1060 AM
Christ Church Unity
Cnr. Colchester & Chapel Sts.
Brookline, MA 02446
(at the Longwood T on the Green Line
D Train)
617-232-4548
www.unityboston.org
PSYCHICS
Ross Miller
Psychic Counselor
ROSS M ILLER has been giving psychic
and past-life readings for over 23 years
both in New England and the West
Coast. During a reading, he communicates telepathically with his numerous
angels and spirit guides who read and
interpret the client’s aura (the spiritual
light surrounding one’s physical body).
Ross also communicates with the
client’s own angels and spirit guides
(most people have several of each).
These angels and spirit guides then
convey the information that is most
needed or desired by the client.
All of Ross’s readings are positive and constructive in nature. In addition to answering all of your personal questions pertaining to love, health, relationships, soul
mates, business, career, relocation, dream
interpretation, parents, children, and pets,
he covers topics as diverse as: your life’s
purpose, your undiscovered talents, as
well as your past incarnations and how
they relate to this life. Ross can also help
you to identify and communicate with your
own guardian angels and spirit guides.
Ross also offers workshops in psychic
development and angel communication.
Ross is available for individual readings
in person or over the phone.
For more information
or to schedule an appointment,
please call:
Ross Miller
1075 Washington St.
Newton, MA 02465
(617) 527-3583
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.TheMysticWay.com
57
PSYCHICS continued
PSYCHIC READINGS AND INTUITIVE LIFE COACHING
New Zealand Native, Shannar, has traveled
extensively throughout the world sharing her gifts
of the Sacred Language of Light. From a very
early age Shannar was aware that the other
realms were contacting and working with her,
this began her own spiritual journey into the other
worlds through Clairvoyance/Clairaudience and
Mediumship for Grief Therapy. Her psychic ability has touched the hearts of all her clients both in
the USA and Overseas and her varied live experiences have greatly assisted those that have
sought her Life Coaching methods.
The Sacred Language of Light is a very special
tool for resolving our patterns by connecting with the
cellular memory and healing the agreements that we
made in this and past lives. The Sacred Language of
Light comes through in the special pieces of symbolic art form known as the pictographs. Each pictograph is a Star Gate Map into our cellular encodings and contains Sacred Geometry, Symbols,
Musical Harmonics, Ancient and Star Languages.
Shannar is able to speak the Sacred Language,
hears the stories in poetry form and performs the
pictograph symbols with her hands.
Readings
Life Coaching
Grief Counseling
Workshops
Performances
ProductsAvailable
For further information:
1-888-394-9099
www.sacredlifestyles.com
Astrologer and Clairvoyant – Serena Wright-Taylor
Serena gives readings that touch your
soul. She blends the ancient wisdom of
Vedic astrology with her remarkable intuition to help you use perfect timing to bring
joy and fruition to all areas of your life.
She is highly sought after by celebrities,
business executives, speakers, and authors.
She has made numerous appearances on
TV and radio and you may have recently
heard her name on Coast to Coast AM.
Serena has been gifted since childhood
with the ability to see many dimensions of
life. She has spent many years in spiritual
practice and enjoys working on her own
healing and evolvement so that her service
to others is of the highest quality.
“Serena’s work is extraordinary—a stunning
blend of mind, heart, and soul.” Says Judith
Orloff, M.D., author and clairvoyant psychiatrist
Serena gives readings by
telephone all over the country.
Serena Wright-Taylor
310-335-5617
Website: www.vimana.org
PSYCHOLOGY & TRANSFORMATION
Therapy Should Take Hours Not Years
Read What Former Clients Say About Ross Miller
Migraines, a Thing of the Past...
“I can’t believe you got rid of my migraines. At
first I didn’t believe you when you said it was
due to a past life when I was a soldier and got
shot in the head. No wonder the doctors couldn’t help me.” —Donna M., Hartford, CT
Anger, Grief & Guilt Transformed...
“In the course of one (two-hour) session
with Ross, I was able to release and heal
the deep, dark feelings of anger, grief, guilt
and shame that had their origins in several of my past lives." —Brian D., Cranston, RI
Depression and Anxiety Attacks Gone...
“Dear Ross, I’m going to name my first child
after you. You’ve succeeded where 8 years of
therapists and innumerable pain medications
have failed. My depression and anxiety attacks
are gone, gone, gone. Forever grateful.”
—Roz S., Attleboro, MA
Fybromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Gone...
“By the end of the third healing session
(0ver the phone), my fybromyalgia,
chronic fatigue, and depression were
completely gone. Thank you, Ross."
—Denise F., Hull, MA
Free of Drugs & Alcohol...
“Dear Ross, Thank you for helping my daughter get over the breakup of her boyfriend and
Ross Miller
off of drugs and alcohol. She’s a completely
Regression Therapist changed person.”
—Sharon K., Manchester, NH
Agoraphobia Cured...
“A long overdue thank you. My agoraphobia (fear of being in public places) is completely gone. In addition, I’ve started exercising and eating better, and I’ve lost 30
lbs.! I owe it all to you.”
—Elizabeth S., Worcester, MA
What is Regression Therapy? To go back
in time (without the use of hypnosis) to the
origin or root cause of a problem and release
or heal it. This might entail going back to
past lives or earlier parts of your current life.
For the past 25 years Ross Miller has been
offering the benefits of regression therapy worldwide, helping his clients quickly and easily release
their fears, anxiety attacks, depression, anger,
physical pain, grief, abuse trauma, addictions,
blocked potential, fibromyalgia, stress, chronic
fatigue, eating disorders, health problems and
phobias. Ross is available for individual or couples regression therapy sessions, psychic and past
life readings and/or healing by telephone or in
person. (See Directory ad under "Psychics".)
For more information or to schedule an
appointment, please call:
Ross Miller
1075 Washington St., Newton, MA 02465
(617) 527-3583
Website: www.TheMysticWay.com
WHAT THE SOUL WOULD SAY IF THE SOUL COULD SPEAK
Become the change
you want to see
in the world.
—Gandhi
Become who you are
—Nietzsche
Let me guide you in life-changing
Lacanian analytic sessions. Learn
more how to hear your soul speak
rather than your ego so that you
can place this deepest knowing
at the center of your life.
All life transitions can be addressed,
for example:
• Relationship issues
• Grief
• Loneliness
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Divorce
• Career Issues
• Trauma
• Spiritual Crises
• Weight Loss
For a consultation or more
information call:
Meg Turner, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Harvard Square
(617) 868-3727
Stuck? Grieving? Feeling Powerless? Unsatisfied? Seeking a change?
Glenn Bigonet, M.A.
Mental Health Counselor
Compassionate Acceptance
(617) 462-6642
58
EARTH STAR
Life’s challenges are a natural part of the
human experience. A loving approach builds
self-esteem and removes shame and stigmas,
helping you heal and find effective solutions.
Glenn offers great knowledge and compassion to his
clients who deal with life transitions, relationships,
addictions, anger, self-esteem, trauma/abuse, selfharmful behavior, divorce, and mental health issues.
Alternative relationships and lifestyles welcome.
Initial consultation free. Sliding Scale Available.
Office in Newton
Group Available
www.GlennBigonet.com
PSYCHOLOGY & TRANSFORMATION continued
Barbara is a licensed mental health
counselor who is certified in EMDR.
Compassionate Psychotherapy and EMDR
We are each endowed with an enormous
capacity for self-healing and often simply
need a guide to show us the way. Barbara’s
style of compassionate psychotherapy
combined with the rapid and profound
healing effects of Eye Movement
Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
can lead to new levels of emotional and
physical health and well being.
Barbara Gangemi
EMDR is a body focused therapy that
allows a person to reprocess disturbing
memories that have become “stuck” in the
brain through a disruption in normal
information processing. Past events seem
“frozen in time” and talking about them
does not relieve the distress they contain.
Office hours by appointment
(617) 553-0714 in Roslindale
and
Barbara has been practicing psychotherapy
for fifteen years and EMDR for ten. She
considers the opportunity to help clients
as a sacred trust, embarking on the path
to healing with the knowledge that we can
face together what may be too frightening
to face alone.
(508) 435-5580 in Hopkinton.
email:
[email protected]
Call or email for further information
and to schedule a consultation.
READINGS
Angelica offers a wide variety of both
Metaphysical and New Age gifts. Browse around,
enjoy the softness of the Angelic energy. Feel the
magic that Angelica of the Angels brings to
you. We have a knowledgable staff to answer any
and all questions and direct you in anyway they
can to help guide you in life.
READINGS ARE OUR SPECIALTY
Spiritual Counseling
Mediumship
Trance Channelling
Tarot Readings
Psychic Readings
Telephone Readings
Astrological Charts
Classes & Workshops
Parties & Weddings
Books • Music (Metaphysical)
Incense • Oils • Aromatherapy
Crystals • Jewelry • Candles
AURA PHOTOS: face & chakra body
A READER ON HAND AT ALL TIMES
BY APPOINTMENT:
Rev. Barbara E. Szafranski
By appointment only.
With The Love of Angels
Rev. Barbara E. Szafranski
Gifts of the Spirit
Classes ongoing weekly. Meditation: Mon, Tue, &
Wed, 7:00 to 9:00P.M. Focus on psychic development.
Shambhalla’s Healing Ctr. offers Angelic Healing,
Reiki, and Energy Work.
7 Central Street, Salem, MA 01970
978-745-9355
Open Monday thru Sunday
SCHOOLS & INSTITUTES
Create Your Career at Cortiva Institute - Muscular Therapy Institute
Honoring the power of body, mind, and
spirit, CI-MTI’s professional training program prepares you to enter the massage
therapy profession with confidence.
Our comprehensive curriculum, rich
in science, communications, business,
and practical experience, provides a
solid foundation in specialized technique
to help you address clients’ most common symptoms.
Massage Institute of New England
well-developed expertise and love for
their work.
Our Career Services and Placement
Office offers you the extensive Cortiva
network of opportunities and career
support with personalized attention.
Our in-depth 900-hour program is available in a variety of formats, including
a new one-year option, to accommodate the busy lives of working people.
Call Admissions at
(617) 668-1000
www.cortiva.com/mti
Licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Accredited by the Commission on Massage
Therapy Accreditation. Financial aid available for
those who qualify.
Our dedicated faculty teach with the
insight and passion that come from a
Come to an Introductory Workshop to
explore a career in massage for yourself.
The Massage Institute of New
England (MINE) has, as our main objective, the education and training of the highest quality professional Massage Therapists.
Our program focuses on the Integration of
Body, Mind, and Spirit; accomplished by
balancing the scientific study of anatomy and
physiology with holistic therapeutic massage technique. Each student's process of
growth during the course of our program is
a mirror of the process of the change and
evolution which they, as Massage
Therapists, will facilitate in their clients.
• 500 hour Massage Therapist Certification
• 750 hour Clinical Massage Therapist
Certification
• Deep Tissue & Allied Health Certification
• Licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Education
Does working with your hands in a people-oriented industry sound appealing? Call or write for
our free brochure and schedule of introductory
events.
We offer advanced training for Massage and
Clinical professionals. Visit our website at
www.MINE-MassageInstitute.com.
Or call for our Brochure and Newsletter.
Classes commence 5 times a year
Massage Institute of New England
Day & Evening classes
22 McGrath Highway, Suite 11
Somerville, MA 02143
Full or Part-time schedules
617-666-3700
As above...
GURDJIEFF
SYSTEM OF HARMONIC DEVELOPMENT
Reading • Exercise • Prayer • Music
ORDINARY KESDJAN MENTAL CAUSAL
Sensation Attention Will Being Doing
Conscience Hope Reason Faith Trust Love
Group reading of All & Everything on Sunday and
weekday mornings in Davis Square, Somerville.
(consult www.yogaguitar.com/A&E)
103 Morse St., Watertown, MA 02472
So below...
YOGAGUITAR™
“You are your instrument.”
Flexibility • Meridians • Personality • Harmony
PHYSICAL VIBRATIONAL
INTELLECTUAL EMOTIONAL
Private stretching and classes. Free class Sunday
noon in Davis Square. Limited space. Call or email.
617-666-4839 [email protected]
59
SCHOOLS & INSTITUTES continued
CONNECTICUT CENTER FOR MASSAGE THERAPY
Since 1980, CCMT has
been providing comprehensive, holistic massage
therapy training.
Newington, CT Main Campus:
877-282-2268
Westport, CT Branch Campus:
877-292-2268
FIND OUT MORE:
[email protected]
www.ccmt.edu
Our programs are 8-24
months with flexible full
and part-time schedules.
Groton, CT Branch Campus:
877-295-2268
Classes start in January,
May and September.
CCMT is accredited by the
Commission on Massage
Therapy
Accreditation
(COMTA). Financial aid is
available to those who qualify.
Visit our store at
www.HandsOnSupply.com.
Continuing education
year-round.
THE RISHI CENTER — NEWPORT RI
Study the ancient Indian science of
natural living: Ayurveda, the world’s
oldest continuously practiced healing art.
• Ayurvedic Consultant - 500 hours
• Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist - 200 hours
• Ayurvedic Massage - 200 hours
• Monthly weekend intensives
Applications for the 2006-2007
season will be accepted till
15 January 2007.
Applications for the 2007-2008
season will be accepted till
15 August 2007.
For further details and
information contact
Swami Shivananda at:
401-846-2436 or
Ze n S h i a t s u & Tu i n a C e r t i f i c a t i o n Pro g ra m s
For a catalog & application contact:
We offer Zen Shiatsu & Tuina
training programs that will • 700 hrs Bodywork Certification
enable you to become nationally • Community Classes in Qi Gong, Charles River Institute
For Healing and Inner Arts
Meditation, & Yoga
certified and ultimately licensed
to practice. The curriculum is
617-868-4585
Open House
integrated with the Qi developFeb. 9, 6-8pm
585 Massachusetts Avenue
ment aspect of internal martial
Central Square, Cambridge MA 02139
Student Clinic $30
arts. Train for a career.
www.CharlesRiverShiatsu.com
Licensed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Department of Education
(Formerly Charles River School of Shiatsu)
FINDING INNER PEACE YOGA SCHOOL
Basic Level Yoga Teacher
Certification – 200 hrs
6 months of weekly classes
and five weekend intensives.
October, 2006 - April, 2007
Contact Maureen Spencer, RN for a
registration brochure.
email: [email protected] or call to
speak with her directly (781) 878-0115
DoveStar Institute
School of
Holistic
Technology
www.dovestar.edu
Personally designed
flexible programs
60
EARTH STAR
Because Dovestar believes integration to be
an efficient way to facilitate growth, we offer
the Holistic Practitioner title. This allows a
personally designed study of many chosen
modalities to qualify for a title recognized as
a viable profession. Certification requires
completion of one certification from each of
the following groups representing four forces
that regulate our life at the cellular level.
Alchemia Inner Cleanse (Centripetal)
This program consists of many options to
regain access to your personal power
through the release of toxic beliefs stored in
the energetic systems and affecting our
quality of life.
Alchemia Teacher (Centrifugal) To be
able to share who we are comes from our
Spring semester begins May, 2007
Weekend dates, 2007:
Enrollments accepted through the end of June
February 10-11 - Yoga Philosophy
March 10-11 - Snow Date/Makeup Weekend
For more information:
www.certificationinyoga.com
Locations:
If you miss a weekend you will be allowed
to make it up in the spring, 2007 course.
Braintree, Charlestown, Cohasset, Hyannis,
Millis, Plymouth, Quincy, Sharon*
*School is approved by the national Yoga Alliance.
interactions with others. This program offers
several ways of finding our personal knowledge and sharing who we are as unique individuals. This can be applied by allowing for
the reality that within each of us, there is at all
times the teacher and the student.
Kriya Bodywork (Gravity) Our physical
body is the vehicle that allows us to express
our spirit on the physical plane. Honoring and
caring for the body requires respecting its
needs on all levels. This program offers manyh
ways of accomplishing that.
Alchemical Synergy (Electomagnetic) The
intent of this program is to reclaim all fragments of consciousness in order to discover
the whole person inside and release the creativity that is an expression of our passion.
Some of our Certifications
Alchemia-Reiki, Colon Hydrotherapist,
Holistic Clinic Management, Shamballa & Reiki
Master Teacher, Alchemia Yoga Teacher, Kriya
Massage Practitioner, Kriya Yoga Bodywork
and Massage, Synergy Mental Health,
Birthing and Parenting, Doula.
New Hampshire: 50 Whitehall Rd.,
Hooksett, NH (603) 669-5104
Massachusetts: 128 Main St.,
Carver, MA (508) 830-0068
Licensed by:
NH Post-Secondary Education Comm.
& Common. of MA Dept. of Education
SCHOOLS & INSTITUTES continued
Available to Qualified Students
Evidence-based Certification as a
Accredited by the American
Dietetics Association &
National Commission on Health
Education Credentialing
NUTRITION EDUCATOR or
WHOLE HEALTH EDUCATOR
Professionally produced DVDs,
Whole Health and Whole Foods
texts and books, comprehensive
curriculum and optional in-person
◆ In-Person classes or ◆
classes with nationally recognized
DVD Distance Learning options health and nutrition experts and
authors, conducted at a Boston
area Harvard affiliate hospital.
◆ Approved for ◆
Learn more:
Veterans Benefits
Your certification from NIWH will
qualify you as a Health Care
Provider in the country’s largest
integrative and whole health
network of credentialed health
care providers, serving patients and
clients of insurance programs for
Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana
and more!
Live Your
Passion
...prepare for
the job you’ve
dreamed about
CERTIFICATION COURSES
INCLUDE:
1-888-354-HEAL (4325)
www.niwh.org
SHAMANISM
HEALING, REIKI & SHAMANISM
Elizabeth Desrochers
Healing, Reiki, Shamanism
Elizabeth is a Shaman, Reiki Master
/Teacher, Certified Hypnotherapist &
Ordained Minister.
Each healing session is designed especially for your individual needs and
may incorporate any of the following
modalities or a combination of each:
Reiki, Shamanic Healing, Hypnotherapy,
Ad Size
Height
NLP, Reflexology, Shiatsu, Lomi-Lomi,
Crystals, Soul Retrieval, Past Life
Regression, Extraction, Vibrational, or
Healing with Light-life rings. Animal
healing, Home or Business Clearing
and/or Removal of Geopathic stress lines,
& Long Distance Healings are also available. Shamanic Classes & Usui Reiki
classes from level 1 to Master/Teacher
certification.
HEALING, REIKI & SHAMANISM, LLC
(401) 447-3671
Johnston, RI, USA
Website:
http://members.cox.net/shamanism
With Shamanism... ANYTHING is possible!
Per issue Rate
Word Count
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There is a three-time minimum run
for Directory listings.
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with an affordable Directory Ad
Call (617) 498-0265
or download the Earth Star
Advertising Rate Sheets at
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for our
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Earthstar Directory Advertising is an affordable way to reach over 180,000 readers every issue
EARTH STAR
61
Heart & Mind, Continued from page 16
in mood using a standardized rating
assessment was experienced only in
the group receiving fish oil. In another
study, Andrew Stoll, MD, of Harvard
examined thirty patients suffering
from difficult-to-treat bipolar disorder
(manic depression). Daily consumption of 6.2 grams of EPA and 3.4
grams of DHA resulted in objective
improvement in depression scores and
longer periods of remission between
relapses.
Perhaps the most persuasive clinical evidence documenting the mood
benefits of omega-3s was seen in people who already take conventional
antidepressant medication. An Israeli
study of twenty patients with major
depression who were receiving maintenance antidepressant pharmaceutical
therapy showed that mood markedly
improved after only three weeks of
EPA supplementation when compared
to placebo. Dr. Malcolm Peet, head of
the Omega-3 Mental Health Research
Group at the University of Sheffield
(England), reported a study of seventy
patients on conventional antidepressant therapy. In this trial, dramatic
improvement in measures of depression was seen when one gram of EPA
per day was added to the treatment
regimen. Curiously, doses of 2 and 4
grams did not show statistically significant benefits.
Likewise, solid data demonstrate
the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in
reducing risk for cardiovascular disease. The Italian GISSI Prevenzione
Trial of more than eleven thousand
participants neatly showed that 850882 mg of EPA and DHA resulted in a
thirty percent reduction in death from
cardiovascular disease and a forty-five
percent reduction in sudden cardiac
death. These numbers equal or exceed
the magnitude of benefits claimed by
the cholesterol-reducing statin agents.
The large number of participants in the
GISSI study makes these observations
virtually unassailable. Another study
of three hundred and sixty patients
with symptoms of heart attack showed
that patients given 1008 mg a day of
EPA and 720 mg a day of DHA suffered forty-eight percent fewer cardiac
62
EARTH STAR
deaths and seventy-six percent fewer
sudden cardiac deaths, as well as a
fifty-four percent reduction in dangerous heart rhythms.
Fish oil likely achieves these benefits through a broad spectrum of
mechanisms, including increased cell
membrane fluidity (affecting signal
transduction), suppression of abnormal heart rhythm-generating activity,
and marked reductions of triglycerides
and the very low-density fraction of
lipoproteins that can lead to the formation of dangerous “small” LDL particles and a drop in beneficial HDL.
Fish oil also reduces the blood-clotting
protein fibrinogen and inhibits platelet
aggregation, both of which can prevent blood-clot formation on active,
ruptured coronary plaque that can contribute to a heart attack.
In the US, prevention of heart disease is an area of huge neglect.
Treatment of major depression is likewise an imperfect practice, with lessthan-optimal responses to antidepressant medication being an everyday
phenomenon. Omega-3 fatty acids
may indeed be a missing link that provides substantial benefits in both areas
with virtually no downside. While the
concomitant treatment of heart disease
and depression with fish oil has never
been formally examined in a clinical
trial, it remains a compelling topic
worthy of further examination.
Fish oil is the most concentrated
source of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA
and DHA. A secondary source is
alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is
found in flaxseed, walnuts, and canola
oil. However, only ten percent of ALA
ingested from food is converted into
active EPA or DHA; much of it is simply burned for calories. Fish oil thus
remains the most potent source of
omega-3 fatty acids.
Benefits of Folic Acid
and SAMe
Depressed, hostile, or angry people
have higher homocysteine levels. If
homocysteine leads to coronary
plaque growth and heart attack, will
folic acid and B vitamins that lower
homocysteine improve mood and
reduce heart attack?
The data strongly suggest that
folic acid supplementation elevates
mood, both in people already taking
antidepressant medication and in those
who are not. Indeed, five clinical trials, though all relatively small (each
with fewer than 100 patients), have
consistently demonstrated improvements in depression measures when
patients are given various doses of
folic acid. For instance, in a 1993
study of ninety-six patients at the
University of Parma, Italy, folic acid
supplementation yielded improvements in mood similar to those of conventional antidepressants. Another
study by Drs. Alec Coppen and John
Bailey in Surrey, England, showed that
response to prescription fluoxetine
(Prozac®) was substantially improved
by taking as little as 500 mcg of folic
acid a day.
Though few psychiatrists have
added folic acid to their arsenal of
antidepressant therapeutics, the data
suggest that this simple, inexpensive
treatment should be a part of every
depressed person’s panel of therapies.
Doses of only 1-5 mg would be
required, generally along with 25-50
mg of vitamin B6. Vitamin B12 should
always be taken with folic acid to help
guard against a hidden B12 deficiency.
The growing experience with folic
acid treatment in people at risk for cardiovascular disease includes three
clinical trials suggesting that folic acid
reduces the growth of plaque in the
carotid arteries (a surrogate for coronary plaque growth) and reduces the
likelihood of future heart attack. The
Canadian group at the Stroke
Prevention
and Atherosclerosis
Research Centre in Ontario reported
an investigation in 101 patients showing that a homocysteine level greater
than 14 mmol/L identified a group that
showed much more rapid growth of
carotid plaque. Daily treatment with
2.5 mg of folic acid, 25 mg of vitamin
B6, and 250 mcg of vitamin B12 eliminated plaque growth. The Dutch group
at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam has
reported extensively on treating high
homocysteine levels using folic acid
and vitamin B6 in patients with peripheral arterial disease (usually of the leg
arteries), demonstrating reduction of
heart attack, slowed growth of carotid
and leg artery plaque, and diminished
likelihood of death.
Folic acid supplementation
increases levels of the homocysteine
metabolite s-adenosyl-Lmethionine,
or SAMe. Some have speculated that
the mood-elevating properties of folic
acid may be at least partly due to an
increase in endogenous SAMe, since
SAMe has been shown in numerous
studies to be an effective antidepressant supplement. Since 1973, over
forty clinical trials have demonstrated
the effectiveness of SAMe in elevating
mood in the depressed, including a
total of 537 patients in thirteen randomized, double-blind studies. In
eighteen trials pitting SAMe head to
head against the conventional antidepressants imipramine, chlorimipramine, and others, SAMe proved
equally effective, and it is essentially
without side effects.
SAMe has been available in the
US as an over-the-counter supplement
since 1997, though it has been available over the counter or by prescription in Europe for over twenty years.
SAMe at a dose of 400 mg per day
yields blood levels in the range
believed to induce antidepressant benefits, though some clinicians have
noted that doses up to 1600 mg daily
are required for some individuals. It is
interesting to speculate that the combination of folic acid and SAMe might
yield even greater benefits and more
powerfully improve mood and many
of the downstream phenomena leading
to coronary disease risk. This remains
an area for further research.
Folic
acid supplementation,
therefore, likely improves mood while
lowering homocysteine and thus the
risk of heart attack. Along with fish oil
and omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid
represents another intriguing “missing
link” between two disparate diseases
with an exciting potential for common
treatments.
Depression and Metabolic
Syndrome
As the US population gets heavier and
heavier, metabolic syndrome becomes
increasingly more prevalent. One in
every four American adults suffers
from this common condition, which
represents a combination of lifestyle
and genetic factors. Because depressed
people are more likely to develop
metabolic syndrome, this disorder is
another important mediator of the
interplay between mood and heart disease.
Most of us have seen someone
who, when struck with depression or
impaired by other chronic negative
emotions, burrows into a lifestyle of
physical inactivity and overeating. The
resulting weight gain activates all the
latent characteristics of the tragically
common
metabolic
syndrome
(increased abdominal fat, hypertension, low HDL, resistance to insulin—
dubbed “the deadly quartet” by Dr.
Norman Kaplan in 1989). This familiar sequence can greatly magnify risk
for heart disease.
But can the reverse occur? Can a
person become overweight through
neglect or indulgence, develop metabolic syndrome, then trigger depression and the cascade of events leading
to heart disease? If this flip-flop in the
sequence of events were true, then
efforts aiming squarely at managing
weight and metabolic syndrome
should be among our principal health
concerns.
A fascinating study conducted by
Drs. Katri Raikkonen of the University
of Helsinki (Finland) and Lewis
Kuller of the University of Pittsburgh
attempted to untangle this question.
Psychological and metabolic measures
were obtained in 425 middle-aged
females. Seven and a half years later,
these same measures were repeated.
Raikkonen and Kuller reported that
women with emotional characteristics
of anger, depression, and anxiety at
initial enrollment were more likely to
develop metabolic syndrome. Even
more interestingly, women without
these psychological traits but with
metabolic syndrome at the start were
more likely to develop anger, anxiety,
and depression by the end of the study.
In other words, in this second group,
abdominal fat, high blood pressure,
low HDL, and insulin resistance—all
the features of metabolic syndrome—
predicted a future of negative emotions. By either route, the result is a
person with the physiological stage set
for development of heart disease.
How to Lose Weight Faster
Metabolic syndrome is, in the great
majority of cases, a disease of the
overweight and obese. If metabolic
syndrome leads to depression and
other negative emotions that further
escalate the risk of heart disease, that
is all the more reason to attack metabolic syndrome. Not surprisingly, the
most direct, effective way to do so is to
lose weight. Weight loss might then be
a useful path to reducing the risk of
both depression and heart disease.
Unfortunately, that is easier said than
done.
Carbohydrate-restricted
programs, popularized by the Atkins and
South Beach diets, are helpful weightloss tools, though the high-saturatedfat, low-fiber approach of the Atkins’
“induction phase” makes it unhealthy
for a period any longer than several
weeks. In the author’s experience,
people with metabolic syndrome
EARTH STAR
63
respond in an exaggerated manner to
these diets, losing weight rapidly.
Losses of ten-twenty pounds in the
first month are not uncommon.
Along with diet, several nutritional supplements can supercharge
weight-loss efforts and thereby
improve many features of metabolic
syndrome. They include:
White bean extract. This supplement
blocks intestinal carbohydrate absorption by sixty-six percent. Taking 1500
mg twice a day with meals can lead to
three-seven pounds of weight loss in
the first month of use. Like its prescription counterpart (acarbose), it can
cause excess gas, though usually modest. Do not succumb to the temptation
to indulge in carbohydrates, since the
blocking effect is only partial. You can
overcome the effect quite easily, for
instance, with a 50-gram carbohydrate
load of just two granola bars.
Calcium pyruvate. Doses of 2500 mg
twice a day act as a weight-loss accelerator that is safe and ephedra-free.
Calcium pyruvate also has the interesting property of “exercise enhancement,” making exercise easier and less
taxing, and encouraging exercise that
is longer and harder with a smoother
recovery.
Chromium. This trace mineral provides an insulin-sensitizing benefit
along with a modest effect of promoting weight loss. The dose ranges from
600 to 1000 mcg per day and is best
used consistently over a period of
several months. Work with your doctor
to monitor your blood sugar if you
have established diabetes or take medication to lower your blood sugar
before you begin taking chromium.
Testosterone. Contrary to popular
belief, testosterone supplementation in
men is more useful in improving mood
than in stoking libido. Feelings of sadness, fatigue, anger, and even severe
depression may be associated with
declining blood levels of testosterone
in men in their forties and beyond.
Testosterone can often result in dramatic improvement in these symptoms. Testosterone not only improves
the psychological side of the equation,
but also can improve many character64
EARTH STAR
istics of metabolic syndrome through
its weight-loss-promoting effects.
Carnitine is a supplement that may be
equal to testosterone in its ability to
improve sexual function, boost low
moods, increase energy, and promote
weight loss through its effect on fat
and glucose metabolism. A dose of
2000 mg per day of acetyl-L-carnitine
has been found effective in most studies.
DHEA is an adrenal hormone whose
beneficial effects include its considerable ability to elevate mood, particularly in men and women with lower
blood levels of DHEA-sulfate. Among
the most persuasive reports is a 1999
study conducted at the National
Institute of Mental Health in which 90
mg per day of DHEA significantly
improved symptoms such as anhedonia (loss of interest), loss of energy,
lack of motivation, emotional “numbness,” sadness, inability to cope, and
worry in men and women aged fortyfive to sixty-three. DHEA also
improves some features of metabolic
syndrome by increasing sensitivity to
insulin, decreasing constriction of the
body’s arteries (endothelial function),
and reducing plasminogen activator
inhibitor-1, a potent blood-clot-promoting protein. The most common
dose is 25 mg for women aged fortyfive and older, and 25-50 mg for men
aged forty and older.
PGX™ is a highly viscous fiber blend
of glucomannan, xanthan, and alginate
that limits sugar absorption and the
subsequent after-meal insulin spike.
This sugar-limiting effect can occur
when taking a relatively low dose of 13 grams before each meal. A related
benefit is a modest reduction in total
cholesterol and LDL.
Exercise is another therapeutic
tool that simultaneously addresses
both metabolic syndrome and risk for
heart disease. Exercise is an effective
strategy to lose weight, improve
insulin sensitivity, and lower levels of
stress hormones. Aerobic exercise has
the added capacity to improve mood.
In fact, 16 weeks of exercise can be as
effective as prescription antidepressant medication for depression.
Conclusion
Depression and other negative emotions interact with coronary heart disease risk through a complex web of
metabolic pathways. The clinical data
are quite clear: depression, anxiety,
anger, and other chronic, negative
emotions substantially increase the
risk of heart disease. They also contribute to development of metabolic
syndrome, a potent risk factor for heart
disease and diabetes.
Several nutritional supplements
can be powerful additions to a program for improving mood and preventing heart disease. Fish oil stands
out as the “missing link,” with
research demonstrating impressive
evidence of its benefits in both
improving mood and reducing the risk
of heart disease. Homocysteine is
another potential link. Data suggest
that the use of B vitamins, particularly
folic acid, to reduce homocysteine
translates into impressive improvement in mood and reduction of cardiovascular events.
Metabolic syndrome is now rampant across the US. This constellation
of physiological disruptions triggered
by weight gain can generate negative
emotions as well as increased risk of
heart disease. Weight loss is the most
direct way to address metabolic syndrome and thereby reduce or eliminate
its ill effects on health.
Reprinted with permission from Life
Extension magazine, www.lef.org.
Brain, Continued from page 25
mind—without doing anything physical other than thinking. It involves
mentally seeing and experiencing our
“self’ demonstrating or practicing a
skill or habit or state of being of our
own choosing. Through mental
rehearsal, we can employ the
advanced faculties of our frontal lobe
to make significant changes in our life.
Several studies have shown that
the brain does not
know the difference between what
it is thinking internally and what it is
experiencing in its
external environment. In one experiment, two groups
of
non-pianists
were asked to learn
one-handed piano
exercises and to
practice two hours
a day for five
days—with
one
important difference. One group
physically practiced their exercises, while the other
mentally rehearsed
the same exercises
without using their
fingers. At the end
of the five days,
brain scans showed
that both groups
grew the same
amount of new
brain circuits. How
is that possible?
We know that
when we think the
same thoughts or
perform the same actions over and
over, we repeatedly stimulate specific
networks of neurons in particular areas
of our brain. As a result, we build
stronger, more enriched connections
between these groups of nerve cells.
This concept in neuroscience is called
Hebbian learning. The idea is simple:
Nerve cells that fire together, wire
together.
According to functional brain
scans in this particular experiment, the
subjects that mentally rehearsed were
so inwardly focused that their brain
did not know the difference between
the internal and the external world.
Thus, they were activating their brain
in the same way as if they were actually playing the piano. In fact, their brain
circuits strengthened and developed in
the same area of the brain as the group
that physically practiced.
You say in the book that thinking isn’t
enough to change our mind, and that
change is a process of thinking,
doing, and then being. Can you
explain how this works?
The change we want to make has to go
beyond thinking and even doing—we
need to go all the way to being. If I
want to truly he a pianist, I will start by
acquiring knowledge, which involves
thinking. Then I can start to gain experience through mental rehearsal, which
again involves thinking. I also have to
involve the body in the act of doing—
physically demonstrating what I’ve
intellectually learned—by playing the
piano. But that isn’t going far enough.
Imagine a concert
pianist who does
her best work in
practice sessions,
but struggles during
a concert. Or to
bring this a little
closer to home,
imagine a spouse
who is the model of
understanding on
the drive home
from work, but
devolves into an
impatient pouter as
soon as he or she
comes through the
door.
If I want to
attain the state of
being a pianist, my
evolved
understanding and my
skills must become
so hardwired and
mapped into my
brain that I no
longer have to consciously
think
about
playing,
because my subconscious
mind
now handles that
skill. Now that I am
being a pianist, any
thought I have about playing, or desire
to express my feelings through music,
will automatically turn my body on to
carry out the task of playing the piano.
We talk at length in Evolve Your Brain
about how we use different kinds of
memory, activating different parts of
the brain, to make conscious thoughts,
subconscious thoughts. We also learn
that to master any particular ability
Continued on page 67
65
Mystical Stones
Excerpted from The Book of Stones,
by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian
OCEAN JASPER
Keyword:
Enjoyment of life,
release of negativity and stress,
relaxation, positive self-expression,
physical and emotional healing
Element: Earth
Chakras: Solar Plexus (3rd),
Heart (4th), Throat (5th)
cean Jasper is an unusual Jasper variety found
only in Madagascar.
Like other Jaspers, it is
a member of the Quartz
family, a silicon dioxide mineral with a hardness of 6.5 to 7.
Its crystal system is hexagonal
(trigonal). Ocean Jasper’s colors vary widely, including vivid
shades of white, green, pink,
red and black. Its patterns are
wild and indescribable, with
handing, polka dots, wavy lines
with scalloped edges and multicolored florets. The cavities in
Ocean Jasper are often filled
with sparkling druzy Quartz.
Ocean Jasper is a stone of
joy and high spirits. It opens
one’s awareness to the benevolent aspects of life and lifts
one’s mood through its positive
vibrations. When one is under
its influence, it is difficult to
takes one’s problems and dissatisfactions as seriously as one normally does.
Ocean Jasper helps lift the veil of negativity which many people unconsciously wear over their eyes, and when this
veil is lifted, it is much easier to see and
appreciate the many blessings of life.
Ocean Jasper stimulates the solarplexus, heart and throat chakras with its
beneficial vibrations, conveying the
urge to feel, speak and act more positively. It supports the expression of love
in one’s words and deeds, and it helps
one to realize what and whom one truly
loves. It banishes complacency and the
O
66
EARTH STAR
habit of taking one’s loved ones, health,
prosperity or security for granted. It
brings one’s consciousness to the present moment, relieving worry about the
future or bitterness about the past. It
allows for the release of stress and
escapism, helping one understand the
value of the here and now.
Ocean Jasper is helpful to those
who suffer from depression. Its capacity to gently focus one’s awareness on
the positive, wholesome aspects of life
can be a great boon to those who are
lost in a cloud of darkness. It can help
individuals give up self-destructive
addictive behaviors by making them
conscious of what they are doing and
opening their eyes to a better reality.
It is beneficial to wear or carry
Ocean Jasper in social situations, the
workplace, or anywhere that one will
he among groups of people. Its positive
vibrations are amplified and spread
through one’s energy field to everyone
nearby. Carrying Ocean Jasper into a
committee meeting can help create a
cooperative atmosphere. Bringing it to
a party can relax oneself and others,
making for a good time all around.
Healing practitioners are advised
to put a piece of Ocean Jasper in the
healing space, in order to keep the
atmosphere of the room pleasant and
relaxing. Placing one of these stones in
the client’s hand or on the body can
make the person more receptive to the
work. Using Ocean Jasper in meditation will help one let go of thoughts and
become centered.
Ocean Jasper harmonizes with all
other types of Jasper and with the
Quartz family. Amethyst, Sugilite
and/or Charoite add spiritual protection
and purification to Ocean Jasper’s
wholesome energies. Lepidolite and
Amblygonite can increase
Ocean Jasper’s relaxing influence. Strombolite can add levity and humor to Ocean
Jasper’s high spirits.
In spite of its name, Ocean
Jasper is a powerful Earth element stone with wonderful
physical healing properties.
Perhaps the ripple-like patterns
this stone inspired its name,
but on closer examination you
will see that these ‘ripples’ also
appear to be cells. The name
‘Cellular Jasper’ might provide
a more accurate description of
this stone’s properties.
Ocean Jasper allows one to
access cellular memory and
other energetic patterns that
enter physicality and manifest in the
body on a cellular level. in Crystal
Resonance Therapy work, this stone is
used to move down through the cells
and into the pre-physical consciousness, where the energetic filters that
create one’s reality are held. In shifting
the frequencies of these filters, one can
change the patterns that manifest disease and our physical world.
Additional information on stones and their
metaphysical properties can also be found
at
www.heavenandearthjewelry.com,
www.thebookofstones.com, or by calling
1-800-942-9423.
Brain, Continued from page 25
also takes possessing a great deal of
knowledge about a subject, receiving
expert instruction in that area, and
having plenty of experiences to provide us with feedback.
We all go from thinking to doing
to being, every time we learn a skill
so well that we can do it automatically. Driving is a great example. The
beauty of this process is that we can
use it to attain any state of being we
choose, from being more patient with
our children to being healthy to being
a happy person.
What is evolution and how can we
evolve our brain?
We evolve as a species and as individuals. In fact, our own personal
evolution also advances the human
species. Most of us learned in school
that evolution is the slow, linear
process by which species survive
changes in their environment through
adaptation over generations, developing specialized anatomy and physiology that help them to perpetuate their
species. Our human brain evolved in
a linear fashion up to about 250,000
years ago, when (for reasons that
remain a mystery) a sudden, explosive period of growth gave us a neocortex much larger and denser than
that of any other species. This socalled new brain is the seat of our
conscious awareness, it houses our
capacity to learn and to reason, and
our free will to create. Simply put,
our neocortex, especially the frontal
lobe, affords us the potential to transcend the gradual process of evolution and move into rapid, nonlinear
evolution. Because we can learn from
knowledge and our experiences—
above all, from our mistakes—and
since we have several specialized
forms of memory by which we can
remember what we learn, we can
immediately modify our thoughts and
behavior. Unlike other species, then,
we can create a completely new range
of experiences in just one lifetime.
We may then pass on what we learned
to our offspring and to other members
of our species.
In terms of the brain, evolution
means learning, making new synaptic
connections, maintaining them, and
applying what we learned so we have
a new experience, which then is
encoded in the brain. What Evolve
Your Brain presents is a process that
can cause the brain to make a quantum leap, by overcoming certain neural circuits that we’ve been given
genetically, and by encoding new
experiences and information. When
we evolve out of the primitive states
of survival hardwired in our brain,
fire new thoughts (which make new
chemicals), change our mind (which
alters the chemical message to our
body), and modify our behavior (to
create a whole new experience, thus
bringing new chemistry that affects
our cells), now we are on the path of
evolution.
We all have certain habits and
propensities that we’ve either inherited genetically, or that we’ve been
conditioned to by our environment.
Personal evolution requires us to
break the habit of being ourselves and
to become greater than our environment. We break out of our routines
and habitual emotional reactions and
behaviors by learning new knowledge and having novel experiences.
In the early stages of learning, we are
faced with novelty. Next follow
moments during which we review
and internalize the new stimuli, as we
begin to make it familiar or known.
By the end of every learning process,
the newly acquired information is
known and familiar; if we have
learned a behavior or a task, it may
now be routine, even automatic. Our
ability to process unknown to known,
unfamiliar to familiar, novel to routine is the route to our individual evolution.
getting instruction, applying what
we’ve learned, and receiving feedback—that’s how we evolve our
brain. We go from thinking to doing
to being. That sequential process
allows us to change. I do recommend,
and have found it essential in my own
experience, that if we want to evolve
in the most effective way, we should
seek out instruction from someone
who has mastered what we want to
learn.
There are many excellent individuals, programs, and institutions—
some of which are mentioned in this
book—that can help us learn new
information, apply what we have
learned, have novel experiences, and
begin to modify our behavior. Each
individual must decide for themselves whether starting with small
changes, or taking huge leaps, is most
appropriate for them. I do mention a
number of times in the book that my
own learning has included seventeen
years as a student at Ramtha’s School
of Enlightenment in the Pacific
Northwest, and that I taught at that
school for about seven years. Those
who have spiritual or personal growth
interests that go beyond convention
may wish to look into RSE’s training
programs, books, and other informational materials; I have included contact information in my Bibliography.
Are training programs or schools of
wisdom are necessary to evolving
our brain?
In Evolve Your Brain, I outline a simple process of acquiring knowledge,
EARTH STAR
67
Winter Reading
Practice Random Acts
of Kindness
Bring More Peace, Love, and
Compassion into the World
By the Editors of Random Acts of Kindness
Foreword by Rabbi Harold Kushner
Practice Random Acts of Kindness is a compilation of inspiring meditations, affirmations, and
true stories collected from the growing number
of “kindness experts” in the world. Contributors
include Cecil Williams, Billy Graham, Rosalyn
Carter, the Dalai Lama, presidents George
Bush and Bill Clinton, and a once-homeless
millionaire in Los Angeles whose life was transformed by an anonymous
act of generosity. Kindness is a revolution whose time has come and,
while most people sincerely want to be more caring, Practice Random
Acts of Kindness brings it all home with simple suggestions of how to be
kinder and why. From the wake of Hurricane Katrina to the tragedy of the
tsunami to troops in Iraq performing acts of daily compassion, we see
many glimpses of what a more benevolent world might look like. In
Practice Random Acts of Kindness, readers learn how they can create this
future and effect real change through kindness.
The Return of King Arthur
Finishing the Quest for Wholeness,
Inner Strength, and Self-Knowledge
By Diana Durham
Carolyn Myss did it with The Sacred Contract.
Robert Bly did it with Iron John. Clarissa Pinkola
Estes did it with Women Who Run With the
Wolves. In these books, Myss, Bly, and Estes
explored the powerful connection between
myths, symbols, and archetypes and our inner selves. Diana Durham
makes a bold new contribution to this rich tradition with The Return
of King Arthur, in which she offers a first-ever Jungian interpretation
of the popular myth of King Arthur as it relates to our modern lives
and our search for happiness. Durham focuses on two separate but
intertwined strands of Arthurian myth: the King Arthur legend and the
Quest for the Holy Grail. As intricate as a fairy tale, as deeply inviting
as a dream, The Return of King Arthur takes us on a journey started
long ago in childhood, when we first heard the incredible story of
King Arthur. A handbook for living, a guide to inner transformation and
outer achievement, The Return of King Arthur is a profound and powerful addition to the literature of myth, psychology, and spirituality.
Tarcher/Penguin. Paper, $14.95.
Conari Press. Paper, $14.95.
The Tao of Detox
The Secrets of Yang-Sheng Dao
By Daniel Reid
In The Tao of Detox Daniel Reid combines traditional Eastern practices and the latest of modern
Western thinking to offer detoxification methods
that can repair in as little as seven to ten days
much of the damage done by the long-term accumulation of toxins and acid waste in our bodies.
This practical guide to preventing and treating the
toxic assault on our bodies shows how the practices of periodic detox and “rational retox” can counteract the toxic nature
of our modern lifestyles, diets, and environment. Reid provides breathing
exercises, massage techniques, and soft exercises such as yoga and tai chi
that help the body to heal itself. He explains that, just as we care for our
cars with regular tune-ups, by following these practices we can enjoy long
and healthy lives and still be able to “eat, drink, and be merry.”
Healing Arts Press. Paper, $18.95.
Chinese Sexual Astrology
Eastern Secrets to Mind-Blowing Sex
By Shelly Wu
In this well-organized reference book, author Shelly
Wu reveals how Chinese sexual astrology, the “quantum physics of romance,” creates romance and passion that flows smoothly from initial conversation to
orgasmic euphoria. Readers will discover the unique
sexual signature of each Chinese astrological sign;
their sexual style, preferred pleasurable sensations
and turn-ons. Explore Spirit Connections, Mind
Connections and Body Connections, then move ahead to the movements,
positions and ecstasy found in Sexuality for Enlightened Lovers.
New Page Books. Paper, $14.00.
68
EARTH STAR
Love Will Find You
9 Magnets to Bring You and
Your Soulmate Together
By Kathryn Alice
Love Will Find You is a breakthrough approach to love
from well-known dating expert Kathryn Alice. Based
on Kathryn’s unique philosophy and wildly successful
seminars, this may be the first dating book to insist that
you do not even need to leave the house to meet your
soulmate. In direct contrast to the many books that
preach that finding Mr./Ms. Right should be treated like a business venture, that you need to lower your standards, or that what you really need
is a complete makeover. Kathryn’s Nine Love Magnets teach that everyone has a soulmate—not just a potential spouse; that your soulmate will
find you, and that you are never too old, too fat, or too poor for love.
Marlowe & Co. Paper, $14.95.
The Voynich Manuscript
The Mysterious Code that has
Defied Interpretation for Centuries
By Gerry Kennedy & Rob Churchill
Since its discovery by Wilfrid Voynich in an Italian
monastery in 1912, the Voynich Manuscript has
baffled scholars and cryptanalysts with its unidentifiable script and bizarre illustrations. Written in an
unknown language or an as-yet undecipherable
code, this medieval manuscript contains hundreds
of illustrations of unknown plants, cosmological
charts, and inexplicable scenes. Kennedy and Churchill explore the
mystery surrounding the Voynich Manuscript, examining the many
existing theories about possible authors of this work and the information it may contain. With the possibility that it may be a lost alchemical
text or other esoteric work, this manuscript remains one of the most
intriguing yet enigmatic documents ever to have come to light.
Inner Traditions. Paper, $18.95.
Winter Reading
Dangerous Angels
By Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block is renowned for her groundbreaking novels and stories—postmodern, magicrealist fairy tales for all ages. Dangerous Angels will
transport readers through the harsh landscapes of
contemporary life to the magical realms of the senses where love is always the saving grace. In
Dangerous Angels, Block’s best-selling favorites,
the Weetzie Bat books, are brought together in one volume, now repackaged with a beautiful, bold new cover by Suza Scalora. These post-modern fairy tales chronicle the thin line between fear and desire, pain and
pleasure, cutting loose and holding on in a world where everyone is vulnerable to the most beautiful and dangerous angel of all: love. Beautifully
crafted, Dangerous Angels, is a collection of multifaceted plots, dynamic
and original characters, poetic writing, and unique points of view that
expand on Francesca Lia Block’s beloved style.
Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins. Paper, $11.99.
Kinship with the Wolf
The Amazing Story of the Woman
Who Lives with Wolves
By Tanja Askani
In Kinship with the Wolf, a heartfelt examination of
the wolf as a spiritual and ecologi-cal role model,
Tanja Askani reveals a new facet of relating to
wolves and to the world as a whole. Through
detailed descriptions of her eight years living with
wolves at the Luneburger Heide Wildlife Preserve in
Germany, she reveals a new picture of the wolf as a highly intelligent,
social, sensitive creature that brings inestimable value to healthy natural systems. Her ability to communi-cate with and relate to wolves is a
model of how we can respond to the intelligent complexity of life with
care, respect, and wisdom and how we can maintain an intensive connection to the natural world without exercising human dominance.
Park Street Press. Paper, $19.95.
Christianity
The Origins of A Pagan Religion
By Philippe Walter
In Christianity: Origins of a Pagan Religion, Phillipe Walter
shows that the Christian mythology that animated
medieval Europe was actually primarily of pagan inspiration and that very little of it comes from the Bible. In
this highly documented work Walter shows which
major calendar days of the Christian year are founded
on pagan rituals and myths. For example, the high holidays of Easter and Christmas, were times when many pagans prepared for
the coming of spirits who would leave gifts for those who honored their
coming. Indeed, the identities of saints and pagan figures were so intermingled that some saints were even transformed into pagan incarnations.
Mary Magdalene, for instance, became one of the ladies of the lake of Celtic
legend. The hagiographic accounts of the saints in the scriptures of the
Bible reveal that the origin of these symbolic figures is found in deities worshiped in pagan Europe for centuries.
Math for Mystics
From the Fibonacci Sequence toLuna’s
Labryrinth to the Golden Section and
Other Secrets of Sacred Geometry
By Renna Shesso
Math for Mystics unveils and demystifies some
of the many concepts our distant ancestors
knew and used based on many generations of
observation and record keeping, sky watching,
folk wisdom, and ever-more-complex calculations. A large portion of math history comes to
us directly from early astrologers who needed
to be able to describe and record what they saw in the night sky.
Notably, most math-history books refer to them as astronomers, but
astronomers and astrologers were one and the same. Everyone needed math, whether you were the king’s court astrologer or a farmer marking the best time for planting, timekeeping and numbers really mattered.
Through her search Shesso discovered their contemporary use as magical tools and as vital components of esoteric heritage. Math for Mystics
is for readers who have an interest in numbers as a practical tool for
magical, esoteric or spiritual purposes.
Weiser Books. Paper, $16.95.
Change Your Mind and
Your Life Will Follow
12 Simple Principles
By Karen Casey
Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow offers a
dozen simple principles to live by, including Stop
Focusing On the Problem So the Solution Can
Emerge, Give Up Your Judgments, and Remember
That You Are Not In Control. Each principle makes up
a chapter. Each chapter includes meditation-style
essays to help readers access peaceful, life-changing responses to just
about any situation. It really is as simple as changing our minds. This little book will show you how.
Conari Press. Hardcover, $14.95.
Heart of Wisdom, Mind of Calm
Guided Meditations to Deepen
Your Spiritual Practice
Christina Feldman
Heart of Wisdom, Mind of Calm is Christina
Feldman’s next-level, practical workbook for
practitioners who are ready to deepen and
enrich their journey of spiritual growth. For less
than half the price of a Zafu cushion, Feldman’s
new book is filled with advanced exercises and
instruction from a renowned Insight Meditation
Society teacher. As Feldman says in her introduction, “meditation is much more than becoming proficient in a particular technique.” Heart of Wisdom, Mind of Calm is a guidebook to the
subtleties of knowing the heart and mind, working with difficult or insistent emotions, and leading a meditative life.
Element Books. Paper, $16.95.
69
Walking Your Blues Away
How to Heal the Mind and Create
Emotional Well-Being
By Thom Hartmann
In Walking Your Blues Away, Thom Hartmann
explains that when we walk, which engages
both sides of the body, we simultaneously activate both the left and right sides of the brain.
This allows the brain’s two hemispheres to join
forces to break up brain patterning and allow
the sufferer to release these distresses from
extreme but brief upsets to chronic conditions
such as post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression. Hartmann shows how we must learn to walk consciously,
holding an awareness of the distress (or desire we hope to attain) in
mind as we move. Hartmann’s deceptively simple, yet potent exercises
allow us to cre-ate our own walking journeys to restore our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as well as rejuvenate our body’s health.
Park Street Press. Paper, $12.95.
Be the Change You Want to
See in the World
365 Things You Can Do For Yourself
and Your Planet
By Julie Fisher-McGarry
Foreword by John Robbins,
In Be the Change You Want to See in the World,
Julie Fisher-McGarry, once a personal fitness
trainer to Saudi Arabian royalty, speaks to the
burgeoning eco-conscious consumer market on
how to dwell well on a daily basis. She includes
tips on living green, how to make or purchase green gifts, where to
purchase organic and fair trade products, how to unplug from the grid,
supporting local economies, and nourishing the earth as well as taking
nourishment from it, along with some delicious recipes. She has been
an activist and environmentalist for over two decades and shares her sage
advice in a warm and supportive tone. John Robbins, author of The Food
Revolution, comments in his Foreword, “Fisher-McGarry proves…that
individual acts really do matter and that living green is living well.”
Conari Press. Paper, $14.95.
The Healing Power of
Neurofeedback
The Revolutionary LENS Technique for
Restoring Optimal Brain Function
By Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.
Foreword by Thorn Hartmann
In The Healing Power of Neurofeedback, Stephen
Larsen provides an in-depth introduction to the
Low Energy Neurofeedback System (LENS), an
innovative therapy that restores optimal functioning of the brain after physical or emotional trauma. Developed by Dr.
Len Ochs in 1992, LENS uses weak electromagnetic fields to stimulate
brain-wave activity. Its extraordinary results provide neuroscience with
an effective alternative to the more invasive therapies of electroshock
and drugs. This book explores a much less invasive but highly effective
technique of restoring brain function.
Healing Arts Press. Paper, $19.95.
70
EARTH STAR
Wanting Enlightenment
Is a Big Mistake
Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn
Compiled and Edited by Hyon Gak
Foreword by John Kabat-zinn
Wanting Enlightenment is a Big Mistake is a
collection of teachings by the celebrated and
eccentric Zen Master Seung Sahn. Zen
Master Seung Sahn stands out as one of the
most prominent Zen masters in the West, and
the founder of the Kwan Um School of Zen.
He was also known for his powerful teaching
style, which was direct, surprising, and often humorous. Zen Master
Seung Sahn taught that Zen is not about achieving a goal, but about
dwelling in the realm “before thought”—and serving others. This collection of the Zen master’s never-before-published teaching stories,
dialogues, and talks gives us an instructive and compelling glimpse into
the mind of a unique teacher.
Shambhala Publications. Paper, $15.95.
Learning Tarot Spreads
By Joan Bunning
Learning Tarot Spreads is designed for any student of tarot who is ready to go beyond the
beginner level. Each tarot reader has a unique
style that they hone over time into the fine art
of divining the future. In this essential guide to
arranging cards into prophetic patterns, Joan
Bunning has compiled a veritable encyclopedia of tarot spreads with great appeal for
accomplished readers who want to explore
further as well as novices with their very first deck. Sample spreads are
comprehensive, ranging from many-card “Gypsy” spreads to quick and
easy “Three Card Draws.” She also gives the reader reference charts,
exercises and structured tarot lessons.
The Intention Experiment
Using Your Thoughts to Change
Your Life and the World
By Lynne McTaggart
In The Intention Experiment, award-winning
science journalist and leading figure in the
human consciousness community Lynne
McTaggart intends to find the answers. With
the aid of a team of highly experienced scientists from around the world, including Fritz
Popp, Dr. Gary Schwartz, and Drs. Marilyn
Schlitz and Dean Radin, The Intention
Experiment is an ongoing experiment to
determine the effects of focused group intention on scientifically quantifiable targets—animal, plant, and human. The Intention Experiment
builds on the discoveries of McTaggart’s first book, The Field, which
documented discoveries that point to the existence of a quantum energy field. The Intention Experiment shows that thought is a thing and can
have physical effects, and it shows us myriad ways that all this information can be used. An original piece of scientific investigation that
involves the reader in its quest.
Free Press. Hardcover, $26.00.
LOVE
Quotes and Passages from the Heart
By B.C. Aronson
Finding the right words to express oneself
can be a challenge, especially with matters
of the heart. Now, for every tongue-tied
reader there is LOVE: Quotes and Passages
from the Heart, a collection of excerpts that
brings to life the many manifestations of
love. LOVE is a treasury of over four hundred
expressions of love from famous spiritual
leaders, writers, politicians, entertainers,
and philosophers. This compilation goes
beyond romantic love with reflections on everything from family to faith.
This beautiful collection of quotes asks, “What does it mean to love?”
and the response echoes through every page. LOVE runs the gamut of
this deepest emotion, spanning beginnings, companionship, passion,
heartbreak, and true love, and explores the many ways in which people care for one another, express their affections, and search for comfort in companionship.
Random House Reference. Hardcover, $14.95.
The Very Lowly
A Meditation on Francis of Assisi
By Christian Bobin,
Translated by Michael H. Kohn
Why have we come to revere Francis of Assisi, a simple
thirteenth-century Italian merchant’s son, as a saint?
Why has his appeal endured over eight hundred years
and even expanded beyond the world of Catholicism to
make him one of the most beloved religious figures of all time? This
penetrating meditation on Francis’s life gently but sure-handedly cuts
through every pious legend to uncover what is timeless and universally
true about him. Christian Bobin’s unexpected and thoroughly original
work presents a compelling image of a man whose power is found in
humility, whose radical casting aside of wealth, honor, and even personal
identity is inseparable from his overwhelming intimacy with God. Poetic,
luminous, utterly hypnotic, The Very Lowly is a unique modern variation on
the saint’s life that will entrance everyone, whether “religious” or not.
New Seeds. Paperback, $10.95.
Walking Through Walls
Practical Spirituality in an
Impractical World
by Lee L. Jampolsky, Ph.D.
Walking Through Walls is a no-nonsense handbook for the spiritual seeker with little time for a
lengthy philosophical treatise—and even less energy for a “taking a lifetime for enlightenment” selfhelp book. Psychologist and author Lee Jampolsky
offers an eight-week course that gets right down
to the business of accelerating personal growth. Each week Jampolsky
focuses on one of eight traits that are compatible with every great spiritual tradition: honesty, tolerance, gentleness, joy, defenselessness, generosity, patience, and open-mindedness. Cutting through the fog of typically lofty and unreachable self-help goals, Walking Through Walls presents a realistic and attainable plan for personal development.
Celestial Arts. Paperback, $17.95.
Sacred Number and the
Origins Of Civilization
The Unfolding of History through
the Mystery of Number
By Richard Heath
The ubiquitous use of certain sacred numbers and ratios can be found throughout history, influencing everything from art and
architecture to the development of religion
and secret societies. In Sacred Number and
the Origins of Civilization, Richard Heath
reveals the origins, widespread influences,
and deeper meaning of these synchronous
numerical occurrences, and how they were left within our planetary
environment during the creation of the earth, the moon, and our solar
system. Exploring astronomy, harmony, geomancy, sacred centers,
and myth—and featuring Solomon’s Key and the Templar design for
Washington D.C. as New Jerusalem—Heath reveals the secret use of
sacred number knowledge in the building of Gothic cathedrals and
the important influence of sacred numbers in the founding of modern
Western culture. By examining prehistoric and monumental cultures
through the Dark Ages and later recorded history, Sacred Number
and the Origins of Civilization provides a key to understanding the
true role and meaning of number.
How To Practice Mayan Astrology
The Tzolkin Calendar and Your Life Path
By Bruce Scofield and Barry C. Orr
How to Practice Mayan Astrology presents a contemporary
and practical guide to one of the most sophisticated astrological systems ever developed. Mayan astrology is based
on twenty named days that are cycled thirteen times to create a 260-day calendar, the Tzolkin. The authors explain the
symbolism, logic, and meaning of the twenty day-signs; how these signs
reflect 260 possible personality types; and how they can be used for divination. They also explain the important role of the Four Directions and the planet Venus in forming one’s personality matrix and its attendant life issues.
Extensive, easy-to-use tables of Mayan astrological data allow readers to
determine their day-signs and cast their own horoscopes, and to see how
these signs are also influenced by the nine-day cycle of the Night Lords,
which governs one’s deepest genetic impulse, and the thirteen-day trecena,
which at birth is descriptive of instinctive behaviors.
Bear & Company. Paper, $20.00.
When Fear Falls Away
The Story of a Sudden Awakening
By Jan Frazier
In August 2003, virtually overnight, Jan Frazier experienced “a dramatic falling away of fear”—not just the
immediate fear of her annual medical test but, as she
learned as time went on, her fear of everything. She
was “flooded with a causeless joy that has never left
me.” In this book the commonplace belief that enlightenment is only for saints comes apart at the seams.
Anyone can be enlightened, and all we need to do is ask. This rare and
beautiful account puts Jan Frazier solidly in the tradition of enlightened
teachers from J. Krishnamurti to Byron Katie.
EARTH STAR
71
ASTROLOGY
BEAUTY
ASTRO
CHARTING
Em powering W om en
Internationally acclaimed program.
Assess your health and lifestyle develop your own holistic physical,
emotional, and spiritual health plan.
Individuals or groups.
Discover Your Planets,
their Signs & Houses
Personal Horoscope - $40
Compatability Charts - $45
(include birth data for each individual)
Body & Soul Report - $45
Get your own personalized 2007
12-month Future Forecast - $75.00.
Send Name, Date and Place of Birth
(City/State/ Country), and Time of Birth
(or as precise as possible) for each Chart
requested. Payment by check made payable
to Tim Gunns with return address and
phone number to:
Tim Gunns, Tel. 1-310-281-7882
75 Scotland Road, Newbury, MA 01951
Personalized Astrology Charts by mail.
Natal Horoscopes ($40); Future Forecast
Transit Reports ($75 for 1 full year, $50 for
6-months, $35 for 3-months); and two
kinds of Relationship Compatibility Reports:
the basic Compatability Report, and the
Composite Relationship Report ($45 each,
or both Reports for $75). Send Name (as
you'd like it to appear on the chart), Date of
Birth, Time of Birth (as close as possible),
Place of Birth (city/country, etc.) for each
person, payment (checks only) and return
address & phone# to: Tim Gunns, 1247
Lincoln Blvd., #195, Santa Monica CA
90401. (310) 281-7882..
BODYWORK
Pure Solace - Reiki & Massage
Experience mind/body health and
well-being through Reiki & Massage
with trained & licensed bodyworkers
[email protected] - 781-736-1920
751 Main St., Suite 22, Waltham, MA 02451
Channeling
Private Channeling’s with the Angel
Machidiel. Let Machidiel’s profound messages guide you through any and all areas
of your life. Schedule your session today:
(860)-274-6809
EDUCATION
BeautyWay Seminars with Venerable
Dhyani Ywahoo. “To purify one’s view, to
see the world in good relationship: conceptualize the ideal, visualize, communicate and do it.” Inspired by Native
American and Tibetan Buddhism. Studies
offered monthly. www.sunray.org.
HEALTH
Know your
Order Your
potential...
Astro
Value-Pack
SEE your
future!
for just $62
Includes a
Personalized Natal Horoscope
plus a
6-month Future-Forecast
Transit Report (40-50 pages)
(specify which month to begin)
Send: Name, Date of Birth, Time of Birth (as
close as possible), Place of Birth (city/country,
etc.) for each person, payment, and return
address & phone# to: Tim Gunns, 75
Scotland Road, Newbury, MA 01951.
(310) 281-7882.
Shipping is FREE
72
EARTH STAR
HEALING
Himalayan Goji Berries. If you have not
yet heard of goji juice, you are not alone.
While it has occupied an important place in
traditional Asian medicine for countless
generations, the secrets of its nutritional
benefits have remained a mystery to most
of the world. Anti-Aging – the goji berry
prevents or mitigates premature aging in
many ways. In studies it has been found
to protect our DNA form breaking
downResearch has shown that many of
the world's longest living people consume
regular daily helpings of a tiny red fruit that
may just be the world's most powerful
anti-aging food—the Himalayan goji berry.
If you would like more comprehensive
information about goji berry juice, or to
order visit: www.dramy.freelife.com or via
email [email protected].
Women’s Health Institute
PO Box 200623
Boston, MA 02120
617-739-2923
W [email protected]
HELP WANTED
Sales Associates Wanted
Earth Star magazine is looking for
independent, motivated and experienced sales people to work part- or fulltime from your own home. Generous
20% commission. Flexible hours.
(617) 498-0265
E-mail: [email protected]
INSTRUCTION
Tai Chi, Chi Gung (Qigong) is taught in
7-week sessions at Brookline Tai Chi. Call
for our course brochure and information.
Free sample class. (617) 277-2975.
MASSAGE
China Blue Massage
617-924-9371
195 Mt.Auburn St, Watertown MA
An Earth Star
Classified Display Ad
will get your
business
or product
noticed
This 2” x 2-1/4” Ad is just $85
617-498-0265
MEDITATION
SPACE AVAILABLE
Shri Shivabalayogi Maharaj Meditation
Blessings. Peace, Bliss and SelfRealization
Guaranteed
through
Meditation. Receive Shivabalayogi’s photo,
holy ash and meditation instructions. Free.
Germaine, P.O. Box 8023, Roanoke, VA
24014, www.meditate-shivabala.org.
WATERTOWN SQUARE. The Bodymind
Integration Center has quiet, sunny
offices for a full or part-time practitioner.
$300 - $575. Also large attractive carpeted workshop and part-time office space
rentals, weekend, or weekdays. Call
Michael Jaro @ (617) 926-9171.
Harvard Street Brookline between
Coolidge Corner and Brookline
Village. Free parking spot. Warm holistic
office in Victorian building. Perfect for
acupuncture, massage, counseling.
Available 5-6 days a week, $350 inclusive.
Call Karen (617) 566-8070.
Quest
for an Angel
— a guided
inner journey
written &
narrated
by
Suzannah
Galland
“This is an excellent vehicle to
reconnect with your angel self, the
fulfiller of your dreams....”
— Marianne Willliamson
You may order this CD by phone at:
(323) 650-3939, via email: suzannah
@suzannahgalland.com, or directly
from Suzannah’s website:
www.suzannahgalland.com - $14.99
Harvard Square / Cambridge: New
School of Music has a large classroom
for rent - Yoga Classes, Book Clubs,
Meetings, Workshops, Seminars! Outside
Harvard Sq. near Mt. Auburn Hospital,
FREE parking lot, rug, A/C. Call 617-4928105 or email [email protected]
for rates. Visit http://www.newschoolofmusic.org.
SPIRITUAL
CLASSIFIED
ORDER FORM
You can place your Classified Ad
three ways - Email, fax or by mail.
Please include your name,
address and phone number.
CLASSIFIED DISPLAY ADS
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We offer a 10% discount for three
or more insertions when paid in
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CLASSIFIED LINE ADS
Classified Line Ads are $1.50 per
word with a minimum of 20 words.
The first 2 to 5 words will be printed in bold face at no extra charge.
OPPORTUNITIES
Word Count
Potential vegan pizza-sub chain in
Boston seeks partners, especially with
business/restaurant skills. We aim to
change public eating habits while earning
a living. 617-472-1524 [email protected].
Every word or number separated
by a space is considered a separate word. Each 10-digit phone
number is considered one word.
Email and website addresses are
each counted as three words.
PAYMENT
ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS on the web. Stand
up for Peace. Reserve your ad space which links to your
website or coupon and pay only $1.50 per pixel. 10% of
proceeds go to five charities: Doctors without Borders,
American Friends Service Committee, Education Fund
to Stop Gun Violence, Earth Island Institute and Union
of Concerned Scientists. Varied media drive customers
to the website. To Learn more and reserve ad space visit
Milliondollarhomepageforpeace.com
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is
Th just
is
d
A $55
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Make check or money order
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CONTACT INFORMATION
WRITING COACH
Get Support! Create clear vision and
focus for completing projects. Fall in love
with words, explore voice and personal
expression, with published writer, experienced coach, “midwife” for creative
process. Call Nadine Boughton at
(781) 391-1704.
Phone/Fax: (617) 498-0265
Mailing Address:
Earthstar Magazine
75 Scotland Road
Newbury MA 01951
73
GM Jumps Back Into
Electric Car Race
By Paul Scott
Plug In America.com
lug In America, known for
its advocacy of electric
vehicles
and
plug-in
hybrids (PHEVs), applauds
the announcement on
January 7th by General Motors to reenter the race
to create nonpolluting vehicles with its
next-generation electric
vehicle, the
Chevrolet
“ Vo l t ” .
Technically a
serial PHEV,
the Volt will
have a range
of forty-miles
per charge, but
a total range of
640
miles
when supplemented by the small on-board generator.
This combination provides the exciting
performance and environmental benefits
of an electric vehicle, better range than
today’s hybrids, all while using a fraction of the gasoline.
P
GM once led the industry in electric drive technology and zeropollution vehicles; their decision
to discontinue the EV1 program
and crush the popular vehicles,
and subsequent decision to
ignore hybrids in favor of developing fuel cell technology has
caused them to fall far behind
their Japanese competitors. In
particular, Toyota’s halo effect
from the Prius has been helping
them close the gap on the number
74
EARTH STAR
one automaker.
“This is the most intriguing move
General Motors has made in a decade,”
according to Chelsea Sexton, Executive
Director of PIA and a former GM EV1
employee whose story is featured in the
GM EV1
2006 documentary, “Who Killed the
Electric Car?” “It’s a moonshot, but
that’s exactly what GM needs if they’re
serious about reinvigorating that company—and it’s a very American value to
embrace the underdog.”
It should be noted that as recently as a
year ago, no major automaker would
publicly acknowledge the current viability of electric drive technology; today,
GM is expected to be joined in its PHEV
announcement when
Toyota and
Ford unveil
their
own
PHEVs. “To
move
an
industry is
the ultimate
example of
what can be
accomplished
on a grassroots level”
said Sexton.
“This
is
what’s possible
when
consumers ask for what they want, and
refuse to settle for less.” GM’s
announcement did not confirm a date
when we can see these vehicles in the
showroom, and in order to get the Volt
from concept to showroom, consumers
must keep asking. As Sexton
noted from Detroit, “Ultimately,
we’re going to judge all of the
automakers not on what they say,
but what they do.”
Plug In America advocates the
use of plug-in cars, trucks and
SUVs powered by cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity to reduce
our nation’s dependence on petroleum and improve the global
environment.
Within every one of us, there is
a voice that speaks the truth.
Available In Retail Stores And Online Outlets Nationwide
F
P
For thematic elements,
some language and a brief accident.
© 2006 CWG Films, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
© 2007 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC. All Rights Reserved.
TM

Earth Star Magazine

Transcription

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