tag:www.naturalawakeningsnj.com,2005:/categories/wise-words?page=7Wise Words Wise Words | Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey Page 7Healthy Living Healthy Planet2019-08-15T22:22:57-07:00urn:uuid:666b8172-09e2-4c33-917f-71b90033978a2019-08-15T22:22:57-07:002019-08-15T22:22:57-07:00Transforming the Way Women Relate to Men: An Interview with Alison Armstrong2017-01-31 10:28:47 -0800April Thompson<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>or 25 years, relationship expert Alison Armstrong has worked to evolve society by changing the way women relate to men. Her yearning to understand the opposite sex was born from personal challenges, including a failed marriage in her 20s. She began studying men on her own, at the age of 30, beginning with the question, “What if men are responding to women?” What started out as a personal inquiry has become a lifelong pursuit and she’s shared her findings with millions of men and women worldwide.</p>
<p>Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of PAX Programs, addresses gender differences, sexuality and relationships. She has written three books, including <em>The Queen’s Code</em>, and speaks to interpersonal insights through workshops, webinars and teleclasses, including free recordings and articles at <a href="http://UnderstandMen.com">UnderstandMen.com</a>.</p>
<p>Armstrong and her second husband have been happily married for 23 years and now live in Colorado.</p>
<p><strong><em>Which core differences between men and women cause everyday misunderstandings?</em></strong></p>
<p>The biggest source of mischief is denying that differences exist at all. Both men and women tend to assume that each is a version of the other, which creates significant misunderstandings. We interact with our partners by doing or saying what works for us. When that doesn’t get the response we’re expecting, we usually draw incorrect conclusions and act in counterproductive ways.</p>
<p>For example, men and women relate to feelings differently. Women often make life decisions based on their feelings about something or someone. To men, who tend to rely on facts and set aside feelings, this approach can seem irrational, and relating to women as irrational has predictably bad outcomes.</p>
<p><em><strong>Where does a couple best start to heal the communication divide?</strong></em></p>
<p>The most powerful thing men and women can do is to address misunderstandings with openness and curiosity rather than assuming we know why our partner did or said something. We should ask ourselves, “What if there’s a good reason for that?” Don’t assume that what’s true for her is also true for him, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Once a couple chooses to give each other the benefit of the doubt, a few simple changes can further open up communication. Saying “I need” instead of “I want” will make a huge difference. Because being “needy” is considered unattractive, women avoid this word, not realizing that it connects with a man’s instinct to provide.</p>
<p>When asking for something, it’s important to say what it would provide us. For him, there needs to be a reward equal to or greater than the energy he’ll have to expend. Years ago, I described to my husband in colorful detail the experience of falling into the toilet in the middle of the night; he took it upon himself to make sure that never again happens to the women he loves.</p>
<p><em><strong>What’s the secret to navigating partners’ differing needs and drives for physical intimacy?</strong></em></p>
<p>The secret is to stop leaving our sex lives to the whims of biology, or making decisions based on whether we “feel like it.” Waiting for a time when both partners feel like it, the kids are at Grandma’s and we’re not too tired leads to sex happening too rarely. Delicious sexual partnerships begin when we decide to stop waiting and instead work on creating the circumstances that put us in the mood.</p>
<p>One example is learning to offer “dessert”. Using the desire for food as a metaphor for the desire for sex, we’re often trying to eat together when only one partner is hungry. But dessert sounds delicious anytime; examples might be massage or kissing or other physical activities. Find out what reliably perks up a partner’s interest and put that on the menu.</p>
<p><strong><em>How can a woman satisfy a man’s desire to provide without sacrificing her independence?</em></strong></p>
<p>American culture tells women that being low-maintenance matters most. Yet, when we allow our partners to fulfill our needs, it can help us unlock our own greatness, as well as theirs. Men are driven to provide for their loved ones and denying them such opportunities takes away their life’s pursuit, which can be emasculating.</p>
<p>By asking for what we need, women create opportunities for partnership, satisfaction and fulfillment for both partners. When we allow the men in our life to contribute to us and learn to receive graciously, we discover that it doesn’t diminish our power.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Connect with freelance writer April Thompson, of Washington, D.C., at <a href="http://AprilWrites.com">AprilWrites.com</a>.</em></p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the February 2017 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:1b657db9-28f3-4365-a4aa-88bba42f0ee82019-08-15T21:34:48-07:002019-08-15T21:34:48-07:00Julia Schopick on Effective, Affordable Medicine2016-12-28 12:34:36 -0800Randy Kambic<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>ollowing up on the success of her bestselling book <em>Honest Medicine: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases</em>, Julia Schopick plans to spread awareness of the efficacy of low-dose naltrexone (LDN) in treating autoimmune and other ailments later this year with a new book co-authored with professional writer Don Schwartz.</p>
<p>Her first book, endorsed by many leading integrative health practitioners, earned the top National Indie Excellence Award for Alternative Medicine. It taps into nearly 200 scientific studies, with her research into innovative treatments driven by a quest that she and her late husband both believed added 15 years to his life after a terminal prognosis at age 40.</p>
<p>The former English teacher at Long Island University and Virginia State University, now an Oak Park, Illinois resident, has contributed to the American Medical Association publication <em>AM News</em>, writes online and print guest columns and shares her journey in media interviews.</p>
<p><em><strong>What are some of the most significant natural alternatives you report on in </strong></em><strong>Honest Medicine</strong><em><strong>?</strong></em></p>
<p>The ketogenic diet is one standout because it was the standard of care for children with epilepsy in the 1920s—until pharmaceutical companies began to produce lucrative anti-seizure medications; then its use diminished through a lack of proponents in the medical field. Its use was revived in the 1990s due to the efforts of Jim Abrahams, a Hollywood writer/director, father of a child with epilepsy and one of my heroes.</p>
<p>I found small studies that proved that the ketogenic diet successfully stops children’s seizures nearly 70 percent of the time. This highly effective alternative has none of the negative side effects of antiseizure drugs. Most doctors aren’t in favor of the diet approach and instead often prescribe affected children up to three or four meds as an easier option. The diet follows Hippocrates’ dictum, “Let food be thy medicine.”</p>
<p>Another standout is intravenous alpha lipoic acid, pioneered since the 1970s by Dr. Burt Berkson, who used it mainly for end-stage liver disease and diabetic neuropathy. He saved many people from needing liver transplants with infusions of this powerful, versatile antioxidant.</p>
<p><em><strong>Did anything surprise you?</strong></em></p>
<p>I chose to include effective treatments that are non-toxic and inexpensive. I didn’t realize that several of them were effective for many different conditions.</p>
<p>For example, LDN has been used since the mid-1980s to treat autoimmune diseases, of which there are more than 100; it also treats some cancers and AIDS. Research shows good results for conditions as varied as multiple sclerosis, lupus, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and Parkinson’s, because all of them have an autoimmune component if they are not directly autoimmune diseases.</p>
<p>Similarly, the ketogenic diet is now being studied as a treatment for cancers, especially brain tumors, brain injuries, autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Intravenous alpha lipoic acid is also used to address autoimmune diseases, some cancers and other conditions.</p>
<p><em><strong>Are you finding that people are increasingly moving away from drugs and, if so, why?</strong></em></p>
<p>Yes. The norm used to be that patients followed their doctors’ orders without question, which routinely entailed prescription drugs. Today, people are realizing that drugs often come with horrendous side effects. Consider, for instance, that ads for some injectible treatments for autoimmune diseases caution against side effects of cancers, including lymphomas. A side effect of some multiple sclerosis drugs is a serious brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. People are listening closely, reading and researching their health issues, and don’t want risky side effects, especially when safer options are available.</p>
<p><strong><em>In dealing with chronic illnesses, how crucial is it for caregiver and patient to maintain a positive, optimistic attitude?</em></strong></p>
<p>Multiple studies, like those referenced in <em>Mind Over Medicine</em>, by Dr. Lissa Rankin, and <em>Radical Remission</em>, by Kelly Turner, Ph.D., show that a positive state of mind is crucial to healing. One of the benefits I report in my book is that patients and caregivers will do even more research looking for alternatives when doctors tell them nothing else can be done. And many find healing treatments; there are many such cases reported in my book. I like the African proverb, “When you pray, move your feet.”</p>
<p><br>
<em>Randy Kambic is a freelance writer and editor in Estero, FL, and regular contributor to </em>Natural Awakenings<em> magazine.</em></p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the January 2017 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:6b930e7c-ed22-49aa-a34a-9df364f19d8b2019-08-15T21:20:42-07:002019-08-15T21:20:42-07:00Krista Tippett on Our Evolving Spirituality: Why it Evokes Hope2016-11-30 09:33:42 -0800Randy Kambic<p><span class="dropcap">K</span>rista Tippett helps us ponder the meaning of life as host and executive producer of <em>On Being</em>, the award-winning weekly radio program and podcast produced in Minneapolis for more than 400 public radio stations. The bestselling author of <em>Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit</em> has been acclaimed for thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence. Her latest book, <em>Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living</em>, reflects upon how spirituality intersects with science, technology, health, art and politics.</p>
<p>This daughter of a Southern Baptist minister first launched her show, originally titled <em>Speaking of Faith</em> (also the title of her first book), on Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media in 2003. Today, Tippett continues to discuss faith, spirit, inner growth and what it is to be human with leading authors, thought leaders and pioneering change makers. She also hosts online classes and a blog.</p>
<p><em><strong>How has </strong></em><strong>On Being</strong><em><strong> evolved to reflect existing dimensions of spirituality that have proven surprising?</strong></em></p>
<p>I am fascinated with how spiritual life and religious identity have evolved in the last decade. This part of life is more fluid than it’s ever been in human history. We are the first generation that didn’t inherit religious identity like we do a hometown. We craft our spiritual lives and choose our faith, even if it’s the faith of our families.</p>
<p>In many that don’t claim a religious affiliation, especially Millennials, I encounter a spiritual curiosity and ethical passion akin to religion at its best. Because seekers dwell both inside and outside of traditions, my life of conversation stretches beyond boundaries in ways I did not expect when I began.</p>
<p>I also never imagined that I’d interview physicists, evolutionary biologists and neuroscientists exploring territory previously reserved for theologians and philosophers. Together, they are illuminating the ancient questions related to our place in the cosmos; the nature of human freedom and consciousness; even beauty and the reality of mystery.</p>
<p><strong><em>Which guests do you feel have resonated the most with listeners and why?</em></strong></p>
<p>A show that seems to have touched more people most deeply is my interview with the Irish poet, philosopher and author John O’Donohue just before he died in his early 50s. He radiated such an unusual combination of qualities: wisdom, tenderness and playfulness; mysticism, theology and a raw Celtic earthiness. He’s someone who could speak of God with great wildness, strangeness—and authority. He inspired with his vision of beauty as a human calling and somehow embodied it for the listener. I meet all kinds of people that keep that show on their playlist and listen again and again.</p>
<p>In general, my favorite guest is the most recent person interviewed. At the moment, it’s Jimmy Wales, the Wikipedia co-founder, who stunned me with his insistence on kindness as the virtue that’s made this nonprofit’s ethos and accomplishments possible. Another is civil rights veteran Ruby Sales, who wisely works to uplift the human drama of our political/social moment, like the way we must come to be as articulate about what we love as about what outrages us.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do you see people’s awakening sensibilities influencing local and global issues?</strong></em></p>
<p>I am drawn to the notion that we are in the adolescence of our species. The globe right now is like a map of the teenage brain, prone to recklessness and destruction in places and simultaneously possessing vast potentials for creativity and advances. So many are relentless in telling the story of destruction that it seriously colors how we tell the story of our time. I stand among those shining a light on the abundant beauty, goodness and courage in our world so these become more visible and evident at a global level.</p>
<p><em><strong>Are you optimistic about the future?</strong></em></p>
<p>I am hopeful about the future. My life of meaningful conversation has led me to re-imagine the meaning of hope. It has nothing to do with wishful thinking, but rests on the lives of beauty and goodness I see everywhere I turn. It’s a choice—a more exacting and courageous choice than cynicism or resignation. The pain and fear alive in the world surface as anger and violence, and some of us are called to be calmers of fear.</p>
<p>We must create the world we want our children to inhabit and do so together. Hope isn’t an option on this path; it is one of our primary resources for getting there.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Randy Kambic is a freelance writer and editor in Estero, FL, and regular contributor to </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the December 2016 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:b24b1ae9-b8bd-4b87-9baf-5bca8931fe3a2019-08-15T21:31:15-07:002019-08-15T21:31:15-07:00Kelly Brogan on the Truth About Depression: Why Meds Don’t Work and What Does2016-10-31 08:13:18 -0700Kathleen Barnes<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>ntegrative medical doctor Kelly Brogan, a women’s health psychiatrist and author of <em>A Mind of Your Own</em>, has turned the world of neuropsychiatry on its head by revealing that depression can be reversed without a single prescription drug. She asserts that depression is not caused by imbalanced brain chemistry, but by lifestyle choices that unbalance the entire human physiology. That’s why conventional antidepressants generally don’t work. She instead prescribes eliminating foods that trigger inflammation in order to rebalance all body systems.</p>
<p>According to the National Institute for Mental Health, depression annually affects 15.7 million adult Americans, or about 8.3 percent of the population.</p>
<p><strong><em>What’s your stand on the illness model of medicine and how you arrived there?</em></strong></p>
<p>My training as a conventional doctor was predicated on a disease care model that offers patients only one solution—a prescription. We have never had a shot at true wellness, having handed over our health to corporations loyal to their shareholders, rather than to us.</p>
<p>Conventional medicine is based on the notion that we are born broken and need chemicals to feel better; the body is a machine that needs recalibration; and doctors always know what they are doing. After investing thousands of hours researching what would aid my own journey back from health challenges, I saw how we have been duped.</p>
<p>Health is our natural state, and we can restore it by natural means. The way to prevent and reverse illness is to communicate with the body in a language it understands. It’s so simple, yet society considers it an act of rebellion to consider this kind of lifestyle.</p>
<p><strong><em>Which science supports your conclusion that antidepressant drugs don’t work for most patients?</em></strong></p>
<p>Taking an antidepressant for depression is like taking a Tylenol for a shard of glass in your foot. Wouldn’t you rather just remove it? Antidepressants don’t work the way we think they do and come with risks, including impulsive violence and debilitating withdrawal. They also can distract from an opportunity to identify the real cause of symptoms, one that is entirely reversible, in my experience.</p>
<p>Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Lexapro are commonly prescribed to treat depression by boosting serotonin levels. There are many studies debunking their use and effectiveness. The 2012 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute study led by Paul Albert, Ph.D., concluded, “Direct serotonin-enhancing effects of antidepressants disturb energy homeostasis and worsen symptoms.”</p>
<p>As far back as 1998, Irving Kirsch, Ph.D., an expert on the placebo effect at Harvard Medical School, published a meta-analysis of the treatment of 3,000 patients, finding that drugs improved depression in only 27 percent of the cases.</p>
<p><em><strong>What’s the link between women, high blood sugar, diabetes, obesity and depression?</strong></em></p>
<p>When I meet a patient that complains about irritability, anxiety, foggy thinking, fatigue and insomnia, I visually plot her day-to-day symptoms on a mental graph. I find that the sugar rollercoaster accounts for the vast majority of diabetes, obesity, depression and other symptoms troubling my patients, especially women.</p>
<p>Sugar disturbs mental health in at least three ways: It starves the brain by causing blood sugar highs and lows that can eventually cause insulin resistance, diabetes and even Alzheimer’s disease; promotes inflammation, which is closely linked to depression; and derails hormones by raising levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body’s effort to balance blood sugars.</p>
<p>Depression also has roots in thyroid imbalances, which are common in women more than 40 years old, and in food intolerances, especially to gluten, soy and corn, that can affect the brain in unpredictable ways.</p>
<p><em><strong>Is there a general protocol that seems to work best?</strong></em></p>
<p>While there are no quick fixes, I see turnarounds every week because I help my patients see the benefits of simple choices like avoiding wheat and wheat products. You need a month of serious commitment to quit sugar, alcohol, coffee, wheat and dairy. Then you discover you aren’t an irritable, tired, forgetful person, which is its own incentive toward feeling better. It’s the basis to make choices with your own fully informed consent. Applying such information leads to long-term change and healing.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Kathleen Barnes has authored numerous natural health books, including </em>Food Is Medicine: 101 Prescriptions from the Garden<em>. Connect at <a href="http://KathleenBarnes.com">KathleenBarnes.com</a>.</em></p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the November 2016 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:a50aed49-0048-4de0-aeb7-ddf3115c05482019-08-15T21:53:26-07:002019-08-15T21:53:26-07:00Edward Humes on the High Cost of Transportation: Small Consumer Choices Have Big Impacts2016-09-30 08:20:22 -0700Randy Kambic<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>dward Humes investigates the origins and impacts of the expensive and complex process that brings us everyday products and items in his new book <em>Door to Door: The Magnificent, Maddening, Mysterious World of Transportation</em>. His latest work, which also covers our love affair with cars, is popularizing the eco-conscious term, “transportation footprint”. Aligned with this, he recommends a move to driverless cars to save lives and fuel.</p>
<p>In an earlier book, <em>Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash</em>, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Southern California journalist examined the causes and effects of waste. Solutions are showcased by how institutions and families are consciously reducing their wasteful ways.</p>
<p><strong><em>What are some everyday impacts of the “door-to-door machine” you write about?</em></strong></p>
<p>Transportation is embedded in our lives, both in our personal things and our travel. It can take 30,000 miles to get our morning coffee to the kitchen, with another 165,000 miles attached to all the components of the coffee pot, water, energy and packaging—a world-wide mix involving trains, planes, boats and trucks. Unprecedented amounts of transportation are embedded in everything we do and touch, with many hidden costs to our environment, economy and traffic.</p>
<p>Take the world of online retailing. That “buy it now” button seems so convenient, but it’s also a traffic jam generator. Each click births a new truck trip. What used to be a single truckload of goods delivered efficiently to a store or mall now demands hundreds of single-item deliveries to far-flung homes.</p>
<p><em><strong>Which transportation footprint surprised you the most in researching </strong></em><strong>Door to Door</strong><em><strong>?</strong></em></p>
<p>The smartphone is a paradox, in that it has reduced our transportation footprint in some ways because of all the separate devices it has replaced, from navigation in cars to calculators to cameras. Phones also empower a transportation-free option for online banking and bill paying, eliminating all sorts of trips in the physical world.</p>
<p>On the flip side, making and assembling smartphone components requires a lot of back-and-forth transport between many countries because no one can make the whole “widget”. With its many raw materials, rare earth minerals and manufactured components, we’re talking about an overall transportation footprint for one phone that’s equivalent to a round trip to the moon; a phone that users will trade in for a newer model in just a few years.</p>
<p><em><strong>What’s a particularly negative impact of the huge distances involved in today’s movement of goods?</strong></em></p>
<p>Cargo container ships create immense amounts of pollution. About 6,000 container ships worldwide ship 90 percent of consumer goods. Natural Resources Defense Council data show that the smog and particulate emissions from just 160 of these vessels equal that of all of the cars in the world. If the cargo fleet were a country, its carbon emissions would exceed Germany’s, the world’s fourth-largest economy, according to the European Commission. Cargo ship carbon emissions are projected to rise to about 18 percent of the global total in the next 25 years if our appetite for<br>
goods continues to grow at current rates.</p>
<p><em><strong>What are the consequences of the U.S. ranking 16th worldwide in infrastructure quality?</strong></em></p>
<p>Americans are under the illusion that we pay high taxes to build and maintain roads, bridges and rails. However, as a portion of our gross domestic product, we invest about one-fifth of what China does and the poor results are apparent. We have a $3.6 trillion backlog in needed modernization. This drags down the economy and increases harmful emissions through shipping delays and rush-hour jams, as well as raising road safety concerns.</p>
<p><em><strong>How can we each lessen our “transportation footprint”?</strong></em></p>
<p>We have power as individuals, families and communities to make a difference. Americans walk less than almost any other people on Earth. A Los Angeles study showed that half of its residents’ daily trips are less than three miles, with many under one mile, which is crazy. Using alternative transportation for just 10 percent of those trips would have major positive impacts. Far fewer children walk or bike to school than in the recent past, even as we face a youth obesity crisis. We can also adjust when and how we drive; half the cars on the road during rush hour are not job-related. Driving at other times would ease traffic for everyone and reduce traffic jams, emissions and crashes.</p>
<p>All of this is something we could easily change—and that many other countries have changed—with substantial health, economic and traffic benefits.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Randy Kambic is a freelance editor and writer in Estero, FL, and a regular contributor to </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<p class="fineprint"><br>
<em>This article appears in the October 2016 issue of </em>Natural Awakenings.</p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:8f51cdba-51b4-4039-8b5c-ac0af706f0432019-08-15T22:07:12-07:002021-03-22T11:49:38-07:00Inside the Chant with Krishna Das: Kirtan Music Transports Listeners to a Deeper Place2016-08-31 10:43:00 -0700Robin Fillmore<p>Influential spiritual leader Ram Dass has described Krishna Das (Jeffrey Kagel) as an example of someone whose “heartsongs” open channels to God. The Grammy-nominated kirtan artist, long considered yoga’s rock star, consistently plays to sold-out crowds worldwide. The Long Island native’s journey has gone from being a member of a popular rock band to going to India, where as a student of spiritual leader Neem Karoli Baba, the trajectory of his life and music shifted and expanded.</p>
<p>His 1996 debut album, <em>One Track Heart</em>, focused on updated chants from the ancient tradition of bhakti yoga, followed in 1998 by <em>Pilgrim Heart</em>, with a guest appearance by Sting. Since then, a steady stream of 14 albums and DVDs produced on his own label have provided the soundtrack for yoga classes everywhere; the soothing rhythmic chants performed in a deep, rich timbre complements instruction in the spiritual element of the exercise.</p>
<p>Das’ specialty, kirtan, updates an ancient tradition of devotional chanting as meditation accompanied by instruments. A kirtan concert invites audience members to join in the experience through chanting, clapping and dancing and is characterized as a journey into the self that also connects us with each other.</p>
<p><em><strong>How would you introduce your music?</strong></em></p>
<p>Across the country and around the world, yoga practitioners are chanting the names of God in tongues including Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi and English. They’re taking kirtan music out of the temples and the yoga studios and into dance halls, universities, cathedrals and other unexpected places.</p>
<p>In the last decade, India’s traditional call-and-response form of chanting has been reinvented by modern devotional artists blending traditional kirtan with modern genres such as rock, rhythm and blues, hip-hop and electronica—breathing new life and devotion into yoga’s sacred chants.</p>
<p><em><strong>What does kirtan mean to you?</strong></em></p>
<p>For me, kirtan is all about the music. The more ways I practice sustainable health, balance, love and music and immerse myself in a spiritual life, the more I realize that all issues distill down to simple facts. Everyone wants to be loved and happy, and to avoid suffering and being judged.</p>
<p>Looking at our lives, we start to see how we hurt ourselves and others and how what happens to us in daily life can be difficult to deal with. We recognize that we must find deep inner strength so we don’t get destroyed by the waves that come and try to toss us around.</p>
<p>Little by little, all of our awakening practices work to transform our life. They move us from being externally oriented and reactive to being established within and quietly responsive. We come to have a wider view that life can effectively contain and envelop the different facets of ourselves and the world.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why do many consider a kirtan event a transcendent experience far beyond the music?</strong></em></p>
<p>There are two things: the music and where the music is carrying us. In this case, it’s the names of God, of divinity, that are real and inside us. We can call this higher sense anything we like and aim in that direction according to how we identify with it.</p>
<p>If we want peace in the world, then every individual needs to find peace within. We can’t create peace or happiness with anger and selfishness in our heart and mind. We can release ourselves from a limiting storyline, whatever it is, and touch a deeper place for a while. Then, when we return to our day, we are standing on slightly different ground because we have trained ourselves to let go a little bit. It’s a gradual process that takes time and effort, but it’s a joyful practice.</p>
<p><em><strong>Do you see a shift in thinking echoing that of the 1960s that positions us to do better this time?</strong></em></p>
<p>In the 1960s, everyone thought they were going to change the external world, but they forgot they have to change themselves, too, and little work was done inside. Today, while most people keep trying to first rearrange the outside world, more are now doing the necessary inside work, as well.</p>
<p>The key is to understand what’s truly possible. If we don’t understand how we can be happy and at peace in the middle of a burning fire, we won’t recognize the tools available to create that kind of light for ourselves and others.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Robin Fillmore is the publisher of the </em>Natural Awakenings<em> of Washington, D.C, edition.</em></p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:4c8b4a01-d9f7-4783-a949-43afca6230282019-08-15T22:06:51-07:002021-03-11T12:28:12-08:00Barnet Bain on How Creativity Can Save the World: Fresh Thinking Challenges Rigid Mindsets2016-07-29 08:50:06 -0700Linda Sechrist<p>Filmmaker Barnet Bain’s credits include writer/director of <em>Milton’s Secret</em>, due out this fall, starring Donald Sutherland and Michelle Rodriguez and based on Eckhart Tolle’s book, producer of the Oscar-winning <em>What Dreams May Come</em>, executive producer of the Emmy-award nominee <em>Homeless to Harvard</em> and writer/producer of <em>The Celestine Prophecy</em> movie. Now, as author of <em>The Book of Doing and Being: Rediscovering Creativity in Life, Love, and Work</em>, he offers tools that everyone can use to develop a creativity practice designed to move us beyond our unconscious hand-me-down worldview, escape mental and emotional straightjackets and unlock great reservoirs of imagination. In so doing, we discover we can create anything we like; from a work of art to a fulfilling relationship.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why is creativity so vital now?</strong></em></p>
<p>More than ever before, the nature of human consciousness today is making it apparent that we live inside stories and are pushing up against their edges. Strategies we’ve used to try to attain control, success or empowerment—structured ideas about how the world works, false assurances and guarantees about life—may not be working. As a result, we are mired in anxiety, stress and crises. It all offers us the opportunity to wake up to a larger truth that supersedes everything else: We must discover where our true safety resides, in building newly intelligent relationships within, as well as with others, using capacities beyond logic and reason.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why do we need an internal sense of safety?</strong></em></p>
<p>Safety found within shows up in our experiences of the world. As we become increasingly reliant on and confident in our creative skills to survive and thrive, we give ourselves the gift of resilience in chaos.</p>
<p>Humanity’s creativity must be awakened in order to meet the challenges of a changing world and effectively address problems that appear to have too few solutions. The same inner awareness and skill set that give birth to the creative process can be applied to all aspects of life. Only through creative acts can we rise above unworkable paradigms, group thinking and earlier conditioning to create new and more fluid stories that grow from revised thoughts, beliefs, choices and attitudes that mature from the inside out.</p>
<p>Deep, compassionate understanding of how we arrived at this point allows us to shed restrictions. It begins with facing the whys and wherefores of our most intimate consciousness.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do male and female energies play into this?</strong></em></p>
<p>Everyone possesses both masculine and feminine energies; neither is better or less valuable than the other. Doing and acting characterize masculine energy, which makes things. It builds, structures, orders and files. Being characterizes the feminine, womb-like energy, pregnant with possibilities and subsequent manifested outcomes. The capacities to imagine, feel and receive also are feminine. In the dance with the masculine, the harmony of these feminine qualities is the primal desire for and the impulse of creativity itself.</p>
<p>When the masculine and feminine energies are balanced and intimately joined, they express the ability to act, create, manifest, build and bring order. When we learn how to balance them, we become more creative and effective, individually and collectively. We are better at meeting challenges and responding to opportunities.</p>
<p><em><strong>How does chauvinism block creativity?</strong></em></p>
<p>Chauvinism, an elevation of masculine over feminine energy, would separate us from our feelings. It does violence to femininity and castrates legitimate masculinity. The mildest trace of such subordination diminishes and reduces primal creative energies to second place, so that nothing new can arrive. Civilization suffers from this systemic disorder to the degree that we believe our needs won’t be met unless we are controlling or relying disproportionately on action principles. A culture that elevates doing over being is ignorant of how to pop the clutch and shift into neutral, and so keeps driving down the same road without hope of changing direction.</p>
<p>When spirituality was more alive inside religious traditions, we honored the sanctity of the Sabbath and the importance of putting aside doing in order to be intimate with the mystery of life. It’s what breathes new life into our thoughts and feelings, arousing body, mind and spirit to new heights.</p>
<p>Every creator understands that all creativity is a gift of the feminine energy and a gift of the gods. Integrative masculine energies are always constellated around such a gift. Allowing ourselves to become intimate with a greater state of being rather than doing, we open ourselves to receiving a new relationship with life.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for </em>Natural Awakenings<em>. Connect at <a href="http://ItsAllAboutWe.com">ItsAllAboutWe.com</a>.</em></p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:df04c02a-472c-42c7-955d-8ec3c32a99992019-08-15T21:54:54-07:002019-08-15T21:54:54-07:00Liza Huber on Healthy Meals and Happy Kids: Start with Homemade, Organic Baby Food2016-06-30 08:13:43 -0700Gerry Strauss<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>or many actresses, landing a role on the hit show <em>Passions</em> would be a career highlight. For Liza Huber, daughter of soap opera icon Susan Lucci, a successful acting career was one step en route to her calling as a mother, public speaker and entrepreneur. Her inspiration was to launch Sage Spoonfuls (<a href="http://SageSpoonfuls.com">SageSpoonfuls.com</a>) to make it easier for parents to make homemade, organic food for their little ones. It’s all about enabling parents to provide a legacy of health, all wrapped up in love.</p>
<p><em><strong>How did becoming a parent boost your relationship with organic foods and health?</strong></em></p>
<p>I was raised on a diet of mostly fresh, homemade, food and knew it was something I wanted for my own children. At that point, I knew the basics; that it was healthier and tasted better than store-bought baby food. The more I learned, the more I became fascinated by how switching to an organic diet positively affects our health.</p>
<p><strong><em>Why is it vital to introduce organic food during a youngster’s early development?</em></strong></p>
<p>America’s food supply is loaded with more chemicals and GMOs [genetically modified organisms] than ever before. I believe, as many others do, that the rapid rise of food allergies in children is a direct result. Many chemical pesticides and artificial flavors and colors are known to contain carcinogens, suspected hormone disruptors and neurotoxins. It is widely believed that even small doses of these common pesticides can have lasting negative effects on a child’s health. I believe that teaching our kids about the importance of fresh, organic food and the potential dangers of a conventionally processed diet helps set the stage for a lifetime of healthy choices.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do homemade organics and packaged organics differ?</strong></em></p>
<p>Store-bought baby food, organic or not, is processed to have a long shelf life of up to two years. So much of the nutrient content is lost during processing that most manufacturers artificially add it back in, but aren’t obligated to inform consumers. The added nutrients are synthetic and aren’t absorbed by the body the same way as naturally occurring nutrients.</p>
<p>The taste, color and aroma of commercial baby food isn’t as appealing. By feeding your baby a steady tasty diet of fresh, homemade, organic baby food, you greatly reduce the risk they’ll grow into a picky eater. Plus, making your own baby food is three to five times less expensive than what is store-bought.</p>
<p>Homemade food has a far smaller impact on the environment compared with commercial manufacturing, transportation and packaging. By the time a baby turns 1, they will have eaten from nearly 700 jars or pouches of store-bought baby food that generally end up in landfills, because little is recycled.</p>
<p><em><strong>Which favorite foods do you love to make for your babies and why?</strong></em></p>
<p>I focus on whole foods. Great first foods include bananas, apples, butternut squash, pears, avocados, peas and sweet potatoes. Once a baby has successfully tried a couple of these, start mixing them together. Banana and avocado, apple and butternut squash, and peas and sweet potato are good combos. They’re loaded with nutrients and antioxidants, easy to make and yummy. Avocados’ healthy fat is also essential to brain development.</p>
<p><em><strong>What key lessons learned from your mother have you carried forward with your young family?</strong></em></p>
<p>Two lessons really stick with me: “Stay open and leave room for life to surprise you,” and “You can have it all… just not all at the same time.” In my teens and 20s, I was a meticulous planner, disappointed if things didn’t go exactly as I wanted. Amazing things happened after taking Mom’s advice to leave myself open to wonder.</p>
<p>Growing up, I saw my mom have an amazing career, yet also be a fantastic wife and mother. Her secret, and now mine, is to prioritize and focus on one thing at a time, whether it’s work, kids or my husband. This way, everything in your life gets 100 percent of your attention some of the time, rather than trying to do everything at the same time, which rarely works.</p>
<p><em><strong>What’s the best gift a mother can give her child?</strong></em></p>
<p>There’s nothing more important to a child’s overall health and well-being than being raised in a loving, warm environment where they feel safe, loved and important. My deep love for my children guides every decision I make for them. A mother’s intuition is a superpower.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Gerry Strauss is a freelance writer in Hamilton, NJ. Connect at <a href="mailto:GerryStrauss@aol.com">GerryStrauss@aol.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:dcfd3a48-11bc-4e73-a8ea-97d3a3da28362019-08-15T21:47:28-07:002019-08-15T21:47:28-07:00Gay Hendricks on Nurturing Love in Midlife: Why Growing Up Can Mean Loving Better2016-05-31 10:08:17 -0700S. Alison Chabonais<p><span class="dropcap">G</span>ay Hendricks and his wife, Kathlyn, have discovered through working on their own relationship and counseling hundreds of other couples that the time from midlife onward offers the greatest opportunity of any other period to grow love. At a mutual low point, they made the life-changing decision to rebirth their marriage, tapping into a new source of energy and rejuvenation that’s producing extensive and surprising benefits.</p>
<p>The Ojai, California-based couple, both with Ph.D. degrees, co-authored their first trailblazing bestseller, <em>Conscious Loving</em>, more than 20 years ago and have published 30 other books, including their latest, <em>Conscious Loving Ever After</em>. The Hendricks Institute that they founded annually offers workshops and seminars in North America, Europe and Asia. Their nonprofit Foundation for Conscious Living funds research, films and scholarships related to relationship well-being.</p>
<p><strong><em>Why do you say the best relationships are possible in the second half of life, including the greatest sex?</em></strong></p>
<p>Childrearing responsibilities often decrease in our 40s and 50s, affording more time and resources to invest in the quality of the relationship. Psychological and spiritual maturity also comes into play—the more deeply we know ourselves, the more able we are to communicate meaningfully with our partner.</p>
<p>Probably the biggest factor is that people in the second half of life tend to be open to learning and trying new things, such as adopting our practice of scheduling two, 10-minute conversations a week to take care of relationship business: one covers “stuff talk”, the other is “heart talk”. Often, it only takes a few minutes of trying out a brand-new activity to spark a major rebirth of intimacy.</p>
<p><em><strong>How pivotal is self-love, a tough concept for many, in securing a healthy relationship?</strong></em></p>
<p>You can only love another person to the extent that you love yourself. After we take people through a process designed to give them a clear experience of loving themselves unconditionally, they often tell us that the experience changed everything in their relationship. It’s powerful because so many of us enter a relationship in an attempt to get the other person to love some part of ourselves that we don’t know how to love, which never works. Learning to love ourselves is an inside job.</p>
<p><em><strong>What would you say is the biggest challenge for midlife couples in a long-term relationship?</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s vital to get out of the rut of recycling conflicts and predictable routines in order to liberate a new creativity. Creativity doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It might be a matter of giving a new way to communicate a whirl or taking a walk together instead of watching TV. Ultimately, relationships only thrive when both people make an ongoing commitment to investing time and energy to explore their own creative nature. One may elect to learn to play a musical instrument, while the other might take up gardening. The only requirement is that we take on new activities that have the capacity to surprise us.</p>
<p><strong><em>What tips do you have for those that are single during the second half of their life?</em></strong></p>
<p>Enjoy your singularity! Singlehood affords great opportunities. You can choose whether or not you wish to invest time and energy manifesting a mate. No law requires that everyone has to have an intimate relationship, but if you’d like to, go about the process consciously. First, work on learning to love yourself, because it’s wise not to depend on anyone else to do it for us. Second, figure out what we call your Three Absolute Yesses and Nos, the three most important qualities you want in a mate, and equally important, the three most important things you don’t want in a mate. It’s a good way to avoid mistakes.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why do you call blame “the crack cocaine of relationships”?</strong></em></p>
<p>When you blame another person for something, you fire up adrenaline both in yourself and the other person. Adrenaline is manufactured by our bodies and is highly addictive. Blame also typically produces a defensive reaction, causing a harmful cycle of two-way criticism and defensiveness that can go on for years. One couple we counseled had been having essentially the same argument since their honeymoon 29 years earlier—so addicted to the adrenalized “cocaine” of blame that it had become a permanent feature of their relationship. The answer is for each person to take healthy responsibility for issues in the relationship and together seek ways to both break unhealthy habits and replace them with mutually satisfying ways of relating.</p>
<p><br>
<em>S. Alison Chabonais orchestrates national editorial content for </em>Natural Awakenings<em> magazines.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:663bdac6-88dc-4263-a6a2-a6d0176375d82019-08-15T21:29:38-07:002019-08-15T21:29:38-07:00Christie Brinkley Shares Her Secrets to Lasting Beauty: Why She Still Looks Terrific After 40 Years as a Model2016-04-29 08:01:22 -0700Gerry Strauss<p><span class="dropcap">S</span>upermodel extraordinaire Christie Brinkley looks as amazing in her 60s as she did when she first graced the cover of <em>Sports Illustrated</em> nearly 40 years ago. In a new book, <em>Timeless Beauty</em>, Brinkley reveals her anti-aging secrets, many of which involve reliance on healthful foods, a positive attitude, exercise and good skin care. Much of what she’s learned is reflected in her line of Christie Brinkley Authentic Skincare. Here, she shares some highlights of how she keeps her mind and body healthy.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why did you become a vegetarian at age 14?</strong></em></p>
<p>When I was 13, I picked up a book from the nightstand in my parents’ bedroom called <em>Miami and the Siege of Chicago</em> by Norman Mailer. I happened to open to a page with a highly graphic description of Midwest slaughterhouses. What I read turned my stomach because I loved animals and wanted no part in this inhumane system. I swore at that moment I would never eat another piece of meat and have not done so since. For the past 49 years I have enjoyed the resulting good karma in the form of healthful benefits from avoiding the antibiotics, growth hormones and fats associated with a carnivorous diet.</p>
<p><em><strong>Was it tougher to maintain your natural standards as your career became filled with travel and tight schedules?</strong></em></p>
<p>After I first became a vegetarian kid living at home, I soon convinced my family to go vegetarian, too. I read a lot of books to learn how to replace meat protein with healthier choices. Through the early years, as I continued to learn about options, I tried many kinds of vegetarian, macrobiotic and vegan approaches.</p>
<p>Once I started modeling in seashore locations, it seemed natural to me to add bits of fresh fish and some dairy; so for the most part I have been a lacto ichthyo variation of vegetarian. I raised my children as vegetarians, and recently my daughter, Sailor, and I took the next step to become mostly vegan. I allow myself a little mozzarella and an occasional salmon dish when my body is craving it, because I think we need to listen to what our body needs.</p>
<p>After the environmental disasters of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, made worse by toxic dispersants, and the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown that pumped radioactive isotopes into the Pacific, I am extra-cautious about the salmon I choose and don’t eat other seafood. I’m lucky that as a model, my career has naturally kept me aware of the amount of sugar I consume, limiting its effects on skin and overall health as well as weight.</p>
<p><em><strong>How much of anti-aging do you believe is tied to mental and emotional health?</strong></em></p>
<p>Growing old gracefully is all about the positive energy that you use to power through your day and project to others. Happiness is a youthful quality and a smile is always our best accessory; it’s also been proven to release feel-good endorphins.</p>
<p>When you take good care of yourself by eating right and exercising, you naturally feel better about yourself. If we’re feeling down, stressed or depressed, we’re tempted to eliminate exercise, which is the very thing that could lift us up and make us feel better. The more we move, the merrier we are.</p>
<p><em><strong>Because you also recognize the importance of treating the body well from the outside as well as from the inside, what other practices do you apply?</strong></em></p>
<p>With everything we know about how the sun can damage our skin, it’s crucial to use a moisturizer with a broad ultraviolet spectrum blocker of both UVA and UVB rays to prevent wrinkles and hyperpigmented spots. I created my own skin care line that offers an SPF 30 broad-spectrum moisturizer that also defends against infrared rays [IR], which represent more than half of the sun’s damaging rays that reach Earth. IR emissions also come from manmade objects such as computers and cell phones. Beyond that, I wanted a product that takes advantage of our body’s own circadian rhythms, using special peptides that help the body build collagen and elastin as we sleep and repair.</p>
<p>Using a gentle exfoliating scrub is also key, a step many people overlook; I’ve included it in my daily skin care routine for 30 years.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Gerry Strauss is a freelance writer in Hamilton, NJ. Connect at <a href="mailto:GerryStrauss@aol.com">GerryStrauss@aol.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:672d5bf4-4792-4fb4-82c3-45ac019cd3d72019-08-15T22:00:42-07:002021-09-09T12:22:35-07:00Marie Kondo on the Joy of Tidying Up: Simplicity Invites Happiness into Our Lives2016-03-31 07:47:37 -0700April Thompson<p>Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo helps us discover happiness through tidiness. Already perusing home and lifestyle magazines by age 5, she spent her childhood “tidying” up her surroundings rather than playing with toys.</p>
<p>The organizing system Kondo went on to develop, the KonMari method, defies most long-held rules of organizing, such as installing clever storage solutions to accommodate stuff or decluttering one area at a time. Her <em>New York Times</em> bestseller, <em>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</em>, has been published in 30 countries, demonstrating that her methods speak to universal desires, including a hunger for order and simplicity. She’s now released a companion book, <em>Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up</em>.</p>
<p>Kondo’s principles, including vertically stacking clothing and using special folding methods for socks, can seem quirky, yet her approach gets results. Kondo claims a nearly zero percent “clutter relapse” rate among clients because they’ve become surrounded only by things they love.</p>
<p><em><strong>How can we begin to get and stay organized?</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s not about a set of rules, but acquiring the right mindset for becoming a tidy person. Think in concrete terms, so that you can picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space. Start by identifying your bigger goal. Ask yourself why you want this, repeating the question to get to the root of the answer. As you explore the reasons behind your ideal lifestyle, you’ll realize that the ultimate reason is to be happy. Then you are ready to begin.</p>
<p>I recommend cleaning out and organizing your entire space in one go-around. When completed, the change is so profound that it inspires a strong aversion to your previously cluttered state. The key is to make the change so sudden that you experience a complete change of heart. By discarding the easy things first, you can gradually hone your decision-making skills, including knowing who else can use what you don’t need. I recommend starting with clothes, then move to books, documents, miscellaneous items and finally anything with sentimental value.</p>
<p><em><strong>Is it important to touch every single object in the decision process?</strong></em></p>
<p>At one point in my life, I was virtually a “disposal unit”, constantly on the lookout for superfluous things. One day, I realized that I had been so focused on what to discard that I had forgotten to cherish the things I loved. Through this experience, I concluded that the best way to choose what to keep is to actually hold each item. As you do, ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?” When you touch something, your body reacts, and its response to each item is different.</p>
<p>The process of assessing how you feel about the things you own—identifying those that have fulfilled their purpose, expressing your gratitude and bidding them farewell and good wishes for their onward journey—is a rite of passage to a new life.</p>
<p><strong><em>Must keepsakes be included?</em></strong></p>
<p>Mementoes are reminders of a time that gave us joy, yet truly precious memories will never vanish, even if you discard the associated objects. By handling each sentimental item, you process your past. The space we live in should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.</p>
<p><em><strong>What do you recommend for organizing what remains after a purge?</strong></em></p>
<p>The secret to maintaining an uncluttered room is to pursue simplicity in storage, so that you can see at a glance what you have. My storage rules are simple: Store all items of the same type in one place and don’t scatter storage space.</p>
<p><em><strong>How does this process change us and our relationship to things?</strong></em></p>
<p>Through it, you identify both what you love and need in your home and in your life. People have told me that decluttering has helped them achieve lifelong dreams, such as launching their own business; in other cases, it has helped them let go of negative attachments and unhappy relationships.</p>
<p>Despite a drastic reduction in belongings, no one has ever regretted it, even those that ended up with a fifth of their earlier possessions. It’s a continuing strong reminder that they have been living all this time with things they didn’t need.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Connect with freelance writer April Thompson, of Washington, D.C., at <a href="http://AprilWrites.com">AprilWrites.com</a>.</em></p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:e994b20a-804f-4edd-bb5f-59a827c89fd42019-08-15T21:32:21-07:002019-08-15T21:32:21-07:00Land Manager Allan Savory on Holistic Pasturing: How Cows Can Help Reverse Climate Change2016-02-29 13:54:41 -0800Linda Sechrist<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hen concurrent dangers arising from overpopulation, desertification (fertile land turning to desert) and climate change were just beginning to attract technological solutions, pioneers like Allan Savory, a young wildlife biologist in Zimbabwe, Africa, were researching how healthy soil captures carbon dioxide and stores it as carbon. It’s the way nature renders the most pervasive greenhouse gas more helpful than harmful and a major reason why this is not happening globally is because of desertification.</p>
<p>This innovative game-changer has since received Australia’s 2003 Banksia International Award for “doing the most for the environment on a global scale” and the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, recognizing solutions that address humanity’s most pressing problems. The Savory Institute, founded in 2009, and its Africa Center for Holistic Management, demonstrate how using livestock to improve soil and decrease dependence on water—plus increase its ability to hold moisture and carbon—grows more grass and improves profits for ranchers, landowners and investors.</p>
<p><strong><em>What prompted your examination of soil biology?</em></strong></p>
<p>In the 1960s, I first became alarmed at the rate of land degradation in Africa’s vast grasslands, which were turning to desert. Looking for a solution, I hit upon a profound relationship—that the grasslands, their soils, soil life, plants and animals had evolved symbiotically with large, grazing herbivores of many species and pack-hunting predators. As my inquiry led beyond Africa, I noticed that the same was true of similar ecosystems worldwide, including those of the U.S. Great Plains.</p>
<p>Long ago, the Great Plains supported herbivores that traveled in immense herds for safety from predators. Where there are now approximately 11 large mammal species, there were once more than 50. The trampling of dung and urine, as well as grazing of such vast numbers constantly on the move, developed deep carbon-storing and rain-holding soils that also break down methane. Only in the presence of large roaming herds of herbivores periodically working the surface soil does this happen; it works much like a gardener does, breaking bare surfaces and covering them with litter and dung. Only in this way do grasslands thrive.</p>
<p><strong><em>How did this revolutionize your thinking about land and livestock management?</em></strong></p>
<p>Being trained at a university to believe that grazing livestock causes land degradation blinded me to the deeper understanding that humans’ management of the animals, not the animals themselves, has been the problem. Historically, the healthiest soils in the world’s vast grain-growing regions were those that had supported the largest populations of natural wildlife and intact pack-hunting predators.</p>
<p>We now have in hand a natural solution able to reverse U.S. and global desertification, which is contributing to increasing severity and frequency of floods and droughts, poverty, social breakdown, violence, pastoral genocide and mass movement into cities and across national borders. Restoring brilliant natural functions through holistic management of even half of the world’s grasslands has the potential to pull all of the legacy carbon out of the atmosphere, put it back into the ground where it belongs and keep it there for thousands of years. Livestock aided by holistic, planned grazing that mimics nature can return Earth’s atmosphere to preindustrial carbon levels while feeding people with cleaner meat.</p>
<p>I can think of almost nothing that offers more hope for our planet for generations to come. In fact, it has so many benefits—including an eventual net cost of zero or less—that even if climate change wasn’t an issue, we should be doing it anyway.</p>
<p><em><strong>How is holistic pasturing proceeding?</strong></em></p>
<p>Ultimately, the only sustainable economy for any nation is derived from growing plants on regenerating soil. Today’s conventional agriculture is producing more than 75 billion tons of dead, eroding soil every year—more than 10 tons for every human alive. The largest areas of the world’s land are either grasslands or former grasslands.</p>
<p>Holistic, planned grazing to reverse desertification has gained support from thousands of individual ranchers, scientists, researchers, pastoralists and farmers. Currently, it is practiced on more than 30 million acres over six continents with encouraging success. The Savory Institute encourages and links locally led and managed holistic management hubs around the world, now numbering 30 in Africa, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and U.S., with more forming every year.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for </em>Natural Awakenings<em>. Connect at <a href="http://ItsAllAboutWe.com">ItsAllAboutWe.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:65e05b8c-24b8-4020-9e85-6cfa2c24b5ca2019-08-15T22:04:51-07:002019-08-15T22:04:51-07:00Alyssa Milano’s Anti-Aging Secrets: Her Natural Lifestyle Choices Keep Her Young2016-01-29 08:06:59 -0800Gerry Strauss<p><span class="dropcap">A</span>lyssa Milano has grown up, and most of us have grown up with her. From her days as preteen tomboy Samantha Miceli on <em>Who’s the Boss?</em> to witchy woman Phoebe Halliwell on <em>Charmed</em>, the actress has been a vibrant, relatable and beautiful persona we’ve come to know via television. She was even named a UNICEF ambassador in 2004. Today, with a young family, her Touch licensed sports apparel line, and the wisdom that accompanies adulthood, her commitment to a natural, eco-friendly lifestyle has become another hallmark of her life.</p>
<p><strong><em>What connection do you see between eating organic foods and maintaining the energy level that your busy life requires?</em></strong></p>
<p>I think everything that you put into your body has a connection to how well we function in daily life. As a mom of two, eating organic is a priority; when organic is not an option, it’s about finding the healthiest accessible choices.</p>
<p>I eat tomatoes like other people eat fruit and love papaya. I would put avocado on anything. I also like to cook with healthful herbs and spices like garlic and onions, which is natural for an Italian like me. We keep genetically modified foods out of our house.</p>
<p><em><strong>Which fitness habits embodied by others have you made your own?</strong></em></p>
<p>In my <em>Who’s the Boss?</em> days, Tony Danza and Judith Light were always active and athletic. Tony would bring in a tap dance teacher and Judith a private trainer during lunch breaks. Being tutored on the set, I had no physical education classes or sports activities, so it was super-important for me to see how self-motivated they were to stay fit and in shape. Their example instilled a desire to take care of myself as an adult.</p>
<p><em><strong>What role does nature play in your daily life?</strong></em></p>
<p>I love being outside in my organic garden three or more times a week. Also, the kids and I regularly head outside, which is an easy place to keep them happily and healthfully occupied without my having to jump through hoops.</p>
<p><em><strong>As an advocate of breastfeeding, which benefits do you think are especially good for mother and child?</strong></em></p>
<p>In the beginning, a primary benefit is giving your child quality nourishment, including healthy antibodies and other goodies to support health. As they start eating solids, it’s still about maintaining that intimate connection until they’re ready to be weaned and you’re ready to surrender this last physical bond.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do you balance family life with your acting career?</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s a hard balance for anyone, especially one who’s detail-oriented and a bit of a perfectionist, like me. The most important thing is to be in the moment, doing the best I can every day. I’ve also learned to be kind to myself when I’m failing to do so or something is annoying me due to some unfortunate imbalance.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do you and your husband keep both your friendship and love vibrant?</strong></em></p>
<p>We work hard at maintaining a good and healthy marriage, which can be tested in tough times. I believe that it’s vital to have the ability to laugh; you have to find humor in things, reminding yourself and each other that there is something funny in every daily activity, no matter how mundane or hard. When there’s no time to eat together or be intimate, shared laughter is an easy thing to achieve together. Done daily, it can only make the marriage stronger.</p>
<p>We enjoy date nights once or twice a week when my parents take care of the kids. I’ll put on mascara and change out of yoga pants, even if we’re just hanging out together. Then we do little things like asking how each other’s day went and caring about the answer. We also look for ways we can help each other throughout the week.</p>
<p><em><strong>What actions does your family emphasize in being stewards of the Earth?</strong></em></p>
<p>We try to be as eco-friendly as possible, including having lights on timers, conserving water and being kind to animals. I cannot stress how important it is to visit a farm and organic gardens and orchards with children so that they see where their food comes from. We can’t take good food for granted.</p>
<p><em><strong>In addition to a naturally healthy lifestyle, what else do you credit for your enduring youthfulness?</strong></em></p>
<p>My secret is happiness. I’ve always said that as long as my laugh lines are deeper than my frown lines, I’m living a good life.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Gerry Strauss is a freelance writer in Hamilton, NJ. Connect at <a href="mailto:GerryStrauss@aol.com">GerryStrauss@aol.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:f709326e-c1d6-4b92-b4af-9262d0dd15772019-08-15T21:46:34-07:002019-08-15T21:46:34-07:00Bruce Lipton on the Epigenetics Revolution: Our Beliefs Reprogram Our Genetic Destiny2015-12-29 15:25:48 -0800Linda Sechrist<p><span class="dropcap">B</span>ruce Lipton, Ph.D., author of <em>The Biology of Belief</em> and <em>The Honeymoon Effect</em>, is a stem cell biologist and internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. He is a visiting fellow lecturer on immunology at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic and participated in the Foundation for Conscious Evolution’s seventh Worldwide Meeting on Human Values, in Mexico. His research explains the interplay between individual consciousness and body biology.</p>
<p><em><strong>Why do you start with epigenetics as a foundation for health?</strong></em></p>
<p>Many people, programmed with the concept of genetic determinism, believe that genes in the fertilized egg at conception determine character and fate. Unable to pick our DNA genes, we are powerless to control our life, so that the only option is seeking help from someone in the biomedical community to fix our genes.</p>
<p>I introduced a new vision about the understanding of genes a half-century ago that is now the new science of epigenetics. Epimeans “above”. Here, we can realize control by regulating the environment in which we live and our perception of it, making us the master of our own genetics rather than a victim of heredity.</p>
<p><strong><em>Do you believe epigenetics is the future of medicine?</em></strong></p>
<p>Epigenetics is a revolution in our knowledge and awareness of heredity. This new concept of biology is so big that it promises radical change capable of revolutionizing civilization. Its dynamics are equivalent to the leap from Newtonian physics to quantum physics, which led to everything from computers and cell phones to Martian rovers. We are freed to abandon the belief that genes cause cancer, for instance. In changing our lifestyle, beliefs and perceptions, we also change our genetic expression.</p>
<p>Remember, this works because how we individually interpret our world is translated by the brain into chemical information that adjusts the behavior and genetics of cells to complement our perception. We could live in the healthiest environment, but if our mind perceives it as threatening and non-supportive, our biology will become less healthy and can generate disease. The cells’ response is based on the brain’s information, which actually is only an interpretation. Personal perceptions and the way we live, including our spiritual nature, adjust genes to manifest either a functional state of health or one of dysfunction.</p>
<p><em><strong>Where is the “self” that makes people different?</strong></em></p>
<p>No two people are the same biologically. If I inject my cells into another human, their immune system will recognize it as “not-self” and begin to eliminate them. On the surface of virtually all our cells are thousands of protein receptors that function like miniature antennae. They read and respond to environmental signals similar to the larger receptors on the skin’s surface, such as the eyes, ears and nose.</p>
<p>Each human also possesses a unique set of “identity” receptors, a subset of which are called “self-receptors” by the biomedical community, found on nearly all of our cells, with the primary exception of red blood cells. Self-receptors are unrelated to the cell’s function contributing to muscle, bone, brain or heart. Conventional medicine studies the physical aspect of self-receptors as being the source of “self” but overlook the environmental signals they receive. In other words, individual identity is linked to the signals received by the antennae.</p>
<p>When I reached this point in my research, I realized that we can’t die, because our real identity is represented by the invisible environment-derived “broadcast”, which might legitimately be referred to as spirit. My personal identity signal is received by each of my 50 trillion cells endowed with the unique set of “Bruce” self-receptors. While my physical body is like a TV, the “spiritual broadcast” representing the Bruce Show is an eternal, energetic element of the environment.</p>
<p><strong><em>What is entrainment and why is it important today?</em></strong></p>
<p>A group of heart cells in a Petri dish will each beat to its own vibrational frequency. After a couple of days, they start beating in synchrony, because the stronger heart cells control the tempo. The other cells organize their behavior to entrain with the more powerful one. This happens in women’s college dormitories when residents start the school year with different menstrual cycles, but later experience entrainment, with their cycles beginning and ending about the same time. They link to a pulse and a beat, just like the heart cells.</p>
<p>Humans become entrained to a higher force that’s an invisible broadcast of energy in harmony or in discordance. As more of us hold the intention for living a life of love and peace, the broadcast of that harmonic energy amplifies and those not yet there will eventually entrain to the stronger signal. This is the shift we need to make for conscious evolution to occur.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Linda Sechrist is a senior staff writer for </em>Natural Awakenings<em>. Connect at <a href="http://ItsAllAboutWe.com">ItsAllAboutWe.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>urn:uuid:72e7667e-6c44-4dd0-bc75-0e952cde4ce82019-08-15T22:07:41-07:002021-03-11T12:48:19-08:00Sharon Salzberg on Mindfulness: Simple Ways to Be in the Present Moment2015-11-30 08:26:00 -0800April Thompson<p>New York City-born Sharon Salzberg experienced a childhood full of loss and upheaval, losing her parents and living in five different household configurations. In college, she discovered the power of meditation to transform suffering and cope with life’s never-ending changes.</p>
<p>Born into a Jewish family, Salzberg first encountered Buddhism in 1969 in an Asian philosophy class, inspiring her to undertake an independent study program in India, where she was initiated into the practice via an intense 10-day retreat. “It was very difficult and painful. I sometimes doubted that I’d succeed, yet I never doubted that there was truth there,” she says.</p>
<p>Upon her return home, Salzberg dedicated herself to the path of<em> vipassanā</em> (insight) meditation, becoming a renowned teacher and co-founding the Insight Meditation Society, in Barre, Massachusetts. Today she teaches and speaks to diverse audiences worldwide about the power of mindfulness. Salzberg has authored nine books, including the <em>New York Times</em> bestseller <em>Real Happiness</em>,<em> Real Happiness at Work</em> and <em>Lovingkindness</em>.</p>
<p><em><strong>How do you define mindfulness?</strong></em></p>
<p>Mindfulness is the quality of awareness. When we are mindful, our perception of the present moment isn’t so distorted by bias, adding our own storyline to reality and pushing away what’s happening.</p>
<p><em><strong>Is it possible to be mindful without having an established meditation practice?</strong></em></p>
<p>Yes, theoretically, but I suspect it’s hard. I honor my own meditation practice for making mindfulness highly accessible for me. It doesn’t take many hours of prep work and is open to everyone. It’s really a practice, like strength training—you have to exercise the mindfulness muscle to reap the benefits.</p>
<p><strong><em>What’s the best way to arrange time for meditation, and what can motivate us to practice regularly?</em></strong></p>
<p>Having a sense of structure has helped me the most. I believe strongly in the value of a daily practice, however simple or short. We can ritualize certain practices to help remember to pause and be mindful. For example, every time the phone rings, let it ring three times and use that as a trigger to breathe. When you’ve finished writing an email, take a few conscious moments before sending it. There are lots of ways to cut through the momentum of the busyness and craziness of our lives to return to mindfulness.</p>
<p>Make a commitment to practice for a certain period of daily time for a month or two, and then reassess. Look for changes during the active course of daily life and query: How am I speaking to myself or to others? Am I more present? Am I more at ease in letting go? It’s important to look for these subtle changes rather than to set unrealistic expectations for ourselves such as being mindful all day.</p>
<p><strong><em>Do you have other enabling practices for people new to the state of living mindfully?</em></strong></p>
<p>Movement meditation is a good place to start; if you’re walking somewhere, try to be more present and feel your feet against the ground. Also, just focus on one thing at a time; instead of multitasking, just drink the cup of tea.</p>
<p>We can also use breath to focus concentration. The breath is a tremendous tool, it’s always with us. If you’re in a contentious meeting and tempers flare, you don’t have to pull out a meditation cushion and sit in a funny position; you can work with your breath right where you are.</p>
<p><em><strong>How can meditation help to ease suffering?</strong></em></p>
<p>Sometimes, we think we can ease suffering by only having pleasant feelings and beautiful thoughts. Rather, we can ease suffering by changing the way we relate to our thoughts and feelings. If something unpleasant is happening, most of us flip into an internal monologue about how, “Bad things always happen to me,” or “This is my fault,” or “I shouldn’t feel this.” We compound our suffering by adding judgment and by pushing away discomfort. Instead, we can learn to observe our reactions and release them.</p>
<p>We also tend not to feel pleasure fully or think that something else or more should be happening instead of simply enjoying the moment. We wait for some sense of intensity in order to feel alive, rather than experiencing the ordinary to the utmost. Meditation trains us to be present with pleasant, unpleasant and neutral experiences and stay connected, no matter what’s going on.</p>
<p><br>
<em>Reach freelance writer April Thompson, of Washington, D.C., at <a href="http://AprilWrites.com">AprilWrites.com</a>.</em></p><hr /><p><small>Original article published at <a href="www.naturalawakeningsnj.com">Natural Awakenings North Central New Jersey</a></small></p>