Holistic Health

Give a Gift that Decreases Your Stress…

February 10, 2012 by Carol Leave a Comment

My partner and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend, so I am still figuring out the best gift. Arielle Ford, author of “Wabi Sabi Love” came up with a fantastic idea; give your partner amnesty for the thing that you most complain, argue or harass them about, and gift them with your vow to let it go. Pick one infuriating thing they do that you are chronically annoyed or crazed by – leaving every cabinet door and drawer open in the kitchen, dirty dishes in the sink, interrupting you when you are on the phone…

The gift of letting go of annoyance and irritation is indeed a gift you give yourself. We cannot control other people’s behavior – though it is oh, so tempting to try! What we can control is our own responses, and how we create our own stress as we struggle against reality. How stressful is it to be constantly annoyed by someone’s habits that may or may not ever change? How peaceful would it be to just accept that that’s the way it is and look for the gift in it.

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Water, Change and Hurricane Irene

November 13, 2011 by Carol 2 Comments

It’s been months since I sent out a newsletter, months since I felt like life was sort of normal. When Hurricane Irene blew through the Northeast it changed my life. In a matter of hours, the rising, chaotic waters washed out the bridge that connects my home and office to the rest of civilization.

Living near a creek has always felt like a blessing. I wake up and fall asleep to the ever present sounds of water, flowing, tumbling, rushing, murmuring. In warm weather I work with the sliding glass doors open in my office and the sounds of water add another level of healing to my work.

But in the hurricane, the water became frightening. Rising higher than I had ever seen it, it rushed by at 40 miles an hour – whole up-rooted trees flying by like twigs. And when the rain stopped, where our sturdy steel and concrete bridge had connected us to the main road, there was only swirling white water and a rising helplessness in the face of that much power.

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Giving It Over – Do I Really Have To Do It All Myself?

July 4, 2011 by Carol Leave a Comment

I just found a computer program that creates a fancy To Do list for me and I felt an immediate sense of relief. How much mental energy do we use just trying to remember all the myriad details of life? And how relaxing it is to stop keeping track and give it over to someone or something else?

Giving it over is a powerful concept; acknowledging that we can’t and don’t have to do it all, that something else is there to the burden off of our shoulders. Any process of connecting to our higher self, to spirit, God, a higher power – whether in meditation, contemplation, prayer, dance, chanting, Yoga, or your favorite mode is a way of giving over, and letting go of the illusion that we are in this alone and have to do everything ourselves.

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Imagery, Visualization and Kindness…

June 8, 2011 by Carol Leave a Comment

Often clients have told me that they can’t do guided imagery because they “can’t visualize.” I find it ironic, because the truth is, we are all absolutely expert at what I call ‘negative imagery.’ Sending our bodies messages that they obediently respond to; “I’m clumsy, I’m fat (and I’ll always be fat!), I have a bad back, a sensitive stomach, that medicine will make me nauseous, I’ll never heal…” the litany of negative thoughts and negative imagery goes on all day.

So what if we could harness this ability we all seem to have and creatively use it for health and healing? What if the messages were positive and health-promoting, instead of critical and judgmental? What if we were actually kind to ourselves? Somewhere, most of us got the message that criticizing and judging ourselves would somehow make us better. It’s worth asking yourself these very important questions: What aspects of yourself do you judge most harshly? Who else in your life (parents, teachers, etc.) judged you for these things in your past? Do you really think they were right? Has the judgement and criticism ever helped you?

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What Do I Do ???

May 23, 2011 by Carol 3 Comments

I’ve been trying to write a new page for my website about the sessions I offer by phone or Skype, and I have run up against my eternal question; what do I do ???

I’ve always been good at multi-tasking, as a Gemini I think it comes naturally to have a multi-focused perception of the world. In my work, it helps me incorporate lots of different techniques and approaches to health and healing. But when it comes to describing what I actually do, it’s never a simple answer, more like a lengthy list!

Energy is so fascinating – it’s complex and multi-dimensional flows in the body, the intricate connections between thoughts and emotions, body and spirit. The mind-body connection; physical hands-on healing work, energy medicine and guided imagery have always captivated me.

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Transforming surgery – close to home…

May 11, 2011 by Carol 2 Comments

I haven’t written for a while, I’ve been helping my mother prepare for and recover from triple bypass surgery. Helping people prepare for surgery, using guided imagery and energy work or my CDs/mp3s Transforming Surgery and Transforming Cancer Surgery has been one of my sidelines for many years, but this was a little too close to home.

What did I learn from the experience? I learned the sweetness of sitting by her bed all night in the Intensive Care unit and holding her hand, tapping on her when she was scared and disoriented, holding an energetic space of love and safety around the person who did that for me when I was young. That the human body, even at her age, is still capable of miraculous healing. And that our hearts are so much bigger and stronger and more resilient than we think.

What does it mean to prepare for surgery?

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Finding your WAY – intuition, common sense and overwhelm…

January 5, 2011 by Carol 4 Comments

So many teachers think they have THE WAY – the one technique or philosophy that will cure your health problems, find your soul mate and build your bank account. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed by the myriad of methods and schools and masters and experts. But it really comes down to listening to your gut, to following your intuition, and yes, a dash of common sense. Let me say it bluntly – I don’t believe that anyone has THE WAY!

As human beings, we share many characteristics, many patterns, many common problems and issues. We all have bodies, that have their own particular strengths and vulnerabilities, gifts and patterns. We all have hearts,that can love deeply, and often be wounded deeply. We all have minds that function in such a fascinating variety of ways. And I believe we all come from Spirit, and carry within ourselves the spark of the Divine.

But we are all unique individuals, with our own unique paths to follow.

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The New Vitamin D Recommendations – Ignoring the Facts…

December 8, 2010 by Carol 4 Comments

I was shocked last week to hear that the long awaited revision of Vitamin D recommendations ignored most of the of studies showing the benefits of Vit D for preventing serious illness and optimizing health. The Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board – a supposedly independent government funded board – did indeed revise their recommendations for Vitamin D intake, but by such a small amount as to be almost insignificant. And more seriously, it gives the public, and allopathic doctors the impression that low Vit. D levels are not a cause of concern.

I beg to differ – this is a very big cause for concern! Thousands of studies have showed that higher levels of Vitamin D helps prevent 17 different types of cancer (including breast, prostate and colon cancer) the flu, asthma, heart attacks, strokes, autoimmune disorders, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, bone disorders, depression, chronic pain, poor balance and weakened immunity in addition to osteoporosis! These new recommendations ignore most of the newest information available and if followed, would leave millions of Vitamin D deficient people vulnerable to a host of largely preventable diseases.

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The flu, fear and the magic flu shot…

October 4, 2010 by Carol 9 Comments

I can’t stand it! Summer’s barely over and everywhere I look they’re pushing flu shots! You can get a toxic cocktail of viral guesswork (the influenza viruses mutate very rapidly, so often the virus has changed by the time the vaccine is made, and the vaccine is useless) mixed with mercury and aluminum and a number of other toxic compounds at any pharmacy, and probably soon at your local McDonalds!

So you have to wonder, why are they pushing vaccines at us so hard this year? Could it be that they are really concerned about the horrible scary dangerous flu and just want to keep us safe? Or could it be that the drug companies didn’t succeed in scaring people enough about the swine flu last year and didn’t make the billions of dollars they had planned on? Hmmm…

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so what’s a detox anyway?

September 13, 2010 by Carol Leave a Comment

Detox is really popular these days, but unfortunately few people know what it really means. And that leads to a lot of ineffective and often dangerous fad detoxification diets. We humans are so good at making simple things complicated…

Our bodies are very wise. They know what we need, and often more importantly, what we don’t need to function optimally. We evolved in the wild, eating what’s known now as the Paleolithic diet; vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and lean animal protein like wild game, (and yes, grubs and snails and insects!) We usually skip the insect part these days, but the rest of it is really the ideal human diet. No human cultures were originally vegetarian, that came later to accommodate for a population that grew so fast that they ran out of game!

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