By: Loree Bischoff  

Suppose it’s time to make a choice between two potential partners? How do you choose?

A lot of people wish they had that problem! Most of us are just trying to find that one special person to share our hearts and lives with, and would consider you fortunate to be in the dilemma of having two great choices!

As flattering as being in this position may be, if it’s time to choose, but you’re struggling with this decision, ask yourself whether you are letting your heart or your head take the lead? There’s a place for both to weigh in.

Keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to rush into making a choice, even if you feel the clock is ticking. Don’t try to force something if it’s not quite the right fit just because you want to keep moving forward. There is a lot to be said for just being in the moment and enjoying both people for who they are and how they make you feel. Enjoy without worrying about what next week or next month will look like. Let things organically evolve by listening to your heart, and at the same time using your head.

If your goal is to have a special someone to share and build a life with, think carefully about the connection you have with each person, and let your heart tell you which one you feel the most powerful connection with and are the most drawn to. 

What if the person your heart is pining for enters the relationship with baggage – should you still follow your heart? This situation should not be taken lightly. It really depends on what the baggage is. Does it weigh you both down so much that you are unable move forward? This would be a good reason to let your head override your heart.

If the issues brought into the relationship are so serious that it’s emotionally harmful to either of you, or if you think the other person might need professional help in dealing with it, then maybe it’s not the best time to take the relationship to the next level.

Use common sense when sorting through such issues. If the other person clearly isn’t emotionally healthy for you, or is harmful in any way, then it probably isn’t meant to be. You need to protect yourself and use common sense in determining whether a relationship is healthy. Don’t sacrifice your own health and well-being in the name of love. You can still love this person, but perhaps you should love from afar. It’s a mistake to embark on a relationship that is emotionally unhealthy with the thought that the other person will change and you will be the one to change them; it rarely works that way. Let them know how you feel and that you are unable to move forward until they get it under control. Some things are beyond your skill level to deal with.

But if the other person comes with baggage that isn’t unusual – the common issues we all have to deal with in our lives – then ask yourself what you would expect if the situation were reversed. Would you want to enjoy a loving and supportive partner while working through your issues, or would you want someone who turns tail and runs at the first sign of complication?

We all want a partner who is willing to be patient while we sort through our problems. Nobody wants a partner who says, “Hey, I’m really into you, but I can’t deal with your crap, so give me a shout when you have the situation figured out.” Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes and determining how you would want to be treated if the situation were reversed will help you be empathetic. You have to live the qualities you desire in your partner.

Everyone, especially as they get older, has some form of baggage. If you discard someone because of their baggage, and instead choose to wait for a partner who is baggage-free, chances are you will be flying solo for a long time.

Relationships thrive when both partners are willing to be each other’s rock – to step up and love unconditionally. Supporting your partner and doing whatever you can while they navigate through their issues, and being willing to be engaged for the whole ride – the not-so-fun stuff too –  is what love is all about. 

About Loree Bischoff:

Loree Bischoff received her Life Coach Certification from the award-winning, nationally accredited Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. She has been married to the same amazing man since 1984 and they have two wonderful (now all-grown-up) children. Loree spends her time with family, coaching, learning, staying healthy and fit, commuting between Arizona, California and Wyoming and just overall enjoying the fantastic adventure of life. 

Visit http://www.loreebischoff.com for more information

The recommended standard for a prostate test is to have a physical exam that men understandably want to avoid called the DRE (digital rectal exam) and a simple blood test called the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen).  The problem faced today is that these two standard tests have been demonstrated repeatedly to be an unreliable determination of the mortality risk of the disease.  Put another way, only 20 percent (or less) of men diagnosed with prostate cancer (CaP) die from it while the remaining 80 percent of men survive it.

 Although this high survivability is considered a 'positive' feature of CaP, when you consider that most CaP surgeries lead to side effects like incontinence and erectile dysfunction, a diagnosis of a statistically beatable cancer leads many men to either omit the surgery or screening tests to begin with.  After all, why have a DRE and PSA screening test if the positive results are not reliable and will lead to a surgery that is not necessary but will likely cause physical damage? Physical damage that will affect a man’s health and quality of life in the long run.

Lately, the media has 'run' with this understandable concern and reported that Prostate Specific Antigen testing is not necessary or is too faulty to bother testing.  Although the data these views support are accurate, the conclusions are faulty.  It is true that the single PSA and DRE are poor indicators of CaP risk.  Neurologist could agree more with these statements.  However, at the same time, the utilization of the PSA is very important if utilized as part of a comprehensive aggregate approach to diagnose CaP.   As the new guidelines state, basic CaP screening with the two tests is valid but only when used in conjunction with other cancer risk analysis.  Therefore, if these testing’s are not optimal if used by themselves, and the testing for a potential cancer can lead to unnecessary surgery and side effects, then what are a man's other screening options?  How does a patient find a comprehensive aggregate approach?

There are numerous variables to consider whether a patient has and aggressive CaP or not without relying solely on a PSA or DRE.  One example is to ask the questions, if a prostate biopsy was conducted then what does it illustrate–only one core found or many?  What is the aggressiveness?  

Nevertheless, any patient discovered with an elevated PSA must be further evaluated.  However when the conventional physician states that prostate biopsy and/ or removal is the 'only' option then alternatives should be pursued.

Dr. Phranq Tamburri is a naturopathic physician specializing in men’s health with a sub-specialty in prostate cancer. In tandem to these fields, Dr. Tamburri treats male hormone deficiency, low energy, and sexual performance. To learn more or schedule an appointment visit www.longevitymedical.com

For more information about Dawn James please visit www.raiseyourvibration.ca.

By:  Jack Adam Weber, Art by Andrea Smith

Part I

Many view love as a purely positive force. It is positive, but for love to live up to its advertising as the most powerful energy on the planet, it must be bigger than the feel-good experience we claim it to be. Love must embrace everything from euphoria to devastation, selflessness to utter selfishness, on both the personal and collective level. For love to be the all-encompassing force we intuit it to be, love must also be able to fully embrace and reconcile the darkness and suffering of the world. The transformation of pain and suffering into positivity, deep compassion, and healing service is the way that love achieves this and grows into its own heart to embrace all of life. This way, seeming opposites are united—Yin and Yang become one dynamic whole, and life flows deeply, courageously and robustly through and from us.

Because life is full of loss, grief must be part and parcel of love. Grief must allow us to love more, not less. When we conceal grief, we stymie the transformation of love from pain and suffering into pleasure, deeper beauty and genuine compassion. Reciprocally, love must allow us to grieve more. And it does, for the more we care for and love this world the more it breaks our hearts. Ultimately then, a sure measure of our integrated love is the degree to which our hearts have broken open and recapitulated that breaking by staying profoundly open. In this, paradoxically, we can find both a concrete and ineffable wholeness, beauty, appreciation, and an abiding care for the welfare and fulfillment for all of life.

When we grieve something we realize how much we love it, how much it has meant to us. This experience opens us to value other things that we love; that is, if we are not afraid of grief and its attendant heartache. In one way, religious notions of salvation can be a seen as another way to stave off feeling badly, as can the idea of romantic love—that someone else is going to make us happy and whole and disappear our problems.

I do not advocate seeking out heartache, but it is amazing the lengths to which humanity will go to stave off psychological pain, to the point of pervasively denying reality. Perhaps this is because pain is a taste of literal death, as are illness and trauma. We intuit that nothing will feel as bad as to die, literally. I go so far as to say that our fear of pain, as a taste of final death, is at the root of personal and planetary suffering. For we equate feeling badly with suffering. But, pain is not suffering. Suffering is, in fact, the refusal to risk or to deal with pain. Ironically, suffering is what happens when we see things non-poetically, one-sidedly, rather than paradoxically, more wholly, as the interdependence and inter-promoting properties of dark and light, Yin and Yang.

Yin-Yang theory is one of the few practical, non-dual gems of ancient wisdom we have to illuminates spirituality in everyday life. Yin and Yang are integral to Taoism, the pragmatic philosophy of living in harmony with nature, and to the practice of Chinese medicine. I am grateful for my training in Chinese medicine, to be been versed in this dynamic, profound and ultimately practical model of living that allows us to richly appreciate healing, spirituality, sustainability, ecology, economics, and all aspects of life. The key to Yin and Yang theory, and its stamp of validity for me, is both its poetic and literal embrace of dark and light, good and bad, visible and invisible, happy and sad, positive and negative. These are the paradoxical, dialectical truisms that comprise the ever-changing, ever-diminishing and simultaneously regenerative flow of life.

The unity of Yin and Yang, as depicted in the Ying-Yang symbol, can be summed up as the fundamental interplay and unity of dark and light. Only when dark and light transform into and promote one another do we achieve true wholeness. This is the law of nature to which we are all subject. All of reality a we know it follows the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. When we can celebrate this cycle in our daily lives, we live a taste of the great fear at the end of our lives for which we invent our religious beliefs and unduly protect our attachments—to avoid facing the inevitability of death.

Daily disappointments and losses cut our attachments, exposing our fears and vulnerability, challenging our instincts for survival on all levels. Yet, if we can breathe deeply and allow our hearts to engage their transformational nature, of turning pain into positivity, then we can find more peace, freedom, and wholeness. The bonus of embracing and being transformed by our daily declines—our small deaths—is that we get to live more fully while still alive. Is it any wonder then that the French word for orgasm, petit mort, translates literally as “small death?”

Figurative death, when it is transformative, (as all declines potentially are) is ultimately an ecstasy, an orgasm of the heart. At our literal death, we do not get the opportunity to transform our lives; all we really know is that our physical bodies decay. Ironically, when we unilaterally deny and try to avoid death via our rejection of embracing the relatively smaller daily heartaches, our lives become a kind of sleepwalk. This happens when we do not have the courage to embrace the inherently transformative nature of our own hearts to allow pain to transform us into a generous and integral spirituality. When we do not embrace our petit morts, we perpetuate the horror we supposedly fear so much in the future. The antidote is to die, figuratively, today, so that we can truly come to life while we are still alive.

Emotional transformation is a radically creative effort. Transformation is the key to unite the polarities, the paradoxes as seeming contradictions, of life—dark Yin with light of Yang, as the circle of life. Staying close to paradox is to stay to the path of courgaeous spirituality, wholehearted love. The key to living with a heart of transformation is courage, the courage to honestly and frankly face and embrace the painful aspects of life at face value, yet to deal with this pain in an utterly creative way. After all, happiness is not the opposite of suffering. Transformation is. The great irony, the pitfall in the unilateral pursuit of pleasure, is that suffering results as the attempt to avoid feeling bad. The more we avoid inevitable or extant pain, the more deeply our suffering becomes entrenched in our hearts and the farther we arrive from freedom, deep love, and connecting with —especially giving to—the world in a meaningful way. Indeed, when we avoid the beauty of paradox we live out the horror of its irony.

When we can embrace the difficulties and pains of love and transform them into the feel-good qualities of compassion, depth, richness, gratitude, appreciation, beauty and wonder, we make love more all-encompassing, holistic in the deepest sense. This way, we allow love to be as powerful, as big, as whole, as unifying as what we bill it to be. We transform our hearts into the strongest emitters of energy on the planet, figuratively speaking anyway!

As part of humanity’s long history of denial and attempt to stave off feeling badly, we invented a heaven where everything is perfect. We believe in reincarnation so that death becomes not as terrifying as it really is. We abdicate our sensibilities to a distant, invented God, or an imagined perfect “light,” instead of discovering the inherent nature of morality and compassion in our own hearts via the embrace of darkness for light. We have invented millions of rituals to stave off anxiety. We have created fairy-tales of resurrection to justify a belief in our own immortality. We pray to make ourselves feel better, as wishful thinking to avoid facing the difficult and tragic realities we cannot control. These same challenges, ironically enough, free, deepen, and honestly spiritualize us. At some point we discover first-hand that a hellish life is what we live for having invented a hell and heaven in the first place.

When we take away the magical props of religion we are left with the cold hard facts of life. If we take away our addictions, obsessions and compulsions we are more apt to encounter more cold hard facts of life. If we dare to abandon, even temporarily, our compulsion to pursue the less benign assuagers of anxiety and disappointment, such as excess sex and culinary indulgences, we are also left with more of the same facts of life.

But the hard facts of life are really not so bad. To the sincere and grateful, to the insightful and courageous, the facts are certainly more desirable than chasing a life of superficial pleasures, religious delusion, and New Age fantasies. Why? Because life’s challenges and pains hold within their seemingly impenetrable shell, their seemingly endless spooky corridors, a graceful, deeply compassionate path to freedom, fulfillment, and ease in our own skin and in the world. When we relinquish escape into fairy-tales we are left in the seat of real possibility for transforming our lives and our spirituality, if we have the courage and creativity to appreciate and persevere through the paradoxes that integrate our spirituality in the world.

Part II

When we sit in the seats of our bodies we are confronted with the challenge of discovering pleasure and fulfillment by other means, specifically may I suggest, by amplifying and beautifying the ordinary aspects of life. We do this, however, not so much by changing outer reality, but by unwinding what pains us about reality. As a result, we find more richness in solitude. We find more succor in meaningful friendships. We discover more wisdom, amusement, and bewilderment in nature. We find fulfillment in exercising and deepening our creative capacities. We find pleasure, even ecstasy, in taking care of our physical health, even as we realize our bodies as a locus for the more intangible riches of life. We find peace in the clarity of our hearts. We find god and grace in the transformation of our difficult emotions. We find emotional release in the welcoming of sadness. We find perfection in the truth (supported by real evidence) of our intuitions, in an abiding “yes” to all that befalls and uplifts us. We find heaven right here in an increased focus on the ordinary, which becomes extraordinary when we carve out more room in our hearts for appreciation.

The paradox is that the more we embrace what breaks us open, the more we deeply appreciate life’s simple pleasures and beauties. This is a radical inner and outer sustainability because we are filled with so little, which is so much. This deepening focus on the ordinary world and the everyday good and not so pleasant and random facts of life is consolidated, if you will, when we cease to pursue make-believe and band-aid remedies for our pains and challenges—the very superstitious and fallacious constructs of religion and fantastical spirituality.

Instead of believing the highly unlikely possibility that we are reunited with our lost loved ones in heaven, the more realistic and integral spiritual response to the sadness and devastation that follows loss is to mourn. The grief of mourning is what I call “the great dissolver of pain.” It is a beneficent acid to the concretions of suffering that pervade and sabotage our hearts’ fullness. If we want to love, we should revel in grief, when it arrives, as it always will, because this world is temporal and our grounded hearts, if we allow them to be, are always in love with this world. No one escapes loss, and if one could, he would be less, for the blessings grief bestows would be lost on him: depth, care, compassion, groundedness, wholeness, appreciation, and ultimately the capacity to love more fully than if only mildly visited by the pain of loss.

If we remove the many beliefs and wishes that perilously and capriciously prop up our lives and keep our hearts floating above the seemingly scary nebulae of life’s underbelly, we would have to sink into a deep communion with the raw facts of life. If, on the other hand, we were to choose to say no to the fantastic, to the superficial, to the blatantly false precepts that prevent us from sinking into the frank reality of our hearts, into our bodies and lives, into the good Earth, into a care for one another, this could be the biggest empowerment and courageous move in all our lives. I am not saying we should not pursue pleasure; we should. But the danger is when pleasure in moderation (easily) becomes an excessive avoidance and denial of what does not feel good.  

What is excessive? Excessive is when pleasure takes us away from (better, when we give ourselves over to) dealing with our difficult emotions and facing the not so pleasant aspects of life to the degree that we lose track of what specifically pains us. Pleasure is excessive if it prevents us from the experience of a richer transformative enrichment—that of abiding in non-pleasure until we are transmuted into fulfillment.  Indeed, it is a question of degree—the degree to which we ignore what makes us deeper, richer people in favor of staying afloat for the misperception of fear-based survival instincts (and no, fear is not inherently bad!). The result is that we lose the sacred death that would bring us more fully alive than we might ever have imagined.

We all have enough pain from childhood to fill our cups of transformation for years to come. Since the pains of childhood—collectively the loss of love in its many forms—is essentially inevitable, then far from being made in the image and likeness of a perfect God, perhaps it is more accurate to say that we are born into an imperfect life, and our challenge as mature adults is to make perfect sense of life’s shortcomings by way of our courage to undertake the hero’s journey as a rite of passage into adulthood. In the spirit of negation, this journey is less the adopting of what we think to be “adult,” as it is the wholehearted transformation of childhood.

So, if we see religion and all manner of unilaterally positive, non-paradoxical and therefore non-transformational spirituality, as a means to escape the difficult experiences of life, the courageous question is how to make ordinary life, with all its foibles and failures, as good as what we imagine it to be in an after-life, in a proverbially perfect, make-believe heaven. Even if there is an after-life, for which we currently have no good proof, the transformation of our heartaches is still a best choice for living because it allows us to make the most of this life. If we also get to live a perfect life in heaven, then we have lived doubly richly!

The problem of leaving reality for non-reality is that we lose the experience of sanctifying ordinary life. We miss what is beautiful here and now. This life on Earth, and for the foreseeable future, is all we really know for sure. Yet so many choose to sacrifice present grounded reality, our own health and that of nature, for what we do not know to be real. On the other hand, if we embrace and undergo the transformation of our hearts we do not miss out on what we do know, what already is beautiful.

So, what if we forget projections and wishful thinking for future salvation? What if it is just a denial of the here and now, especially the challenging here and now? Perhaps we could more appreciate and protect nature, especially as that which we know sustains our lives, yet remains veiled from our restless minds. The deeper into projections we live, the messier become our ordinary lives and the more we need to escape into non-reality. On the other hand, appreciating what is both difficult and beautiful here and now only makes us more beautiful as we turn what is painful into a comprehensive vitality that emanates from us, rain or shine, through our work, presence, respect, grounded compassion, wisdom, and the richness of our person.

If evidence were the manifest world today, which it is, we see the loss of the sacred in ordinary life, and its result is the degradation of the planet and the desecration of nature and our own bodies—in the Botox facelifts, in GMOs and the routine spraying of our foods with untested chemicals, in increasing nuclear disasters and threats, in our poisoning and increased toxification of our environment, in so many human and animal rights abuses everywhere.

Losing track of the sacred is a uniquely human endeavor, per our definition of what is sacred and what is not. So much of what is considered worthwhile and worth saving and living for is infiltrated by religious manipulation and its fear of nature and the sacred feminine. For if we all are all going to heaven why do we need to care for the Earth at all? If we are pure light already, why deal with the atrocities, the suffering of others? Earth and the recesses of our sensual body-minds are, after all, full of pain, darkness, demons, sin and none other than the domain of hell. By perpetuating this infertile, blasphemous propaganda, most religions and one-sided, light-seeking humanity have greatly contributed to the stigma, the despoiling of the rich sacredness of our bodies and the planet.

It is our responsibility today to study, to sink into our bodies, into our dark and light non-dual hearts, into the good Earth, to learn first-hand the difference between myth and reality, between religious and New Age fear and what is on the other side of emotional courage. Our lives and the life of the Earth depend on it. Love depends on it.

About Jack Adam Weber:

Jack Adam Weber is a licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, author, organic farmer, celebrated poet, and activist for Earth-centered spirituality. He integrates poetry, ancient wisdom, holistic medicine, and depth psychology into passionate presentations for personal fulfillment as a path to planetary transformation. His books, artwork, and provocative poems can be found at his website PoeticHealing.com 

Original Art by Andrea Smith. Visit www.andreasmithgallery.com for more information. 

     A meditation with the crystal bowls. Join Guy for an hour crystal bowl meditation on being present to our ascension process in each moment. Our intention is one of oneness, present moment; there are many phrases for the same focus. It is a time to go inside and allow as the sound waves bathe your cellular bodies and harmonize our thoughts to the frequencies of love. The crystalline composition of the bowls creates the music of the spheres sending harmonic sound waves traveling through our energy fields and physical bodies. These sound waves are inviting us to raise our frequency/vibration. In doing so we help to clear denser vibrations that can hold us back in our growth process. As well the solar eclipse will have just passed and you will also have an opportunity to integrate this powerful energy! 

     Guy Matthews is a sound practitioner residing and practicing in Sedona. He assists people in the journey of clearing blockages and awakening to their true self. He began his practice in 1997 teaching workshops and presenting at conferences. Guy offers combined yoga and sound sessions as well as individual sessions. Guy also offers private sound sessions as well as private yoga sessions. He is also available for group/seminar bookings.

When: FrIday, May 25Th, 2012 Time:7-8 pm

Where:7 Centers Yoga Arts, 2115 MountaIn Rd, Sedona, AZ 86336 (just off Sunset at top of hill)

Donation – $10-$20 suggested

Advance registration appreciated

Information or Questions call Guy at 928-814-6441 or email at krystalbleu57@yahoo.com www.krystalbleu.com

Allergies and What to do About Them

By: Dr. Andrew Dickens NMD

Allergies, oh what misery! Lord Byron said, “If I laugh, ‘tis only that I not cry!” Such is the discomfort of allergies.

Allergies result from a white blood cell reaction called an IgE immunoglobulin reaction. This is what causes hives and anaphylactic shock. There are also “sensitivities”, often lumped under allergies, which is an IgG immunoglobulin complex reaction. While allergies are immediate, sensitivities may take 24 to 72 hours to show up. So with food sensitivity, something eaten as long ago as three days, may only now be affecting your body today. If something you eat more regularly is causing a reaction, there could be a never ending symptom response.

So What to Do?

First, barrier functions must be corrected and maintained for any allergy treatment to be totally effective. Barriers are what separate the outside world we live in from the inside of our bodies. Barriers in the body are the outer layers of the skin, respiratory system and GI tract, which only let in desired elements like food, oxygen and water. For barrier control in respiratory complaints, this means drinking at least half the body weight in ounces of WATER daily. Also, keep bedroom humidity at 40-45% so that mucous membranes do not dry out while sleeping. Consider an air purifier for the removal of allergenic particulates, and possibly even removing carpeting, there will be less allergens to trigger an attack.

For GI (gastrointestinal) barriers, this requires adequate digestive enzymes (sufficient stomach acid and pancreatic enzymes) and proper intestinal bacterial growth with any necessary correction of abnormalities. Often, the removal of candidal overgrowth and its hyphae, which has resulted from the use of antibiotics, is necessary to establish an intact barrier.

For skin complaints, an intact and continuous skin barrier is necessary to resolve any issues. Again, this is dependent upon adequate water intake and essential fatty acid consumption (Linoleic and Linolenic acids) and their metabolites EPA and DHA (fish oils). These oils are also critical in dampening the allergic response and also for barrier functions in the lungs and GI tract.

Asthma or Allergies?

Asthma may in fact not be asthma, which is an irreversible physiologic change, but merely Reactive Airway Disease (RAD). RAD is bronchial spasm and constriction only upon exposure to an allergen. It can be stopped and reversed if treated early enough.However, chronic RAD will cause permanent damage to the lungs and lead into asthma. Asthma is triggered not only by allergens but by exercise, emotions, and other causes. Interestingly, with vaccinations there has been a dramatic plummeting of short term childhood illnesses and an explosion of chronic, lifelong and expensive illnesses like asthma, Crohn’s disease and Type 1 diabetes (Bach J. NEJM 2002). What vaccinations have apparently done is replace the training of “self vs. non-self” with an erratic, unschooled, and undisciplined immune system.

Solutions

To control allergies, specifically the IgE reactions, conventional medicine typically gives allergy shots. This may involve as many as two shots a week and take three to five years with a 40% resolvement rate and approximately 20 deaths per year (Kail, K., Allergy Free) In contrast, there is NEAT (Natural Elimination of Allergies) as developed by one of the founders of the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Dr Konrad Kail. This has an alleviation of both IgE and IgG in as few as 4-5 visits with an 87% rating of “good to excellent” results with no shots. Again, clearing of allergies, once one leaves the rather primitive conventional model of treatment, is rather simple. The real solution is to maintain barrier functions and also the support of endocrine glands.

Supporting the endocrine glands is often a big issue, which will lead to truly “fixing” allergies and sensitivities. Without the necessary input from the adrenals and thyroid with adequate blood sugar control by the pancreas, the immune system will not have the energy and balance to adequately control the immune response, thus setting up allergies and sensitivities.

At Healing Pathways Medical Clinic, the German technology of Electrodermal Screening (EDS) is employed to determine in real time what will and will not work. This is in contrast to the standard “Here, try this for a month and let’s see what happens”. For example, what the endocrine glands may need for healing and support may range from botanicals and to different types of minerals and vitamins to homeopathic remedies to pharmaceutical thyroid medication. It all depends on what that individual needs. Tired of the injection routine? Want to be clear of allergies and heal the body so that is resistant to the allergic response? The answer is actually quite simple.

About Dr. Andrew Dickens:

Dr Andrew Dickens is the medical director of Healing Pathways Medical Clinic in Tempe, AZ where he specializes in allergies and chronic conditions. For more information, call 480-699-7400 or visit http://HealingPathwaysMedical.com/.

By: Dawn James, Art By: Deb DeLisi

Quantum physics has shown that we are bioelectric beings with electric currents flowing through our cells, nerves and muscles. In fact, bioelectricity is one of the fundamental forms of energy in the human body. Bioelectric potentials (potential energy) are generated by a number of different biological processes and are used by our cells to govern metabolism, impulses within the central nervous system and brain function, as well as regulate muscle contraction, to name a few.

There are three types of electrical signals in human beings: The first signal originates in the brain, the second signal originates in the heart and the third signal, of unknown origin, is referred to as the surface electrical potential. Furthermore, the mind/body/spirit network and our personal vibratory rate are interdependent, and the mind/body/spirit network is influenced by our personal vibratory rate and by changes in our vibrational frequency (i.e., rate of electrical flow).

Visit http://www.raiseyourvibration.ca/images/PDF/dawn_james_speaker_one_sheet_dec13-11.pdf for more information.

Watch or Listen to Dawn's Message:

About Dawn James:

Dawn James is a vibrational healer; distance healer, international speaker and author of the bookRaise Your Vibration, Transform Your Life: A Practical Guide for Attaining Better Health, Vitality and Inner Peace (English and Spanish). The book is also on Amazon.com, Amazon.uk, Barnes and Noble, Ingram and independent and metaphysical bookstores in North America, Australia, UK and the Caribbean. Autographed copies are available on her website  www.raiseyourvibration.ca.

Art courtesy of Deb DeLisi, visit http://delisiart.com/ for more information. 

By: Dr. Tricia Pingel, NMD

You may have noticed an upswing in the availability of gluten free products.  Whether it’s in the grocery store or at a restaurant, the options of maintaining a gluten free diet has increased compared to just a few years ago.

So, what is gluten and why do people need to live gluten free?

Gluten is a common name for the proteins found in all forms of wheat and grains such as rye and barley. It is the glue that holds many food products together, giving bread its spongy texture. People suffering from an autoimmune condition known as celiac disease experience an adverse reaction to gluten.  Celiac disease is a chronic intestinal malabsorption caused from a toxic reaction to gluten. Living a gluten free life is not a choice for a person diagnosed with celiac disease, it’s a life-long commitment.

Causes of Celiac Disease

Celiac disease can appear at any time in a person’s life.  According to celiac.org, one in every 133 people in the United States is afflicted with this condition. It’s often inherited and passed down from parent to child through the HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genes. Not every person who inherits these genes will develop celiac disease, but every patient who develops celiac will usually test positive for them.  Celiac disease is not a food allergy, it is an autoimmune condition. People who suffer from wheat allergy may eventually grow out of it while celiac is a life-long condition.

Another possible cause is an overabundance of gluten in the modern diet.  Gluten is found in a great many processed products, and often when we eat something in excess, our bodies become intolerant over time.  Although it may not be labeled as classic “Celiac Disease”, many Americans are now developing intolerance to gluten. This intolerance presents a variety of symptoms, such as fatigue, rashes, joint pain, abdominal complaints and headache. When celiac screening comes back negative, gluten may be dismissed as a source of the problem, but it is actually a strong contributor.

Symptoms of Celiac Disease

One of the first signs of celiac disease is a change in bowel movements.  Stool may become greasy, fatty, loose and frothy with a very bad odor. This change in bowel movements may be accompanied with abdominal cramping, gas and bloating. 

Other symptoms may include:

• Unexplained weight loss or gain
• Hair loss
• Thyroid problems
  
• Anemia
• Skin changes such as rash or hives
• Depression and anxiety
  
• Migraine headaches
• Mouth/skin ulcers and rashes
• Fatigue
  
• Bone or joint pain
• Vitamin and mineral deficiency
  

Diagnosing Celiac Disease

In traditional medicine, celiac is diagnosed by taking a biopsy of the intestine, but this procedure is very invasive.  Blood screening is a less invasive but extremely effective method I use in my practice to diagnose celiac. Multiple blood markers that include anti-tissue transglutaminase, anti-deaminated gliadin and anti-endomysial antibodies are often a good indication that celiac disease is present, but these are not fool proof.  If some blood markers are higher than others, it may be an indication that gluten malabsorption caused from intolerance is the culprit and not celiac. I examine all blood markers closely before making a positive celiac diagnosis. Genetic screening that looks for the presence of HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genes is also a less invasive method to diagnose this disease.

Treating Celiac Disease

The most effective treatment for celiac is to eliminate gluten and gliatin (a protein found in wheat) completely from the diet.  This is a life-long commitment that includes not only eating a gluten free diet, but also ensuring all beauty products are gluten free. Patients that refrain from eating gluten may still experience symptoms if gluten is present in their shampoo, toothpaste, lotion or any other product that applies to the skin.

I have found that once gluten and gliatin are eliminated, 30 percent of patients begin to have relief from symptoms in three days, and 90 percent within three months. For those with gluten intolerance rather than actual celiac disease, this process can take longer as the intestinal lining needs to heal. The good news is that once the lining is healed, the patient will not have to be as concerned about small amounts of gluten in his or her diet.

Living gluten-free improves symptoms, but the intestines have been damaged and inflamed and will need time to heal for proper nutritional absorption. When the intestines are inflamed they are unable to properly absorb the nutrients and vitamins that are essential for healing.  The best way to combat nutritional deficiencies from lack of intestinal absorption is through IV Vitamin Therapy.  This therapy is so effective because it injects vitamins and minerals directly into the vein, therefore bypassing the intestines for optimal absorption.

Some common herbs that can be used to sooth inflammation are de-glycerrized licorice, slippery elm, marshmallow root and glutamine.  Administering pancreatic enzymes that break down foods will also help with the digestion process.

What happens if Celiac goes untreated?

If left untreated, the body will be unable to absorb essential vitamins and nutrients and will slowly be poisoned.  This may lead to:

• Chronic Fatigue
• Thyroid abnormalities
• Insulin dependent diabetes
• Psychiatric disturbances including schizophrenia
• Depression and anxiety
• Dermatitis herpetiformis (itchy rash)
• Urticaria (hives)
• Increased risk of Hodgkin’s Disease, lymphoma (the body doesn’t have the nutrients it needs to fight off cancer)
• Iron deficiency
• Pancreatic insufficiency
• Gall bladder malfunction 

Celiac/ Cow’s milk Associations

Lactose intolerance is a possible a side effect of celiac disease. Studies have found that many people who cannot tolerate gluten also cannot tolerate cow’s milk and have a much higher incidence of celiac disease (according to a report found on celiac.org).

A celiac patient who eats gluten sustains significant damage to the small intestines.  This damage makes it nearly impossible to break down lactose, which may continue for years even after a celiac patient becomes gluten free.  For this reason, a patient who is diagnosed with celiac disease should also eliminate dairy products from the diet until the intestines have had time to heal.

How can you live a Gluten Free life?

A celiac patient needs to be aware that they will never be able to consume gluten products again and a complete lifestyle change is needed if they want to live symptom free. Luckily, with growing awareness of celiac disease and gluten intolerance, those who suffer have many options.  In health food stores and in many grocery stores, gluten free products are available for purchase.  There are also restaurants that offer gluten free menus.  Check with your favorite restaurant to see if they provide the option of a gluten free meal.

For people suffering from symptoms similar to those of celiac or gluten intolerance it is wise to seek the health care advise of a naturopathic physician before self-diagnosing or administering herbal remedies.

About Dr. Pingel:

Dr. Tricia Pingel is a naturopathic medical doctor located in Scottsdale, Arizona. She treats a variety of conditions, including menopausal symptoms with bio-identical hormone replacement, infertility, cardiac, thyroid disorders, anxiety/depression, gastrointestinal concerns, such as, gas/bloating, food allergies, celiac disease, IBD and more!

Please visit www.drpingel.com for more information.

By: Loree Bischoff 

Remember how life was before you had responsibilities? When your biggest concern was how you were going to spend your Friday night; before you spent all of your time and energy simply trying to keep your job, pay your bills, put food on the table, and, if you have a family, take care of them, too?!

Chances are that time in your life was when you felt most creative. You may have painted, wrote in your journal, created music, or any number of other things that nurtured your creative self.

As we get older and take on more responsibilities, some of the things we need to do to nurture ourselves and maintain balance get placed on the back burner. We are forced to give up the creative activities we love in order to attend to other priorities. This may start out as a temporary situation, but it can quickly become a new precedent, and we end up completely abandoning the creativity that nourishes us. If we get too out of balance, we feel completely disconnected with our creative selves.

For creative people, creative expression is like blood for the soul. When the supply is being restricted, it feels like something isn’t right inside, and the spirit wilts. The creative soul senses that it’s not getting enough of what it needs to fully express itself and thrive.

If you are a creative person, it’s a mistake to let this imbalance go on for too long. I’m a big believer in nourishing all aspects of ourselves – our bodies, our minds, and our spirits – so I think it’s extremely important to find ways to reconnect with our creative selves.

You might be asking yourself, “How can I do this? When do I have time? How can I find the energy or inspiration?” Think back to a time in your life when you were really in touch with your creative self – when you listened to the voice inside you that whispered, “Create now!” and heeded your creative urges. Then think about these questions:

1.  How did you feel physically? Were you shape, walking with a spring in your step, carrying yourself with a sense of pride and purpose – with more energy and good posture? Remember what that physical state of being felt like in your body. Re-live that physical feeling in your mind. Tap in to it mentally so you can get reacquainted with it and recreate it.

2.  What triggers used to put you in a creative mood? Triggers can be anything from listening to music to dancing, taking a long walk, reading, exercising, taking a road trip, etc.

3.  What did you think about leading up to and during your creative process? When you’re focused only on your to-do list, you can’t connect with these thoughts and the creative juices they inspire. What we focus on creates our emotional state, so try to remember and think again those thoughts that brought you joy, peace, and inspiration – that mental state of being that gave you the intense inspiration to create.

4.  What was it about the creative process that was most fulfilling for you? Was it the beginning stage when you came up with a plan, an idea, or design? Was it the middle stage – the actual process of creating? Or was it seeing your idea completed and relishing in your creation? Maybe it was it the whole ball of wax!

These questions comprise an exercise for your mind that will steer your thoughts towards what you want to create. If you want to reconnect with your creative self, you will have to start thinking about it! THOUGHT is power, and all creative ideas begin with thought.

There was a time in your life when your thoughts and ideas generated a positive emotional state in which you felt inspired to express yourself through your creativity. It begins in your mind. Go there again.

Can’t remember what used to inspire you, or it no longer works? Explore what inspires you now; is it listening to music, exercising, going to a museum, watching the ocean or a sunset, being in nature, reading? We each draw inspiration from different things, so think about and experiment with what makes YOU feel emotionally high and inspired. Try these strategies to find your inspiration: 

VISUALIZATION: If what used to inspire you was environmental, and you no longer have access to it (for example, you used to create in the mountains but now you live in the city), perhaps you can carve out a little time to go somewhere within driving distance (or a bus or train ride) that’s similar to the environment you are missing. If it’s not possible for you to physically go somewhere inspiring, then go there in your mind. Visualize what you miss. Recreate the feeling by tapping in to what all five of your senses experienced in your favorite place. Imagine the smell of the trees, the way the grass felt in your hands, the sound of a rolling creek, the sight of snowcapped mountains, etc. 

MUSIC: I cannot stress enough the powerful influence of music over our emotions. When you want to change your state of mind, music is one of the fastest and most effective ways to do so. When you make time for yourself to be creative, choose the right music to help inspire and motivate you. Be careful about the music you select, because it has the power to pull you toward past negative memories instead of inspiring you to get up off your rear end and dance around the room! So choose wisely!

MEDITATION: Meditation can elevate your creative desire, too. There are many ways to meditate. Some like to meditate while walking, some prefer the traditional seated meditation, and others focus on specific breathing meditations. You might find it helpful to sit and meditate to the sound of a nature CD in the background. There are a variety of choices you can experiment with.

Any of these mini-vacation strategies can release your mind from your responsibilities so it has the freedom to fantasize again. If you commit to making some time to reconnect with your creative side, you will begin to strengthen your creative muscles again. As your creative muscles get stronger, you will feel the urge to express your creativity. And creative expression can bring more balance to your life.

There’s an added bonus here; by making time for your creative expression instead of ignoring it, you may also find that instead of facing your responsibilities with resentment, you are able to approach them with a renewed enthusiasm.

It’s unlikely that you will always be able to maintain perfect balance in your life and apply your focus and energy equally to all the things there are to do. But if that part of you that craves passionate and creative expression feels like it’s been getting the shaft for too long, stop denying your soul what it deserves and seize the opportunity to reconnect with your creative self!

About Loree Bischoff:

Loree Bischoff received her Life Coach Certification from the award-winning, nationally accredited Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. She has been married to the same amazing man since 1984 and they have two wonderful (now all-grown-up) children. Loree spends her time with family, coaching, learning, staying healthy and fit, commuting between Arizona, California and Wyoming and just overall enjoying the fantastic adventure of life. 

Visit http://www.loreebischoff.com for more information

By: Jonathan Psenka, ND

It is well known by many doctors that the majority of cancers are preventable.  Most cancers occur as a result of unhealthy lifestyle choices.  Smoking, poor diet, a lack of exercise,  toxin exposure and high stress are all known to contribute to the development of cancer.  Published estimates suggest that around 85 percent of cancers are caused by these poor lifestyle choices.  The good news is that it is possible to drastically cut the risk of developing cancer by becoming familiar with the best ways to promote health. 

Incorporating lifestyle changes into disease prevention program used to be considered  “alternative” medicine, but now even conventional medicine is supporting the use of healthy diets, exercise and lowering stress levels.  In fact, the American Cancer Society publishes specific lifestyle recommendations every five years in an attempt to educate both consumers and physicians.  This information is available for free through the ACS website, www.caonline.amcancersoc.org.

The American Cancer Society recommendations suggest that people try to consume a mostly plant-based diet with minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.  What the ACS doesn’t say is how large a serving is, nor what types of fruits and vegetables are the best to focus on.  First off, it’s important to point out that a serving is typically only a half cup, so five servings really only add up to about two and a half cups.  Also, it is important to know which foods offer the highest degree of disease protection, so that these foods can be incorporated into the diet.  Some of the best plant foods for preventing cancer include dark skinned berries such as raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, tomatoes, pomegranates, turmeric and green tea.

The dark skinned berries have high levels of the substance known as ellagic acid.  Ellagic acid is found is in many types of fruits including strawberries, cranberries, walnuts, pecans and pomegranates, and especially in red raspberries.  Ellagic acid has been found to have substantial anti-cancer properties, as well as strong anti-oxidant capabilities.  This natural substance promotes it’s anti-cancer effects through a couple of different mechanisms.  Ellagic acid has been found to stop the growth of many types of cancer cells, including cervical, prostate, breast, colon, pancreatic, esophageal and skin cancer lines.  Ellagic acid stops cancer growth by interfering with a particular part of the cancer cell’s reproductive cycle.  When these cells can no longer reproduce, they eventually die without making any new cells. In some studies this effect was seen within 48 hours of taking ellagic acid.  Other studies have shown that ellagic acid has the ability to prevent the effects of toxins known to cause cancer.  The ellagic acid prevents toxins from binding to DNA, so that cancerous growth cannot be genetically promoted.  Eating foods which contain ellagic acid may be more beneficial than taking supplements containing ellagic acid.  

Lycopene is another substance that is found in plants which has shown substantial anti-cancer action.  Lycopenes are a class of substances known as bioflavinoids, which are closely related to carotenes.  In fact, as a class of substances lycopenes are the major type of carotene found in human blood and serum.  Lycopene is found mainly in red vegetables and fruits.  Tomatoes, especially sun dried ones, provide the greatest amount of lycopene, although foods like watermelons, red grapefruits, apricots and guava also contain high levels of lycopene.  Several studies have shown that diets high in lycopene containing foods are inversely related to prostate cancer risk.  So, the more lycopene rich foods a man eats, the lower his chances of developing prostate cancer.  The protective effects of lycopenes extend beyond prostate cancer to other types of types of cancer as well.  Most of lycopene’s anti-cancer effect is thought to due to its exceptional anti-oxidant capacity.

Third on the list of foods that prevent cancer is the Indian herb turmeric.  Turmeric is mostly known as the spice that adds a yellow color to many Indian foods.  Over the past five years turmeric, and especially the turmeric derivative curcumin, has shown outstanding cancer preventing properties.  Curcumin has shown great potential in preventing many types of cancers, including breast, cervical, colon, gastric, hepatic, leukemia, oral epithelial, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate.  In addition to being a fantastic food for cancer prevention, curcumin has also been shown to be very beneficial for people who are actively fighting cancer as well.  Although this turmeric extract has more than one known mechanism of action, most of it’s impressive activity is due to it being an excellent anti-inflammatory agent.  As an potent anti-inflammatory, it has been suggested that curcumin may also be beneficial in treating diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, atherosclerosis, pancreatitis, psoriasis and arthritis.  The best part is that it tastes good too!

Next on the list is pomegranates.  Pomegranates, or Punica granatum, are an excellent source of dietary antioxidants which have shown great promise as chemoprevention agents.  The term chemoprevention is a relatively new one that is used to describe substances which have cancer preventative actions.  Due to being full of potent anti-oxidant substances, pomegranates have been recognized as having preventative properties against several cancers such as head and neck cancers, prostate cancer and lung cancer.  Pomegranates have also been shown to have properties which inhibit cancer cells from reproducing quickly (anti-proliferative action).  Newer research indicates that pomegranates also can help prevent cancer by acting to enhance the removal cancer causing toxins from the body.

The last food on the list really isn’t a food at all, but a beverage.  The drink is green tea, and the plant from which it comes is known as Cameilla sinensis.  Green tea, like curcumin, has a multitude of research supporting it’s use in both cancer prevention and cancer therapy.  Green tea’s amazing anti-cancer properties are mainly due to it’s high content of polyphenols such as EGCG.  EGCG, otherwise known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, is a remarkable substance which has anti-oxidant properties, helps the body to remove toxins, assists in regulating cancer cell growth, inhibits tumors from growing new blood vessels via a process known as angiogenesis, inhibits cancer promoting inflammation, AND has demonstrated the ability to kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone.  Green tea is truly a great cancer fighter.  To get the most benefit out of drinking green tea a person should try to drink 4-5 cups per day.  Some people feel that many store bought green teas have a “grassy” flavor that is hard to overcome.  Buying a higher quality bulk tea or “gun powder” green tea from your local Chinese or Japanese grocer usually results in a better tasting tea.  Green tea also makes wonderful iced tea too.  Just mix in a squeeze of fresh lemon or orange juice with a little stevia and enjoy.

By choosing a diet that is rich in foods with proven cancer fighting abilities it’s possible to decrease the chance of developing cancer.  By combining a healthy diet with other positive lifestyle habits such as regular exercise, toxin avoidance, and using stress reduction techniques, a person can decrease their chance of not only developing cancer, but many other serious disease as well.  These foods- berries, tomatoes, turmeric, pomegranates, and green tea- should also be considered by people who are actively fighting cancer as well.  Additionally, many of the substances mentioned, such as curcumin and EGCG, can also be taken in supplement form when there is a need for increased dosages.  Remember to discuss taking new supplements with your doctor before you actually begin taking them. 

About Dr. Jonathan Psenka:

Dr. Jonathan Psenka is a licensed Naturopathic Physician practicing in Phoenix, Arizona. His practice philosophy is based on a commitment to providing patients with the knowledge they need to be active participants in their own healthcare. He uses a wide variety of holistic therapies and tailors each patient's treatment to his or her individual needs. Dr. Psenka believes that in order to successfully fight disease it is necessary to address not only the symptoms, but also the potential causes and risk factors as well.

Dr. Psenka's practice focuses on helping people with diseases such as cancer, viral conditions, and environmental toxicities. In addition to helping people overcome acute illnesses, he also is an advocate of preventative medicine. By identifying and addressing potential risk factors it is possible to reduce the chance of disease development or re-occurrence.

In addition to practicing medicine, Dr. Psenka also serves as adjunct faculty at several universities, including Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Kaplan University. He teaches subjects such as anatomy and physiology, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Mind-Body Medicine, and clinical rotations for fourth-year medical students.

In the past, Dr. Psenka has served as a board member and as the vice president of the Arizona Naturopathic Medical Association.

Dr. Psenka is a frequent lecturer and writer, often presenting at medical conventions and health expos. 

Please visit http://www.4wecare.com/physician/jonathan_psenka.aspx for more information.