Category: Health

Do we need proof before we open our minds?

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  • A group of GPs finally take the blinkers off – more than you’d think
  • Here’s an angry scientist that should get his facts straight
  • A powerful and natural homeopathic remedy for all men to try

I truly believe that when a new GP qualifies they are given a stethoscope, a black bag and a set of blinkers.

It seems to be that every doctor is a passionate believer that the only cures available are pharmaceutical or surgical.

Anything else is pure quackery in their book.

The fact that healing has been an art for many years before Hippocrates roamed the earth, and long before each doctor swore allegiance to his philosophies, seems to have slipped their minds.

Damning statements about how ineffective/dangerous/unscientific any approach to healthcare that doesn’t involve a prescription pad or a scalpel are pushed out into the media on a regular basis.

But, some recent information provides a glimmer of hope that some of the old guard are finally beginning to open their eyes to ‘alternative’ medicine.

A recent survey of GPs found that around half of UK doctors are offering access to ‘therapy outside conventional medicine’, including osteopathy and acupuncture.

In addition the records show that there are 900 GP members of the British Medical Acupuncture Society and an even more surprising 400 who are active members of the British Homeopathy Society.

Why surprising you may ask?

Well of all the alternative therapies this is the one that has attracted most criticism, not least because it is a preferred therapy for our Royal Family.

And that really winds up some of the great and good of the medical profession.

Discover the homeopathic option for this major health concern – click here

An angry scientist…but one that needs to get his facts straight

In the leafy corner of Exeter lies the domain of one Edzard Ernst.

This academic is something of a poster boy for the pharmaceutical industry as he is an outspoken critic of alternative or complementary medicine…despite holding the title of Emeritus Professor at the University, and even once was Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter.

You’d think that would make him a force for good wouldn’t you? Unfortunately he is anything but, and this week launched yet another promotion for his memoirs by attacking Prince Charles over his support for integrated medicine.

The vicious nature of Prof Ernst’s attacks on the heir to the throne knows no limits, and in less benevolent times would have seen the foolhardy academic spending time in a deep and painful cellar.

The basis of his ire is two-fold:

A government funded guide on homeopathy for patients which was produced in 2013 as part of an initiative by Prince Charles
The Smallwood report, again commissioned by Prince Charles, which suggested greater access to complementary therapies in the NHS might lead to widespread benefits.
Both of these reports were hardly glowing in their consideration of alternative approaches but did say that there were good reasons to remain open minded.

This waved a red rag to the bull, and Prof Ernst wasn’t slow on the charge.

And all because there’s no SCIENTIFIC proof that complementary therapies work.

The fact that there’s anecdotal proof, and that real people have made real progress using complementary therapies isn’t worth a stuff in his myopic world.

Even when someone tries an alternative therapy and makes a FULL recovery from a terrible illness (after having been written off as a hopeless case by the mainstream), that’s STILL not enough to convince these blinkered doctors that maybe… just maybe…complementary therapies are worth considering.

Unless some scientists can explain WHY this progress has been made, in a series of formulas and flow charts, then the therapy is rubbish and shouldn’t be encouraged.

Can you blame me if my cornflakes go everywhere when leading doctors support such a narrow-minded view?

Of course we ALL want to understand WHY something has worked. That way the therapy can be replicated and improved upon.

But surely the most important thing is that it works?

The whys and hows are secondary.

To dismiss complementary therapies that have helped people overcome many, many ailments, just because some boffin can’t figure out the exact mechanism of action, is madness.

After all, what is the primary role of a doctor? To help us and cure us, or to tell us HOW he’s curing us?

“I’m sorry Mrs Smith, I know that by giving you this tiny green leaf your arthritis pain would be gone in an instant. But I don’t understand how it works, so I’ll just lock it away in my drawer and give you these manmade drugs instead.”

How would that make YOU feel?

I know how I feel… angry. Angry and let down yet again by the mainstream’s intolerance of anything they don’t understand.

Or anything the major drugs companies can’t make money out of.

Take a leaf out of Prince Charles’ book and discover a much maligned approach to health

Basically we shouldn’t write anything off just because we don’t understand it.

A challenge for all of us

I have chosen to consider homeopathy for one condition in particular and have selected a trusted partner to help me develop a solution that we can all try safely… or at least 50% of us can.

I apologise to those of the fairer sex, but I have decided to challenge the grumpy ones out there.

The sweary, grumbly and whinging folk at the other end of the settee…you know who you are chaps!

Unless you have been away on a trip to Mars you can’t have missed the focus being applied to the prostate – with prostate cancer now being predicted to affect one in eight men in the UK.

But it is not just cancer that affects this walnut sized gland at the base of our bladders, there are several other conditions that we need to take note of such as:

  • Benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH, means your prostate is enlarged, but is not cancerous.
  • Acute bacterial prostatitis usually starts suddenly from a bacterial infection.
  • Chronic bacterial prostatitis is an infection that comes back again and again.
  • Chronic prostatitis also called Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS), is a common prostate problem which can also cause back pain.

Given that the male of the species is typically loathe to take their health seriously I want to REALLY encourage each of you to consider taking the homeopathic approach to better prostate health.

And if you won’t do it for yourself maybe your better halves can act for you. (Ladies, you will be doing him more than a favour by getting him to think about his prostate.)

This special homeopathic preparation isn’t claiming to be a cure for cancer or anything outrageous, merely a natural and gentle way to deal with some of the effects of ageing, and potential precursors of one of the conditions listed above.

I won’t make myself popular with Exeter’s professional cynic, but the Good Prince might applaud this approach.

I’m certain that any of you that try it will also be converts to this gentle and natural health approach.

Prostate Relief – a homeopathic treatment approach to better male health

Yours, as always

Ray Collins

Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter

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Category: Health & Wellbeing

Before the epidemic strikes you must read this… by Ray Collins

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•  Looking ill might just make you worse
•  Find out why the latest health scare is pure junk
•  Big deal, it’s only your health being put on the bottom line

 

“Oh you don’t look so well!”

What’s your natural response to someone saying this?

Do you raise yourself up to a swagger and say, “I’ve never been better; in fact I am positively perky.”

Or, more than likely do you say, “Really? Well I have been under the cosh a bit.”

It’s an interesting fact of human psychology that when we are told we don’t look in rude health we tend to feel unwell.

Of course if we are suffering from something major or worrying the very last thing we want to hear is that we look like we’re at death’s door.

Speaking to a GP at the golf club the other day he said that it was an absolute no-no to start telling patients that they looked sickly… even if they were completely green around the gills.

The premise being that by re-enforcing the problem it makes it more difficult to cure.

So, what in the name of all that is holy is going on with the medical profession of late?

Anyone else come across the term pre-diabetic being used?

This phrase has entered the medical lexicon of late to describe someone who may have blood sugar, blood pressure or even cholesterol levels slightly higher than normal.

This strikes me as just plain stupid – and many much stronger words as well.

Pre-Diabetes – the new health scare

Just think about this for a minute.

Right now it is pre-lunch as I write this, which means I haven’t had my sandwich yet and so I feel a little hungry.

No doubt at a dinner party this weekend I may enjoy a pre-dinner drink (or two!) at a point prior to tucking into my meal, bearing in mind that I won’t have even tasted a morsel of it by then.

On my trip to Portugal I expect the captain of the aircraft to make a series of pre-flight checks whilst we are still on the ground and well before we reach our cruising altitude of 34,000 feet.

My point here is that this concept of PRE- happens well before something occurs, and sometimes could mean that the event doesn’t occur at all.

So, PRE-Diabetes doesn’t make any sense at all.

Researchers state that labelling millions of people in this way merely turns healthy people into patients.

John Yukin, emeritus professor of medicine at University College London agrees, saying that doctors would be better off telling everyone to eat better and exercise more rather than putting them into a spurious medical category.

Having been given this moniker doesn’t help, especially when you consider that within a normal population there will be perfectly healthy individuals who happen to have higher readings than the arbitrary ‘normal’.

“Pre-diabetes is an artificial category with virtually zero clinical relevance,” continues the good prof. “There is no proven benefit of giving diabetes treatment drugs to people in this category before they go on to develop diabetes, particularly since many of them would not go on to develop the condition anyway.”

So, why are we seeing this diagnosis being used?

Should we be surprised?

If a state of human health can be given a label it is usually for one purpose only…

…to coral a pool of potential drug users.

By labelling a group and implying that they have a medical need it affords a ready market for the nice boys and girls employed as pharmaceutical representatives to create a glossy PowerPoint presentation for GPs.

Their counterparts in the marketing team can do a similar job for lazy journos by issuing crafted press releases that write their stories for them.

Let me give you an example of how this works –

From: Diabetes – How GSK is making a difference (a promotional leaflet for GP’s)

‘Another area of research is pre-diabetes, a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a key stage in the development of type 2 diabetes and more than 300 million people worldwide are thought to have pre-diabetes.’

Just look at how they quickly identify pre-diabetes as a condition and one that heralds full blown diabetes as a result.

You can imagine how the headline writers would take this information to create a major health scare…

‘300 Million at risk as the obesity crisis worsens’

This is the real danger with this obsession of creating a diagnosis, but if we take the information and use it more positively then we can do good.

The real deal on national health

In an editorial in the British Medical Journal they said that rather than turning healthy people into patients we should use available resources to change the food, education, health and economic policies which have affected so many people.

I could not have put it better myself.

For many years I have banged on about the problems caused by the lack of food technology at school, the decline in home grown and home cooked meals and the domination of our food supply by supermarkets and major food companies.

The real food issue is not that we are eating too much, but that we can’t avoid eating badly.
Having access to the information we need to source and cook healthy meals is constantly being denied to us as big bucks come to the fore.

When you pick up any newspaper or watch the TV news the blame is always put on the consumer choosing to eat fatty, sugary fast food – but the truth is that many have no choice.

Bad food education, bad economic policy and bad health programmes have all been made worse by big company profiteering.

If we do look unwell then it is the global money men who have made us sick.

How much pleasure would there be in being able to say to them, “Your business doesn’t look very healthy, in fact I think you have developed a really nasty syndrome from which you’ll never recover.”

Maybe that particular diagnosis was the cause of the head man at Tesco leaving this week…
…he didn’t look well in the newspapers did he!

Yours, as always

Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter

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Category: Health & Wellbeing

Fat… It’s All Behind You! by Ray Collins – The Good Life Letter

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  • It’s all a bit late for a festive panto…but we now know the bad guys
  • Discover the truth about the bad cholesterol myth
  • Here are three favourites to celebrate with – guilt free fat!

Anyone else feel like we are involved in a pantomime?

“Oh yes it is… Oh no it isn’t… Oh yes it is…!”

Over the past few weeks a big debate has been raging about saturated fats and whether or not we should be eating them.

Various foods have come in for the kind of scrutiny that a poor dancer does on ‘Strictly’ and it looks like no one can agree on how to score them.

Far be it from me to chuck my two penn’orth in but I feel we need a bit of reason here.

But before I leap up and shout “It’s behind you!” let’s have a look at the facts.

The wicked witch says that these fats are too complex for the body to deal with so end up being shunted around the bloodstream where they cause blockages.

Whilst the grinning Cheshire cat maintains that these hyper complex food sources contain untapped riches which the body needs to stay healthy and, far from being the cause of arterial congestion, can help reduce it.

A real dilemma for poor old Buttons once again then! Let’s see if we can help him out shall we children?

The bad cholesterol myth

Since the early seventies dieticians have been advising against high fat diets.

They told us that too much fat of the type found in meat, eggs, dairy produce and even chocolate was going to bring about certain heart disease.

Even I remember the stories.

Sitting in my purple Oxford bags trousers (the ones with twelve inch bottoms, a six button waistband and side pockets big enough to get my school books in) listening to the Radio 1 chart show on a Sunday teatime when Newsbeat told me to stop eating chips!

This was devastating news to a ten year old.

Not that I used to have chips often (the Friday night treat) but that my mum and dad might be at risk because they’d been eating chips for longer than me.

I was properly worried.

Over the next few years men in kipper ties appeared on the TV and started to discuss levels of cholesterol in the blood and especially the bad type.

The concept of ‘bad food’ had never occurred to me before.

As far as I was concerned my body would deal with anything I fed it and would only take out of it what I needed, the remainder went down the toilet. This was the basis on which I consumed such delights as Spangles, Spanish Gold sweet tobacco and Bazooka gum!

Now I was beginning to understand that some meals were really capable of causing harm. I found it hard to believe back in those vividly coloured days of my youth.

The baggy trousers and weird sweets have long gone but the sense that natural foods like eggs, cheese and chocolate could ever be anything other than nutritious has never left me.

In fact it is probably a major reason why I started writing the Good Life Letter in the first place.

Thankfully the scientists have caught up with common sense and these foods are now in the clear… sort of.

Cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra wrote an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) titled ‘Saturated Fat is Not the Major Issue’, in which he said the time has come to bust the myth that saturated fat consumption causes cardiovascular disease.

Commenting on a major study of over 600,000 people spread over 18 countries which showed saturated fat consumption had no effect on cardiovascular disease he said:

“This huge and important study provides even more evidence that our focus purely on saturated fat as the number one dietary villain in causing heart disease has been misplaced when we should be focusing on food groups.”

So, dear reader, which food groups do you think are most to blame for heart disease if it’s not saturated fats then?

The real villain of the piece

Standing centre stage with a dark menacing look, a big twirly moustache and an evil laugh is…

Carbohydrates!

But like all pantomime bad guys they have to have evil accomplices and in this case it is the modern day equivalent of the ugly sisters – trans fats, oil based manufactured fillers.

It is clear that to reduce the risk of heart disease we need to reduce the amounts of processed carbohydrates we eat (gluten, sugars and syrups) and cut out the enriched manufactured fats.

This all means…

…TA DA! Stop eating processed food and go back to basics!

Hardly a happy ever after ending but like most pantos the final act was obvious from the outset wasn’t it?

A return to the proper dinner table

How should we interpret these latest findings then?

Well I think it’s time we welcomed back some old favourites to our tables.

– Eggs. Long demonised for their rich, cholesterol-filled yolks they are in fact one of the most nutritious and healthy foods around. A soft boiled free range egg with a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and toast soldiers will gladden even the hardest heart… Rather than harden its arteries.

– Butter. Where would the toast soldiers be without real dairy butter? Forget the processed low fat choices, opt for a little unsalted butter for the best in healthy spreads. The study found that a particular dairy fat called margaric acid acts to reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

– Cheese. I was enraged a few years ago when a report suggested that my cheddar treat was bad for me so I am delighted to be able to enjoy it without having to sneak off down the shed! The great thing about cheese is that the proteins it contains actually prevent your body absorbing the carbohydrates that we now know are the real problem.

So there you have it.  The players walk to the front of the stage and take their flamboyant bows – and we should all cheer.

Eggs, butter and cheese…

…time for the perfect omelette I think!

Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter

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You can receive The Good Life Letter direct by email, just click here http://www.goodlifeletter.com

Category: Health & Wellbeing

17 health remedies in your cupboard

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17 Health remedies in your cupboard

  • Welcome to you all…

  • A free downloadable report that shows the healthy power in your kitchen cupboard

  • A fantastic way to enjoy the very best of seasonal food – and the secrets of the supermarket cons

Dear All

An introduction is needed I feel…

My name’s Ray Collins. I have a middle name as well, but that’s best left alone. I’m forty-eight years old, a shade over six foot, a little overweight, and with all the aches and creaks associated with a middle-aged man.

I used to play rugby at university, and picked up a fair few injuries along the way, including a neck problem that still troubles me from time to time. Other than that, I’m in pretty good shape (touch wood).

To my constant surprise and delight, I am married to the lovely Lara and we have three children.

Luckily, they all enjoy good health. But I know how fragile health can be. And their well being is MY responsibility.

The buck stops with me. NOT with the medical establishment. NOT with what I can pick up in newspapers. NOT with the drug companies.

It’s up to me and you to ensure we enjoy healthy, stress-free lives. The problem is, there’s so much confusion in the mainstream press about what to eat and what not to eat. Worse still, much of the mainstream pressed is biased towards the mega-corporations and their clinical trials.

I am most honoured to have been asked to contribute to your new website, I’m a big fan of how powerful this technology can be to share insight, knowledge and wisdom.

But above all I love the fact that we can use it to research, interrogate and debunk the stuff that big pharmaceutical and food companies throw at us all the time.

The other day someone asked me if I enjoy ‘surfing’ the web.

Well, I use the Internet almost every day… but is ‘surfing’ the right word?

Surfing is term that means skimming the surface of something. It’s a word for young people with no health worries. People who just want to go faster, look better on the outside.

They use Facebook and Myspace to keep in touch with each other (don’t worry if you haven’t got a clue what these things are, they’re mainly populated by pop stars, media types and the under 30s!)

‘How r u?’ they ask each other.

‘Gr8 thanx’ they reply.

And then they swap short films of men’s trousers falling down or monkeys dancing to ABBA.

This is fine. It’s what surfing’s about, I suppose.

But I think of myself less as a surfer and more as a scuba diver. Searching amongst the reeds. Probing deeper for pearls of information that you find useful.

Useful because it’s health giving, vitality boosting, life extending, mood lifting stuff….

And not a lipsynching monkey in sight!

So here’s something I think you’ll love: 17 extraordinary pearls of useful information culled from the deepest coves of the internet…

17 powerful health remedies from your kitchen cupboard

I don’t know about you, but for me, the kitchen cupboard used to be the place to store teabags, ketchup, old onions and sneaky bars of chocolate.

But as you’re about to see, many of the everyday items you find in your kitchen are, in fact, powerful health remedies.

You’ll be amazed at how many ordinary, inexpensive, natural foodstuffs can improve your life and vitality, ease pain and help protect you against disease.

For instance, here’s a website that shows you…

  • How blueberry jam could be good for your eyesight
  • How vinegar can relieve a headache
  • How avocados can help slow the ageing process.
  • How ginger can super-charge your love life
  • How broccoli can help protect your lungs
  • How oil could help rid you of dandruff
  • How cabbage can soothe the pain of an ulcer and many more secrets.
  • How one simple lemon could be a powerful weapon against the symptoms of asthma.
  • 4 natural migraine secrets and many more

It’s fascinating stuff, easy to read, and it’s there on the net for you to look at and put to good use.

Go and take a look at this downloadable report: http://www.shop.goodlifeletter.com/site/page/view/natural

It’s easy and risk-free

Simply click ‘download now’ and the report will be on your computer in moments.

There’s no risk, no obligation. And it’s great fun.

Talking of fun….

Natural ways to enhance your mood this autumn If you’re feeling sluggish, down, or on edge, I thought I’d tell you today about some natural mood enhancers.

These tips are here for you information and illumination only. Please consult your doctor first if you have a serious depression problem during winter.

You’ve heard about the herbs ginseng, St. John’s Wort, and valerian root, right?

You probably know that they’ve been long renowned as mood enhancers by some… and vilified as useless placebos by others.

Well, I’m not going wade into this eternal argument today, though I side with people who find things that make them feel BETTER, whatever the science boffins say.

Instead, let’s avoid the easy ‘one-stop’ solutions (groan!) and look at ways of eating and living yourself into a better frame of mind.

Try this mood lifting diet;

  • Eat foods rich in vitamin B6. They’ve found that low levels can lead to depression. I suggest cabbage, bananas and fish. But not on the same plate, unless you’re pregnant!
  • Get some folic acid in your system. Researchers have found that clinically depressed patients just don’t have enough. Eat more citrus fruit, spinach and wholegrain foods which are packed with the stuff.
  • Try nuts; especially Brazil nuts. They contain selenium, which was found to boost your mood by researchers at University College in Swansea. The daddy of all selenium is the mighty Brazil nut.
  • Eat chilli peppers. They contain capsaicin, which helps your brain produce endorphins – the natural mood-enhancing chemicals in your body.
  • Wherever you can, get 15 minutes in the bright sunlight. Vitamin D is essential for a balanced mood.

And finally, I know it’s not what you want to hear… but exercise is vital.

The runners high

Even modest exercise boosts your self esteem…

improves self-image, confidence and feelings of accomplishment… and it gives you a break from the things that get you down.

Even the scientific community recognise this subtle, almost unquantifiable effect. They call it ‘the runner’s high’.

But you don’t need to run. Take it easy. Go to the edges of what you can achieve.

Go for a brisk walk for 20 minutes each day, or try swimming or cycling to the shops. Since I got my bike I’ve been a changed man, believe me.

It doesn’t even feel like exercise. It’s getting from A to B.

A to B and to the PUB!

If you’ve enjoyed this letter please have a look at the fantastic Seasonal Diet Programme that I have just published – it is a goldmine of useful facts and information about healthy living, easting…

…and drinking!

Click here to find out more: http://www.thegoodlifeletter.com/promos/superfoods/

Yours, as always

 

Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter

www.shop.goodlifeletter.com
www.goodlifeletter.com

Category: Health & Wellbeing Tags: , ,

Exhaustion

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Liz Almond pictureAs life progresses, we all have ups and downs, but sometimes during the down moments, you can find it really difficult to get back up again, as you find yourself with such exhaustion and you just don’t have a good reason for why you have it.  Sometimes you may get the urge to have a sleep in the afternoon and this regenerates you enough, but other times you might be sleeping  for hours during the day, with little motivation to get on with your life.

When I developed Chronic Pain Syndrome following an accident, I had two years off work.  The first 6 months of this, were pretty much spent in bed.  I was absolutely exhausted and I was not sure why, as I definitely hadn’t done any exercise to warrant the need to sleep so much!  As time went on, I did not need to sleep so much, but I had periods of time where I felt exhausted for no reason.  So what was causing it?

Fifteen years on, now that I have a much deeper understanding of holistic therapies, I understand that my exhaustion was linked to boredom and being resistant to change and move forward to live the life I really wanted to live.  I was a very quiet and shy person and really did not believe that I was destined to do anything great with my life.  I was wrapped up in my own world and not seeing how I was reacting to life, rather than actively taking part!

Spiritually, we all have a purpose in life…

and if you are not working towards that purpose, you will become bored and frustrated with life.  At the time of my accident, I was working many hours in a stressful job as a Catering Manager.  I knew I wanted to do something else, but I had no money to retrain to be a secretary, which was my dream at that time.  Basically, I was bored, but not making any effort to change things.

Liz Almon - Reiki treeDuring my time off sick, I was empowered to Reiki.  Although I would not have attributed my success back then to being given this gift, I now realise that this gave me the energy that I needed to make the change as it works on you, Spiritually, Emotionally, Mentally and Physically.  Within 6 weeks of being empowered, I had got off benefit, and was training to be a teacher.  My relationship and money improved too.  Not bad for someone who was predicted by doctors to only have 70% of her function for life!

So if you are suffering from exhaustion and you don’t know why, ask yourself what can I do differently to change this situation and start to change negative thinking to being more positive.  Your past experiences will affect your thinking and the more you live in the present, the more you will see a change in your energy levels.  If however you find it difficult to change your thinking, then you may wish to work with a practitioner like myself to change unconscious behaviour which is sabotaging your success and your energy.

 

Liz Almond

Health and Wellbeing Coach

Insightful Minds

 

liz@insightfulminds.co.uk

07815 904848

www.insightfulminds.co.uk

 

Category: Health & Wellbeing Tags: ,

Would you like to be well again?

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Liz Almond picture

When you are feeling unwell, life just isn’t as good as it could be is it?  You may have a multitude of symptoms or you may just have one thing that is making you miserable.  So what can you do about the situation?

Well as I see it, you have two options, you can sit and wallow in your misery or you can take action and be more positive.  Following an accident at work in 1996, I had two years off work as I was suffering from Chronic Pain Syndrome.  I was predicted by doctors to only have 70% of my function for life.  It was devastating news….My problems were investigated by GPs, rheumatologists, orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists and pain specialists and I was on high strength pain killers which had no effect.

As you can imagine, life was not great.  I was terribly unhappy and really quite negative.  I was on benefit, in debt, in excruciating pain and in a relationship which was not empowering me.   I went from therapist to therapist trying to get help to make me happy and well again.  It took me a long while to realise that they could not make me happy, and the only person who could make me happy was me!  I had to change my attitude to life and become more positive.  I had to take control of my health!

So what worked….

In my search for happiness, I tried all sorts of complementary therapies.  The main one which made such a difference to me early on was Reiki.  I was empowered to the healing energy in October 1998 and by January 1999, I was off benefit, I was working full time as a teacher and the pain I felt was much reduced.  Life was looking up …. I felt amazing and things seemed just to get better and better.  How could something so simple as being attuned to this natural healing method help me feel so wonderful? Now 15 years on, I am Reiki Master/Teacher and I am able to pass on the wisdom I have learnt in my journey of self-healing.

If you are wondering what Reiki is, according to the Reiki Council (www.reikicouncil.co.uk) it is….

Liz Almon - Reiki tree‘Universal life energy’, a term used to describe a system of natural healing.  This healing tradition was founded by Dr Mikao Usui in the early 20th century and evolved as a result of his research, experience and dedication.  We live in a world of energy that nourishes and maintains all living things.  When the energy flows uninterrupted there is balance and harmony within and around us and we experience a sense of wellbeing. Reiki works at bringing us into balance and works on a spiritual, physical, emotional and mental level.’

So was it just Reiki that got me well again or did I use other complementary therapies?

As well as Reiki, I have done lots of other stuff to change my mindset.  I have read numerous self help books, been on courses for Neuro Linguistic Programming, Timeline Therapy and Hypnosis and much more.  In essence, when you start to take responsibility for what you are saying to yourself and understand why you are reacting to your life negatively, your pain and unhappiness will change.  Anyone can be attuned to Reiki and once you have it, it is with you for life, so it is a great way to help yourself!

Choose to act now and think differently about yourself and your life.  Take responsibility for your happiness and be careful what you are saying to yourself.  Think happy thoughts and be grateful for what you have got, rather than what you haven’t.  Dream big and set yourself goals and work towards them.  Never settle for second best.  Remember the age that you are, does not stop you from having happiness right now.  It is free…..

 

Liz Almond

Health and Wellbeing Coach

Insightful Minds

 

liz@insightfulminds.co.uk

07815 904848

www.insightfulminds.co.uk

Category: Health & Wellbeing Tags: , , ,

Natural Healing With Energy Medicine

The body has a powerful ability to heal itself when given the tools it needs to stay healthy. We cannot entirely remove anxiety from our lives, but we can create lifestyles that reduce stress and toxins so the natural healing process can take place.

In the eastern hemisphere, medicine targets the mind, body and spirit while western medicine tends to treat symptoms through time-tested scientific methods. Although the two approaches represent opposite ends of the same spectrum, practitioners and clients are discovering that they actually complement each other. Using western and eastern philosophies together is known as integrative medicine.

Scientists now know that everything consists of energy, and that includes everything from our mitochondria to our thoughts and feelings. Our cells send out electrical impulses, collectively creating magnetic energy fields around our bodies. When this energy becomes imbalanced by stress, trauma or toxins, we develop diseases.

The goal of natural medicine, also known as energy healing, is to remove blockages in the body’s energy system so it can return to ideal health. Although new to traditional medicine, this philosophy originated thousands of years ago. Today it encompasses countless methods and theories.

Eight Kinds of Energy Healing

– Energy healers use their hands to send vital life energy to the magnetic field around the body. Modalities include Healing Touch, Pranic Healing, Reiki and medical qigong.

– Chinese medicine revolves around energy channels called meridians. Acupuncture uses needles to stimulate energy points along the meridians while acupressure applies physical force. Energy in Chinese medicine is known as “chi.”

– Qigong is an ancient form of martial arts that uses soft, sweeping motions to bring qi into the body and balance its magnetic field. “Qi” is the Japanese word for energy.

– Yoga, Sanskrit for “joining of the body, mind and spirit,” dates back to Vedic teachings in early India. The practice promotes clean living, gentle poses, breathing techniques and meditation as a way toward balanced living and union with source energy. In yoga, the word for energy is “prana.”

– Massage is a broad term that refers to the physical manipulation of the body’s connective tissues and muscles to bring about healing. Kinds of massage include craniosacral therapy, deep tissue, Swedish, Shiatsu and Thai. Soothing music and aromatherapy go well with the art of massage.

– Emotional Freedom Technique involves the process of tapping on various parts of the body to release buried emotions so it can replenish its own energy.

– Sound therapy uses sound vibrations to resonate with different parts of the body. Like energy, sound waves vibrate at specific speeds and are able to repair subtle energy patterns.

– Meditation refers to a group of techniques that use the mind to change one’s state of awareness. Its physical, mental and spiritual benefits are well-documented by scientific research.

Although there are many other techniques of natural healing, all seek to return the energetic body to its original state so that physical and emotional healing can occur. All kinds of healing are most effective when used as part of a daily practice. Most methods complement each other and western medicine.

By Serena Li

Serena Li enjoys exploring the topic of Complementary and Alternative Medicine as she believes in the power of natural healing through natural foods, a green lifestyle, and alternative therapies. She is a regular content contributor to Basic-Natural LLC, a natural living website providing practical information on a way of living that’s more in tune with nature, our environment, and our inner self.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serena_Li

 

Category: Health & Wellbeing Tags: ,

Find, Acknowledge and Celebrate Your Best Body Feature

There is an old song that goes accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; do not mess with Mr In-between. Great words!

Too often I hear women over 40 worrying constantly about their negative body bits. The media is full of articles telling us women how to disguise our faults. When that all seems too hard, we fall into the in-between. These are the so-so clothes that are neither flattering nor disguising but just plain boring.

When you dress to accentuate your best body feature all or most of the time, you show your self-confidence. You also stand out as a leader who is making the most of her strengths. In the different ways you draw attention to your best body feature, you learn creativity and give the visual impression of being a modern, forward-thinking woman. Wow!

Here is some inspiration for business and professional women over 40 to help you find, acknowledge and creatively accentuate your best body feature.

Step 1 – Find It

This is not always as simple as it sounds. I can hear you silently moaning that you have no best feature. Here is a starting list – your height, eyes, eyelashes, hair, face shape, long neck, figure, arms, hands, legs or feet. Something about one of these features causes others to notice you and comment positively on it. You may have dismissed the compliment. Now is the time to remember those words or ask your partner or friends what they think is your best physical feature and why. The why will be essential later. Another alternative is to go to an Image Consultant for an unbiased, positive assessment of your best body feature.

On the other side are those of you who know your best feature. You may have been complimented on it all your life and wish it would go away because you feel you are more than your striking feature. Some of you know what it is but you do not know how to accentuate it.

Step 2 – Acknowledge It

The most important part of acknowledgment is that it is for you first. You have been given your best feature to be uniquely you. It is part of you and something that will help you on your life’s journey like Paul Newman’s blue eyes. Be grateful for it. You have been given soft eyes to develop your gentleness; a strong face shape to develop your focused determination or your long fingers to be playful or elegant.

Secondly, it is there to attract others to you. They need it as a beacon to find you. Maybe they need to give you a life message or lesson; or come to you to learn something from you or to join you as part of your business or personal tribe.

Step 3 – Celebrate It

Short-term happiness is finding one item that accentuates and enhances your best body feature. You may discover that a princess line from the bust enhances your figure and you look for and wear that style all the time. You end up with a full wardrobe but feel stuck in a rut. Eventually you may get discouraged and you try to hide your best feature.

Long-term happiness is discovering and experimenting with different ways to develop and celebrate your best feature throughout the rest of your life. It is acknowledging your long fingers and celebrating them by learning all the different ways you can accentuate them. That may be experimenting with different nail shapes and colours; finding elegant, dramatic or fun rings, watches or bracelets; and looking for interesting sleeve styles and accents that draw attention down to your hands. Your long fingers become a source of physical and visual enjoyment for you because there is always the excitement of learning something new.

Repeating the same patterns of dressing over and over leads to women being judged as safe, boring and dowdy. Re-inventing yourself with minor or major changes to your clothes, colour and accessories is the mark of a modern, stylish woman.

Last Words

Making the most of yourself is about appreciating who you are physically as well as mentally and emotionally. Women who find, acknowledge and celebrate their best feature become a woman of influence who inspires other women to also make the most of themselves.

By Margaret A Sims

Margaret Sims is an Image Consultant and Modern Dressing Expert. Margaret helps entrepreneurial women over 40 dress to shine in a world of noisy experts so you can be an influential leader in your field. If this is you, visit my blog – http://thefashiontranslator.wordpress.com for more dressing tips. At both the Blog and Margaret’s website – http://yourfuturedirection.com.au you can sign up to get the free twice-monthly newsletter and receive your free eBook and Audio – ‘Look Fabulous, Feel Confident Every Day’.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Margaret_A_Sims

Category: Health/Fitness Tags:

Laugh Away Your Worries With Comedy CDs

Most of the people in America and other parts of the world are leading a hectic life. People are busy with their work and don’t get enough time to be with their families or enjoy a few moments of relaxation at their favorite places. Stress is a disease that can cripple your life, and can even cripple your immune system. You may suffer from hypertension, high blood pressure, and other illnesses. If you are stressed out, you should find a way to relax and rejuvenate your mind, body and soul. If you find that you are experiencing a lot of your stress from home or your office, you can use laughter as a way out of tense and difficult situations. You should always be able to handle tough situations coolly, but you can’t do that if you are constantly frazzled. Always make sure to keep this in mind, and try to make light of things whenever appropriate. To help, you could introduce a bit of humor into your entertainment menu. If you watch fun, entertaining shows, it will help you fight tension. Keep in mind, a little bit of laughter can go a long way when dealing with stress. After all, laughter is generally considered the best medicine.

There is even an old saying that laughter is the best medicine, for stress other illnesses. A few moments of laughing can help lighten up your mood and make the problems you are experiencing during the day vanish before your eyes. If you were to laugh every day, you’d be amazed at how your body would begin to heal itself. There are many examples in which people have chosen to forgo conventional medicine, and either buy or rent CDs, or Stand Up comedy CDs in order to induce healing laughter.

There are so many types of Comedy CDs available in the market, such as classical comedy, clean comedy CDs, and other CDs. You can also find new age comedy by stand up comedians. Their routines can entertain you, and help bring relaxation into your home. Watching these amusing programs on a regular basis has often brought about great successes, where illnesses have either completely disappeared, or are greatly reduced. Cds and Stand Up CDs have brought immeasurable joy to the millions of stressed out people. Comedy CDs are considered wonderful stress relief gifts, because humor is an excellent stress reducer and consequently an effective relaxation technique. Because of this, they can be wonderful gifts for your friends and loved ones. You can buy them from online stores at unbelievable prices

By Abelard Ku Tyler

The author provides a lot of information on Comedy CDs and Stand Up Comedy CDs. He can show you how to choose the best Comedy CDs from online stores.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Abelard_Ku_Tyler

Category: Health/Fitness

Top 10 Exercise tips for the 50 plus age group

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It is important to exercise at any age, but as we get older it can be harder to find activities that we feel we can do and want to do. Here are a few tips to help you include exercise in your daily routine.

With the increase in state pension age, you must look forward to retirement as the time to relax and enjoy your golden years. Retirement can enrich your life with opportunities to see more of your family, travel, pursue hobbies such as fishing, painting and gardening etc.

Even if you are still working, especially in a sedentary type of job, it is important to keep active. It is recommended that older people include exercise in their daily routine. It helps keeps you supple, oxygenated, helps lower your blood pressure and enables your bones and muscles to stay strong.

You may like to join a regular exercise class in Pilates or Tai Chai where professional advice can be given regarding any health issues and which exercises you should do to prevent aggravating the condition, for instance back problems. Certain exercises that put pressure on the spine should not be attempted without professional advice.

Here are our top ten tips on exercise and fitness for the 50 plus age group: 

  1. Walk every day for at least 20mins. Wear comfortable shoes, a pair of light, supportive trainers will do. Perhaps you should choose a half-size bigger than your usual size as your feet usually expand during exercise.
  1. Swim. The length of time depends on your posture, age and agility. Doing combinations of strokes is best for a minimum of 20mins, working up to 1 hour.
  1. Cycle. Depending on your agility, try a minimum of 15 minutes.
  1. Pelvic floor muscles.Your pelvic floor is very important whatever your age or gender – it is a diamond-shaped muscle that joins your pubis to the sacrum. Contract your transversus (tummy muscles) and think of bringing in that diamond shape muscle to the middle of your tummy – this is a pelvic floor lift.There are two exercises:
    i) Lift, hold and let go slowly.
    ii) Think of a building with three floors. Lift to first, hold, lift to second, hold, lift to third then let go slowly.
  1. Lie on your back in bed with your legs up in the air and “cycle” with your legs 100 times. If you have back problems, check first.
  1. Hold on to a table or kitchen worktop and try and lift your knee up to your chest. Do alternate legs 15-20 times
  1. Depending on your age and mobility stand and sit back on a chair/sofa between 6-10 times a day, holding on to something for support if you need to.
  1. Create mobility in your spine by rolling your body down; head first, towards the floor from standing and then slowly roll yourself back up. If you have back problems, check first.
  1. Using lightweight hand weights (if you don’t have any then use tins of bake beans or full water bottles), and do bicep curls.
  1. If you have time try to attend some Tai Chi, Qigong or Pilates classes, they are fantastic for mobility and increasing energy levels.

As people grow older, they tend to become more and more sedentary, it is very important to try and keep mobile by increasing movement and raise your heart rate.

Also don’t forget to drink water! Water regulates ALL the functions in the human body.

It flushes your kidneys and regulates all the functions in the human body including the flow of blood and lymph through the body, functioning of our brains, cushioning and regulation of organs, the transfer and absorption of nutrients into cells and tissue, the removal of waste out of the cells, the movement of nerve impulses through the nervous system, the balance of hormones, the regulation of body temperature and the lubrication and cushioning of joints. So, as you can see, it is very important for our health to drink plenty of water.

Category: Health/Fitness
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