by Carolan Evans

Craniosacral Therapy is rapidly gaining recognition as one of the most gentle and yet powerful forms of holistic healing. It is a relatively new therapy, having been developed from one of those rare quantum leaps of inspiration by its founder, William Sutherland, an osteopath. Going completely against the established teaching of his time, he recognised a subtle motion within the intricate bony structure of the skull. He called this motion ‘primary respiration’, believing it to be of far more importance to our wellbeing than mere breathing!
During the next 100 years, more and more people were drawn to investigate this revolutionary therapy. At first, it was taught only to osteopaths, who were thought to be cranky even within their own discipline. Remember the struggles osteopaths have had to become accepted by the medical establishment and then think how difficult it must have been to establish a new science that went against even the accepted tenets of osteopathy.
Fortunately, however, the knowledge and skill has been made available to a wider cross section of therapists during the last twenty years, and more and more people have come to realise that here is a very powerful way of bringing the body back into balance and harmony.

No movement – no life!
How can this primary respiration be of such importance? Movement is life, and without movement there is no life. Think of the beating of the heart, the coursing of the blood and lymph through their channels, the wavelike movements of the digestive system. At the very core of the body lies the brain and spinal cord, within a bony protection and bathed in a special fluid, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). As the subtle movements of the primary breath take place, that CSF travels along the core of the body, drawn upwards during ‘inspiration’ and flowing downwards with ‘expiration’. This movement of fluid is like the movement of the oceans and has been called ‘the Tide’. The subtle movement within the core of the body is taken up and expressed throughout the tissues and organs so that in an ideal body there would be a synchronised and harmonious rhythm within all the parts.
Naturally, there is no ideal body! Our systems meet physical and emotional stress and challenge by contracting, and in that contraction they disturb and disrupt the flow of the tide. It’s as if the incoming tide is flowing onto a rocky shore; when it meets an obstacle, it has to find a way around. Where the body is fully resourced, the blockage is a temporary disruption: if the stresses are too frequent or the shock too great, however, the blockage becomes gradually established and can eventually lead to discomfort and pain. During our lifetime we may collect, and disperse, many different blockages; sometimes we are able to use our body’s natural healing abilities and at other times we need help. The light touch of the trained craniosacral therapist is able to detect the blockage through the restricted flow of the fluids and to reflect this information back to the body, helping it to gather the necessary resources to re-establish harmony.

Not just for babies
There has been a great deal of publicity recently about the value of craniosacral treatment for babies and children. Their systems respond very effectively to this form of therapy, and it is extremely valuable in problems to do with suckling, hearing etc., and to problems that may relate to the birth process. What is becoming more widely accepted is the value of this therapy to all, adults and children alike. A wide variety of conditions has been found to respond to craniosacral treatment, ranging from the problems of back pain and sports injury to conditions of uncertain aetiology such as exhaustion, insomnia, learning difficulties and dyslexia.
What usually happens during treatment is that the client lies fully clothed on a treatment table and the therapist makes gentle contact, placing the hands lightly on the body. Traditionally, the contact is from the head and the base of the spine, the sacrum; in fact, any part of the body may be held. It is important to realise that the therapist is not actually ‘doing’ anything to the client. The process is a partnership in which the therapist assists the body to find its own vitality and healing resource.
During the treatment the client usually feels deeply relaxed. There may be tingling, shaking or a feeling of heat as structures and tissues release. Sometimes there may be emotional responses, the memories of happiness, sadness or times past, and these are valuable signposts to the process of healing. After treatment a client may feel energetic or tired, loose limbed or slightly achy but any side effects are mild and short lived. As the therapeutic partnership builds over a course of treatments, the responses will be more rapid as the body regains its innate healing abilities. It is possible for some problems to be resolved with one or two sessions, but usually more treatments are needed, for some clients require a period of a few weeks or months to reach a point where they feel different.

healingarts | July 10, 2006 |

healingarts | May 22, 2006 |

DailyOM

1. We seldom concretely identify those situation and people we find stressful. To understand what brings on stress in your life, try to maintain a heightened awareness of your physical and mental feelings for a week. When you feel your heart racing, your muscles tightening, or your stomach contracting, ask yourself why. Keep a list of those things that trigger stressful feelings.

2. Make relaxation part of your daily routine. Deep breathing and simple stretches can be performed both at home and in the office. Taking a few minutes to sooth your soul by savoring a cup of tea or grounding yourself can center you, giving you the ability to deal with stress more effectively.

3. It can be difficult to let go of worries or thoughts that provoke anxiety. One technique involves dissipating stressful thoughts before they get out of control. Concentrate on the thought and firmly say “Stop” to prevent the thought from recycling itself in your mind. In doing so, you will be free of the thought’s power to influence your mood.

4. Get back to nature. Enjoying a relaxing day out of doors can help you feel more calm and balanced during your normal routine. A mountain hike or day at the beach can be a wonderful stress reducer. If you simply can’t get away, try listening to a CD of nature sounds or spending a few minutes in front of a sunny window.

5. Each day, give yourself the gift of doing one thing you truly enjoy. It may be writing, gardening, dancing, walking, or watching a good film. Doing something you like every day will improve your quality of life and frame of mind, making you better able to handle stress as it arises.

6. Assess your priorities and learn to say no. Determine what activities you don’t want to or can’t do at home or at work, and, if you can, stop doing them. Don’t overload your schedule by committing to new responsibilities because you are afraid to say no. Instead, dedicate yourself only to the activities that bring you joy.

7. Guided imagery can help you stay relaxed during periods of stress. Take a moment to imagine yourself in a peaceful setting that feels safe and nurturing, perhaps somewhere you have felt lighthearted and calm in the past. Concentrate on your setting until you feel your muscles and mind relax.

8. Exercise affects both the body’s energy level and the brain’s chemistry by encouraging the release of beneficial hormones. It can also help you let go some of the tension and pent-up energy associated with stress by giving you a healthy outlet for your feelings. The mood-elevating benefits of exercise last for days, but regular exercise is the most uplifting.

9. Take a break. When you’re faced with any type of stress, stop for a moment to collect your thoughts. Breathe slowly and deeply for ten seconds and try to clear your mind of unpleasant thoughts. You’ll still be facing the same situation, but your outlook will be clearer.

10. When you have compiled a list of stressful triggers, compile a second list outlining your personal methods for dealing with stress. Though unexpected or frustrating situations can seem overwhelming, you have the power to cope. Recognizing your strengths can make dealing with stress seem easier.

healingarts | June 30, 2005 |

Sarah Karnasiewicz | Salon

A new book argues that children desperately need to be able to play in the woods — and that our culture’s sterile rejection of nature is harming them in body and soul.

In the not-so-distant past, kids ruled the country’s woods and valleys — running in packs, building secret forts and treehouses, hunting frogs and fish, playing hide-and-seek behind tall grasses. But in the last 30 years, says journalist Richard Louv, children of the digital age have become increasingly alienated from the natural world, with disastrous implications, not only for their physical fitness, but also for their long-term mental and spiritual heath.

In his new book, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder,” Louv argues that sensationalist media coverage and paranoid parents have literally “scared children straight out of the woods and fields,” while promoting a litigious culture of fear that favors “safe” regimented sports over imaginative play. Well-meaning elementary school curricula may teach students everything there is to know about the Amazon rain forest’s endangered species, but do little to encourage kids’ personal relationship with the world outside their own doors. And advances in technology, while opening up a wealth of “virtual” experiences to the young, have made it easier and easier for children to spend less time outside.

Louv spent 10 years traveling around the country reporting and speaking to parents and children, in both rural and urban areas, about their experiences in nature. In “Last Child in the Woods,” he pairs their anecdotes with a growing body of scientific research that suggests children who are given early and ongoing positive exposure to nature thrive in intellectual, spiritual and physical ways that their “shut-in” peers do not. By reducing stress, sharpening concentration, and promoting creative problem solving, “nature-play” is also emerging as a promising therapy for attention-deficit disorder and other childhood maladies. Indeed Louv, in both the book’s title and content, suggests that while increased exposure to nature may prove a salve for many of the childhood disorders that now run rampant, the very ubiquity of those disorders is evidence that two generations of alienation from nature may have already resulted in considerable harm to our kids.

Louv recently visited Salon’s New York office to discuss the correlation between the decline in kids’ contact with nature and the rising obesity epidemic; the criminalization of old-fashioned play; and the simple pleasure of having dirty hands and wet feet.

What is nature-deficit disorder?

It’s the cumulative effect of withdrawing nature from children’s experiences, but not just individual children. Families too can show the symptoms — increased feelings of stress, trouble paying attention, feelings of not being rooted in the world. So can communities, so can whole cities. Really, what I’m talking about is a disorder of society — and children are victimized by it.

Why, in the age of ADHD, did you choose such a loaded name?

Because I do think it is a disorder, just one of society. I am very careful in the book not to give the suggestion that this is some kind of clinical diagnosis. Maybe someday it will be, but until the scientists come up with a better name, that’s the one I’m using.

Is this just an urban problem, or does it affect children in suburban and rural areas as well?

For my research, I tried to cross every barrier I could think of — for instance, I did interviews in more rural areas and suburban areas, like the one I grew up in outside Kansas City, which still has a lot of nature. I went in there thinking, Well, certainly if you have woods next to you, kids will be out in them. But that simply wasn’t true. The parents and the kids there were saying the same things as kids in more urban areas. In fact, the amount of nature you have in New York City is actually better than some of the newer suburbs; imagine, today, a city building a Central Park.

A major study came out a few months ago that said that the rate of obesity in children is growing faster in rural areas than it is in cities and suburbs. Again, it seems counterintuitive. But it’s not so counterintuitive when you think about the fact that the family farm is fairly nonexistent now. Kids in rural areas are playing the same video games, watching the same television, and they’re on longer car rides.

Certainly the explosion of technology over the last 25 years — from cable TV, to video games, home computers and the Internet — has curtailed the amount of time kids spend playing outside each day. But during that same time, hasn’t society as a whole become much more aware of environmental issues?

I say early in the book that it’s more like the polarity has reversed. When I was a kid I had an intimate knowledge of woods and fields, to the extent that I pulled up hundreds of survey stakes to protect them from bulldozers. I really had a sense of ownership — I had no clue that my woods were connected to other woods ecologically. It’s the reverse now. Kids today can tell you lots of things about the Amazon rain forest; they can’t usually tell you the last time they lay out in the woods and watched the leaves move. It’s not that learning about the Amazon is bad — it’s great, and I’m glad it’s happening — the problem is, it becomes an intellectualized relationship with nature. And I don’t think there’s much that can replace wet feet and dirty hands. It’s one thing to read about a frog, it’s another to hold it in your hand and feel its life.

By now, we’ve all heard the reports that two out of 10 American children are clinically obese — four times the number reported in the late 1960s. And you note that this obesity epidemic has coincided with the greatest increase in organized sports for children in history. So, what can unstructured outdoor play offer kids that soccer and little league can’t?

First, I’m not against soccer, and it’s not a 1-to-1 ratio in terms of cause and effect. In the book, I’m cautious when talking about obesity — it’s complex. But I think it is a striking fact that the two [statistics] have grown alongside one another. One factor is just frequency of movement — it’s one thing to go to soccer practice once a week, or even three times a week — compared to the way kids used to come home from school and just head out. Sometimes I played free-form pick-up baseball, but most of the time, I was just gone, in the woods, and I was moving, I was racing my collie. That was constant. And I was so skinny I had to run around in the shower to get wet.

But there’s something going on here that’s more mysterious, and frankly the lack of study on it means any answer to your question will be incomplete. There is the “biophilia” hypothesis, which in some quarters is controversial, but that suggests we are still hunters and gatherers and biologically we have not changed. That hypothesis says there is something in us that needs natural forms, that needs association with nature in ways that we don’t fully understand. I think we instinctively understand that there is something about being in nature that you cannot get on a soccer field.

At one point you quote research that says children playing in parks are naturally drawn, not to the landscaped fields, but to the rocky borders where there are natural plants and ravines. But parents seem to spend a lot more time these days looking for spaces that are “child-friendly.” By building super-structured suburban communities dominated by gates and playing fields, are we actually making kids’ imaginative worlds smaller?

What we usually design is really more “lawyer-friendly” than “child-friendly.” This is a litigious society, and a lot of the places you are talking about have been designed by attorneys, not park designers. But there is interplay between the fear of lawsuits and [parents'] fear of a “bogeyman” that is going to hurt their children — indeed, they almost have become one and the same.

In the book I write about natural tort reform, and the idea that we will have to confront this problem sooner or later. For instance, I bring up the idea of the “criminalization” of natural play, where if you take all the state regulations, the well-intended and often needed environmental restrictions, and add those to the covenants and restrictions that now cover almost any new development that has been built in the last 20 years — things that control everything to whether you can plant rosebushes in the front to what color your curtains — well, the idea of a freewheeling, tree-house-building, nature-loving kid doesn’t fit that. So if all of [these restrictions] were to be enforced, playing outdoors by kids would be essentially illegal. It’s not all enforced, but the message still gets through — kids get a sense that there’s something unsavory about playing outdoors. And it’s too easy to blame this on lazy parents who let the TV do the baby sitting, when the truth is there is a matrix of forces that have come together to create this problem, and those forces are hard to stand up against as an individual and as a people.

You say that parents’ anxious attitude about the world — what you call “stranger danger” — a nebulous paranoia about violent criminals and sexual predators, kidnappers, traffic accidents, lawsuits and freak disease – is one of many factors, including increased technology, that has alienated kids from nature.

It’s not good for human beings to live with fear all the time. In this society we are increasingly living in fear, whether it’s of terrorism or “stranger danger” — and statistically, most of that fear is not warranted. Child abductions by strangers are, in fact, rare, and criminologists and others report that the number of them may have decreased in recent years. A 1988 report by the National Incidence Study on Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children in America, stated that there were between 200 and 300 children abducted by strangers in 1988. The most recent such National Incidence Study, found 115 children kidnapped by strangers in 1999. A relatively few child abductions are amplified into the appearance of an epidemic through nonstop coverage by the media. All of this is not to say that child abductions are a small matter, but fear of them must be weighed against the effects of that fear on our daily lives — including children’s ability to find joy in nature. However, if you live next door to somebody whose child was kidnapped, it doesn’t matter what the statistics are, and I understand that fear and I’ve felt it myself as a parent.

According to the 2005 Duke University Child Well Being Index, American kids are safer now than they have been at any time since 1975. Specifically, violent victimization of children has dropped more than 38 percent. So why do we feel that so much has changed?

Now, to play devil’s advocate to my own theory, if kids are safer now it may well be because we’re holding them inside. But what we don’t measure is the danger of what happens to their imaginations and inner lives because of it — those other repercussions aren’t measured at all.

In terms of where it all comes from — well, there’s a story I mention in my book about a little girl who was stolen from her bedroom and killed, one of these cases that was ’round the clock on CNN for a long time. That happened right over the hill from where I live in California. It’s an important story, I don’t mean to dismiss it — but weeks of it, around the clock? We’re being conditioned to be fearful all the time. So a lot of it is the media.

That said, the name you chose for your book — “Nature-Deficit Disorder” — probably plays directly into the fears of many parents.

I knew that would come up and made a conscious decision to accept the criticism, because I am confident this issue is important enough to deserve attention.

That said, I don’t want to dwell on the negative; I’m hopeful that as this change becomes more visible to everyone, and the detriments of this shift begin to be discussed, that we also start to discuss the good news — the wonderful things that nature play can do for kids, like reducing the symptoms of ADHD, stress reduction, increased creativity, cognitive skills, and full use of the senses. “Last Child in the Woods” may be the first place all this research has come together outside of academia, but there have already been some very brave researchers working on these ideas. I call them brave because most of them are not winning big grants — since as one of them explained to me, “Who’s going to pay for a toy you can’t sell?” For instance, at the University of Illinois, there is remarkable study happening that suggests that nature play might be a therapy for kids with ADHD. Well, I would also flip that around and ask if there is something missing in kids’ lives that is actually contributing to or aggravating their symptoms? I’m skeptical about a lot of the diagnoses of ADHD, really.

You repeatedly refer to a 1991 study that found that the radius children are allowed to roam outside their homes has shrunk to a ninth of what it was 20 years ago. I remember being a young teenager and sneaking off into the woods to tell stories and smoke cigarettes with my girlfriends. This didn’t necessarily promote good health, but it did give me a feeling of independence and the knowledge that I had a life — a kid’s world — that existed separate from my parents. Maybe what is hurting kids is not just that they have been given less freedom to interact with nature, but that they have been allowed less freedom and independence in general?

Well, there have been a lot of cigarettes smoked in tree houses. (Laughs) Seriously, it’s true that not only nature can give the feeling of autonomy. But then when you think about where could kids be getting that instinctual self-confidence and independence — where could they go — it’s hard to think of a lot of positive places. Nature often provides an atmosphere you can’t get anywhere else, a sensation of being solitary. And again, I think there are mysterious things that happen, a lot of which have to do with the full use of our senses. I can’t think of many places, other than maybe the New York subways, in which we have our senses going full cylinder. And I make the case in the book — though I am very careful to say that I am speculating about this — that letting your kids have some independence in nature, where they can use all their senses, in the long run makes them safer.

Usually hyper-vigilance — behavior manifested by always being on guard and ready to fight or flee — is associated with trauma in childhood. But the hyper-awareness gained from early experience in nature may be the flip side of hyper-vigilance — a positive way to pay attention, and, when it’s appropriate, to be on guard. We’re familiar with the term “street smart.” Perhaps another, wider, adaptive intelligence is available to the young? Call it “nature smart.” One father I spoke to said he believes that a child in nature is required to make decisions not often encountered in a more constricted, planned environment — ones that not only present danger, but opportunity. Organized sports, with its finite set of rules, is said to build character. If that is true, and of course it can be, nature experience must do the same, in ways we do not fully understand. A natural environment is far more complex than any playing field. Nature does offer rules and risk, and subtly informs all the senses.

And certainly, the other aspects you mention — that give a child self-confidence, independence and the sense that they can exist in the world and are somewhere bigger than their parents and their problems — are all a part of the healing possibilities of nature that I hope people will explore.

Another refrain that surfaces in your book is kids who say, “I don’t really have time to play,” because they are always being carted off to some kind of lesson or “enrichment” activity. In this context you speak of both the “criminalization” and “commercialization” of play — that unless play takes the form of a competitive, structured activity, parents and kids think of it as just “wasted time” — a lazy afternoon of daydreaming. When do you think this shift began?

The shift has been happening for several decades with increasing rapidity. But the essential thing to realize is that we can do something about it. If you think about the phrase “nature-deficit disorder” — all you really have to do to deal with the disorder is get your kid out in nature now and then — it’s not brain surgery. It’s actually fun, and it’s fun for parents.

The key is that as long as nature experiences are considered an extracurricular activity, nothing will change. There are folks out there who are hungry for it, who want an alternative to what is going on in terms of organized sports and over-structured lives. The minute it begins to be seen as a health issue, truly a mental health issue — that wonderful things can happen for your child if you give them direct experiences with nature — then it’s no longer an extracurricular activity and really, it’s no longer even leisure. When that kind of conceptual shift happens, I think a lot of parents will be relieved — they’ll have a logical reason to do what their instincts tell them to do anyhow.

healingarts | June 2, 2005 |

Darcel Rockett | consciouschoice

You would think wearing glasses all your life would somehow make them easier to bear. But the fact remains that glasses and/or daytime contacts are still cumbersome, and some of us long for the freedom that comes from seeing the world with a truly naked eye. Especially when you consider that eyes are considered the windows to our souls.

Which leads one to consider alternative eye treatments such as crt lenses and the See Clearly Method scm. The former flattens the cornea via contact lenses worn at night to bring the eye into correct focus and the latter is a self-help method that focuses on exercises to naturally improve eyesight.

“Myopia is a small part of the optometric practice, but a huge focus within alternative eye treatments,” said optometrist Paul Harris, proprietor of the Baltimore Vision Fitness Center.

See Clearly Method

Harris, who has taught visual therapy to about 750 optometrists during his 24-year career, feels comfortable in saying the See Clearly Method can help nearsighted sufferers reduce their prescription by two diopters, the numbers that indicate the strength of a lens prescription.

However, Harris, who gets many patients who have used the method, says that while the process may help about two to five percent of the population, the results will not radically change their lifestyle.

“You see claims that the See Clearly Method can help everybody, but those claims make us professionals cringe,” he said. “Even if I use all the tools in my kit, I can only decrease nearsightedness by two diopters. There’s nothing bad or harmful in the See Clearly Method, but in the end the person will still be dependent on glasses.”

According to the website www.seeclearlymethod.com, some people using the self-help method are trying to avoid needing stronger prescriptions. Others are trying to reduce the time wearing their glasses or want to get rid of them altogether.

The regimen was designed by optometrists and research scientists (the American Vision Institute) who believed just as one can improve health by exercising, one can improve vision by exercising the eyes. Hence, a type of ocular calisthenics was formed — four half-hour exercise sessions, to be done daily for a minimum of 30 minutes, that teach vision improvement techniques. The program comes in the mail with four eye charts, an instruction manual, a daily progress chart, and an eyestrain program to help those who work on computers frequently, for $349. (The program has a 30-day money-back guarantee.)

The scm entails 16 techniques that are supposed to strengthen and enhance the flexibility of the muscles that govern the eye’s focusing power and control its movements (i.e., holding a finger up as you vary your focus back and forth from the finger to a distant object).

Some exercises are holdovers from a regimen developed in the 1920s by New York ophthalmologist William Horatio Bates, and may seem a little unusual or extreme to some people. For instance, one technique called “Light Therapy” has you sit with eyes closed facing an unshaded light bulb.

The “palming” technique has you close your eyes and rest them against your palms. In “Hydrotherapy” you alternately placing hot- and cold-water-soaked towels against your eyes. Each exercise takes two to four minutes. And people can choose techniques depending on what they want to improve.

“The exercises are meant to change the way one uses their eyes, create new habits for their eyes in their daily goings-on,” said Steve Cooperman, director of marketing for Vision Improvement Technologies, Inc.–a Fairfield, Iowa, company that markets the scm. “But the key factor of the program is motivation. Doctors have seen more results in those who use the program with a positive attitude.”

“A smaller population could benefit from the See Clearly Method by reducing some component of their nearsightedness,” said optometrist Jeffrey Weaver, director of the clinical care group for the American Optometric Association in St. Louis, MO. “They’re clever in saying some of their exercises could slow down the progression of nearsightedness. There’s probably some truth to that, but still no real way of measuring this after using the procedure.”

The manual suggests that as your vision improves, you should obtain progressively weaker corrective lenses until you no longer require correction or have realized maximum improvement.

“Their claims may be somewhat misleading and probably a stretch,” said Weaver. “They’re clever in saying some of their exercises could slow down the progression of nearsightedness. There’s probably some truth to that, but still no real way of measuring this after using the procedure.”

Sandra Block, a professor who specializes in pediatrics at the Illinois College of Optometry, has similar sentiments.

“I think the optometric community is not supportive of the See Clearly Method because it’s primarily based on testimonials,” said the self-described clinical researcher. “The research on this method hasn’t demonstrated the effectiveness of it. It’s a method based on personal success and what is success, how can it be measured? It disturbs me that the scm don’t give good end points.”

CRT Lenses

As for contact lenses that help eye power, there are crt lenses created by Paragon Vision Science, Inc. of Mesa, Ariz. According to the website, www.paragoncrt.com, the lenses are used in corneal refractive therapy, a non-surgical process wherein the cornea is reshaped while sleeping. This reshaping is supposed to make spectacles and contact lenses unnecessary during daytime hours. Per the website, these lenses are designed for individuals of any age and when used as instructed, most patients have improvement in the first few days of treatment and achieve nearly their optimum vision in 10 to 14 days.

For this reason, corneal refractive therapy is supposed to help a bigger group of people, according to Dr. Norman Patterson, an optometrist who has been utilizing the procedure with patients in his clinic, the Tinley Park Eye Center, for three years. Weaver suggests that less than 10 percent of U.S. optometrists use the practice.

“The process has been around for the past five to six years, but there hasn’t been enough information put out to the public on it,” Patterson said.

“I think it’s the greatest thing that’s ever come out for the industry—everyone’s eyes will improve.”

When the crt lens (which has a flatter center and higher edges than a regular contact lens) is applied to the eye, pressure from the lens is placed on the cornea so it becomes flatter. To correct vision, it essentially reshapes the optical surface of an eye that is long and makes it rounder, as a normal eye should be.

“When the eye stretches to become longer, the vision is very poor due to the thinning nature of the cornea,” Patterson said. “But this lens, which is thinner and more porous than a regular contact lens, reshapes the cornea.

This used to be done through the practice of orthokeratology, which uses a series of lenses over the course of one to two years. Now scm does this overnight and with one lens.”

To create the proper lens, optometrists perform an eye exam, use a keratometer to measure the curvature of a patient’s cornea and its meridians, and then match that information with the measurement of nearsightedness of the patient. The result is produced in the lens. The entire process costs $1,200.

The lens is supposed to be put in every evening for a minimum of 10 hours. Weekly progress is checked by the doctor once a month for the first year and once a year after that. While scm does not guarantee 20/20 vision for all patients, Patterson said those with 20/40 vision are still happy with the results after years of being dependent on glasses. He added that people who used to be fitted for bifocals can now see without glasses.

“The sooner one gets in when they realize they are nearsighted, the better their vision will be with scm,” Patterson said.

But there are limits with scm lenses. According to the website, there are no lenses for people suffering from farsightedness. And the effects of the lenses are temporary for those with myopia. One must wear them regularly while sleeping or vision will return to its original state in as little as 72 hours. The website goes on to say after treatment has begun, insertion of the scm lenses for part of the day or some use of temporary soft lenses in different prescriptions might be necessary. The lenses may also need to be replaced once a year or more frequently, depending on how careful the user is in caring for them.

Even with these limitations, Weaver, a 20-year professional, said scm seems to be a very useful procedure for some people.

“With scm the expected result is 20/20 vision and maybe some think that’s going to be seen with the See Clearly Method, but it’s less likely,” he said and added this caution: “Before one embarks on a path for their eye health, an eye exam with an optometrist should be taken and future plans discussed.”

Darcel Rockett is a Chicago area writer who has been wearing glasses since kindergarten.

healingarts | May 31, 2005 |

Beverley Thorpe | Evergreen News

Chemicals bring new and functional products into our lives. They allow food to stay fresh longer, carpets to be stain-resistant, cookware to be nonstick and raingear to repel water.

All this convenience comes with a hidden price.

A new study, “Sick of Dust: Chemicals in Common Products a Needless Health Threat in our Homes,” uncovers the dangers and health costs in our own households. Watchdog organization Clean Production Action, along with local partners such as Washington Toxics Coalition, analyzed dust samples in 70 homes across the country.

The results: Every single sample contained every single chemical class analyzed in the study, including phthalates, pesticides, alkylphenols, brominated flame retardants, organotins and perfluorinated chemicals.

These chemicals are linked to hormone disruption leading to reproductive and developmental problems. Plus, research links them to allergies, cancer and immune-system damage.

“As a mother of a four-month-old boy, I want to do all I can to ensure my child grows up healthy,” says Ivy Sager-Rosenthal, an environmental health advocate at Washington Toxics Coalition. “But I can’t vacuum my way out of this toxic mess.”

Lisa Brown is majority leader of the Washington State Senate. Her household dust was one of the 70 samples.

“Protecting babies and breast milk by phasing out toxic flame retardants is an urgent matter and one of my priorities,” says Brown. “I feel even more concerned now that I know these chemicals are contaminating our homes, and I am going to continue to fight for the bill [proposed to regulate flame retardants].”

Other local participants in the study with household dust samples included the Bullitt Foundation’s Denis Hayes, Swedish Medical Center breast surgeon Dr. Patricia Dawson, State Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-36th District), St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral faith formation director Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding and Evergreen Monthly editor Bob Condor.

How did these chemicals end up contaminating common household dust? For those who live near a refinery or a chemical production facility, there is direct exposure from emissions. The government’s annual Toxic Release Inventory report confirms this.

For most others, exposure comes from the ingredients used to make common household products. This information is disturbing, not least because studies show we spend up to 90 percent of our time indoors, most of that at home. Children may take in five times as much dust as adults since they play and crawl on the floor, making them more vulnerable while their organs and immune systems are developing.

Brominated flame retardants, for example, commonly used on carpets, sofas and in electronic consumer goods, are toxic to developing nervous systems. They can disrupt the thyroid, which regulates growth and development in newborns. It has long been known that small decreases in thyroid hormone levels can impair learning abilities in children. Yet we now find these chemicals in dryer lint, on the inside film of windows, and, as the study shows, in common household dust.

The “Sick of Dust” report found toxic plasticizers used to make vinyl soft, stabilizers used in rigid PVC products, emulsifiers used in detergents and cosmetics, and stain-resistant chemicals used in Teflon pans and Gore-Tex. All the chemical classes tested for are internationally recognized as Chemicals for Priority Action, yet to date government regulators have passed no laws to phase out their use.

Forward-thinking companies and retailers have not waited for government action. They are restricting the list of chemicals their product suppliers can use and are actively seeking sustainable materials and design ideas for their products.

Clean Production Action sent a questionnaire to 35 leading companies and retailers to see if they have a chemicals policy or if they were even aware of the types of chemicals in their product lines. It found furniture manufacturers such as Herman Miller and IKEA had progressive policies to research and use safe chemicals, and carpet manufacturer Shaw Carpets is working closely with green chemists to design chemically safe and recyclable carpets.

Likewise, leading TV and computer brand names such as Dell and Samsung are aggressively researching safer chemicals and replacements for all brominated flame retardants and PVC uses. Aveda and Unilever are working to eliminate the use of any materials known to persist in the environment or damage the hormone system. Unfortunately, such chemicals policies are not standard practice in the retail trade, and most companies have no chemicals policy at all.

“This report is a wakeup call that we need action now to get toxic flame retardants and other dangerous chemicals out of our homes,” said Barry Lawson, M.D., president of the Washington chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “The legislature should move to phase out all forms of toxic flame retardants, and fund [the department of] Ecology’s PBT program to phase out other persistent toxic chemicals.”

healingarts | May 30, 2005 |

Rebecca Ephraim, R.D., C.C.N. | Common Ground

The exciting intersection between natural medicine and human genome mapping

Roger Porter is taming his body’s trouble-making tendencies by taking a walk on the wild side of science. He’s harnessing information gleaned from his genetic make-up to control factors in his life that could promote disease.

Porter’s new insights into his health come as a result of the mapping of the human genome (completed in 2003) and the hyper-drive research that’s putting this genetic DNA blueprint to work. The science behind this is something that integrative health professionals are hailing as a potentially revolutionary leap for natural, preventative medicine.

Significantly, research is revealing that using specifically tailored interventions can modify how genes express themselves. In other words, just because we have a genetic variation that makes us susceptible to a certain disease—heart disease, for instance—it does not mean we will necessarily develop heart disease. That’s because our genes are fluid and flexible in how they “express” themselves and, with the knowledge of our genetic inefficiencies, we can influence the factors that would send them off in the wrong direction.

Porter has just gotten specific health counseling based on DNA analysis of his cells that came from a cheek swab. “Roger’s a person who really needs to pay attention to the part of his life having to do with blood pressure and cardiovascular risk,” says Cheryl Myers, a registered nurse and director of health sciences for Integrative Therapeutics, Inc. (ITI), an Oregon-based company pioneering DNA testing to apply it to natural medicine. She steered us through Porter’s cardiovascular panel of 25 genetic variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced “snips”). Porter, 53, agreed to share his results with us as long as we didn’t use his real name.

SNPs allow us to trace gene irregularities we’ve inherited from our parents that are associated with common diseases or health conditions. Once you have this information, you can develop a focused plan to better prevent the possibility of family risks echoing in your health.

Porter’s SNPs, explicitly ADD1, CYP11B2 and LPL, show increased risk of creating blood clots and a sensitivity to salt that can lead to an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Knowing his genetic inefficiencies, Porter can incorporate lifestyle changes and, importantly, tailored nutritional supplementation—such as therapeutic doses of fish oil and Co-Q10—that can strengthen his body’s ability to counter how his genes could express themselves to create disease.

Revolutionary Leap

Reminiscent of a science fiction decoder ring but for real, the SNPs decipher health risks specific to each individual … risks that we could only guess at before the human genome was mapped and studied.

We’ve known that many genomic inefficiencies show up with high frequency in our North American population. For instance, about 50 percent of Caucasians in North America have less than optimal capability of metabolizing the B-vitamin, folic acid. Without substantial folic acid, deficiencies can lead to heart disease and, in women, can cause neural tube defects leading to birth defects in newborns. Knowing that you’re a poor metabolizer of folic acid, you’re able to counter that genetic inefficiency by regularly supplementing with high doses of the vitamin.

Because Porter was adopted and knows only that his maternal grandfather died of heart disease, the profile has filled in some blanks for him. “I’ve been struggling with high cholesterol. Now I understand what heredity brings to the table and how I can troubleshoot problems I may be predisposed to,” he says.

That’s one of the primary reasons people want their genetic profiles, according to Patrick Hanaway, M.D., the medical director for Ashville’s Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory, that’s also marketing the tests, known as genomics screening.

Hanaway says that, like Porter, many know about a health threat that runs in their families and want more understanding of how to reduce their risk. Others are simply looking for a sophisticated approach to maintaining good health. And then there are those who are struggling with chronic illness and not getting better with conventional treatments. “This is where we’re dealing with the cutting-edge doctors who have the ability to refine their own clinical practice and are able to offer patients or clients testing and understanding,” he says. “It’s helping to identify potential roadblocks for optimizing health and well-being.”

Hanaway and Myers focus on educating integrative medicine practitioners who want to use the genomics testing in their practices. Since their companies believe the SNPs test results need to be explained, patients must go through practitioners to access the testing, which costs anywhere from $200 to $500 for basic panels and up to $2,000 for comprehensive testing; it’s not covered by insurance. Great Smokies collects the DNA sample through either a mouth rinse or blood test. You can find various companies on the Internet marketing directly to consumers but, at this time, there’s no review of their competence.

Putting It Into Practice

Michael Biamonte is a naturopath and certified clinical nutritionist based in New York City who’s been using genomics testing for about a year. “There’s a certain amount of relief felt by patients because now they know it’s not a mystery anymore,” says Biamonte, who works a lot with toxicity and environmental illness and uses the genomics testing to pinpoint detoxification pathways in patients compromised by genetic inefficiencies. Often, he says, those who come to him are seeking answers they couldn’t find with conventional medical practitioners.

“One of the key things is that you can be much more specific with this type of approach because you’re getting [information on] exact gene errors and then a patient knows what physiological problems can be due to [them].”

For those who already take a number of nutritional supplements by using a scatter shot approach to cover their nutritional bases, SNPs provide the opportunity for specific recommendations. “When we go over the tests,” Biamonte explains, “I tell patients ‘these supplements I’m about to recommend are based on your genetics. These are not things you can just take for a brief period of time and then stop. You’re going to have to take these indefinitely because your genes are not going to change’.”

While conventional medicine uses genetic testing to match patients with drugs or assist in the development of new drugs, a natural approach employs genomics testing for minimizing genetic risks through nutritional supplementation while also modifying diet, environmental factors and toxic exposure that match the unique health risks for each individual.

There’s a robust debate over the confidentiality of one’s genetic information, but Hanaway and Myers say their companies ensure privacy and anonymity—by using numbers instead of patient names. Moreover, according to Myers, genomics testing is not considered medical testing. “We’re not looking for disease, this is not a cholesterol check or a white blood cell count so it’s not required to be put anyplace in the [person’s medical] chart. So people can be as private with this information as they choose to be.”

Rebecca Ephraim, a registered dietitian and certified clinical nutritionist, is the national health editor for Dragonfly Media. Contact her by e-mail.

healingarts | May 22, 2005 |

Louise Hay, from You Can Heal Your Life

Life is Really Very Simple. What We Give Out, We Get Back

What we think about ourselves becomes the truth for us. I believe that everyone, myself included, is responsible for everything in our lives, the best and the worst. Every thought we think is creating our future. Each one of us creates our experiences by our thoughts and our feelings. The thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experiences.

We create the situations, and then we give our power away by blaming the other person for our frustration. No person, no place, and no thing has any power over us, for “we” are the only thinkers in it. When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives.

Which of these statements sounds like you?

“People are out to get me.”
“Everyone is always helpful.”

Each one of these beliefs will create quite different experiences. What we believe about ourselves and about life becomes true for us.

The Universe Totally Supports Us in Every Thought We Choose to Think and Believe

Put another way, our subconscious mind accepts whatever we choose to believe. They both mean that what I believe about myself and about life becomes true for me. What you choose to think about yourself and about life becomes true for you. And we have unlimited choices about what we can think.

When we know this, then it makes sense to choose “Everyone is always helpful,” rather than “People are out to get me.”

The Universal Power Never Judges or Criticizes Us

It only accepts us at our own value. Then it reflects our beliefs in our lives. If I want to believe that life is lonely and that nobody loves me, then that is what I will find in my world.

However, if I am willing to release that belief and to affirm for myself that “Love is everywhere, and I am loving and lovable,” and to hold on to that new affirmation and to repeat it often, then it will become true for me. Now, loving people will come into my life, the people already in my life will become more loving to me, and I will find myself easily expressing love to others.

Most of Us Have Foolish Ideas about Who We Are and Many, Many Rigid Rules about How Life Ought to Be Lived

This is not to condemn us, for each of us is doing the very best we can at this very moment. If we knew better, if we had more understanding and awareness, then we would do it differently. Please don’t put yourself down for being where you are. The very fact that you have found this book and have discovered me means that you are ready to make a new, positive change in your life. Acknowledge yourself for this. “Men don’t cry!” “Women can’t handle money!” What limiting ideas to live with.

When We Are Very Little, We Learn How to Feel about Ourselves and about Life by the Reactions of the Adults Around Us

It is the way we learn what to think about ourselves and about our world. Now, if you lived with people who were very unhappy, frightened, guilty, or angry, then you learned a lot of negative things about yourself and about your world.

“I never do anything right.” “Its my fault.” “If I get angry, I’m a bad person.”

Beliefs like this create a frustrating life.

When We Grow Up, We Have a Tendency to Recreate the Emotional Environment of Our Early Home Life

This is not good or bad, right or wrong; it is just what we know inside as “home.” We also tend to recreate in our personal relationships the relationships we had with our mothers or with our fathers, or what they had between them. Think how often you have had a lover or a boss who was “just like” your mother or father.

We also treat ourselves the way our parents treated us. We scold and punish ourselves in the same way. You can almost hear the words when you listen. We also love and encourage ourselves in the same way, if we were loved and encouraged as children.

“You never do anything right.” “It’s all your fault.” How often have you said this to yourself?

“You are wonderful.” “I love you.” How often do you tell yourself this?

However, I Would Not Blame Our Parents for This

We are all victims of victims, and they could not possibly have taught us anything they did not know. If your mother did not know how to love herself, or your father did not know how to love himself, then it would be impossible for them to teach you to love yourself.

They were doing the best they could with what they had been taught as children. If you want to understand your parents more, get them to talk about their own childhood; and if you listen with compassion, you will learn where their fears and rigid patterns come from. Those people who “did all that stuff to you” were just as frightened and scared as you are.

I Believe That We Choose Our Parents

Each one of us decides to incarnate upon this planet at a particular point in time and space. We have chosen to come here to learn a particular lesson that will advance us upon our spiritual, evolutionary pathway. We choose our sex, our color, our country, and then we look around for the particular set of parents who will mirror the pat-tern we are bringing in to work on in this lifetime. Then, when we grow up, we usually point our fingers accusingly at our parents and whimper, “You did it to me.” But really, we chose them because they were perfect for what we wanted to work on overcoming.

We learn our belief systems as very little children, and then we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs. Look back in your own life and notice how often you have gone through the same experience. Well, I believe you created those experiences over and over because they mirrored something you believed about yourself. It doesn’t really matter how long we have had a problem, or how big it is, or how life-threatening it is.

The Point of Power Is Always in the Present Moment

All the events you have experienced in your lifetime up to. this moment have been created by your thoughts and beliefs you have held in the past. They were created by the thoughts and words you used yesterday, last week, last month, last year, 10, 20, 30, 40, or more years ago, depending on how old you are.

However, that is your past. It is over and done with. What is important in this moment is what you are choosing to think and believe and say right now. For these thoughts and words will create your future. Your point of power is in the present moment and forming the experience of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and so on.

You might notice what thought you are thinking at this moment. Is it negative or positive? Do you want this thought to be creating your future? Just notice and be aware.

The Only Thing We Are Ever Dealing With Is a Thought, and a Thought Can Be Changed

No matter what the problem is, our experiences are just outer effects of inner thoughts. Even self-hatred is only hating a thought you have about yourself. You have a thought that says, “I’m a bad person.” This thought produces a feeling, and you buy into the feeling. However, if you don’t have the thought, you wont have the feeling. And thoughts can be changed. Change the thought, and the feeling must go.

This is only to show us where we get many of our beliefs. But let’s not use this information as an excuse to stay stuck in our pain. The past has no power over us. It doesn’t matter how long we have had a negative pattern. The point of power is in the present moment. What a wonderful thing to realize! We can begin to be free in this moment!

Believe it or Not, We Do Choose our Thoughts

We may habitually think the same thought over and over so that it does not seem we are choosing the thought. But we did make the original choice. We can refuse to think certain thoughts. Look how often you have refused to think a positive thought about yourself. Well, you can also refuse to think a negative thought about yourself.

It seems to me that everyone on this planet whom I know or have worked with is suffering from self-hatred and guilt to one degree or another. The more self-hatred and guilt we have, the less our lives work. The less self-hatred and guilt we have, the better our lives work, on all levels.

healingarts | May 11, 2005 |

Jerry Jampolsky, from Forgiveness: The Greatest Healer of All

Consider for a moment that happiness is our natural state of being. At the Center for Attitudinal Healing, where forgiveness is so much a part of everything that we do, we say that the essence of our being is love!

We learn to look at life from the perspective that we are spiritual beings who are just temporarily in these bodies of ours. When we look upon our lives that way, we also begin to see that love and happiness are inseparable. And what forgiveness teaches us is that it is possible to choose love over fear and peace over conflict regardless of the circumstances affecting our lives.

Before we talk about forgiveness, let’s briefly explore the roots of unhappiness. By looking at where unhappiness starts, we can move toward a very different way of looking at the world. A good place to begin this exploration is with that part of us which believes that our happiness lies in external things.

Living in this modern society, as we do, it becomes all too easy to believe that money and the accumulation of material things will make us happy. The trouble is that the more we accumulate, the more we want. No matter how much we get, it almost never seems like enough. Once we begin making choices from this perspective, we fall into the habit of believing that we will eventually find something outside ourselves that will bring us lasting happiness. The fact that this search frequently ends up with our feeling frustrated, angry, unhappy, and even hopeless is our clue that this belief isn’t working.

Why is it so difficult for us to see that our search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is only hiding the fact that we are both the rainbow and the gold?

There are so many temptations in the world on which to blame our unhappiness or our lack of money and material things. We look around us and see people with more than we have who seem to be happier than we are. We turn to other people and seek to fill the hole in our souls with our relationships. It may seem like a big jump we are making from seeing more material things as the answer to seeing other people as the answer. But the same part of us which tells us that the answers are to be found in externals also tells us that we should be able to make other people responsible for our happiness. Surely, if we could only find the right person, our lives would be fulfilled!

Pretty soon we are on a psychological treadmill, going round and round in an endless circle, disappointed and unhappy because neither money and material things nor our relationships are making us happy. We have moments, but they seem too fleeting. We may begin to feel trapped by life. But what, we may ask, is the alternative?

What is this part of ourselves that keeps us seeking outside ourselves? Can we even name it? It is the part of us which believes that our true identity is limited to our bodies and personality self. It is the part of us which sneers at any suggestion that our true essence is that we are spiritual beings living for a time in these bodies.

I like to use the term ego to describe the part of us that is so concerned with externals. The ego tries to justify its presence in our lives by saying that it is only looking after our better interests, that our bodies need it to stick around or we are going to accidentally step out in front of a speeding truck or forget to feed ourselves or protect ourselves from all the dangers that are in the world. Our egos would have us believe that anyone who doesn’t think that money can buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop.

Again and again, our egos send us the message that we live in an unfair world where we will be victims if we aren�t constantly on the alert. Our egos are quite happy when we become convinced of our victimhood, because then we hand our power over to them. The last thing our egos would want us to believe is that we have a choice-that we can choose not to be victims, that we can, in fact, choose love rather than fear, that we can choose to forgive rather than hold on to our embitterments, grudges, and judgments.

It is easy to see how the ego interprets happiness, love, and peace of mind as its enemies, for when we are enjoying these states of being, we are experiencing our spiritual essence. We are seeing a world that is very different from the one our egos furnish us. Forgiveness is easy when we look at the world through the eyes of love, since it is then clear that the answers we have been seeking all of our lives can be found here and not in the ego’s beliefs in the externals of life.

At its worst, we hear the ego in our minds saying that it is impossible to experience happiness for long, so we had better be able to turn to the physical reality for our true and lasting happiness. Eventually, things will fall apart. Something is sure to go wrong. Someone or something will intrude on our happiness. So we’d better be on the lookout for the person who is to blame. The ego’s advice is to become a faultfinder, to make certain we are always right and the other person is always wrong.

Ultimately, our happiness or unhappiness actually is measured by the degree to which we accept the advice of our egos. Think about what happens whenever we judge other people, hold grievances in our mind, or cling to blame and guilt. What we feel at such times blocks us from experiencing love, peace, and happiness. Our feelings of unhappiness are magnified and we become faultfinders, probing our world for circumstances or people who might be to blame for our unhappiness.

Forgiveness is a transformational process. In a heartbeat, we can let go of the externally based paradigm that says we must look outside ourselves for true happiness. With a simple change of mind, we can release ourselves from the ego’s conviction that to be safe we must believe in our victimhood and act defensively. With a shift of perspective, we can stop seeking other people or things outside ourselves to blame for our unhappiness. We can embrace our true spiritual essence and instantly find that this has always been our source of love and peace and happiness. It is never more than a heartbeat away, and it is free for the asking.

Forgiveness can be learned at any age and by anyone, regardless of their present belief system, the past they have experienced, or the way they have treated others around them.

A Model for Forgiveness

Several years ago, my wife, Diane, and I met a remarkable woman by the name of Andrea de Nottbeck. We became acquainted with her through a most unusual phone call from a person in Switzerland, who told us that a woman who lived there had a painting she wanted to give us. The woman was ninety-three years old at the time and was very healthy. While she had given most of her wealth to philanthropic organizations, she still had one material possession to give away before she died. It was a thirteenth century painting of Jesus Christ.

Feeling perplexed about who should get the painting when she died, Andrea had gone out to the mountains to meditate on it. After a few moments, she had gotten the message “Love Is Letting Go of Fear.” The painting, she decided, should go to Jerry Jampolsky, the author of the book by this title, which is about the ways that we prevent ourselves from loving. And so she had her friend call me in the States.

We learned that following her husband’s death, several years before, Andrea had become a bitter, crotchety old woman. She was difficult to get along with, frequently provocative, and extremely argumentative. At the age of eighty-five, a friend gave her a copy of Love Is Letting Go of Fear.

This book became Andrea’s daily reading. Soon she began forgiving all the people in her life who she felt had hurt her. She forgave herself for behavior she knew had caused pain or had been unloving. Miraculously, her life changed. No longer crotchety and angry at the world, she became more carefree and joyful than she’d ever been in her life. To celebrate her transformation, she changed her name to Happy.

Without my ever knowing it until I met Happy, she had been responsible for getting Love Is Letting Go of Fear translated and published in French many years before.

When I heard the story of Happy’s transformation, Diane and I decided to visit her, combining our trip with one I already had scheduled for the Middle East. Upon our arrival, we met this most extraordinary woman. She showed us a French magazine with her picture on the cover-of her flying in a hang glider high over the French countryside! She was eighty-eight at the time. And as if that weren’t enough, she had gone stunt flying in a biplane at the age of ninety-one.

We spent three wonderful days with Happy at her home in Geneva, Switzerland. I have to say that she lived up to her new name in every way imaginable. She was one of the happiest, most peaceful, and most loving people I have ever met.

When we asked Happy what she had done to bring about all these positive changes in her life, she replied, “Oh, I just gave up all my judgments.”

We left Happy’s home just after the first of the year, having celebrated the New Year with her. Diane took the painting she had given us back to California while I went on to my meeting with some friends in the Middle East. Three weeks later, we received a phone call that Happy had died peacefully in her sleep as she had predicted.

To this day I think about Happy’s story of how her life was transformed through forgiveness. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to meet this delightful woman. She will forever remain a most powerful model of forgiveness for both Diane and me, and a reminder to us all that we are never too old to change.

Miracles Inspired by Forgiveness

Finally, there is a story in Yitta Halbertstam and Judith Leventhal’s book, Small Miracles: Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life, which clearly illustrates the process of forgiveness. I paraphrase it here:

There was a young man named Joey, who at the age of nineteen left home and turned his back on his Jewish religion. His father was extremely upset with his son and threatened him with total rejection if he did not change his mind.

Joey did not change his mind, however, and all communication between father and son ceased. The son wandered throughout the world to find himself. He fell in love with a wonderful woman, and for a while he felt that his life had meaning and purpose.

A few years went by, and one day in a coffee-house in India, Joey ran into an old friend from his hometown. His friend and he passed the time of day, and then the friend said, “I was so sorry to learn about your father’s death last month.”

Joey was stunned. It was the first he’d heard about his father’s passing. He returned home and began to reexamine his Jewish roots. His girlfriend and he split up because she was Jewish, too, but did not want anything to do with her Jewish tradition.

After a short stay at home, Joey traveled to Jerusalem and found himself at the Wailing Wall. He decided to write a note to his deceased father, expressing his love and asking for his forgiveness.

After Joey wrote the note, he rolled it up and tried to fit it into one of the holes in the wall. In the process, another note fell out of the same hole and landed at his feet. Joey reached down and picked it up. Curious, he unrolled the note. The handwriting looked familiar. He read on. Amazingly, the note was from his father, asking God to forgive him for rejecting his son and expressing deep, unconditional love for Joey.

Joey was thunderstruck. How could this possibly happen? It was more than a coincidence � it was a miracle. As difficult as it was for him to believe what had occurred, there was the note, written in his father’s own hand, irrefutable proof that this was not just a dream.

Joey began studying the Jewish faith in earnest. A couple years later, back in the States, a rabbi who was a friend of his invited him to dinner. That night at the rabbi’s house, Joey came face-to-face with his old girlfriend who had left him years before. She, too, had returned to her Jewish roots.

And, yes, Joey and his girlfriend were married soon afterwards.

Time and again we hear stories in which the process of forgiveness wipes clean the slate of a painful past. It is not always easy to accept the fact that a shift in perception can apparently produce such miracles, removing the blocks to our awareness of love. But Joey’s story indicates that not even death can stand in the way of this process. It is as if the reality of the incident that once caused us such grief vanishes and is replaced by the love that was always there � and will always continue to be there forever and ever.

healingarts | May 9, 2005 |

Caroline Myss, from Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

In the autumn of 1982, after ending my career as a newspaper journalist and obtaining a master’s degree in theology, I joined forces with two partners to start a book publishing company called Stillpoint. We published books about healing methods that were alternatives to establishment medicine. Despite my business interest in alternative therapies, however, I wasn’t the least bit interested in becoming personally involved in them. I had no desire to meet any healers myself. I refused to meditate. I developed an absolute aversion to wind chimes, New Age music, and conversations on the benefit of organic gardening. I smoked while drinking coffee by the gallon, still fashioning myself after an image of a hard-boiled newspaper reporter. I was not at all primed for a mystical experience.

Nonetheless, that same autumn, I gradually recognized that my perceptual abilities had expanded considerably. For instance, a friend would mention that someone he knew was not feeling well, and an insight into the cause of the problem would pop into my head. I was uncannily accurate, and word of it spread through the local community, Soon people were phoning the publishing company to make appointments for an intuitive assessment of their health. By the spring of 1983 1 was doing readings for people who were in health crises and life crises of various kinds, from depression to cancer.

To say I was in a fog would be a gross understatement. I was confused and a little scared. I could not figure out how I was getting these impressions. They were, and still are, like impersonal daydreams that start to flow as soon as I receive a person’s permission, name, and age. Their impersonality, the nonfeeling sensation of the impressions, is extremely significant because it is my indicator that I am not manufacturing or projecting these impressions. It’s like the difference between looking through a stranger’s photograph album, in which you have emotional attachments to no one, and looking through your own family’s photo album. The impressions are clear but completely unemotional.

Because I also didn’t know how accurate my impressions were, after a couple months of consultations I found myself dreading each appointment intensely, feeling each was a high-risk experience.

I got through the first six months only by telling myself that using my medical intuition was a bit of a game. I got excited when I made an accurate “hit” because, if nothing else, an accurate hit meant my sanity was intact. Even so, each time I wondered: ‘Will ‘it’ work this time? What if no impressions show up? What if I’m wrong about something? What if someone asks me something I can’t answer? What if I tell someone she’s healthy, only to learn later that she’s had a terminal diagnosis? And above all, what’s a journalist-theological-student-turned-publisher doing in this borderline occupation in the first place?”

I felt as if I were suddenly responsible for explaining the will of God to dozens of sad, frightened people, without any training. Ironically, the more these folks wanted insight into what God was doing to them, the more I wanted insight into what God was doing to me. The pressure I felt finally resulted in years of migraine headaches.

I wanted to carry on as if my emerging skill were no different from a talent for baking, but I knew better. Having grown up Catholic and studied theology, was keenly aware that transpersonal abilities lead one inevitably to the monastery–or to the madhouse. Deep in my soul, I knew that I was connecting with something that was essentially sacred, and that knowledge was splitting me in two. On the one hand, I feared that I would become incapacitated, like mystics of old; on the other, I felt destined for a life in which I would be evaluated and judged by believers and skeptics. No matter how I envisioned my future, however, I felt I was headed for misery.

But I was fascinated by my newfound perceptual ability, nonetheless, and was compelled to keep on evaluating people’s health. In these early days the impressions I received were mainly of a person’s immediate physical health and the related emotional or psychological stress. But I could also see the energy surrounding that person’s body. I saw it filled with information about that person’s history. And I saw that energy as an extension of that person’s spirit I began to realize something I had never been taught in school: that our spirit is very much a part of our daily lives; it embodies our thoughts and emotions, and it records every one of them, from the most mundane to the visionary.

Although I had been taught, more or, less, that our spirit goes either “up” or “down” after death, depending upon how. virtuously we have lived, I now saw that our spirit is more than that. it participates in every second of our lives. It is the conscious force that is life itself.

I carried on with my health readings on a sort of automatic pilot, until one day my ambivalence toward my skill was resolved. I was in the middle of a session with a woman who had cancer. The day was hot, and I was tired. The woman and I sat facing each other in my small office at Stillpoint. I had completed her evaluation and was hesitating for a moment before sharing it with her. I dreaded telling her that the cancer had spread throughout her body. I knew she was going to ask me why this catastrophe had happened to her, and I felt irritated by my responsibility of answering her. Sure enough, as I opened my mouth to speak, she reached over, put her hand on my leg, and asked, “Caroline, I know I have a serious cancer. Can’t you tell me why this is happening to me?”

My indignation rose to meet the hated question, and I almost snapped, “How would I know?”–when suddenly I was flushed with an energy I had never felt before. It moved through my body, as if it were pushing me aside in order to make use of my vocal cords. I could no longer see the woman in front of me. I felt as if I had been shrunk down to the size of a dime and ordered to “stand watch” from inside my head.

A voice spoke through me to this woman. “Let me walk you back through your life and through each of the relationships of your life,” it said. “Let me walk with you through all the fears you’ve had, and let me show you how those fears controlled you for so long that the energy of life could no longer nurture you.”

This “presence” escorted this woman through every detail of her life, and I mean every detail. It recalled the smallest of conversations for her; it recounted moments of great loneliness in which she had wept by herself; it remembered every relationship that had held any meaning for her. This “presence” left the impression that every second of our lives–and every mental, emotional, creative, physical, and even resting activity with which we fill those seconds–is somehow known and recorded.

healingarts | May 7, 2005 |