Dr. Frank Lipman, The voice of sustainable wellness

This is one of the most inspirational videos I have seen!! Arthur Boorman was a disabled veteran of the Gulf War for 15 years, and was told by his doctors that he would never be able to walk on his own, ever again.

He stumbled upon an article about Diamond Dallas Page doing Yoga and decided to give it a try — he couldn’t do traditional, higher impact exercise, so he tried DDP YOGA and sent an email to Dallas telling him his story.

Dallas was so moved by his story, he began emailing and speaking on the phone with Arthur throughout his journey – he encouraged Arthur to keep going and to believe that anything was possible. Even though doctors told him walking would never happen, Arthur was persistent. He fell many times, but kept going.

Arthur was getting stronger rapidly, and he was losing weight at an incredible rate! Because of DDP’s specialized workout, he gained tremendous balance and flexibility — which gave him hope that maybe someday, he’d be able to walk again.

His story is proof, that we cannot place limits on what we are capable of doing, because we often do not know our own potential. Neither Arthur, nor Dallas knew what he would go on to accomplish, but this video speaks for itself. In less than a year, Arthur completely transformed his life.

Do not waste any time thinking you are stuck – you can take control over your life, and change it faster than you might think.

During tough economic times, many people think they need to sacrifice passion and focus solely on earning money. From a spiritual perspective, this is the exact opposite approach to generating real abundance. Yes, paying your bills takes practical action. But it also requires an internal belief system powered by inspiration and passion. Without an emphasis on passion, it’s likely that no matter how many actions you take, you’ll still wind up feeling stuck.

Neglecting passion blocks creative flow. When you’re passionate, you’re energized. Likewise, when you lack passion, your energy is low and unproductive. Energy is everything when it comes to earning. Quantum physics teaches us that our bodies are made up of subatomic particles that are energy. Your thoughts, attention, and focus affect your energy and therefore everything around you—including your bank account. So when you’re thinking only about the mundane to-do lists and practical action steps, you’re lowering your energy and in effect lowering your earning power.

Your life becomes what you think about most. When you focus on following your passion and letting inspiration flow, your energy is raised and your earning capacity is strong. But when you’re uninspired and bogged down by low-level thoughts, your attracting power is weakened.

Now that you have a better understanding of the earning value of passionate, positive energy, it’s time to take it more seriously. Read on for three simple, effective ways you can bring more passion into your life—even if you’re crazy-busy.

Read the Whole Article

Many of us have done a detox in order to eliminate internal toxins from our body, but how many of us do anything about the toxins in our own homes? Common household and body-care products are increasingly being found to have negative health effects on the nervous and immune systems, on our reproductive systems and on our endocrine, cardiovascular and respiratory systems.

The average home contains 500-1,000 chemicals, many of which we are unable to see, smell or taste. While these chemicals may be tolerated individually and in small doses, problems can arise when one is exposed to them in combination or in larger doses. Everyone’s tolerance level is different depending on genetics, nutritional status and previous contacts with many chemicals, but the negative effects of household toxins are often compounded by the use of other drugs especially the habitual use of alcohol, or prescription or recreational drugs.

Indoor air is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Home insulation, so wonderful for keeping our homes warm in winter and cool in summer, doesn’t allow fresh air in, so we’re constantly breathing in the same stale air. Wall to wall carpeting keeps us cozy, but can introduce a myriad of toxins to our well insulated homes. It can also trap dirt, fleas, dust, dust-mites and lead.

Read the Whole Article

If you’re a patient who has incorporated complementary and alternative medicine into your health care regimen, you may have bumped up against some resistance on both sides of the healing fence. Your doctor may think your homeopath is a total quack selling snake oil, and your homeopath may think your doctor is a big thug, thwacking his pharmaceutical hammer at anything that moves.

Your doctor may insist that you stop all of your herbs, cancel your acupuncture appointment, and ditch the flower essences that were lovingly prepared for you.

On the flip side, your complementary and alternative medicine providers may poo poo traditional Western treatments that you choose to pursue.

In fact, I knew a brother and sister – he was a gastroenterologist MD and she was a naturopathic doctor. Both went to medical school for four years to learn their craft, and both specialized in gastrointestinal disorders. And yet, they couldn’t discuss medicine without knock-down, drag out, screaming hissy fit fights. He thought she was delusional. She thought he was a closed-minded snob who was merely frightened of what he didn’t understand.

It made Thanksgivings very awkward.

Read the Whole Article

A couple of weeks ago I did a talk with the amazing Trudie Styler at ABC Carpet and Home. We talked about a wide variety of  topics including organic farming, the environment, philanthropy, aging and of course, my passion at the moment…modern wheat, or what  we are calling wheat but is actually more goatgrass. This segment is all about the problems with modern wheat.

What’s your relationship like to your breath? Do you have one?

There are days that go by when I think I take about two full breaths. Sound familiar? I have a magnet on my vision board that reminds me to breathe, and a huge “Inhale, Exhale” card obviously doing the same. But it’s still not enough. I mean, how many reminders do we need?

We’re basically lazy when it comes to breathing, don’t you think? We are so used to the breath always being with us, that we unequivocally take it for granted. We’re too so often checked out of our bodies, that we believe we breathe with our brains.

More than seven years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, this was made abundantly clear. I had a random and terrifying panic attack. I literally couldn’t find my breath — it was so shallow and constricted — and my mind went crazy searching for it. Only when I dropped out of my head and re-inhabited my body did breathing kick in, and my lungs soften to receive it.

Seriously, we shouldn’t have to wait around for something acute like this to happen to get us to pay attention to our breathing. If you’re not convinced, here are five of my favorite reasons to be conscious of the breath:

1. It is cleansing – In with the new, the fresh and the vibrant. Out with the old, the toxic and the unnecessary. I find this to be such a relief. Before signing up for the next best juice cleanse, apply this same intention for ridding yourself of built-up residue in a series of focused, conscious breaths. Here, you are essentially asking your body to promote the healing and ablution of itself. Talk about empowering.

2. It is conductive – When you direct healing breath into sore parts of your body, it helps to alleviate pain. How many times have you had a massage where the masseuse asks you to breathe into the tight muscle that he or she is working on? Breath not only helps you release muscle tension, but it also energetically harnesses the power of the mind to support such release.

Read the Whole Article

It’s time we had a serious discussion about your mouth and what you’re doing to it to promote its health. Are you harming you body without even realizing it? Chances are, you are. While many of us are fanatical about brushing and flossing, if you’re using a toxin-packed toothpaste and an alcohol-soaked mouthwash, you may be doing more harm than good. Here are a few thoughts on how to keep your mouth healthy without harming the rest of your body, what to look for and what to steer clear of:

Toothpaste is like brushing with flavored detergent.
Toothpaste. Come to think of it, you might be better off waxing the floors with it! If you take a moment to consider the ingredients commonly found in the average tube, it’s hard to ignore that toothpaste ingredients – and what they do to the body — are extremely alarming. In fact many of the chemicals found in toothpaste have been linked to skin disorders, rashes, sores, hormonal changes and even breast cancer. Among the top ingredients to avoid due to their carcinogenic and/or endocrine disruptive effects: titanium dioxide; parabens, proplybaraben, methylparaben; toxic-to-humans triclosan and sodium lauryl sulfate, also known as SLS or sulfate. Other ingredients to avoid: dioxane, blue dye 1 and 2, propylene glycol, sodium fluoride and hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide and sodium monofluorophosphate. And while some may scoff and think, “Well, it’s not like I’m eating the stuff,” the fact of the matter is, in effect, you are by delivering multiple doses of toxins directly into your body every time you brush. Though it might not seem like much, the cumulative effects can be health destroying, so I say, why take the risk?

Put on your HAZ-MAT suit and brush.
Here’s a better idea: switch to a toothpaste that’s lower on the biohazard scale. According to the consumer safety advocates and all-around smart scientists over Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics safety arm, among the best toothpastes are Cleure, Tom’s of Maine Natural Antiplaque Toothpaste and Arganat All Natural Clay Toothpaste. Although they are not completely chemical-free, they score highest in terms of safety, meaning they contain the fewest hazardous ingredients. Another interesting health-oriented brand is Retivin, which is infused with antioxidants, including CO-Enzyme Q10, Selenium, Vitamins C and E plus several homeopathic tissue salts to help balance the ecology of the mouth.

Read the Whole Article

The benefits of various vitamins, or nutritional supplements, are mentioned almost every day in the news. But with all the reports it can be confusing to know what vitamins do what. So here is a quick look at some of the major vitamins and minerals.

Studies indicate potential benefits and adverse effects of vitamins and minerals:

• Vitamin D may help prevent winter illnesses like colds and flu (this benefit was shown for post-menopausal women). Some people with low vitamin D levels might experience improvement in joint or muscle pain, depression or immunity when taking vitamin D. Vitamin D could help reduce the risk of falls and fractures in elderly people and improve dental health. Vitamin D may also help reduce the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women and of colon cancer in men and women. But too much Vitamin D can increase the risk of kidney stones.

• Vitamin C supplements might decrease the risk of cataracts and the severity of colds and protect the stomach from the irritant effects of aspirin. High doses of vitamin C may cause stomach pain or diarrhea, however.

• Vitamin A supplements (in the form of retinol) may boost immune responses and decrease the severity of acne, but too much vitamin A can cause liver disease, bone loss, dry skin and headaches.

Read the Whole Article

Dr. Terry Wahls learned how to properly fuel her body. Using the lessons she learned at the subcellular level, she used diet to cure her MS and get out of her wheelchair.

We are a nation of animal lovers: Fully 97 percent of us tell pollsters that we believe animals should be protected from abuse. But, are we willing to do anything about it?

Not if our diets are any indication. Most Americans continue to chomp down on chicken nuggets, ribs and burgers — inadvertently supporting abuse that they believe they oppose. It’s a sad fact that farm animals are exempted from the Animal Welfare Act, and are exploited in myriad ways that would warrant criminal charges if they had the same protections as dogs and cats. This has real implications for the daily welfare of farm animals, as well as for our diets and our health.

Allow me to present two particularly harmful examples: First, billions of farm animals are routinely drugged with antibiotics to make them grow faster, and to keep them alive in deplorable conditions that would otherwise kill many of them. Second, hundreds of millions are confined to cages or stalls so small they cannot even turn around. If this happened to dogs or cats, instead of chickens and pigs, we would all be outraged. And, these intense confinement conditions directly contribute to animal illnesses and environmental pollution that negatively affect all of us.

If you care about cruelty to animals, and the problems associated with factory farming, you should know more about Farm Sanctuary, an organization that runs two sanctuaries for abused farm animals; it works on legislation, litigation and education to help all farm animals.

Take the case of Riley: This tiny seven-pound piglet was up for auction at a New York stockyard, meaning he was on his way to the average American dinner plate. He was so sick he couldn’t stand. Incapacitated animals like Riley are called “downers,” and they are frequent sights at auctions. Farm Sanctuary’s Emergency Rescue Team stepped in, rushing him to a veterinary hospital. The stockyard’s severe neglect left Riley blind in one eye, and with his head permanently tilted.

Read the Whole Article