Can breathing alone reduce fibroids?

I have been on a quest for mastering the breath for who knows actually how long?? Many, many lifetimes I'm sure! I recently found a book that is very encouraging, extremely informative and potentially life changing if you engage in the techniques they share.

Having involved myself in the nasal vs. mouth breathing debate many times, this book, Free your Breath, Free your Life: How conscious Breathing can relieve stress, increase vitality, and help you live more fully by Dennis Lewis, addresses this widely debated topic very clearly.

Reasons for nasal breathing:
• The hairs that line our nostrils filter out particles of dust and dirt that can be injurious to our
lungs.
• Nasal breathing maintains the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood
(the opposite of hyperventilation)
• The only way to fully activate your para-sympathetic nervous system or, relaxation response
• The only way to contact the olfactory nerves to stimulate your brain and put it into its
natural rhythm. If you don't breathe through your nose, in a sense you're only half alive!
• The only way to fully activate you lungs and reach down into the lower portion of the lobes

Thank you Dennis for your hard work in compiling this valuable information!

Prevent disease by clearing out internal heat!

This dietary preparation for Winter comes directly from John Doulliard DC, author and director of www.LifeSpa.com. It makes sense that late summer is the time when we have acummulated the most heat internally and that we need to actually clear out some of this accumulative heat before winter begins. Dr. Doulliard says, "If we do no-the heat will turn to dryness and the drynes of winter will accujulate and irritate our sinuses." This can potentially lead to sinus infections and a cyclical dryness pattern which allows the body to create excess mucous.

Dr. Doulliard suggests that we " follow natures lead and begin eating 2-4 apples per day from now until Halloween, along with more pomegranates, and other ripe seasonal fruit and veggies." This is natures way of cooling us naturally and internally.

If you want to take a late summer cleanse and prepare a bit more seriously for what is to come, you may want to partake in his suggested 4-7 day cleanse whereby you drink ghee (see previous blog post about this) every morning. This forces fat metabolism along with a no fat diet. You can eat kitcheree, veggies, hot cereal, fruit, crackers, rice and beans but NO FAT or FATTY foods. During this time of dietary adjustments and ghee first thing in the morning, the body will begin to burn its own fat.

Ghee Cleanse (Not indicated if you have gallbladder trouble or difficulty digesting fat)

First AM

Day One 2 tspns. ghee
Day Two 4 tspns. ghee
Day Three 6 tspns. ghee
Day Four 8 tspns. ghee

(Dr. Doulliard suggests using Herbal Clay (for my suggestion visit www.happyuterus.com/products.html) externally before showering to further the detox process.

Eve of Day Four

Take a hot bath

Mix 4 tspns. castor oil with the juice of an orange and hot water. Hold your nose and drink castor mix and quickly suck on the orange. 1-4 hours later you should experience a laxative effect.

During the cleanse you can also take additional Liver detox supplements and do other exercises for detoxification: colonics, sweating, castor oil packs and/or massage. I like LIVAmend by www.bodyecologydiet.com

Please let us know your experiences with this cleanse!

Mushrooms rather than anti-biotics!!

If you view the word anti-biotics as "anti-life", you may be reluctant to include them in your wellness regime. Most especially if you are pregnant, trying to conceive and aiming to "include-life" and not repel it. I am happy to share with you this incredible product

Exerpted from Myco Herb: Full Line of Nutritive Mushroms, distributed by www.craneherb.com

Myco-Forte is a five fungi blend of some of the most nutrient-rich musthooms known to modern and traditional science and medicine. They contain active ingredients specific to the immune system which promote one's innate ability to detect, isolate and destroy foreign entitues which are believed to cause sickness and disease. These medicinal fungi possess antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, and anticarcinogenic properties, which means that they are indicated for treating conditions ranging from common cold to cancer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine terms, Myco-Forte stokes the Ming-Men fire (the Gate of Vitality), clears toxicity, revitalizes Blood, and nourishes Yin.

As if that were not enough!! Here is a list of the actual properties of these unique mushroom blend: Replenishes moisture of the lung; fortifies the kidneys, supplements the defensive qi (immune system) and blood without generating excess heat or damp, dispels phlegm, fortifies the bones, strengthens the intestines and internal organs, nourishes the brain, allays cough accompanied by dryness and heat, eliminates food stagnation, allays hunger, lightens the body, soothes and elevates the spirit. WOW! I can honestly attest to this being true. I have been a myco-junkie now for 3 years and it saves me every winter!!

Active compounds include (for all you science types out there): polysaccharides, glucosides, sterols, amino acids, glutamic acid, cordycepin, enzymes, lipids, volatile oils, vitamins, proteins, trace minerals!

Who will benefit from this formula? Anyone with:
•Immune deficiency
•Chronic viral illness
•Chronic fatigue
•Auto-toxicity
•Respiratory weakness, cough accompanied by Dryness and Heat
•Frailty, weakness, exhaustion
•Symptoms of poor digestion and food stagnation
•Depression and Anxiety

Five Steps to Great Health

Premier Research Labs (www.prlabs.com) an extraordinary company that sells, among many other wonderful products, the worlds greatest nutritional yeast. Yes, nutritional YEAST!! Those funny, yellow flakes that usually lie dormant in plastic bins along the floors of health food stores across the country. Anyhow, included with my last order was an info. sheet titled, "Five Steps to Great Health".

5 Steps to Great Health:

1. Restore an Alkaline Body pH: I love this as the first step because as much research suggests, the body can not heal in an acidic state; and most of us are very acidic. There are many ways to alkalize and my favorite ways are with spirulina tabs and/or with liquid chlorphyll. I suggest you ask a local practitioner to give you a kit that will test pH in your urine and you will be able to monitor exactly how fast you can regain the pH balance you need.

2. Normalize Hormone Balance: Looking into the hormone balance, we know that it is our thoughts, feelings, internal organs, foods and every aspect of our lives and what we take into our beings that create hormones. The questions becomes, if one is hormonally out of balance, how to regain that balance? Where to begin? Do we begin changing thought patterns? What do we do when we need more help? Things that I rely on to immediately begin to make changes towards more balance in the body: meditation, pranayama (breathing) are two that will all the mind to soften towards a much more peaceful state; Castor Oil packs for the liver to help soften the liver's tough edges and Female Tonic, which acts as a uterine lavage to help clean out the uterus of any old endometrium that is hard pressed to let go.

3. Detoxify the Body: Identify where exactly you have accumulated toxins in your body/mind and begin to slowly and steadily pull them out. This is a very common misunderstanding that goes often to one extreme. It is most often the case that one's own thought pattern is what most needs to change. If you pull toxins out of your colon and never address what is happening to your mind, it will be time wasted. Detox Tea from www.rainforestremedies.com is a very powerful tea, extremely bitter and wonderful and you can instantly feel the astringent nature of the plants pulling toxins.

4. Eliminate Chronic Infections: This is a tricky one because it is difficult to determine the best diagnostic techniques. However, I highly recommend using Colloidal Silver in many cases of chronic infections.

5. Rejuvenate the Body's Systems: When in doubt, I always rely on Nettles. Nothing quite comes close to building the body up like nettles. The blood building, mineral rich plant based infusion.

Ways to treat Endometrial/Uterine Polyps

1. Use your monthly cycle to clean out the "old".
Your uterus is designed to 'Let Go'. The lining (blood) accumulates (if there is abundance) and ideally, fully releases this accumulation monthly. I like to think of menstruation as a time of "letting go", a deep, lasting exhalation; deflating the balloon and a time to watch that balloon soar endlessly into the sky. Your uterine blood (endometrium) is a reflection for what is going on with a your entire blood system. If there is brown, dark, foul-smelling blood, then we need to pay attention to a disruptive pattern that your body and mind have been adapting to. Changes in diet, self care routine and emotional patterning will all support your uterus to become stronger and and in a better position to fully let go. Uterine massage (MAM) and vaginal steaming are also highly recommended for creating an environment within yourself so that your uterus fully clears out the 'old', without beginning the next cycle on top of the last. Visit www.arvigomassage.com for more info. regarding this.

2. Dive into the energetic function of your uterus/2nd chakra
In her book, The ABC's of Chakra Therapy: a Workbook, Deedre Diemer explains in depth your energetic vortex called the second chakra and says, "The 2nd chakra, located in the lower abdomen, contains stored memories, emotions, and information about how you relate to other people, the quality of your relationships, the day-to-day physical aspects of living, the use of your sexual/creative energy. The pelvic and reproductive organs are located in this area and are most susceptible to disease when there is a blockage or imbalance in the 2nd chakra." Need we say more? I would add to this that due to the emotional layering, unexamined beliefs and judgemental projections that most of us are walking around with, we are susceptible to having blockages in this power center. For more information from Deedre Diemer, visit her website at:
http://www.theauthenticjourney.com/index.html

3. Daily choices support an on-going, daily detox.
In the now community of complementary health care practitioners and patients , the idea of 'detox' is widely subscribed to. This is very interesting if you can look at it in more of a cultural context and less of a health context. Where did we get the idea that we are "dirty", full of toxins and need to be cleansed? Sounds very judgemental to me! Now, of course if your diet has been mainly processed foods, and you have never done anything intentionally to benefit your health, you will want to determine what sort of plan will will adopt to clean yourself up from the inside out. Donna Gates's "Detoxification Training" (visit www.bodyecologydiet.com for more info.) is full of valuable information with a no-nonsense approach to radically shifting your body towards wellness. Our daily routine and diet should facilitate the liver, blood and bowels to gently, slowly and steadily cleanse every single day. Through eating a lot of greens, alkalizing, avoiding poisons, drinking clean water and including fermented foods and drinks in our daily diet, the body is going to detox and therefore continually regenerate itself in a healthy way.

4. Using your moon time to actually rest and reflect: the 3 day rule
If you have not yet read the novel "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant, a wonderful tale of women living together in the days when you could actually retreat from the world of cooking, cleaning, parenting and relating, I highly encourage you to. It reminds us of the time when women were honored and respected during this time; to enter the red tent for 3 days and let your uterus have the time and space to do her job of releasing, cleansing and preparing for the next cycle. Without this time of conscious rest, because the uterus is put under a lot of strain everyday, she may not fully cleanse herself. This can result in a multitude of symptoms, endometrial/uterine polyps being one of them. Without the proper attention during this time, the uterus will not fully cleanse.

5. Female Tonic can be used to facilitate the "clean out" of old endometrium.
If you decide that you would like to call upon herbal support in 'cleaning out your uterus', then Female Tonic is an excellent choice. Although you can buy it as a ready-made tincture, there is something quite powerful when making the tea. I love the tea and feel huge benefits while drinking it. Female tonic warms your reproductive organs by lessening tension in diaphragm muscle, has a mild anti-spasmodic action on uterine muscles and, among other qualities, it acts as a uterine lavage to remove accumulated debris caused by incompletely flushed menstrual fluids. Visit www.happyuterus.com and/or www.rainforestremedies.com for more information on this product.

5 Products Your Child Needs

Although most parents begin to think about their childs immune system in the fall, the time to think about it is now. I am going to share with you the five products that I never leave home without and that have significantly improved the quality of our lives and ultimately, supported my daughter in her recovery of asthma.

1. Digestive Enzymes: enzymes are controversial because some people feel that they weaken digestion and potentially create a dependency. The anecdote is to this possible weakness is to build digestive fire and not need supplemental enzymes. However, when dealing with children, building digestive fire is not easy to impose! Nutraceutical Sciences Institute makes "Tummy Zymes: Digestive Enzymes for Kids", chewable enzymes for children. They are great tasting, easy to include in your daily life. I always keep one bottle in my purse and one at home. And, whenever I travel, esp. out of the country, I always bring a few extra. They have saved us from a belly ache every time and will help elimination if needed! Healthy guts are healthy lungs and healthy mind! I order these from www.vitacost.com, very affordable option to improving GI function.

2. Acacia Fiber powder: This is the best fiber supplement on the market to ensure that your child will poop! It is dietary soluble fiber, certified organic and has a prebiotic effect, which means that it increases the good gut flora that your immune system depends on. It is tasteless, odorless and poses no choking risk. You can add it to liquids or moist foods and it will regulate yours and your childs eliminative process so you can poop daily with ease. Visit www.happyuterus.com/products.html for more info.

3. Liquid Astragalus vials by Plum Flower: When your child is old enough to sip through a straw, then they will begin receiving the benefits of taking this daily tonic to boost their immune system. Astragalus is a single herb designed to support the lungs and spleen, the foundation for your immune system. One vial has 700 mg. of astragalus root extract, each comes with its own straw. My 4 year old begs for 1-2 of these vials a day and without a doubt, I have seen the cumulative benefits in her health. She went from having a weakened immune system and an asthma diagnosis to having strong, powerful lungs and not missing one day of school in 2 years!! Thank you to our Chinese ancestors for finding this wonderful root! www.mayway. com

4. Children's Herbal Sentinel by Kan Herbs: This formula was designed to be used at the first sign of a runny nose. When the first drips from the nose begins, turn these tables into a fairly thick liquid, add stevia powder and administer. It is a guarantee to stop the runny nose and prevent the phlegm from entering the lung and turning into something much more complicated to treat. www.craneherb.com for more info.

5. Children's Ear Formula by Kan Herbs: Another potent product, designed by Dr. Jake Paul Fratkin (who was the supporting force in resolving my daughters asthma and has an excellent article on pediatric ear infections www.drjakefratkin.com), which will effectively treat ear infections. Believe it or not, you do not need to take pharmaceutical antibiotics, you can much more effectively treat ear infections with Chinese Herbs. I used this formula two times in five years and my daughter never had another ear infection!! Thank you Dr. Fratkin, my pediatric hero!

Please contact us if you would like more information. www.happyuterus.com; or to set up a consultation regarding your child's health care needs.

Spirit Babies: How to Communicate

Spirit Babies- How to Communicate with the Child You're Meant to Have by Walter Makichen. A must read for any woman or couple who has exhausted her emotions, physical body and logic in the realm of science and conception. Walter Makichen brings his natural gift of a clarivoyant to the service of those trying to conceive and helps you connect with the spirit baby that is already connected to you. Truly amazing, undeniable stories of success and connection! He will inspire to meditate and get in touch with the love in your heart for your baby that easily becomes covered by fear, loss and confusion. Visit his website: www.spiritbabies.com for more information.

Ways to eliminate excess estrogen

Estrogen dominance is a recurring problem for many women.  Too many processed foods in one's diet can cause this, coupled with constipation,  can pose a serious health risk.  Changing one's diet to a whole grain, organic plant based diet will greatly improve one's health very quickly.

At times however, certain products may be needed to help quicken this process.  Visit www.healthresources.net for more information on this product.

Orgasm and Conception

This is an area of research that is truly fascinating and surely not addressed (for the obvious reasons) by any fertility doctors.  How to improve chances of conception by ensuring that a woman has an orgasm.  

How does the orgasm itself help increase chances?  The cervix pulls during orgasm and helps actively assist the sperm to enter into the uterus and swim up to the fallopian tubes.

6 Days to prepare for implantation

During my certification training, Dr. Arvigo said that it "takes about 6 days for the endometrium to prepare for implantation." (www.arvigomassage.com). This really struck me as something very important for all women trying to conceive to keep in mind.

Preparing the endometrium, is also preparing our minds and spirits to be open enough to receive. Being receptive may be one of the harder parts of conception because we are so quick to grasp, attempt to control and figure everything out. But if we can work on cultivating our mind in a meditative way, we are more likely to be receptive.

Nourishing foods to build the blood, beginning on day 3 of a woman's cycle, is essential to having a well nourished lining that can be receptive to implantation. For a list of blood building foods, visit www.lifesourceacupuncture.com.

5 Steps to a Happy Uterus

The steps to enliven your pelvis, enrich your creative flow and become an energy dynamo that will awaken your second chakra and help to prevent accumulative disorders (fibroids) and/or treat blockages that already may exist.

1. Do NOTHING. that's right. just sit back, observe your breathe and watch your mind. try to get some perspective on why things are going in the direction that they are in your life. I cannot claim to have thought of this idea myself. I was first introduced to this radical concept of "doing nothing" as the first step of healing by Susun Weed. ("Doing Nothing" in another tradition is another way of saying to do "zazen" or meditation.) Susun (www.susunweed.com) has "The Six Steps of Healing" and her Step O is to "Do Nothing", which she claims is a vital, invisible step. I could not agree more. Another teacher who introduces this radical idea Martha Beck (www.marthabeck.com). Martha is a brilliant author, teacher and life coach and encourages your mental, physical and spiritual wellness by actively doing nothing for at least 15 minutes per day. Watch and you will learn.

2. Take a Second Chakra inventory: As we have learned from the teachers in the Energy Medicine tradition, the second chakra (color is orange/gold/yellow), is home to our creative & sexual energy, our intimate relationships, control and money issues and prosperity. This is precisely the reason this area of the body is of interest to me!! It is certainly where all our juice and power lies and it is vitally important for us to have a very deep understanding of these areas of our life and how they are interdependently woven together. To do a second chakra inventory, visit www.happyuterus.com and fill out the "Do you have a Happy Uterus" questionnaire.

3. Improve your Diet: Let's face it, there is absolutely no way to deny that you are what you eat, your food makes the blood in your body and poor quality blood leads to poor quality organs. When your internal organs are in a degenerative state due to an over processed diet, there is enough supporting, scientific research to show this has a deleterious effect on your overall health. There are millions of diets out there but common sense shows us: avoid processed food, avoid processed sugar, make at least 80% of every meal fruits and veggies and drink lots of water. My current favorite diet is the Body Ecology Diet (www.bodyecology.com)

4. Cultivate your Mind: I would have to admit that I believe very deeply that this is the most important step. Although there are numerous books, teachers, authors and practices out there teaching meditation, I recommend that you find an actual lineage. A lineage is a practice that has been passed on from teacher to student for thousands of years. The lineages that I am most familiar with are within the Buddhist and Yoga tradition, of which there are many. Here are the ones that have influenced my life greatly: (visit www.zencenterofsyracuse.org and www.jewelheart.org); in the Yoga tradition (www.cnyyogacenter.com or www.dharmayogacenter.com).

5. Do things that you love: Let's remember, you are going to die. This may come as a relief or as burden, depending on how well you have cultivated your mind! Whatever the case may be, I think that doing things that you absolutely love to do are the most important to bring happiness. Martha Beck as great advice and hilarious stories that surround this issue of lightening up and loving more. If you really want to share joy with others, why not create it within your own being first!

Just what is GHEE?

Although I had heard about Ghee for years, the first time it was actually prescribed to me was when I was a week post my "due date" and feeling hugely pregnant, ready to re-claim my body and would almost anything to get labor going.  I just happened to have an appointment with a well known Ayurvedic doctor at Dr. Steve Wechsler's office (www.drsteveradio.com) and he said the reason I was not going into labor was that I was too dry and needed Ghee.

Dr. Steve very kindly gave me some ghee that evening and sure enough, my labor began.  Ever since then, I have had the utmost respect for this clarified butter since not only did it help to induce me but cured extreme symptoms that manifested in my nose for over 8 years and could not be diagnosed properly by any of the 15 practitioners that I had sought throughout the years.  Upon consuming the ghee, all of my symptoms (which I later found out were an aspect of dryness or Vata imbalance) disappeared!

If you were to visit www.ancientorganics.com for further information and directions on how to prepare ghee (or to buy it), this is some of the information you will find. Ghee is the essence of milk and the milk of cows is considered, in Ayurveda, to possess the essence of all plants.  It is said that Ghee builds the aura, makes all the organs soft, builds up the internal juices of the body (which are destroyed by aging) and increases the most refined element of digestion, which is the underlying basis of all immunity and the essence of all bodily tissues.  Ghee is known to increase intelligence, refine the intellect and improve memory.

Okay then! After that, how can you not want to incorporate this into your daily diet, esp. in winter if you happen to live in an arctic zone like CNY.  You can spread it on toast, dollop it in soup, spread it on tortillas or slide it into your morning tea.  However you can get it down, you will benefit.  For more recipes for making ghee, visit YouTube, www.aayisrecipes.com or www.yogaholidays.net/magazine/ghee.htm

Everyone Poops!

Do you remember the childhood book, "Everyone Poops!" by Taro Gomi (www.amazon.com) which explains to us very clearly in words and pictures that if you eat, you poop.  Now, it sounds quite simple but we know (at least if you're a health care provider), that it never really is that simple.  Since we know that our digestive system is our second brain (see previous post), and that our brains are working overtime with what to eat, when to how, how to eat, why to eat and who to eat with,  our guts are in a perpetual state of trying to do their job of eliminating what is now a utter confusion. 

I have had the great fortune of having close friends who are colon therapists (www.vitonics.com) and have witnessed numerous occasions  reactions from people who ask, "What do you do?". Even from individuals on the more "enlightened" side of the spectrum, the responses can be quite embarassing and obviously exposing their degree of discomfort on this subject of poop. 

My point of this post however, is not the repressed emotional intricacies of the wonder of the human body, perialstalsis and sphincters, but of a wonderful product called Acacia Fiber powder.  I was introducted to this product by someone who used it to recover from the symptoms of IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  If you are interested in an entire product line developed to treat these symtoms, please visit www.helpforibs.com.

Acacia is a soluble fiber and there is a lot of studies that show soluble fibers help a full spectrum of IBS symtoms.  The other name for this fiber is gum Arabic.  This is much more expensive for manufacturers to buy than many of the other fiber sources, so this is why  big companies have not incorporated it into their manufacturing.  Acacia is a gum from the Acacia senegal tree grown on an organic farm in Africa.  It is made similar to how maple syrup is made.

"Acacia is very gentle, not allergenic, and the breakdown products of the acacia product more of the beneficial short chain fatty acids that are supportive of the intestinal cells.  It is also prebiotic maeaning it will help to support the balance of good bacteria in your gut because soluble fiber is their preferred food source."-staff member at Help For IBS.

I can personally attest to the wonders of this simple product that has only one ingredient: acacia fiber.  I was motivated to use it due to my daughters digestive sluggishness (common to almost all children) and it worked wonders in less than 48 hours!  Thank you to Heather Van Vorous, founder of www.HelpForIBS.com, the largest resource company for IBS in the world.