Environmental Toxicity and You

Long before anyone was concerned about environmental toxicity Salavdor Dali painted this picture that once seen- is hard to forget. “The Persistence of Memory” depicts melting watches hanging in a barren landscape- in the distance a dead ocean bakes in the sun. A small army of ants has overtaken one of the clocks near a decomposing body. Quite a picture of what a toxic world might look like…….

Sadly we live in that toxic world already, and our bodies- as a result face many challenges associated with toxic exposure. For every second on your clock as time goes by 683.4 lbs or 310 kg of toxic chemicals are dispersed into our air, land and water. We are exposed to 10 million tons of toxic chemical every year (see the resource list at the bottom of this post for an international team of researchers who collate and publish real time date from environmental agencies). Most of us are not aware this happening-because we don't feel it- or of the changes in our bodies that can occur from these overloads.

Toxins Remain in the Body
Even if we manage to eat organically, live in a less polluted area or take other steps to reduce our exposure- over time these toxins build up remaining in our body for many years becoming more concentrated with a higher potential to cause problems as time goes on.

Heavy Metal Is Not Only Music
Lead, Mercury, Plutonium, Cadmium and Arsenic are the heavy metals that stick with us along with pesticides, industrial compounds, petrochemicals and other pollutants. Exposure to these chemicals even in small amounts are associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS),fibromyalgia (FM), neurodegenerative diseases like Parkingson’s and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), atherosclerosis and even cancer.

Indicators of Environmental Toxicity
Headaches, aches and pains, fatigue, muscle weakness, tinnitus, fertility problems, acne, rashes, chronic immune challenges, dizziness, loss of appetite, nausea, heartbeat irregularities, nausea, cramps, diarrhea, excessive sweating, kidney dysfunction, impaired memory, itching, burning or swelling sensations, and a host of respiratory problems are all potential indicators of environmental toxicity.

How Do We Remove Toxins from the Body?
In my post next week, I’m going to explain the difference between eliminating toxins form the body and detoxing. Please be sure to subscribe to these posts by entering your email address in the subscribe section above.

Resources

Worldometers-real time world statistics http://www.worldometers.info

An international team of researchers who collate and publish real time data and statistics evaluated data from the following agencies to calculate this information:
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Program - conducted by EPA
Tri Explorer - toxic chemical releases database search
ScoreCard - "the pollution information site" based on TRI data (U.S.)
WHBB Web Hosting Data - Green, Eco Friendly, Carbon-Neutral web hosting data plans compared.
Eurostat - Environment related Statistics
Eco-Friendly Sports Bottle
Learn About Asbestos Exposure
septic cleaning
cenegenicsJAX.com
OSHA Statistics & Data page - (OSHA) Occupational Safety & Health Administration (U.S. Department of Labor)
Toxic Waste - Wikipedia
GaBi - the world's premium Life Cycle Assessment Software. Get your free software demo!
"Estimate of Toxic Chemical Emissions Is Tripled" - New York Times, Published: May 12, 2000
Toxic Pollution And Health: An Analysis of Toxic Chemicals Released in Communities across the United States

How To Find Love And Happiness In Four Steps

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” 

Mother Theresa 

If only...

Did you ever have the sense that your life is incomplete? That you feel lonely as if not much is going right for you? Have you ever felt that if only you could find that ideal partner-someone who could meet your every need... you would feel happy all the time-----your soul mate!

It’s possible to get stuck in an endless loop of believing that there is something inherently wrong with us--that we will NEVER find that one special partner to call our own who will make our life all better and bring us true happiness.

Over 40 million Americans have looked for love with online dating. About 22% of all online matches end in a relationship although it’s difficult to determine how successful or long lasting these relationships are. Regardless-digital dating, relying on your friends for an introduction, speed dating, or even using a matchmaker, when we do find that special one, no matter how wonderful the person is.... Have you found that things change over time and suddenly you are working on the exact same issues that you had with your former “soul mate”? 

What if happiness is not about our soul mate and who we can attract-what if happiness is all about us?

I have this idea that when we can perceive that Spirit lives within us and everyone else, then we will remember the Truth of our Being, that we are connected.  And when we perceive Spirit within, we will love ourselves because of the constant companionship of Spirit within and that these new perceptions will change how we think about soul mates, friendship and love.  We will no longer feel lonely because with this new understanding we are never alone.

Perhaps when we live with this perception of Spirit within, and accept our own humanity and oneness with each other, we can move beyond the expectation that a soul mate will complete us, make us better, and end our soul's loneliness.

Once we have shifted our awareness to appreciation of our truth we will have a new found freedom and an appreciation for mutual partnership because  we will become brave enough to accept responsability for our own happiness & well being. That will take the pressure off what potential soul mates are supposed to do for us and make it easier for this mutual partneship to be a success.

Finding love and happiness begins inside your own heart.

The Four Steps

1. Work with a mirror.  First try looking in the mirror. Ask yourself the following questions out loud while looking at yourself: Can you love yourself? Are you undeserving of your own love? Is it true that you can only be fixed by someone else? (You may be creating a reality of lack and loneliness by holding on to a limited set of beliefs about yourself. Even if I am wrong… taking these next steps to give it a try will at least help you to feel better about yourself.) 
2. Work with imagination. While looking at yourself in the mirror visualize the highest form of love that you can imagine flowing through you, in you and round about you. Imagine powerful love flowing out from you into the world. 
3. Work with appreciation. When you are to feel that powerful love begin to appreciate yourself for doing this work.  While looking at yourself you might say--silently or out loud-- words of appreciation and self acceptance.  You could even mention how truly magnificent you already are.  I have this idea that when we can do that, THEN Nature feels the impression of the positive self-recognition and responds by working with you to create a matching flow. 
4. Work with attitude.  Go about your life with an attitude of an explorer.  Be on the lookout for subtle changes around you, interesting connections, coincidents and changes.  Expect everything to be paving the way for you to experience wholesome, healthy, mutual partnership.

I recommend practicing these four steps daily for as long as it feels good.  Then, when that new partner comes up to you and says “Hi Gorgeous” you meet them with the work of self love alive in you, and you'll be ready to perceive them, not as a savior, but as their own unique expression of Spirit, and that way, the two of you can walk together in Freedom.

You might also enjoy 3 Ways to Make Yourself Instantly Feel Better and The Best Advice to Create Joy in Your Life

Happiness and Less Stress without IBS

The bus driver is having a bad hair day. You are on the edge of your seat hoping to make the airport in time to catch your flight.  You see how tense his shoulders are as he drives.  Finally you arrive at the airport expecting that he let you out at your destination…. Instead he opens the luggage hold only to throw ALL  the bags  into one big pile and yells “ I quit” as he runs away.

What a mess! After wrestling with those mixed up bags
you run to your gate and arrive soaking wet just as your plane is about to leave……

Adrenal Stress and IBS

What does this stressed out shuttle driver and a mad dash for a plane have to do with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and  Adrenal Stress? The bus driver represents your  adrenal glands… your stress reponse managers. When they get burned out or have bad hair days they signal the brain with a message that sounds like “I can’t take it anymore” this  triggers the symptoms of Irritable Bowel (IBS). The dash to get to a plane on time and that exhausted feeling once you get to your seat represents how IBS can feel.

Indicators of IBS
Gas , bloating, abdominal discomfort-loose watery stools, tremendous urgency,bouts of intestinal dumping, alternating constipation and diarrhea, mucus and sometimes blood in the stool are the most frequent symptoms of this condition.

IBS is the result of spastic colon with irregular bowel action-- but it is often driven by poor adrenal response.  Since these symptoms occur in the bathroom and can seem unrelated to any particular food or situation…. people with IBS may not realize that adrenal health & how their body deals with stress are key trigger for IBS.

1½ million people in the US have IBS while 10-15 % of the world’s population has IBS too. 26% of those with IBS miss work or school due to this condition- it’s not uncommon for them to change jobs or work from home so they can manage the amount of time they need to spend in the bathroom.

Other more serious conditions may have the same symptom-- it is a good idea to get checked out by an MD.  Make sure that nothing else is going on.  Anti- spasmodic, anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics are used to treat IBS. These medications can reduce the severity symptoms making  it more manageable but rarely do they eliminate the condition. 

Take Steps Now To Improve Your IBS

*Calm down the gut- for at least 3 months switch to a dairy free, gluten free, junk food free diet. This requires some planning and education to do successfully but almost always it reduces the severity of symptoms and allows the spastic colon to relax so that the symptoms are improved. Clincial Detox may also be indicated.

*Evaluate adrenals- A saliva test can measure your adrenal hormone levels and track  how they fluctuate through a 24 hour period. With IBS the adrenals can over produce Cortisol(our stress regulating hormone) and be deficient in DHEA (which regulates our immune response). Natural therapies can rebuild your adrenals.

*Check your stool-negative bacteria, yeast  or parasites in the gut can produce very similar symptoms. Get a stool test-to make sure you have the  right balance of healthy bacteria and determine if negative organisms are causing problems.

*Check Vitamin D levels-When vitamin  D is too low it can trigger anxiety which then triggers intestinal dumping. Low levels of D can  be an indicator of stressed out adrenals.

*Restore mineral balances- with you may be clinically deficient in Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc. A urine test can determine what is needed. 

*Check your  vitamin labels- are you using Calcium carbonate, Magnesium oxide or Magnesium citrate and Zinc oxide? These specific forms of Calcium, Magnesium and Zinc can cause diarrhea &constipation and slow down your digestion.  Use MCHC calcium, Magnesium glycinate & Zinc glycinate –these will be easy to absorb, most quickly restore your mineral balances and support your digestion without aggravating your bowel function.

*Relax –learn how to meditate, keep a gratitude journal, get a pet that makes you happy, walk in nature for 20 minutes a day.  Ask yourself  how can I feel more relaxed, resourceful and happy?

IBS is a big uncomfortable problem -if you take these steps you will be able to reduce or eliminate your IBS. Your bus driver will be happy and more relaxed and your journey will be smooth and easy.

For more information- email me and ask about natural therapies & tests for IBS and how to use Clinical Detox to restore your intestine & adrenal health. 

You might also enjoy Deep Relaxtion and Hawaiian Massage and The Best Advice to Create Joy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep Relaxation and Hawaiian Massage

You are standing on a beach…..behind you birds in the coconut palms are singing. The warm water of the wide blue ocean laps at your toes as the trade winds riffle your hair…. Sound Good???

These are the natural rhythms of  Hawaii and they are also the rhythms of  Hawaiian massage- a unique healing tradition that provides deep relaxation with renewed energy and revitalization.  Sometimes it is called Lomi or even Lomi Lomi-the Hawaiian word Lomi means “to massage”.

In the old days Hawaiian families practiced their own style of massage and kept their techniques secret-passing the tradition on from one generation to the next.  In the ancient temples the priests and healers  used massage as a powerful healing technique. 

Those who practice the Sacred Temple style of  Hawaiian  massage refer to their work as an offering of love-freely given .  The person on the massage table is receiving a sacred gift. The client should feel the prayer in the heart of the person working on them as they receive their massage.  The work is done with long flowing strokes which are so deeply relaxing that the knots of tension and stress unwinds. The massage table is prepared as if it is an altar and the practitioner considers their healing work to be a prayer in motion.

The massage strokes are done in a figure eight  movement  which create an energy field of deep soothing relaxation.  Healing occurs on the physical, emotional and mental levels because the profound relaxation allows the cellular memories of tension, stress and even old beliefs to gently dissolve.  This produces a release of stress and new energy is brought forth with a cleansing  sense of full restoration and healing.

Each session is unique because the practitioner intuits from the client what it is that their body needs for the healing to occur.  The work may be slow with a light touch and then alternate with rapid strokes which can energize and restore vitality.  Or a light touch may be alternated with rapid energizing movement all of which feels like  the waves of the ocean. Your entire body and being find it easy to let go.  As the blood and lymphatic fluids in the body are re-circulated with the massage strokes a gentle cleansing effect occurs.

Hawaiian massage is more than hand and forearm strokes. The practitioner also has footwork or dance type movements that they do with their body to harmonizes their breath with the body work  which keeps their  energy flowing smoothly. 

The ancient Hawaiians believed that all people seek harmony and love and that harmony, love and forgiveness were the actual qualities of the Hawaiian Gods.  Hawaiian massage is truly transformational and helps to relieve old beliefs and judgements about one’s self and others that can lock up the body’s energy if they are not forgotten and buried under knots of tension and stress.

There are many translations for the word “aloha” it’s deeper meaning refers to a sharing of life’s energy in the present moment with full acceptance and love.  This healing work has a lot of Aloha-the heart, hands and soul of the practitioner in their expanded state of awareness help the person receiving the massage to reconnect with their source and recognize their own  magnificence.