Becoming Your StellarSelf

It's a Sham, Or Is It?

For several decades, doctors have known that "sham" medical treatments, consisting of inactive ingredients like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution, can have a "placebo effect" can improve a patient's condition simply because the patient has an expectation that the treatment they are receiving will help them. According to an FDA article on placebos, "For a given medical condition, it's not unusual for one-third of patients to feel better in response to treatment with placebo."

A fascinating recent study conducted at Harvard Medical School sought to better understand the placebo effect by measuring it across three different treatment conditions. The aim was to see if they could tease out significant dose-response effects -- would increasing levels of placebo lead to increasing levels of wellbeing?

Associate Professor of MedicineTed Kaptchuk and his team randomly assigned 262 adults with irritable bowel syndrome to one of three treament conditions: waiting list ("observation"), placebo acupuncture alone (“limited”), or placebo acupuncture with a patient-practitioner relationship augmented by warmth, attention, and confidence (“augmented”). Participants remained in these treatments for three weeks, then half of them were randomly assigned to continue in these groups for another three weeks.

At 3 weeks and 6 weeks, the participants were assessed on an overall improvement scale, adequate relief of symptoms, symptom severity score, and quality of life. The percentage of patients reporting adequate relief of symptoms was 28% of the waiting list, 44% of the limited group, and 62% of the augmented group. The same trend was shown across all the outcome measures.

The researchers concluded that "Factors contributing to the placebo effect can be progressively combined in a manner resembling a graded dose escalation of component parts. Non-specific effects can produce statistically and clinically significant outcomes and the patient-practitioner relationship is the most robust component."

It seems that the main component of the placebo effect is the human interaction, not merely the expectation of getting better, but the "warmth, attention, and confidence" being offered by the medical professional. This is one of the components of alternative medicine that is attractive to many people -- receiving the practitioners time and attention, having someone listen to your issues, feeling that the practitioner genuinely cares about you. And, hopefully one that the medical and insurance communities will begin to re-integrate into standard patient care.

Reference: Kaptchuk T.J., Kelley J.M., Conboy L.A., et al. Components of the Placebo Effect: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome. British Medical Journal. Online publication, April 3, 2008.

The Reality of Reiki

As some of you may know, I volunteer for Inova Hospital's Life With Cancer program, which offers Reiki treatments for people undergoing chemotherapy (or who have recently completed chemo), as well as for their families and caregivers. I blogged about my experience as a Reiki volunteer last December. Knowing of my involvement with Reiki, a friend emailed me a link to Friday's uncredited Washington Post article "Reiki: Touching the Intangible," about how Reiki is increasingly being used in hospitals to help reduce stress and promote healing in patients. Luann Jacobs, head of Reiki Partners, and creator of the George Washington University Hospital Reiki program, is quoted in the Post article. I have had the pleasure of meeting Luann, and am familiar with the high standards of the GW Hospital Reiki program, which is a wonderful resource available to all patients who are interested in utilizing this service.

The Post article is short, but informative. However, I believe that the author missed the point in saying, "There's no scientific evidence behind their claims, but reiki healers believe that during sessions, they're tapping into a universal source of energy that is then transferred to the recipient." While it may be true that we do not have the means to measure something as ethereal as "a universal source of energy," several studies have investigated Reiki, and a number of these have supported its efficacy in treating a variety of conditions.

An article by Anne Vitale (a nurse/researcher/Reiki Master), published in Holistic Nursing Practice in 2007, reviewed Reiki research published over the past 20 years. Most of the studies had small sample sizes, or did a poor job of controlling for factors other than Reiki. However, several showed significant positive effects of Reiki treatment, including decreased distress, anxiety, pain and physiological stress responses.

Pamela Miles, a Reiki Master who "has developed Reiki programs in prominent New York City hospitals, published in peer-reviewed medical journals, and presented and taught Reiki at medical schools and conferences," provides citations for current research on her website (see the Reiki and Medicine section). Findings from these studies show significant effects of Reiki, including reduced anxiety, pain, depression, and fatigue. One thing that the literature on Reiki has suffered from is the lack of large-scale studies, although this is true for many areas of research in the medical field. As Reiki gains more attention, more and more studies are being designed to address this issue. Currently, the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is supporting several studies on the effectiveness of Reiki, the results of which I hope to see in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, empirical evidence shows us that huge numbers of patients have reported relief from pain, nausea, anxiety and fatigue after receiving Reiki. Nurses, who are on the front line of patient care, have long understood the healing power of touch, and see first hand the positive effects of Reiki, Healing Touch and Touch Therapy. The Reiki in Hospitals website lists over 40 hospitals in the U.S. that offer Reiki to their patients, and this is just a partial representation. The authors of the Reiki in Hospitals website are undertaking the task of gathering and summarizing the entire body of peer-reviewed Reiki-related research in order to educate the medical community and the public as to the current state of knowledge about the effectiveness of Reiki.

Admittedly, all of the studies I have mentioned only addressed the tangible effects of Reiki, not the mechanisms underlying it -- not the transfer of "universal energy." However, The Promise of Energy Psychology by David Feinstein, cites recent studies that have begun to show how energy runs through the body and may be transferred from one person to another. Science is just beginning to try to address the measurement of the "subtle energies," and it is still in a nascent stage, but the more interest the public shows in complementary and alternative medicine, the more investigations there will be. In the meantime, remember that, before Einstein, we looked at the physical world in a very different way -- we didn't hold the concept of light as particle AND wave, energy AND matter -- and could not measure many of the things we now measure. And before we had microscopes, people scoffed at the idea that we could get sick from little unseen creatures (which we now fondly refer to as bacteria, viruses, etc.).

Our current inability to measure the transfer of universal energy does not negate the possibility that it exists. Just because we don't currently understand how something works does not mean that it isn't beneficial. Take aspirin as an example. Around 400BC, Hippocrates prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree (which contains salicin) to his patients. Then, in 1897, chemist Felix Hoffmann created aspirin (whose key ingredient is salicin), which today remains one of the most widely used drugs for treating pain and fever. However, it wasn't until the 1970s that scientists figured out the mechanisms by which this medicine worked. Similarly, even if an objective measurement of universal energy transfer isn't developed anytime soon, this does not in any way diminish the effectiveness of Reiki as a healing practice.

(Image borrowed from The International Center for Reiki Training FAQ page -- a comprehensive source of information on Reiki)

First Annual NIH Yoga Week: Exploring the Science & Practice of Yoga

For the first time ever, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD will be offering a full program of classes, exhibits, demonstrations, talks and special events all around the topic of yoga throughout the week of May 19 to May 23. Speakers from all across the country have been invited to share their knowledge about the science and practice of yoga.

The program, NIH Yoga Week: Exploring the Science and Practice of Yoga, was designed to teach NIH employees and the general public about the benefits of yoga, through discussion of research on its benefits, as well as through demonstrations.

This event is significant in that the NIH, a 120-year-old US government agency, is endorsing a practice that 30 years ago, would have been considered very alternative. Now, with substantial scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of yoga, and large percentages of the US population practicing it in some form, it has become very much a part of the mainstream.

The NIH has been making efforts for some time now to better understand non-traditional non-Western forms of health care. In 1999, the NIH established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to study the many forms of non-biomedical health treatments that are being used by an increasingly large portion of Americans. The NCCAM website offers information on other modalities including energy medicine, herbal remedies, Ayurveda, homeopathy and more.

The schedule, as of April 3, is listed below. To learn more about Yoga Week, and to see a full schedule of events, visit the official Yoga Week website.

Monday, May 19, 2008 (Building 45 Natcher Auditorium)
Time: 10:00am - 11:00am
Title: Visit NIH Recreation and Welfare Sponsor Booths on the lower level of Natcher, outside the auditorium!
Sponsored by: Weight Watchers / Honest Tea / Whole Foods / Thrive Yoga / Inner Reaches Yoga / Unity Woods Yoga / Burt's Bees / the Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation / NIH Recreation and Welfare

Time: 11:00am - 11:15am
Title: "Kick-Off to 1st Annual NIH Yoga Week"
Speakers: Rachel Permuth-Levine, Ph.D., NHLBI / Virginia Hill, OD / Susan Bowen, Owner, Thrive Yoga

Time: 11:15am - 12:00pm
Title: "The Sciences of Hatha Yoga, Tantra, and Ayurveda"
Speaker: Yogiraj Alan Finger, founder of ISHTA Yoga

Time: 12:00pm - 12:15pm (Break)
Explore the Visiting Merchants tables
Sponsored by NIH Recreation and Welfare Association

Time: 12:15pm - 1:00pm
Title: "Yoga Stretches for the Desk and Office",
Speaker: Rachel Permuth-Levine, Ph.D., NHLBI

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm
Cake Cutting from Eurest Dining Services
Explore the Visiting Merchants tables
Sponsored by the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association

Time: 1:45pm - 2:30pm
Title: "Yoga Practice Outside - Location (TBD)
Notes: Weather Permitting; Bring Your Own Mat!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 (6130 Executive Blvd (EPN) Conference Rooms C-F)
Time: 11:00am - 11:30am
Speaker: Rhonda Moore, Ph.D., Introducing the Week's Events
Title: "NCI Research Portfolio on Yoga Research"
Speaker: Jeffrey D. White, M.D., NCI

Time: 11:30am - 12:15pm
Title: "Discussion of Past and Ongoing Research on Tibetan Yoga, Hatha Yoga, and Qigong in Cancer"
Speaker: Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D. (Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center)

Time: 12:15pm - 12:30pm (Break)

Time: 12:30pm - 1:15pm
Title: "The Secret Treasure of Yogic Alignment"
Speaker: John Schumacher (Founder and Director of Unity Woods Yoga Center)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 (Building 10 Masur Auditorium)
Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Title: “The Science of Yoga”
Speaker: Timothy McCall, M.D., Medical Editor of Yoga Journal Magazine and author of Yoga as Medicine

Time: 12:30pm-1:00pm (Break)
Conversation with Dr. McCall

Time: 1:15pm - 2:00pm
Title: "Yoga Session" (all levels) in Building 31, Room B4-C18 Fitness Center - Bring Your Own Mat!
Instructor: Judith Lyon, RYT-500, Founder of NIH Yoga Program (over ten years) and Yoga Instructor at NIH and Sun and Moon Yoga

Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm
Title: Networking Dinner, all are welcome, space very limited.
Location: Penang Restaurant (Malaysian Cuisine), (301) 657-2878
4933 Bethesda Ave, Bethesda, MD
RSVP required to: levinerac@mail.nih.gov

Thursday, May 22, 2008 (6701 Rockledge Dr. (Rockledge Two) Conference Rooms 9100/9104)
Time: 11:00am - 11:45am
Title: "Therapeutic Applications of Iyengar Yoga for Low Back Pain"
Speaker: Kimberly Williams, Ph.D., West Virginia University, Certified Iyengar Instructor

Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Title: "Yoga Research: Past, Present, and Future"
Speaker: Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D., Director of Research, Kundalini Research Institute Research Director, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Assistant Professor of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School

Time: 1:15pm - 1:45pm
Title: “Safe and Healthy Facial Care”
Speaker: Denise Clark, Training and Education Manager, Burt’s Bees
Sponsored by the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association

Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm
Title: "Free Yoga Class" (all levels) in Rockledge 1 Fitness Center (6705 Rockledge Dr.) Suite 5070

6:00pm - 8:00pm
Title: "Yoga and Meditation in the management of Stress"
Speaker: Sat Bir S. Khalsa, Ph.D., Director of Research, Kundalini Research Institute Research Director, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Assistant Professor of Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School
Location: Thrive Yoga, Rockville, Maryland
Note: Pre-registration is required (there is a cost to this lecture), for additional information e-mail: susan@thriveyoga.com

Friday, May 23, 2008 (6001 Executive Blvd (Neuroscience Center) Conference Rooms C - E)
Time: 11:00am - 11:45am
Title: "Yoga as a Corporate Stress Management Tool"
Speaker: Terri Kennedy, Ph.D., MBA, RYT, CHHC, Chair of the Board, Yoga Alliance

Time: 11:45am - 12:15pm
Title: “Earth-Friendly Body-Care”
Speaker: Denise Clark, Training and Education Manager, Burt’s Bees
Sponsored by the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association

Time: 12:15pm - 1:00pm
Title: "Yoga Nidra: Guided Meditation for Stress Management and Relaxation" Bring Your Own Mat if possible!
Instructor: Neva Ingalls, ERYT-500, Certified Yoga Therapist and Director of Inner Domain Yoga Alliance Registered School

Becoming Her VeganSelf

The following post was written by guest blogger, Julia Guarino.

When I was five years old, I arrived home one day from kindergarten and announced to my parents that I was going to become a vegetarian. They were surprised, but as I seemed determined, they obliged, asking advice from my pediatrician but not sure how long my desire would last. By ten however, I had completely eliminated the fish and poultry that I sometimes ate, and I have been completely vegetarian ever since. This past year, for my final year of college, I moved into my first apartment, and in the excitement of newly possessing a kitchen, I subscribed to Vegetarian Times. It is full of wonderful recipes and tips on products to buy and restaurants to frequent for both lacto-ovo vegetarians (those who still consume eggs and dairy products), and vegans (those who have eliminated all animal products, including eggs, dairy and honey). I had never really considered becoming vegan. Even though I had long ago chosen to use soy milk over cow’s milk and to replace butter with non-hydrogenated-oil-based margarine (like Smart Balance, which tastes remarkably similar), I knew giving up cheese and eggs would take immense effort, and I wasn’t sure it was worth it. After all, not only did I enjoy these things, but as a vegetarian it was extremely difficult to order a meal at a restaurant with any protein in it that didn’t come from one of these two sources.

However, as the year continued, several articles on the health benefits of veganism published in the Vegetarian Times encouraged me to eliminate more and more animal products from my diet, and the more I did so, the more I realized that it felt really good. I began to do some research. Could I really do this? Did it make sense to become vegan? Would the benefits outweigh the inconvenience?

My research gave me a fairly clear answer: it is difficult, and you have to do it right, but if you’re willing to put it in the effort, it is worth it. I came across several medical studies done on vegan groups, providing evidence that a plant-based diet has enormous health benefits, including helping to prevent cancer, reversing the need for medication in type-2 diabetes patients, and more. Concern over the risks of malnourishment (as in the infamous case of the Queens baby) are not entirely unfounded, but seem to be fairly easy to avoid; as long as attention is paid to the vegan’s consumption of protein as well as some vitamins found in less concentrated amounts in non-vegan diets, such as vitamins B12, iron, calcium and zinc, even children live quite healthily on it.

I can't say that the switch is easy, and I have still not made it completely, but the less eggs and dairy I eat, the better I feel. Perhaps it is simply a feeling of accomplishment, but either way, I know I am doing better for my body, and it is worth it, despite the inconvenience.

Update on Guide-to-Health

On November 16, I blogged about "Guide-to-Health," Virginia Tech's Center for Research in Health Behavior's new free online weight gain prevention program. Since that time, they have received permission from the National Institutes of Health (sponsor of the program) to expand the criteria for inclusion to allow for participants with a BMI up to 39 (as opposed to the previous cut-off of 33.5).

The Center is looking for participants in the US and Canada. In order to be eligible, you must be 18-63 years of age, not physically active, with a body mass index (BMI) between 23-39, and have access to the Internet.

For more details, see my original post on the Guide-to-Health program.

Never Too Early to Start Making Those New Year's Resolutions!

I recently received an email from a health psychology listserv announcing an interesting new health program. The Center for Research in Health Behavior, part of the department of psychology at Virginia Tech, has launched "Guide-to-Health," a free web-based weight gain prevention program.

The Center is looking for participants in the US and Canada. In order to be eligible, you must be 18-63 years of age, physically inactive, have a BMI between 23 and 33.5, and have Internet access. Once you complete a set of initial assessments and enroll in the program, you will receive a free pedometer and scale. After that, you will receive weekly online coaching sessions (which take about 10-20 minutes), and take two more assessments. All of this takes place over the course of 18 months.

The program emphasizes making a few key changes (e.g., increasing physical activity and eating healthy foods), rather than a total lifestyle overhaul. The program is based on NIH-supported research conducted by psychologist Richard Winett, director of The Center for Research in Health Behavior. The program provides participants with the skills and information needed to make these key lifestyle changes, along with the important component of coaching. Research has shown that weight loss programs that have a support component are significantly more effective in helping people successfully keep off the extra pounds than those programs without support.

Weight gain prevention, the emphasis of the "Guide-to-Health" program, is extremely important in maintaining health throughout the lifespan. As Winett points out, "many otherwise healthy adults gain about two pounds each year, so people who are normal weight at age 30 can become overweight or even obese by the time they are 50. For an ever-growing number of mid-life adults, the signs of inactivity and gradual weight gain show up as higher blood pressure, higher 'bad' cholesterol, more body fat, and a condition known as pre-diabetes."

To register or learn more, visit the “Guide-to-Health" program website.

Healthy Halloween Makeup

Today I came across a post over at Continuum Wellness on a recent report that found substantial levels of lead in several popular brands of lipstick. Scary! I knew there were many unhealthy chemicals in commercial makeup, but was not aware of the presence of lead. It occurred to me that with Halloween coming up soon, the topic of makeup is very timely. It is of special concern since so many children will be wearing makeup for this holiday. I decided to do some research and see what is out there in terms of ideas for healthy alternatives in Halloween face makeup.

There are several brands of everyday makeup that are made from organic plant essences. These earth-friendly, people-friendly products are safer for the environment and better for your skin than products made from petroleum-based ingredients. For example, Aveda and Terra Firma Cosmetics both offer a wide range of all-natural, earth-friendly, non-toxic makeup products. And PinkQuartzMinerals over at Etsy offers everyday makeup as well as kid-friendly, non-toxic, mineral-based Halloween makeup in a wide range of colors.

If you have the time and inclination, you concoct your own makeup. Family Corner has recipes for “Homemade Halloween Make Up, Bruises & Blood” and Budget101 offers a face paint recipe. All of these recipes call for food coloring. Whole Foods offers all-natural, non-petroleum-based food coloring in their stores. They also provide several healthy Halloween recipes on their website.

Have a Happy, Healthy Halloween!

Sweet Things

Over the past couple of weeks, I had noticed that my clothes were feeling a little tight. Although I am very good about eating well at home, I had been traveling quite a bit over the past couple of months, and had fallen into some bad eating habits. For example, last month I was given a sample of Starbucks' caramel apple cider, and I got hooked. I found myself indulging in about two per week over the last three weeks. I knew they weren't healthy, but they were so good -- when mixed properly, they taste just like hot apple crisp! Some quick calculations based on the nutrition information provided by Starbucks revealed that a grande serving of this beverage carries a whopping 340 calories, 60 grams of fat and 62 grams of sugar!

I realized that I had to cut back on the number of these drinks I consume and replace them with something more healthy. I turned to hot tea. One of my favorites is Numi's Red Mellow Bush Rooibos, which is slightly sweet -- I add an ounce of soy milk, which is slightly sweet and creamy, but with only about 10 calories. I also tried heating up an 8 ounce cup of fresh apple cider with some cinnamon (120 calories).

Both drinks are satisfying in that they are hot, and have some interesting flavors going on. And because they don't have the decadently sweet flavor of the caramel apple cider, they leave me feeling healthier. I don't plan to give up caramel apple ciders altogether -- I think that one or two per month seems reasonable -- it's all about balance.

Illustration by Andi Ipaktchi

On a recent visit to Connecticut, I had the opportunity to stop at one of my favorite places in the world -- Blue Jay Orchards. This time of year, the farm is buzzing with activity as people come from all over the Tri-State area to pick apples, go on hay rides, shop in the country store and take in the beauty that is New England.

I've visited this orchard every year for most of my life -- it's part of my yearly fall ritual, and I can't even imagine what it would feel like if I weren't able to honor it. I realize this sounds somewhat melodramatic, but New England is in my blood, and the taste of crisp apples, freshly pressed cider and the smell of fallen leaves energizes me in a way only matched by proximity to the ocean. It makes me feel connected to the Earth and the seasons.

Rituals are an important part of the human experience, giving meaning and structure to our journey through life. For example, we hold weddings, sweet sixteens, first communions, bar mitzvahs, quinceañeras, graduations, etc. in order to mark and celebrate our passage from one phase of our lives to the next. And we observe holidays to mark the passage from one season to the next. Seasonal rituals are important to adults and children, as they give us a sense of continuity and rootedness.

A 2002 issue of the Journal of Family Psychology featured an article surveying 32 studies on family rituals. The study by psychologist Barbara Fiese and her colleagues at Syracuse University found that "rituals may ease the stress of daily living." Family rituals provide opportunities for togetherness, strengthening family relationships, and are associated with marital satisfaction and adolescents’ sense of personal identity. In addition,  rituals are "associated with a stronger sense of marital cohesion during the transition to parenthood."

What are some of your yearly rituals? Do you take the time to honor them?

Family rituals By the way, I discovered, in perusing the Blue Jay Orchards website for the first time, that they have a page featuring a couple of home health remedies using natural ingredients. Very cool!

Welcome to the 107th Carnival of Healing

Welcome to the the 107th Carnival of Healing, a weekly round-up of personal blog posts on the topics of holistic health, wellness, spirituality, and self empowerment. Before I begin, I'd like to offer a big thank you to Phylameana lila Désy for creating and nurturing this Carnival.

Now, on with the show...

We received an amazing response to the call for entries, and I want to thank everyone who submitted an article. Following you will find a collection of musings, advice and practical exercises touching upon all aspects of wellbeing -- mind, body and spirit. I have grouped them into categories, in no particular order, by topic:

Some Things to Think About, Some Things to Try:
In her post, Another Driving Meditation: Krishnamurti, Radio and Distractions, Isabella Mori of Change Therapy invites us inside her head to witness a spirited dialogue she has with herself while driving. The part of herself that is seeking distractions from the here-and-now debates the centered part that was hoping to do some driving meditation, while various expert voices chime in with their opinions! She comes to the realization that "thinking about meditating is not the same as meditating; it's just another distraction."

Raymond David Salas over at Zen Chill encourages us to turn to our “miracle activation” button when faced with overwhelming challenges. He then gives us specific instructions for activating it, his thoughts on how and why it works, then encourages us to trust in the wisdom of our higher selves. Read his post, How to Push the "Miracle Activation" Button, to find out more.

Matthew Spears of Loving Awareness offers a meditative exercise that can be done with a partner, or with oneself, to help overcome the false sense of separateness we often fall into. In his post, The Unity In Love, he states that "Love is always a journey towards oneness, toward unity. Loving yourself is loving another, and loving another is loving yourself. Realizing and living this attracts you to experiences that manifest it to you, rather than separation and conflict."

Drawing from the concepts of Imago Relationship Therapy, Alex Blackwell at The Next 45 Years discusses the power struggles that can occur in couples when one or the other partner feels that his/her needs are not being met, and is unable to ask for what is needed in an objective, emotionally-neutral manner. See his post, Power Struggle to Power to Love.

David B. Bohl over at Slow Down Fast Today! points out that we need to think twice when we discount our achievements, not just for our own sake, but for the sake of those around us -- When You Discount Yourself, You Discount Me. "Why can’t we just realize that discounting ourselves hurts others, and have more compassion for them than we show in our self-centered discounting? I believe that if we could just change this one thing in our lives, we could become people we can’t even imagine now."

Motivational Speaker - Craig Harper talks about The Power of An Idea, stating "My objective in sharing these short stories is to impress upon you that anyone can take an idea, build some momentum, overcome a few challenges, deal with the obligatory crap that life dishes out and create something amazing and at the same time re-invent themselves."

On the Metaphysical Side:
Shirley at Fun Spirit says, "We’ve all heard lots of stress relief technique remedies like exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep and relaxing. Now I’m adding one more to the list – meditation with crystals. Sure, to some it may sound silly, stupid, or like mere wishful thinking. How could a stupid rock help anyone relax?" In response to her own question, Shirley refers to some scientific evidence, along with her own observations in her article, Stress relief - rocks that help you relax.

Chris at Martial Development explains that "with the ability to see human auras, it is possible to understand the workings in the human body. Depending on the colors and the intensity of the aura around the individual, the condition of the individual can be deciphered." In his post Developing Your Ability to See Auras, he provides us with some practical exercises for developing our ability to see people's auras.

Addictions:
Jolynn Braley at The Fit Shack discusses a news article about a study on the combined effects of sugar, fat, and salt on laboratory rats. It appears that their brains responded to these substances the same way they would to opium or morphine. In her article, Fast Food, Heroin, and Food Addiction, What’s the Connection?, she reflects on how this may tie in to people's addictions to certain unhealthy foods.

And Tracee Sioux, author of Quit Coping looks back at her history of coping with stress from her new perspective as a non-smoker, and sees things in a different light. "Since a distructive behavior, smoking, clouds every memory and emotion since I was 13 years old do I have to reinvent my own history to let smoking go?" Check out her post Reinventing History.

Physical Health:
Tupelo Kenyon extols the virtues of five simple exercise that can be done by almost anyone for an investment of just 15-20 minutes per day. Read his article 5 Tibetan Rites - Easy Yoga for Busy People to learn about the benefits he has reaped from his simple, but effective daily practice.

Debra Moorehead at DebraMoorehead.com (who, by the way, will be hosting next week's Carnival). How Amanda Lost 35 Pounds in Six Months Debra presents her first podcast, an interview with Amanda Faris who lost 35 pounds in six months by following Debra's diet that she had posted last year.

Jeni at Savvy Skin reminds you to Protect Your Skin When You Fly. She encourages you to use moisturizer in order to offset some of the drying effects of airplane travel, and offers up some product recommendations.

Matt Wolfe, guest blogger at Be Healthy and Relax offers some tips on How To Relax for sports fans whose teams didn't make it to the playoffs, and anyone else in need of some stress relief :)

Fitbuff at FitBuff.com's Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog sings the praises of the New Wii Fitness Game Coming Soon (to a store near you in early 2008), which allows you to have fun while burning calories. While the current wii is very interactive, "the Wii Fit will incorporate a 'Wii Balance Board' that will sense the player's full body motion, allowing for jumping, leaning, and endless other possibilities."

Societal Health:
In her article, Socially Sustainable, Lisa Nave makes a case for social sustainability, saying that "When we practice environmental sustainability, we act in accord with what is healthy for the earth as a whole. We let our knowledge in science and nature guide our actions. When we practice social sustainability, we act in accord with what is healthy for humanity." She outlines some of the ways in which she envisions it, then invites you to contemplate ways in which you can make your life more socially sustainable.

Jimmy Atkinson at Nursing Online Education Database lays out some major healthcare policy issues and how 9 of the presidential candidates (Democratic and Republican) stand on those issues in his article Comparison: Presidential Candidates on Major Healthcare Issues.

And that's it for this week's Carnival!
For more information or to see past Carnival of Healing submissions and guidelines, please visit the Carnival of Healing homepage. And, if you didn't have a chance to view last week's Carnival of Healing, you can find it at Therapeutic Reiki.

Just Thinking About It...

The October 2007 issue of Women's Health, featured an article entitled "Muscle: Defined." In it, there was a short section with the caption Best.News.Ever, which talked about a 2007 study that found that women who visualized weight training, over a period of time, gained almost as much muscle strength as women who actually trained. I wanted to read the original scientific article, but there was no citation in the magazine, and a Google search failed to reveal any recent research in this area. The only reference to a journal article that I could find was on Sports Medicine About.com, which referenced a 2004 study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

About 13 years ago, I was working as a research assistant for a public health research facility. I was part of a neurophysiology laboratory where they were studying muscle fatigue. They would place extremely thin needles (like acupuncture needles) into people's arms, then have them move their muscles. They would record the neuronal activity of their muscles, observing how long it took for the muscles to fatigue.

Twice weekly, the researchers would take turns presenting their latest research, along with discussions of the current state of their field of study. One time, one of the post-docs from our lab made a presentation, and mentioned a study that had just been published, which indicated that muscle strength could be built simply through the act of thinking about moving one's muscles. Several of the senior researchers chuckled at the idea, and dismissed it as nonsense. But I was fascinated. The study had shown significant increase in muscle strength in a controlled study -- over the period of a month, people who simple thought about exercising a particular muscle gained almost as much strength as those who actually did exercise it, and those who neither thought about it, nor moved it (they had their hand put in a splint and were not given visualization instructions), didn't gain anything. It seemed there had to be something to it.

Since that time, several studies have supported this idea, and it seems that it is becoming common wisdom -- many professional athletes and trainers now accept the idea that you can build muscle strength through consistent, repeated visualization of a physical action. Not that the idea of mind over matter is in any way a new concept!

Dalai Lama in DC

I received the following email from a few different sources, and have decided to share it with you. I have heard the Dalai Lama speak a few times (in Central Park, Constitution Hall, and Verizon Center in DC). Each time I was struck by the unity I felt with the tens of thousands of people of all ages, races and religions, sitting in complete silence listening to his simple, yet profound words. If you have an opportunity to hear him, I highly recommend it.

Dear friends,

On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, the Dalai Lama will be making a free and public address on the west lawn of the Capitol. Speaker Nancy Pelosi just helped pass a bill that gave ICT use of the west lawn and west steps of the Capitol to allow for this free event!

We need help in publicizing it because its less than three weeks away and so we are asking you to forward this e-mail to as many friends and colleagues in the DC area as possible. If you know of good list serves to post this, please do. We need help reaching out to dharma centers, churches, colleges, workplaces and other networks in and around DC.

The Dalai Lama will be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from Speaker Pelosi, Congressional leadership and the U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at 1:00. This will be simulcast on a jumbotron onto the West Lawn of the Capitol. At 2:20, Richard Gere will make a few remarks, and at 2:30, Speaker Pelosi will escort the Dalai Lama from Capitol to the West Lawn, where he will give an address.

This will be the first time in history that a sitting US President will publicly appear with a Dalai Lama, and it will happen at the halls of Congress, who have been so supportive of Tibet over the years.

Before this, from 11:00 - 1:00, Tibetan dance, opera and song troupes from all over America, will be performing. If you can join for that as well, feel free to bring a picnic lunch, blanket or folding chair.
There will be about 1,000 Tibetans in D.C. for this and it will be a wonderful and colorful celebration. Many of the highest lamas and Rimpoches from around the world will be attending.

While this is free to the public, it is costing ICT about $185,000.  If you can make a donation, we would be enormously grateful! You can donate at www.DalaiLamaDC.org/WestLawn or send a check to ICT. (Congress is providing security and security fencing but we have to pay for staging, the sound system, the jumbotron, press tents, medical tents, etc.)

We also need volunteers. If you can volunteer all day on Wednesday, Oct. 17, please e-mail
tenzint [at] savetibet [dot] org, and include your phone number.

For more on the Dalai Lama's visit, go to www.dalailamadc.org.

Thank you for whatever you can do to make this historic day successful. And I hope to see you there!

John

John Ackerly,
President
International Campaign for Tibet
1825 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036

StellarSelf Hosting 107th Carnival of Healing: Request for Content!

On Saturday, October 13th, Becoming Your StellarSelf is hosting the 107th Carnival of Healing. The Carnival of Healing is a weekly round-up of personal blog posts on the topics of holistic health, wellness, spirituality, and self empowerment. If you have written a recent post on any of these topics, I would love to include it in the Carnival. (please, no more than 1 entry per author)

So, if you have a post that you would like included in the October 13th Carnival, please submit your link using the online submission form by Friday, October 12th. For more information or to see past Carnival of Healing submissions and guidelines, please visit the Carnival of Healing.

Thank you! I look forward to seeing your submissions!

#106 - Oct 06 2007: hosted by Therapeutic Reiki — We Are One World Healing
#107 - Oct 13 2007: hosted by Becoming Your StellarSelf
#108 - Oct 20 2007: hosted by Debra Moorehead (fellow Priscilla Palmer Self-Development lister!)

Bob's Birthday

This past weekend, we helped celebrate my father-in-law's 80th birthday! Despite having experienced some serious health problems on and off over the past 20 years, he is a pretty hearty guy. I'm guessing that it has a lot to do with several aspects of his life that he nourishes, which have been shown to contribute to longevity – he values his family and friends and has a great support network, he is an active member of his local church, and he loves to laugh.

If you are a man of any age, the CDC offers some great Tips for a Healthy Life for Men on their website.

Take Back Your Time Day

Every year since 2003, October 24th has been celebrated as “Take Back Your Time Day.” This date is symbolic in that it is 9 weeks before the end of the year, representing the 9 additional weeks of work that Americans put in per year compared to their Western European counterparts. Since the inception of Take Back Your Time Day (a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy at Cornell University, and is an initiative of The Simplicity Forum), millions of Americans have participated in teach-ins and community gatherings to call attention to “the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.”

The creators of Take Back Your Time Day are not anti-work or anti-productivity, but rather pro-work-life balance. As a society, we have created undue stress on ourselves, which negatively impacts every aspect of our individual lives, and society as a whole. Here are some facts from the Take Back Your Time Day website that illustrate the ways in which our time deficit affects us:

*We're working more than medieval peasants did, and more than the citizens of any other industrial country.

*Working Americans average a little over two weeks of vacation per year, while Europeans average five to six weeks.

*Time stress threatens our health. It leads to fatigue, accidents and injuries. It reduces time for exercise and encourages consumption of calorie-laden fast foods.

*Time stress threatens our relationships as we find less time for each other, less time to care for our children and elders, less time to just hang out.

*It weakens our communities. We have less time to know our neighbors, supervise our children, and volunteer.

*It reduces employment as fewer people are hired and then required to work longer hours.

*It leaves us little time for ourselves, for self-development, or for spiritual growth.

The creators of Take Back Your Time Day are encouraging people to get involved through "Take Four Windows of Time" initiative. The idea is that you choose any four windows of time between October 24th and January 1st, and participate in some sort of “life-renewing” activity of your choice. This can be spending time with friends or family, enjoying a lazy weekend afternoon, spending time in nature, or whatever else takes you away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Why not take the time to schedule your Four Windows of Time? It is a relatively easy way to begin to reclaim some of your time.

Supporting Our Troops

Last week I was an exhibitor at a health fair. A man approached my table to learn more about my work, and I told him that I specialize in stress management, work-life balance, Reiki -- healthy, balanced living. He told me that there is a great need for stress reduction programs for soldiers returning from the Iraq war (the psychological toll has been very high for this war, more so than previous ones), and that the nearby Walter Reed Army Medical Center had a particularly high number of veterans suffering from severe stress-related disorders.

Around this time, I came across a blog post by Catherine Carter over at Continuum Wellness on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in soldiers returning from Iraq. As she points out, chronic stress has been linked to many physical illnesses, and this is one population that has been greatly affected by this. In her post, Catherine includes a link to a Washington Post audio-visual article that tells the story of two Iraq veterans suffering from PTSD. This slideshow is part of an ongoing Post series entitled "Walter Reed --The Wounded Warrior at Home".

Also around this time, I met a woman who told me about a friend of hers who is running a Yoga Nidra program (a form called iRest, developed by psychologist Richard Miller of the Center of Timeless Being) at Walter Reed to help Iraq war veterans learn meditation and stress reduction. I was intrigued by this, so I did some research on it.

IRest utilizes meditation, progressive relaxation and breathing exercises, in order to learn how to release  negative body sensations, emotions, beliefs and stress. Results of a pilot study showed that those veterans who regularly practiced yoga nidra experienced reduced PTSD scores, anxiety, depression, insomnia and fear, as well as an increased sense of control over their lives and improved interpersonal relationships.

In her blog post, Catherine Carter made an interesting observation, saying: "Many years ago I read how in some traditional African societies that after times of war individuals had to undergo ritual cleansing with herbs and prayers to aid them in re-integration into society. I think that is missing for servicemen and women, the spiritual healing. The horrors that they must have seen. There has to be a way to release those knots of tension so that real healing can flow." I feel this is key.

Apparently, the military has already come to this realization. An article on the Military Officers website reports that in addition to Yoga Nidra, Transendental Meditation, Acupuncture and Virtual Reality are being investigated as methods to further support veterans with PTSD.There is an obvious need to support our troops once they return home by providing them with the tools they need to heal themselves in body, mind and spirit and integrating programs into their total medical regimen can only help.

One Step At A Time

A few years ago, the Ad Council's PSA Love Handles caught my attention. It has stayed with me because of its witty, yet gross, approach. A guy walks up to a lost and found counter in a mall and hands over two oval-hemispheric blobs that look kind of like breast implants, saying that he found them near the stairway. The lost-and-found guy takes them nonchalantly. The guy who found them asks what they are, and the lost-and-found guy responds that they are “love handles” and explains that “lots of people lose them taking the stairs instead of the escalator.” It’s a very effective ad, and is part of a series that was launched in March 2004 by The Ad Council as part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Small Steps program, aimed at addressing the problem of obesity in this country through simple, daily, common sense health habits.

The Small Steps program takes a very straightforward approach – their message is to ignore all the conflicting and confusing diet and exercise information out there, and just focus on the following common sense basics to a healthy lifestyle: eating a healthy diet and controlling portion sizes; doing some physical activity at least five times a week, for thirty minutes or more; and avoiding tobacco and illegal drugs altogether. Realizing that this is not as simple as it sounds for most people, the Small Steps program provides practical advice for integrating these habits into one’s daily routine through small, easy-to-implement changes.

In the spirit of Small Steps, James Hill, PhD, founded an initiative called America on the Move to help people take small steps to avoid weight gain. America on the Move collaborates with schools, workplaces and communities to develop programs that encourage people to walk 2,000 extra steps and eat 100 fewer calories per day.

According to America On the Move, “More than 60% of American adults do not get the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity a day; 25% of American adults are not physically active at all. More than 120 million Americans — 64.5% of the adult population — are overweight; nearly 59 million, or 31%, are obese. The average American adult is gaining 1-3 pounds each year, and some people gain even more.” Taking the extra 2,000 steps and eating 100 fewer calories per day would prevent this yearly weight-creep. If these campaigns are as effective as the low-fat and subsequent low-carb messages have been, this country has a lot to gain/lose – the total direct and indirect costs of obesity, including medical costs and lost productivity, amount to a super-sized $117 billion each year, with $75 billion of that in obesity-related medical expenditures.

America on the Move used to celebrate America On the Move Day on September 24th every year. Now they celebrate for an entire month. There is a week left of America On the Move's Steptember initiative which promotes the benefits of active living and healthy eating. The America on the Move website offers interactive features and free downloadable information. What will you do to celebrate?

People Who Knead People

I was recently given a gift certificate for a massage, which I redeemed almost immediately! I find few things more relaxing than letting go and allowing someone else to pamper me by gently but firmly rubbing and kneading my shoulders and back. Delicious! While it is a wonderful, affordable luxury to have a professional massage, you can reap the benefits of this healing touch at home. There are many books, tapes and websites with information on self-massage. Or you can schedule a guided massage session, like my husband and I did a couple of months ago at my favorite spa, in which you can learn basic massage techniques that you can use at home.

Ongoing research by Tiffany Field, PhD, of the University of Miami School of Medicine, has shown that massage is effective in reducing stress, depression, anxiety, pain and in boosting the immune system. Field believes that massage accomplishes these various healthful effects by prompting the body to release serotonin and decrease the stress hormone cortisol. When cortisol decreases, stress is reduced and immune cells are stimulated. And a 2004 study by Christopher Moyer, James Rounds, and James Hannum at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign found that having a massage is highly effective in reducing anxiety, blood pressure and heart rate. The study was a meta-analysis, one in which they examined the results of 37 different research studies on the effects of therapeutic massage. The most interesting finding occurred when the authors took into account studies that involved multiple massage treatments over time – it was found that depression and anxiety were reduced in the participants at rates equivalent to those produced by traditional psychotherapy.

Moyer and his colleagues did not come to any conclusions as to why massage is so effective in treating depression and anxiety, yet it appears to be highly therapeutic for the body and mind – a testament to the healing power of touch. For more information on massage, or to find a massage therapist near you, you can visit the American Massage Therapy Association's website and just enter your zip code.

Go With the Flow

Recently, my Reiki mentor told me I need to be mindful of staying present in my body, to not put too much emphasis on my relationship with the mental or spiritual aspects of myself to the detriment of the integration of all aspects of myself. I thought this went without saying, as I am fully appreciative of the fact that I live in a physical reality and enjoy it very much! Then I recalled that I had been given the same advice a couple of years ago, while vacationing in Cancun, by a female Shaman who guided me through a Temazcal experience. She said she got the sense that I was not integrating my body and spirit and recommended I look into Tensegrity exercises developed by Carlos Castaneda. I found a video and tried the exercises, but it just wasn't for me. The movements felt very unnatural, and some actually hurt. Several years earlier, I had studied Tai Chi, which also serves to integrate the body and spirit, and this had felt much more natural to me – I loved the flowing feeling of it. So, I thought about trying Tai Chi again, but life got busy, and I got distracted.

Recently, a friend mentioned that she really loves Vinyasa yoga because of the dance-like quality. This idea appealed to me because some of the most enjoyable exercise I've done has been West African Dance, which I studied when I lived in Connecticut – something I haven't done in a couple of years. I loved it because of the "flow" (in the Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi sense of the word) that I experienced once I had a series of movements down. It was a wonderful workout, but it also made me feel completely in the moment. In addition, the live djembe drumming that accompanied our dance provided a wonderful visceral, energetic component to the experience. With this in mind, I sought out a Vinyasa video to see if it would foster the feeling of "flow" that I had previously experienced.

I found an interesting video, Shiva Rea's Fluid Power, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, and tried it out for the first time today. I have practiced various forms of yoga, most recently Bikram Yoga and Power Yoga, but this was different. The video contains 6 pre-set practices as well as 20 different sequences that you can mix-and-match to create a custom practice. This was my first experience with Vinyasa, so I have nothing to compare it to, but my observation was that Rae's version was very dance-like. And the overall effect was a wonderful blending of my favorite components from yoga, West African Dance and Tai Chi. One sequence of moves was actually accompanied by African drumming, and another sequence included Tai-Chi-esque movements.

I'm looking forward to trying out all of the pre-set practices, as well as all of the individual components. Vinyasa flow yoga is a very enjoyable form of mind-body-spirit exercise, and one that I plan to explore more fully. And I am thankful that those observant, spiritual women prodded me to take a closer look at how I could better integrate the spiritual, mental and physical aspects of myself.

To Market, To Market, Again

Today I had the good fortune of visiting one of my favorite places -- the Portland Farmers Market at Shemanski Park between Salmon and Main Streets on Wednesdays from 10:00am to 2:00pm. I discovered the market around this time last year, and sang my praises to it in one of my earliest posts. There are so many reasons to support one's local Farmers Market (e.g., local food tastes better, the markets support the local economy and family-run farms, local food is fresher, has more nutrients and wastes less energy because of shorter transport time).

For the past year, I have been craving one of the most delicious sandwiches I've ever eaten -- a Lamb-kabob pita with garbanzo bean hummus, wheatberry salad and fresh greens from Tastebuds, whose stand sits at the end of the U-shaped market. The Tastebuds staff arrives at the market at 5:00am to begin baking their wholegrain pitas in their mobile brick oven. All of the ingredients are incredibly fresh and they come together in exquisite perfection. Their raspberry lemonade with sparkling water and fresh berries is the perfect accompaniment. As I sat eating the pita, a couple walking by stopped and commented, "Aren't those the best thing you've ever tasted?" I agreed, and they went on their way. A man sitting next to me said, "They are incredible. I can't believe those people walked away when they had a chance to have one!" Just then, the couple turned around. As they passed us, the man next to me smiled at them and said, "I didn't think you could pass up such a rare opportunity."

The main attraction at the Farmers Market is the vast array of produce, much of it organic or at least pesticide-free. Last year, I did my best to describe the rainbow of colors and variety of textures that were abundant in the market. But mere words cannot do it justice. This time I had the wherewithall to take some pictures, so at least I can share some images with you!

Mouth watering? Even if you don't live in Portland, you can find a farmers market in your area by visiting the USDA's website. And check out the Tastebuds website for several farmers market-inspired recipes.