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)

Yoga in Your Sleep

Stanford psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge studies how people can learn to control their dreams through the use of lucid dreaming, a state of dreaming in which you are actively aware that you are dreaming. Besides helping you to overcome nightmares, LaBerge believes that lucid dreaming can help with many waking issues, including self-confidence, and improving mental and physical health. LaBerge has developed a technique called MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), which is described in his book Lucid Dreaming. Before going to sleep, tell yourself that you will remember your dreams, and that while you are dreaming you will be aware that you are dreaming. Think about recent dreams you’ve had and characteristics that made them uniquely “dreamlike,” as opposed to your day-to-day reality. Now imagine what you would like to be able to do in your dreams (I’ve always liked the idea of being able to fly).

While LaBerge is a pioneer in lucid dream research, the idea of controlling your dreams and using them to enhance awareness and well-being is not new. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, dream yoga focuses on developing one’s ability to be fully aware during sleep. Practiced for over 1000 years, dream yoga has used lucid dreaming to break down our illusions and help us to attain enlightenment. Buddhism posits that reality arises from our perception of it rather than existing as an separate, objective physical reality. Because of this, Buddhists feel that there should be no distinction between dreaming and waking reality, and when we can learn to control our dreams, we can learn to overcome our attachments and illusions in our waking lives.

There is an excellent book on this topic, The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, founder and president of Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here is a quote from it:

"Being distracted by a cloud of concepts is a habit and it can be replaced with a new habit: using bodily sensual experience to bring us to presence, to connect us to the beauty of the world, to the vivid and nourishing experience of life that lies under our distractions. This is the underpinning of successful dream yoga."

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

Cats, Closets and Dreams

Last night I had a strange and vivid dream. I usually remember my dreams upon waking, but they usually fade away by late morning. However, this one stayed with me all day, and I kept coming back to the imagery -- rich, obvious and very Jungian. I have been trying to figure out what it means all day...

In my dream, I was traveling on business, and was renting a small apartment in a town I'd never visited before. Upon my arrival, the realtor in charge of renting the apartment showed me around, then told me that something unpleasant had happened, and that I may not want to look in the closet. I didn't ask any questions as to the nature of the incident.

Throughout the dream, I spent time with various colleagues, whom I had not met before this trip, and all made references to the closet. I recall thinking that while these people were nice, and I didn't mind hanging around with them during my visit, they weren't people I would have chosen out of the whole pool of humanity to be my friends. There was nothing specific that I didn't like about them, it was just a feeling.

Upon arriving back at the apartment with a colleague after having been out and about, I came in through a side door, which opened onto a set of stairs leading up to the living area. On the stairs was a very friendly cat. My colleague commented that the cat wasn't usually so friendly toward strangers. When we got upstairs, she mentioned the closet.

I woke up soon after this portion of the dream. I never did look in the closet. I had this strong feeling that not knowing would be way better than seeing whatever might be in there. I knew that if whatever-it-was-in-the-closet was incredibly disturbing, I wouldn't be able to stay in the apartment.

My surface analysis was that it was obvious that the closet represented a part of myself or my life that I have not explored. The scary thing in the closet is some aspect of myself that I am afraid to confront, feeling that it is better to deny it than to confront it and not be able to live with it. As for the cat, in many cultures they are seen as messengers or conduits to the spirit world -- good or evil. According to the Dream Moods website, "for the cat lover, cats signifies an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power."

However, although I've been meditating on my dream's possible meanings, I have not come to any conclusions. Seeing things clearly for other people comes quite naturally for me. What is it that I can't see about myself?

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.

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!)

National Depression Screening Day

[Correction: National Depression Screening Day was listed as October 4th on the health calendar I refer to for health-related holidays. However, I discovered that it is, in fact, being held on October 11th]

Life is a constantly shifting landscape, and in the course of navigating it, we will all experience good times and bad times, highs and lows. And sometimes things are thrown at us that can knock us for a loop, making us feel more sad than usual. All this is perfectly normal.

However, if the sadness lasts for a long time, if you lose interest in the things that usually make you happy, if your sleeping or eating patterns change dramatically, or if you feel helpless or hopeless, it could be a sign that this is not just normal ups and downs. It could be that you are depressed, and it is time to seek outside support.

Today October 11th is National Depression Screening Day, and free local depression screening events are taking place all over the country. If you, or someone you care about has been feeling down for more than two weeks, it is important to seek help. You can find out where there is a free screening event in your area by visiting the National Depression Screening Day website.

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.

Teach Your Children Well

I was enamored with an article by Pat Burson in the September 17th issue of Newsday entitled "Raising Grateful Children" based on an interview with Jeffrey Froh, PsyD, who is Assistant Professor of School-Community Psychology at Hofstra University. Froh's research focuses on the development of gratitude in children and adolescents, and in the article he offers suggestions for ways that parents can help model and cultivate an attitude of gratefulness in their children.

For example, parents can make sure to express gratitude for the things and people in their lives ("I'm so thankful that I have such loving people in my life"). They can also make it a point to acknowledge their children's expression of gratitude ("That was very nice of you to thank your sister for sharing").

And Froh practices what he preaches – he has been helping his 10-month-old son write thank you notes and keep a gratitude journal since his son was 3 months old :)

I wanted to find out more about Froh's work, so I took a look at his website. In his research, he has found that cultivating gratitude in one's life leads to many positive things including goal striving and achievement motivation. It can also buffer against materialism and foster intrinsic goal pursuit (pursuit of goals for personal satisfaction rather than external reward). People with intrinsic goals report higher levels of well-being than those with external, materialistic goals.

As an applied developmental psychologist, I was happy to see the mainstream media promoting positive parenting practices. It's nice to read about what parents can do to raise happy, healthy children. It's also great to see researchers like Froh advancing the field of positive psychology – an area from which we can all benefit.

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.

The Meme-ing of Life

In the spirit of the W-List, life coach and blogger Priscilla Palmer has created a list of outstanding self-development bloggers. She contacted me to let me know that I have been tagged, so it is my turn to nominate self-development blogs I admire. I'm flattered to be listed amongst this collective of bloggers from a wide array of perspectives.

Priscilla's intention for the list, in her words, is:

Personal development is a large topic that includes but is not limited to (law of attraction, goals, time management, physical fitness, education, motivation, inspiration, and social skills). This list should include any blog you feel can benefit us in our growth process.

Below I have started a list of my favorite blogs/bloggers, and I have tagged each of them to add to it on their own blogs. I would like to take this list just one step further, and ask that once you have added to the list you let me know. That way I can update my list to include all of your wonderful additions.

Here are my recommendations, in alphabetical order, followed by the list:

E Murphy at The Active Life [Please note corrected link]
Lisa McGlaun at LifePrints - Good News for a More Compassionate World
Lynn McTaggert at Living the Field
Monte Ladner at Fitness Rocks

Personal Development List (up to date):

Aaron Potts at Today is That Day
Adam Alexander at Adam’s Peace
Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
Adam Khoo at Adam Khoo’s Philosophies and Investing Insights
AgentSully at Life Learning Today
April Groves at Making Life Work For You
Argancel at C’eclair (for those who speak french)
Ash aka Mr. Biggs at One Powerful Word
Al at 7pproductions.com
Alan Torres at Made to Be Great
Alex Shalman at AlexShalman.com
Alexander Kjerulf at The Chief Happiness Officer
Alexys Fairfield at Unraveling The Spiritual Mystique
Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net
Alvaro at Sharp Brains Blog
Amber at Random Mangus
Amie Ragan at Psychology of Clutter
Amy Hedin at There is no Maximum to Human Potential
Andrea Learned at Learned on Women
Andrea J. Lee at Money, Meaning, and Beyond
Andy Wibbels at AndyWibbels.com
Anita Pathik Law at Power of four Way
Anmol Mehta at AnmolMetha.com
Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand
Antonio Thornton at AntonioThornton.com
Ariane Benefit at Neat & Simple Living
Ask Lucid at Ask Lucid Spiritual Development
Barb Melloh at The Law of Attraction Info
Barbara Sliter at Creatorship
Belle Wong at Abundance Journal
Bill Perry at Lucid Blog
Billy Smith at The Organic Leadership Blog
Blogfuse at LifeDev
Brad Isaac at Achieve It
Brian Clark at Copyblogger
Brian Kim at briankim.net
Brian Lee at geniustypes.com
Brooke at Plain Advice
Bob at everyeveryminute
Cam Beck at ChaosScenario
Cara Lumen at The Success Magnets With Cara Luman and Your Second Wind Blog
Carlon Haas at Possess Less Exist More
Catherine Carter at Continuum Wellness
Chris Cree at SuccessCREEations
Chris Marshall at Martial Development
Chris Melton at Soupornuts.com
Chris Owen at Pink Apple
Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com
Christine Valters Painter at Abbey of the Arts
Clyde at Feeling Good
Colin Beavan at No Impact Man
Conceive, Believe, Achieve at Conceive, Believe, Achieve
Crabby McSlacker at Cranky Fitness
Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker
Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure
Cyres at Cyres Matters
Damian Carr at Soul Terminal
Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers
Darren Rowse at Problogger.net
Dave Schawbel at The Personal Branding Blog
Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet
Davers at Language Trainers Blog
David Allen at The David Allen Company
David Bohl at Reflections on Balance
David Fitch at David Fitch.com
David Richeson at 360 Degree Success
David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence
David Seah at David Seah.com
David Zinger at Slacker Manager
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
Dean Lacono at Law of Attraction for Beginners
Debbie Call at Spirit In Gear
Debbie LaChusa at 10 Step Marketing Collection
Debra Moorhead at Debra Moorhead.com
Denise Mosawi at Destineering.com
Des Walsh at Thinking Home Business
Devlyn Steele at Tools To Life Guide
Dick Richards at Come Gather Round
Dominic Tay at Personal Development for Winners
Don Simkovich at Hey Don
Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer
Donna Karlin at Perspectives
Donna Steinhorn at Rethinking
Douglas Eby at Talent Development Resources
Dr. Charles Parker at The Core Psych Blog
Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog
Drew Rozell at Drew Rozell.com
Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity
Edward Mills at Evolving Times
Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business
Emily G. W. Lilly at The Science of Waldorf Education
Emmanuel Lopez at The Adventures of Motivatorman
Ellesse at Goal Setting College
Elly Jolly at Jolly Life Coaching
Enoch Tan at Mind Reality
Eric Napier at Quotation Collection
Erin Pavlina at Erin Pavlina.com</