Intuitive Healing

As the New Year gets underway, it's natural for our thoughts to turn to fresh starts, rejuvenation, and healing. Health practitioners of all kinds offer abundant advice this time of year about what you can do to stay healthy, live longer, and lose a few unwanted pounds in the process.  While most people understand that we play a significant role in our own health, a philosophy called Intuitive Healing encourages us to explore the healing power within us.

In her book, Intuitive Healing, psychiatrist Dr. Judith Orloff discusses how a concept we're all familiar with -- the gut feeling -- can teach us to heal. Her techniques involve taking time to look inward and listen. Orloff outlines several steps you can take to tap into your own intuitive energy. The first is to recognize how our beliefs set the stage for healing. With a more introspective take on the concept of "think positive," she reminds us that our thoughts affect our bodies in a physical way. Life enhancing beliefs literally promote wellness, while negative thinking stands in the way of health. What are your underlying beliefs about your body and your well-being? Are you your own best cheerleader, or do you sometimes have to get well in spite of yourself?

Another aspect of Orloff's philosophy of Intuitive Healing has to do with "being in your body." In our cerebral culture, we're accustomed to living in our heads, and ignoring our bodies until they cause us enough trouble that we can't avoid taking action. Our fast-paced, high tech society, with fears about terrorism and general overwork, makes it easy to live life perpetually distracted, and slowly slide into the mindset that being less than at your best is normal. Part of the path back to sanity and health is to stoke your inner fires and bolster yourself. Take time to sit quietly and turn your attention inward. How are you doing on the inside? What's your "gut feeling"?

As you get accustomed to quietly tuning in to your own subtle internal energy, the more you'll be able to notice warning signs of potential problems, and cultivate health.  Your inner voice can help you choose wisely and take action before problems loom large. Learn to trust your innate wisdom. Regular meditation is a great way to nurture your healing intuition. Even just a few minutes each day in quiet contemplation can do wonders to strengthen the connection with your body and its vital energy.

Muscle Testing: What Is It?

Muscle testing, also called applied kinesiology, is one of many techniques sometimes used by holistic practitioners to gain information about what's happening in your body. This is how it works: a practitioner might, for example, touch a key point on the patient's body where they suspect a problem might exist, and at the same time test muscle strength elsewhere, generally by pushing down on an extended arm that the patient is trying to hold strong. The weakness or strength of the arm muscle can give clues about a weakness in that specific body point.

The other major finding in Dr. Price's research was the devastating effects a modern diet could have on the health and well-being of native peoples who began to eat like westerners. In many communities, Price had the chance to observe what happened when native peoples opted to leave their cultural base and integrate into encroaching European civilization. The results were startling: pronounced tooth decay, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Rates of suicide and depression increased. We can see similar patterns today in Native American cultures in the U.S., where a Western diet has replaced traditional fare.

Price correctly predicted that as Western cultures continued to consume more refined sugar and processed foods, levels of disease would increase. His work, while largely forgotten today, echoes what we hear from modern holistic practitioners: diet is a major key to health. Today the Weston A. Price Foundation carries on the doctor's work, educating people about the benefits of eating nutrient-rich, pure foods. The foundation supports a number of philosophies that contribute to the creation of healthful fare: organic farming, pasture fed livestock, and community farms.

New Year's Resolutions -- and how to stick with 'em…

By the middle of January, about half of all New Year's resolutions will be broken. Here are some tips to avoid resolution guilt:

Stay positive. You can do it. Keep reminding yourself that you can change for the better.

Make your goals realistic. Resolve to lose five pounds, not 50. Take it a little at a time. You can always decide to lose five more.
 
Appreciate your successes. We tend to be hard on ourselves and notice our failures more. You don't have to eat a chocolate cake to celebrate, but rejoice in your victories, no matter how small.

Don't compare yourself to other people. Focus on your own progress. If you saw someone else working as hard as you are, you'd probably respect their effort and cheer them on. Do the same for yourself.

Stay away from "energy vampires." You know them. Those people who are negative, drain your energy and tell you that you can't accomplish what you set out to do. Stay away from these folks and don't let them undermine you.

Remember that when it comes to human behavior, changes that stick usually take time and happen in small increments. Trust the process.

Cozy Winter Recipe: Gingerbread!

1 cup sorghum or molasses

½ cup melted butter or oil

2 tsp ginger

2 cups flour or spelt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda, mixed in 1 cup of hot water

Beat together molasses and butter/oil. Then beat in flour, ginger, and salt.

Beat in soda water about 1/3 cup at a time, till mixture is smooth. Then bake in an 8" x 8" pan at 350 deg. F. for 35-40 min.

("Louise’s Gingerbread," From the New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, Book Publishing, 1989.)