With stress being the causative factor in so many degenerative health conditions, part of my philosophy on healing is to lower and manage stress through various techniques.

I talk to people about the benefits of regular exercise in stress reduction, we talk about resolving and working on the emotional aspects of stress, we can look at using herbs and supplements that support our body and help us adapt to stress - but one tool that I think is essential, is meditation.

Now when I say that to most people, they have a vision of having to sit cross legged on the floor, eyes closed, and “OM” for a half an hour while the mind races and reminds us of all the other things we could be doing.  For most people this style of meditation doesn’t suit, and causes more stress that it relieves.

There are many people who do have the discipline and interest to study and learn these type of techniques, such as Transcendental Meditation, yet for many of us, we try, we get bored,  and we’re not really that interested.  We may practice that style of meditation for a while, and then we give up and move on.

Because the benefits of meditation are so numerous - physically, mentally and spiritually - it is important to include in out lives - but we need to find a style of meditation that suits us, and that doesn’t mean sitting cross legged on the floor.

All sorts of practices can move us into that meditative state, where our mind has switched off and we have a heightened but peaceful awareness and connection.  Often that comes doing something we love that we are so focused on that we lose the racing mind and enter another state.

I realised that yesterday when I spend some time with some horses - my mind was still, I was immersed in what I was doing, and I was definitely in a meditative state for quite a while.  When I had finished with the horses I felt rested, alert, energetic and very calm.  That is the state that helps us be healthy, and the more often we can access that, the better for our stress levels.

So meditation doesn’t have to be a cliche.  We can find that meditative space doing all sorts of things - surfing, horse-riding, gardening, walking in nature, yoga - often it will be found when you are doing something you love.

Being healthy doesn’t mean we have to do things that are difficult that we don’t enjoy just because we think they’re good for us.   Happiness keeps us healthy, and if we are aware of what brings us to a peaceful, joyous space, then that is what we need to do.

I know I’ll be spending a lot more time with horses - what is that you will do?

I regularly receive a newsletter from Matt Monarch, raw food guru, and in his latest e-mail he links to a great radio show, “Vitality” on Tribeca Radio.

He was interviewed by the hosts of the show, about raw foods, cleansing and his spiritual experiences with the raw diet - it’s great to hear about other people’s experiences and philosophies.

The radio show also has some other great interviews with people such as David Wolfe and Fred Bisci with links to many more programs on health and wellness.

Check it out here!

I have always seen the recognition of our feelings as a way of connecting with our true and authentic selves, rather than seeing them as something we need to “overcome” in this life. 

Life without feeling, to me, is a life only half-lived, and to abandon the texture and colour that feeling gives to life, is to deny the depth and beauty of our own existence.  (I talk about this in much more detail in my DVD “The Emotional Aspects of Healing“)

Many spiritual teachings aim to go beyond feeling, to a place of joy, peace and surrender - and as I have spoken about before, this is a wonderful inspiration and guide - but not necessarily a way to live every day.

Our feelings can have very important messages about the way we are living our lives, and to work on bypassing the feeling rather than understanding it’s core, we can miss important signposts for our life.  In one of my favourite books “Riding Between the Worlds” by Linda Kohanov, she writes about this subject:

“…yet this is precisely the behavior that many religious leaders and holistic healers promote, as McLaren found during her search for a more soulful way to approach her feelings.

In order to “be more spiritual,” she strained to be emotionless and non-judgemental,” to “have only joy in my heart.” But this proved to be a dead end: “I saw quite clearly that happiness and joy could become very dangerous if they were trumpeted as the emotions of choice - as the only emotions any of us should ever feel.

I can’t count the number of people I’ve seen whose lives imploded after they disallowed the protection of anger, the intuition of fear, the rejuvenation of sadness, and the ingenuity of depression in order to feel only joy.

In short, I’ve found throughout my life that what we are taught about emotions is not only wrong - it’s often dangerously wrong.”

Part of healing is reclaiming our ability to feel and understand the wisdom behind our “negative” feelings.  In my journey as a practitioner, I am quite certain that healing can only take place when we explore this side of life, and that food, herbs and supplements will only take us so far down the healing path.

Just something to keep in mind as we explore this fascinating roller-coaster called life!

In one of my newsletters I reviewed a book by Charles Eisenstein called “The Yoga of Eating”, and I enjoy reading his wisdom and perspective very much.

He has just released an article on issues such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression and thyroid disorders; writing on this subject from a perspective of our own body wisdom and our connection to the world which I found very relevant and thought provoking.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

“I have met countless people of great compassion and sensitivity, people who would describe themselves as “conscious” or “spiritual”, who have battled with CFS, depression, thyroid deficiency, and so on. These are people who have come to a transition point in their lives where they become physically incapable of living the old life in the old world.

That is because, in fact, the world presented to us as normal and acceptable is anything but. It is a monstrosity. Ours is a planet in pain. If you need me to convince you of that, if you are unaware of the destruction of forests, oceans, wetlands, cultures, soil, health, beauty, dignity, and spirit that underlies the System we live in, then I have nothing to say to you. I only am speaking to you if you do believe that there is something deeply wrong with the way we are living on this planet. ”

You can access the full article here, and I do believe that it is worth reading for an alternative insight into the multi-faceted aspects of these conditions.

If only most doctors could find a higher calling than the pseudo-science that passes for medicine these days - then the world would be a MUCH better place.

I thought this was  a great story and it just shows that a good hard look at your life can be very beneficial - and we don’t always need to look death in the face to do it…

“Dr. Frank Artress looked down at his fingers. His nail beds were turning blue. He was running out of oxygen near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

A cardiac anesthesiologist, Artress knew the signs of high altitude pulmonary edema. He knew there was a 75 percent chance that he would perish on Africa’s highest peak.

Artress led his wife to a rock, and they sat together above the clouds. Then it hit him. He wasn’t afraid to die; he was ashamed. He had lived only for himself - practicing medicine in a Modesto hospital, traveling with his wife, purchasing luxury vacation homes and collecting art. He felt as if he had nothing to show for his 50 years. He felt as if his life had been a waste.

In that moment, Artress and his wife realized they were living for the wrong reasons. In that moment, everything changed.”

You can read the rest of this heart-warming story here