Category Archives: healthy mind

Homeopathy, Children and Life, A Deeper Look

What I love about this article below is that it captures succinctly a number of key points of homeopathic philosophy.  For example, that you are not your illness.  That the origins of a ‘disease’ that you are experiencing *today* may have ancestral roots.  But whatever the cause of the problem it has something to do with inter-relationships of things in your world, your life and how it effected you.  I don’t have the name of the author, but the article appeared in “The Daily Mirror” 12/25/08, an Indian paper.  And read the Arsenicum case in the article, so cool.

A person is not simply a disease. Instead they are the totality of their physical and psychological characteristics. This totality is a dynamic and evolving system. In Homeopathy we recognize that our whole entire being is influenced not only by infections and day to day stresses but also our environment and our emotions and that of those around us.

In the case of children we can clearly see a link in the stresses surrounding their births and even conception going onto having a bearing in their “total health.”  In some cases this will be revealed by the child’s inability to gain weight, to sleep well or a recurring ear infection, craving certain foods and so on. Instead of looking within ourselves and the shadow side of our behavior and emotions we look for the quick fix to patch our children back to “health” with antibiotics and vitamins. This is not a true cure. We need to always consider the root cause. And more often than not it has its roots in the realm of emotions. Sometimes it is an emotion of an ancestor that we carry with us and keep reliving it.   Remember that all experiences we have leave an energetic imprint on us.

This brings me to a case I read of when a mother came to visit a Homeopath with her son who always woke up at 3 am. The mother had frontal sinusitis. The child seemed very agitated and in contrast the mother was calm and dressed all in black. Of course like most modern mothers she claimed her pregnancy was problem free and how much she had achieved during her pregnancy, but her child was presenting with much agitation and sleep issues. So the homeopath has to dig a little deeper to find out what had been going on during her pregnancy. Many months later the mother recalled that she watched the assassination of President Sadat on the television when she was pregnant. This apparently really shocked her and she was also able to recall that ever since then the baby moved around so much in her stomach. She put it down to him just being active and all boy! But through the Homeopathic lens of understanding we are able to see that this negative image was transferred to the unborn baby while in utero. The Homeopath prescribed a few doses of Arsenicum Albumen for the indication of the fear of death. The boy began to sleep through the night and became much calmer.

In today’s world a pregnant woman is exposed to so much negativity on a daily basis. For example, take the 24 hour news channels that allow us to relive disturbing and traumatic events on demand. We absorb these images and emotions and make it part of our psyche.  We have moved very far away from the days when pregnant women were revered and placed in calming and beautiful surroundings in order to imbibe feelings of harmony and joy to their children. Today even a child’ birth is scheduled in most parts of the developed world. Very little is left to the natural rhythms of the Universe. We have to find a middle path, a path on which we can enjoy the benefits of the modern world but not let it destroy our spirit.

In our busy world we seem to have forgotten that our physical body and our emotions are inextricably linked. In order to truly put our lives back in balance we need to look a little deeper than the superficial symptoms. We need to truly look at the dis-ease in our being.  In order to ascertain the fundamental cause of disease and then treat what needs to be cured it takes some self reflection. All the stresses of our day to day life impact our vital force.  In treating children we see how strong their vital force is and through Homeopathy you can maintain this vitality and enhance it.

Healing Our Shadow – Obama and the Palin Effect

This interesting, insightful article came my way. Have a read…

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and exhorting people to obey their worst impulses. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision.

Look at what she stands for:

Small town values – a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
Family values – a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be heeded.
Rigid stands on guns and abortion – a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
“Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness.

Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/obama-and-the-palin-effec_b_123943.html

Optimism Helps Cancer Patients

New research indicates that cancer patients who are optimistic can better manage pain. Having a sense of mastery enables a cancer patient to reduce pain. This however is not new knowledge. We all know intrinsically that the ability to smile and to face adversity with inner strength is ultimately an essential skill we all need. And such a skill will help one to master life’s challenges of which an illness may be one.

Anyone who can use their mind in a way to maintain optimism is wise indeed.

“These findings underscore the need for physicians and nurses involved in the care of cancer patients to recognize, encourage, promote, and take advantage of these traits in their patients to help them more effectively manage their cancer care, so that they ultimately can achieve a better quality of life,” Dr. Margot E. Kurtz and colleagues from Michigan State University in East Lansing, the study’s authors, conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, July 2008.

Weekly Reflection #19

“He who suppresses a moment’s anger may prevent many day’s sorrow.”
-unknown

While there are some who believe it is better to let it all hang out, it can be much more redeeming to forgive and overlook the faults of others, or remove ourselves from a negative situation. Speaking out of anger helps no one. Once it is “out there” it is difficult to take back. A little forbearance can go a long way.

Components of Healthy Food

By Catherine Carter

All food is not the same. Of course nutritional content varies, the quality of the soil the food is grown in, the growing methods, harvesting method. The love and intention of the farmer to grow nourishing crops also contributes to the quality of the food. Part of learning how to detox is learning what to put in the body and what is best avoided.

There has been a subtle shift from food truly being nourishing and life sustaining vs. food looking good. Consumer studies show that shoppers do not like fruits and vegetables with blemishes so into the lab we go, to create food (?) that is blemish free. It may look good, however it doesn’t decay and it is tasteless.

And so we get sucked in, to externals. Form with no content. It looks good but it doesn’t support you living a vibrant life. It may help you to save (?) a few dollars…but how many more dollars are lost if you develop a chronic disease? National health care coverage should begin on the farm. National health care coverage has begin with healers. National health care coverage has to begin with Mom and Dad…and real, healthy, nutritious food.

In your quest for healthier living avoid:

  • Irradiated food
  • Genetically modified food
  • the microwave
  • hormones
  • pesticides
  • refined foods
  • refined flours and grains
  • the meat of factory farmed animals.

Make a start today, to reclaiming your most, vibrant health and well being. Small steps will provide large rewards.

Homeopathy – What’s Your Story?

by Catherine Carter

It is common to hear or read about the power of story these days. It comes up regularly in therapy groups. I read an article where a photographer spoke of the story that each photographed piece has.

Story is powerful, as we are all unique. It is stupendous that while 99% or more of us is just like everyone else there is this minuscule part that makes us all different. We feel separate from one another, even though ultimately we are all one.

The power of story is also evident in homeopathy. Homeopathy is not “new age” medicine, though some co-opt it. Homeopathic remedies have been used in a number of ways. However in its essence and pure form, the healing art of Homeopathy has always been about story and meaning.

Personally, I find power in consistency. I find reassurance and a palpable substance in it. Let’s say a proving was done of a homeopathic remedy, a polychrest. I didn’t put polychrest in my glossary page, but it means a remedy of many uses. These remedies have been used extensively for hundreds of years now and the essential properties are the same, even if today we repeat the experiment. How cool.

One’s personal story in homeopathy ties your personal view, presentation, thoughts and way of seeing the world into a pattern that resonates with another, similar part of nature. You have heard how sometimes one may feel so alone? Isn’t it wonderful to know that on a deep soul and pattern level that one is not alone? In sharing your story with a homeopath and finding your particular remedy, that is where the journey of story takes you, from isolation to oneness.

Meditation Improves Concentration

Meditation is an ancient practice which all spiritual paths promote.  The art of quieting the mind produces many benefits for the practitioner.  Improved concentration is one. Modern research is again catching up with an ancient truth, read on...

Penn researchers demonstrate improved attention with mindfulness training

Philadelphia — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that practicing even small doses of daily meditation may improve focus and performance.

Meditation, according to Penn neuroscientist Amishi Jha and Michael Baime, director of Penn’s Stress Management Program, is an active process that literally changes the way the brain works. Their study is the first to examine how meditation may modify the three subcomponents of attention, including the ability to prioritize and manage tasks and goals, the ability to voluntarily focus on specific information and the ability to stay alert to the environment.

In the Penn study, subjects were split into two categories. Those new to meditation, or “mindfulness training,” took part in an eight-week course that included up to 30 minutes of daily meditation. The second group was more experienced with meditation and attended an intensive full-time, one-month retreat.

Researchers found that even for those new to the practice, meditation enhanced performance and the ability to focus attention. Performance-based measures of cognitive function demonstrated improvements in a matter of weeks. The study, published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, suggests a new, non-medical means for improving focus and cognitive ability among disparate populations and has implications for workplace performance and learning.

Participants performed tasks at a computer that measured response speeds and accuracy. At the outset, retreat participants who were experienced in meditation demonstrated better executive functioning skills, the cognitive ability to voluntarily focus, manage tasks and prioritize goals. Upon completion of the eight-week training, participants new to meditation had greater improvement in their ability to quickly and accurately move and focus attention, a process known as “orienting.” After the one-month intensive retreat, participants also improved their ability to keep attention “at the ready.”

The results suggest that meditation, even as little as 30 minutes daily, may improve attention and focus for those with heavy demands on their time. While practicing meditation may itself may not be relaxing or restful, the attention-performance improvements that come with practice may paradoxically allow us to be more relaxed.
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The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Penn Stress Management Program.

Weekly Inspiration #15

A Beam of Divinity – Seneca

To see a man fearless in danger,
Untainted by lust,
Happy in adversity,
Composed in turmoil,
And laughing at all those things
which are coveted or feared by others -

All men must acknowledge,
that this can be nothing else but a beam of divinity
animating a human body.

Weekly Inspiration #14

“Kind words elicit trust. Kind thoughts create depth. Kind deeds bring love.”

Lao Tzu

Yoga Nidra: A Wonderful Way to Relax

by Catherine Carter

Looking for a better way to relax? Here is a method of relaxation that is enjoyable and easy. It is Yoga Nidra. Known also as ‘the sleep of the yogis’. This is a form of ‘wakeful’ sleep. While performing the method it is important to stay awake (internally). This yoga benefits the mind/body and helps to regenerate your brain. Yoga nidra helps you to overcome fear, tension and anger. Another benefit is improved sleep.

This yoga is performed lying down on your back. The name of the yogic posture is shavasana. One lies on the floor or blanket or mat. It is important to keep the eyes closed. During the session the entire body is relaxed, all of your muscles, bones and even your face and eyes!

Look for a yoga studio in your area that offers it. There are also CD’s available on line that are easy enough to locate. With regular practice you will find it much easier to stay relaxed and centered. It will be worth it.