Holiday Heartburn

With the last minute of rush of Christmas shopping, the seat-burning traffic jams in the city, and the round of Christmas parties and late night binges, it is not surprising to find many people stressed out from the so-called holidays. One common complaint is heartburn, which, as one patient describes, is “like having a giant fireball struck in your throat.”

This condition is one of the many signs of gastroesophalgeal reflux disease (GERD), a common ailment felt by millions of people daily. In the US alone, it is estimated that over 100 million adults monthly and at least 25 millions daily are afflicted.

“Gastroesophageal reflux” is derive from a Latin term meaning “stomach to esophagus flowing backwards.” The stomach contains many digestive enzymes and acids. If these flow back into the throat and voice box, a person will experience discomforts like chest pains, indigestion, hoarseness, and sore throat, difficulty in swallowing and breathing, and coughing.

How would you know if you’re suffering from GERD, since its symptoms are similar to those of other ailments? Cardiovascular ailments, for one, have similar symptoms as heartburn. Among those who are more liable to develop the symptoms are women in the first trimester of pregnancy, late night eaters, obese people, tea and coffee drinkers, smokers and alcohol drinkers, those with collagen vascular disease, people over 60 and those with stressful lifestyles. Don’t these cover a majority of people?

The general publics are solution antacids and other prescription drugs, which are more in demand this season. In fact, you may have notice a lot of antacid advertisements, but the problem with taking these antacids and prescription drugs is that they do not really cure the ailment. Once you stop taking them, the symptoms persist. Aren’t we advertised to see a doctor when this kind of condition arises?

Even if you do have a variety of antacid brands to choose from, and regardless of what the drug companies may put forward about you’re “need” to stick to your products, hold on to your hard-earned money. Don’t rush toward to your local drugstore to get some. GERD is not a hi-tech disease. It is highly treatable by more conservative, non-drug

methods. According to medical literatures, 90% to 95% of GERD victims have been treated without medication.

A stressful life is experienced by those working in and out of the house. Sometimes, it

is non-stop work from the moment a person opens his eyes to the time he goes back to sleep. Although stress is not a direct cause of acid reflux, it nevertheless contributes to the problem. Acid in the stomach are increased with stress. High-fat foods, late night eating, strong coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol are the grids of a stressful lifestyle.

What is wrong with eating late at night? First of all, you’re fueling up a vehicle (body)

which is about to go to the garage (sleep). This may not be such an accurate analogy   because fuel just stays in the vehicle while the body continues its metabolism process even while at sleep. Lying down after eating at night disrupts the body’s normal acid handling mechanism. With the body lying horizontally, the esophagus makes the acid reflux easier to reach the upper throat. Swallowing and saliva production is reduced at night, which further adds to the problem. Hence, the acid reflux is neither swallowed nor neutralized as effectively while sleeping.

To check and treat GERD, stay away from offensive foods and habits. Have a program correcting your dietary habits and adopt an exercise to promote weight loss and reduce stress. You can also tilt your bed to facilitate the pull of gravity so acids won’t reflux to your throat. This done by raising the head of the bed to four to six inches, having a strong support for the legs of the bed, or having firm pillows by your head. Over 90% of those who have done these simple techniques have been effectively treated. Again, if symptoms persist, go see a more aggressive therapy.

Take it easy with the feasting and partying this Christmas. Happy Holidays!!!

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NO TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

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Sex is the highest enjoyment in the eyes of the materialist.
But quite a number of divorce cases(a different social issue) is alarming. It’s because they don’t see and admit that sex is not that enjoyable, starting on sex with the opposite sex. They don’t see that they seek happiness in sex in another level, same sex (another social issue – homosexuality/gay/lesbian). Unsatisfied, the next level again, child abuse (the issues of pedophiles, child pornography, the ‘lolitas”, “angel”, “pedoboy” or “preteens”. They now try to find alternative sex enjoyment through “sex toys” like “dildos”, artificial sex organs, and others. Still, not satisfied or seeking other means to enjoy sex they tried sex “in the farm” or sex with animals and last but not the least is the “snuff”.
The “snuff” video is the bit by bit view of the unsatisfactory nature of trying to enjoy, not on sex alone but to different consequences in life, money, beauty, power or fame.

But here we are now only dealing on NO TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.
This a blog campaign to move the offenders, other supporters and perverts around the globe that there is an undying search for happiness and satisfaction that can never be found on material sense of view. These “cravings” is not satisfying unless it is transfer or intended to our real nature or our real “self”.
Matter can not satisfy matter, our desire to enjoy comes to our true nature, our real “identity”,
we cannot find happiness until we know and realized who we really are, who is the ‘One” trying to enjoy or desiring to enjoy. (This is another Issue that connects to our life, our existence)

Stop CHILD PORNOGRAPHY! STOP CHILD ABUSE!
Open our eyes that is illusion to enjoy on material sense objects.
To the offenders, this will only makes things worst, the cravings for sexual happiness specially turning to the children as your sex objects will make you desire for more and more. Having sex with an innocent child which is also a human being, they are just small persons, with young bodies, very young and even under develop bodies of persons – this is never satisfying but instead it will set your mind to a demoniac mentality. Without respects to others, to others’ feelings and their individual life will bring chaos to one’s self and even destroying the lives of your victims.
If you believe in “karma” my friend, STOP CHILD ABUSE. Please think that you have children too and you don’t want that to happen in them for sure.
Do not make your life more miserable and put the lives of the poor children in anguish.

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Nature’s Beauty Aids

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The skin is not just a superficial covering to be adorned and beautified. It is the body’s first line of defense. Also, through the skin pores, toxins are vented out of the body. The skin expresses the condition of he liver, pancreas and lungs, according to the Traditional Chinese medicines. Just like the body as a whole need the right kind of fuel to metabolize properly, each skin cell must likewise receive food and your circulation determines the kind of nourishment it gets.

The market is flooded with various facial cleansers. But great caution is required since many commercial lotions and creams which are deemed harmless contain lead, mercury, antimony and bismuth which, when absorbed by the body tissues damage to the health of the skin. This is where the good habit of label reading comes in.

Perhaps, with the very hectic schedule, naturally concocting facial cleansers and creams might be quite demanding and difficult to do. But we can start off with using pure baby oil which will not only remove our makeup but naturally lubricate our skin. Heating and applying olive oil does some wonders to the skin, especially the eyes. Apply this oil in a circular manner to smooth out wrinkles and made those eyelashes silky. Remember the facial sauna, this streaming water will open the pores ad cleanse away the embedded dirt and oil.

Many advertisers capitalize on the idea that their product makes your skin good enough to eat. Hold it! I am not proposing some form of cannibalism here so people can devour you. But there is close link between cosmetics and food. Cosmetics should be made from natural ingredients such as plants and herbs. Since the skin sells should be nourished, you should be putting on our skin something that is really food. The simple rule is do not put anything on your skin that you can’t eat. Much benefit is derived from utilizing facial creams made from lemons, cucumbers, honey, strawberries, oats, and milk.

In to the countries, grandmothers in their younger days used oatmeal and cucumber as facial to soften their skin and prevent wrinkles. Vegetables are now recommended for everything involving skin care, and so are fruit extracts and creams made from papaya and carrots. Actually, you can eat the papaya and do not dispose the pulp. This can be used to scrub the whole body with. Our female ancestors used wines, whiskeys, brandies, and even beer as astringents to maintain that natural beautiful glow in the skin. They usually mix equal parts of whiskey with milk and apply it on the skin. After washing the skin, pat this mixture and leave it for several hours or overnight. In the middle ages, ladies of the French court of Louis XIV and other kings used the white of an egg together with camphor and alum to clear up blemishes and tighten the skin. The same mixture can also works for you today. This mixture can be applied in the neck and arms as well. The egg mask used for thousand of years was also combines with three ounces od honey to make a thick paste.

Cucumber juice is another old time favorite recipe: three ounces of cucumber juice, three ounces of distilled water and 1 and ½ ounce of rose water which can be locally purchased from Indian Specialty Stores. Rub this mixture into the skin with the finger tips. A refreshing hot weather beauty trick is to wash the face with cold water in which some cut-up cucumbers have been mashed.

Pimples, blackheads, and large pores can be treated using the facial mask we’ve mentioned. For minor blemishes, you can mix equal parts of pure lanolin, glycerin and castor oil. Melt this concoction over low heat, let it cool and keep in a glass jar. Apply to pimples until it’s healed. A word of caution: Never mix these ingredients is a metal container unless it is glazed or a heavily enameled ironware cooking pot. It is best use enamel, china, glass or earthenware.

Brown or yellow laundry soap applied to pimples will dry it off. Onion juice is an excellent remedy for pimples as well as for boils or skin infection. An easy remedy and ideal for travelers is the used of camphor which is available at any drugstores. Simply pat camphor at the pimples until it disappears. Squeeze gently and apply camphor. It may sting a bit but infection is prevented and the blotch quickly heals. Blotches are healed with boric acid dissolved in boiling water. Calamine lotion is also good, as it heals and stops itching.

Large pores are caused by incorrect cleansing, acne, blackheads, and improper diet. The buttermilk treatment acts as an astringent to the pores. Allow it to dry for ten minutes and rinse it off with cool water. Equal parts of apple cider vinegar and hot water can be used as facial wash to refine the pores. Camphor wash can also be substituted for water to refine the pores. Cornmeal and oatmeal, as well as alum powder, has been lauded by women trough ages as being very effective in reducing the pores and as an astringent.

Raw tomatoes had been used for centuries to tighten the skin. The tomato pulp contains vitamins, minerals and acids to cleanse the skin. The juice of lettuce, cucumber and poultices of bread and milk reduce large pores.

To ward off blackheads is to keep the face clean. Streaming daily and scrubbing with some natural soap and water are good. Rubbing the blackheads with lemon juice is an old remedy. Baking soda dissolved in 8 ounces of distilled water clears off blackheads.

I hope you can benefit from these natural beauty tips which date back not just from our grandmothers but from the middle Ages. They are very inexpensive, yet very effective. Also, don’t forget to have lots of exercise and a good healthy diet. These are essentials in producing that healthy, rosy skin glow.

Antidotes to Memory Loss

Physical fitness of the brain should be one of our prime considerations, especially as we approach 40. Midlife crisis besets people who worry about those dreaded gray hairs, memory loss, and cognitive decline.

Must memory lost be part of it? Sanity is an awful reality to face. Cast your anxieties aside regarding cognitive decline, as Dr. Singh Khalsa has tried a formula that’s doing wonders for a lot of aging people, many of them with the Alzheimer’s disease.

Khalsa regimen consists of nutritional therapy, stress management, exercise and prescription of some drugs for those on the more advanced stage.

Stress causes cognitive decline. Chronic stress result in the over-production of a hormone called cortisol, which causes the death of the brain cells. Stress management not only halts the over-production of cortisol, it also enhances the cerebral circulation.

An efficient brain circulation is achieved by lowering blood pressure, encouraging the adequate production of neurotransmitters and helping the brain waves to shift from the common “beta” mode to the more relaxed “alpha” and “theta” mode.

A cruel irony regarding cognitive decline is that the more damage to the brain the person has suffered, the harder it is to control the biological production of the cortisol. The area of the brain that shuts off cortisol production often deteriorates with age, sitting in motion a whole digestive spiral.

To control stress, you can adopt a positive attitude and not think that you have to set aside your desires to get along with people. A helpful reminder is that although you can’t always control what happens to you, you can control how you react to it.

A little help from our friends is an important tool in coping with stress. Even contact with relative strangers also help. Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford neurologist, conducted studies measuring the cortisol levels of patients undergoing a painful cardiac catherization. Those who did not voice out their fears to the doctors had higher cortisol levels than those who did.

Meditation and prayers are also very potent antidotes to stress. Meditation evokes what Harvard stress management expert Herbert Benson calls the “relaxation response”. The opposite of the cortisol-producing stress response, it lowers blood pressure, relax and brings on the alpha and theta waves, decrease oxygen consumption and cortisol output, increase alertness and improves memory. Ten to 20 minutes of meditation twice a day gives you an edge over stress.

Exercise is not only an excellent way to relieve stress, but also to increase blood flow to the brain, providing more oxygen and glucose and aiding in the removal of toxins. Aerobic exercise also increases the production of certain neurotransmitter for carrying memories to “long-term storage.” In addition exercise heightens the output of the “feel good” chemicals known as endorphins. It increases the production of hormone called “nerve growth factor”, which helps stimulate the repair and regeneration of neuros.

A half hour moderate exercise – like walking, biking, swimming, stair climbing, golf or tennis – is very helpful. Excellent exercise that mobilize the chi or internal energy are chi kung, tai chi and hatha yoga. Mental exercise such as reading, playing word or board games, conversing or engaging in stimulating activities, is equally important.

Recent experiments of Marian Diamond at the University of California at Berkeley show that just by using the brain increases its size and the number of certain kinds of brain cells. If the brain is not regularly engage in mental exercises, it begins to atrophy physically, just like muscle that is not used. Atrophy of up to 25% can occur in the hippocampus, the part of the brain most responsible for memory.

Yogic mind/body exercises form another part of the program. Khalsa says that such exercise help restore the brain’s ability to access existing memories, create new memories and concentrate more intensely.

Brain care is vital to our health. At any stage of our life, age-old precautions have to be remembered always. Smoking, drinking and drugs, eating and other activities must be considered carefully. Care for your brain – it’s the only one you’ve got.

Breathing Lessons

We may not be aware of it, but we breathe at a rate of 15 times per minute. When we are happy, we breathe in a rhythmic, deep and slow manner; when we are sad, we do so in a tense or depressed, gasping, sighing, shallow, fast and uneven way. Actually, we can control our breathing. A closer look at how nature designed our bodies reveals that man was meant to breathe primarily with his diaphragm, not his ribcages and clavicles.

Laziness, ignorance, smoking, pollution, constipation, and other factors have turned us into shallow chest breathers. Chest breathing uses the intercostals muscles between the ribs to forcibly expand the upper ribcage, lowering the air pressure in the chest so that the air enters by suction. This process leaves the lower lungs immobilized. Nothing is wrong with this, except that it takes about three times more of chest breathing to get the same amount of air into the lungs one can get from a single diaphragmatic breathing.

Clavicle breathing is even far worse than chest breathing. The clavicles of the collar bones are used to open up the upper portion of the lungs. Those with asthma or emphysema try to pant or breathe rapidly to get sufficient quantities of air pumping in the narrow little top pockets of the lungs controlled by the clavicles. This affects the heart which has too rapidly pump more blood through the lungs to compensate for the small surface area covered by the clavicle breathing.

We also do some clavicle breathing every time we are anxious or stressed out. Irregular, tense breathing can be caused by and lead to disorganized mental activity and chaotic thinking patterns, as well as physical, emotional and mental disease. Next time you feel uptight, change your breathing pattern. Take a few abdominal breaths, hold for a few seconds, then exhale long and slow. Your anxieties will melt away! Unfortunately, most of us forget how to do abdominal breathing.

Balanced Breathing

Two hemispheres of are responsible for different abilities and characteristic mode of expression of human individuality. The right side of the brains assumes the responsibility for the spatial, artistic, holistic, intuitive, and psychic side of our conception. The left side is responsible for our logical, rational, and analytical faculties and sequential and linear mode of the thoughts.

The left brain has the centers for verbal communication – reading, writing, talking and hearing. Our formal education uses more verbal than non-verbal communication, making much use of the left side of the cerebral lobe. The left side has the qualities of competitiveness, selfishness, and aggression or the male (yang) energy. The right side has the feminine (yin) qualities of love, compassion, and nurturing. Alternate breathing, or inhaling in one nostril as we close the other nostril with our finger, stimulates the opposite of the brain. This means that when we inhale through the right nostril, covering the left nostril, we stimulate the functions or qualities of the left side of the brain. Balance breathing through the right and left nostrils creates a balanced personality.

Dr. I.N. Rega, an EENT specialist in Bucharest, Romania conducted studies concerning nasal obstruction. One such study involved 200 patients suffering from one-sided nasal obstruction due to distortions and malformations of the nasal septum since birth. Dr. Rega found that 87% of those patients whose breath flowed predominantly on the left nostril suffered a higher than average incidence of a wide variety of respiratory disorders, including chronic sinusitis, middle and inner ear infections, partial or total loss of  the sense of smell, hearing and taste, recurrent pharyngitis, laryngitis and tonsillitis, chronic bronchitis, and bronchiectasis.

He found that they eventually were more likely to suffer from one or more of these disorders; amnesia, intellectual weakness, headaches, hyperthyroidism (with associated irritability), cardiopulmonary weakness (manifesting in palpitations asthma-like-attacks, and chronic heart failure), insufficiency of liver and gallbladder, persistently altered cellular constituents of the blood and lymphatic fluid, chronic gastritis and enter-colitis (with symptoms  of heartburn, gastric reflux, peptic ulcer and constipation), sexual and reproductive disorders (symptoms of dimunition of libido, menstrual irregularities, and diminished virility).

Twenty-six-percent of those whose breathing flowed predominantly through the right nostril were found to be predisposed to arterial hypertension and it’s numerous consequences.

Breathing Techniques

In his commentaries on the Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, the second great Taoist master aster Lao Tzu, explains how the vital energy can flow through the body, giving its multiplicity of the benefits. “(Those) who attain longevity with the management (of breath), who forget all things and yet possess all things; whose placidity is unlimited, while all things to be valued attend them – such men pursue the way of heaven and earth, and display the characteristics of sages”. The whole body must be involved in the breathing process as this makes the blood circulate better, bringing oxygen to the extremities. To do so, a person can either use his mind to mobilize and bring the breath to the different vital energy centers along the spinal column or he can use movement. By doing Hatha yoga, chi kung or tai chi chuan exercises, a person mobilizes his energy around the body. It is said that men of ancient times used their heels to breathe.

Breathing through the heels is done standing with your feet apart as wide as your shoulders. Raise your arms forward as high as your shoulders while you inhale. Get the energy from the heels, by pushing your arms up against the pressure from the ground. This brings the energy you have gotten from the earth up the legs to the body and finally your arms. Exhale and press your hand down. The breathing must synchronize with the movement of your arms.

For asthma attacks or difficulty in breathing, do some deep abdominal breathing, as well as the following simple but effective breathing technique, which helps the constricted bronchioles of asthmatic patients.

Lie down on your back, your body straight. Put your palms on the floor, besides your body. Bring your legs together and relax your legs. Look straight forward. Exhale all the air from your body through the mouth in a continuous manner, as fast as, when you are whistling. The abdominal muscles should contract when you are exhaling.

Inhale slowly through the nose, expanding the abdomen. Keep the air in while stretching the toes forward, tightening the legs. Pull the stomach inwards and keep your hands stretched. There should be a mild tightening of the whole body. Hold this position for three to four seconds during the first week. Gradually increase to six to eight seconds during the second and third weeks. Retain air as long as it is comfortable for you. Then exhale again through the mouth. Repeat the exercise during inhalation. You can do three repetitions for the first time, gradually increasing, but don’t do over five repetitions. The stomach must be empty when doing this.

In Remembrance of CORY

In August 1, 2009, as early as 3:18 am, my president, Mrs.President Cory Aquino passed away due to cardio-respiratory arrest after an 18 month of battle with colon cancer. She was 76.

I know that Cory passed away happy and satisfied, cause she had her children and countrymen with open eyes a clear mind of what democracy is. Her mission of toppling the Marcos regime and retaining democracy was well-done and after her presidency, as a private citizen, she continuous to battle the ones who abuse democracy. She is a true “democratic icon” not only in our nation but the world.
And even the event of her passing away, she awakens, she rocks and reminded us not to put into languish what she started fighting for. Her death awakens me and I hope it does to others.

I do not know how to thank her and Ninoy, but I think the only the way I could thank her is to continue maintaining the democracy she and Ninoy brought us. Bringing back democracy becomes her life and to maintain it, I know will make her happy wherever she is.

She is truly the Mother of Democracy, the nation’s mother.

She is a true heroine, a perfect example, and a religious icon too.

I got no words to described and how to thank my president, but I will offer all my respects to her till my last breath and hopefully maintain what she had been fighting for, so that I can proved to her and Ninoy that “WE ARE WORTH IT”.

SALAMAT PRESIDENT CORY, PAALAM PO.

Care is the Best Medicine

Back in the days when penicillin and sophisticated technology were not yet discovered, how old western doctors cure their patients? Many believe they were armed with the Big C, or CARE. They stood by the bedside of their dying patients, patting their hands, offering their support. Their knowledge of curing diseases may have been very limited, but their hearts were big and caring.

Care is the best medicine which cannot be merely substituted with powerful drugs or the latest hi-tech invention. Caring may not produce quantifiable results that can be seen and scrutinized in the laboratory, but its results should not be underestimated.

An endangered patient who is finally equipped yet has no one who sincerely cares for him, may not be able to heal as fast as a person who is battling an infectious disease and has the loving support of his family.

Many people recuperate very fast because of their caring relationships. Caring for someone, infuse in them the understanding that you really want the best for them, opens wide the road to recovery. This is also very true in practical life. No matter how stubborn and hard a person may be his wall of antagonism and cynicism would melt down when he realizes your sincere desire for his well-being.

Listening is vital. If the patient is assured that when he talks someone is interested enough to listen and help him, he feels very fortunate and full of hope. If the doctors really cares and knows how to listen, then he gets to learn about the values of his patient. Do his patients want to be hooked up onto so many machines, holding on to the fortress of the body even if it’s falling apart? Or does he want to preserve his dignity and let just nature takes its course? Otherwise, the doctor would be imposing his own value system on the patient, which is preserving life at all cost.

Each person is part of mosaic. Each has his own special way of connecting with himself, his family, and his community. The art of understanding the whole person and not just the physiology process involve in curing the disease is more important. This integral appreciation of the person makes the doctor deal with the spirit, an essential part of body-mind medicine.

There are people who may have been diagnosed for terminal illness like cancer and are given, to say, six months to live. Yet, since some of them whose spirits are whole and are determine to live strangely so live longer than expected. Some who are low in spirit, bereft of love and care in the family, suffer from depression and die in a couple of months. Still, some old people like the Native American Indians can die at their own will with no apparent physiological reason.

In body-mind medicine, suggestion and belief system have a very strong bearing just like the placebo effect, which demonstrate the impact of belief on the physical body. When a person firmly believes that he could get better according to the doctor does or gives him, and then his body responds accordingly. But what actually happens is that his endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin doing the job as a result of the healing and mind act.

Some may think that they can skip the part of caring for someone’s pain and just administer placebos. In the sense, this is being dishonest to the patient and would not help anyone who should be confronting the problem, which is dealing with the real pain. Perhaps pain is symptomatic of the person asking for your time or attention.

Dr. Ron Anderson, chair and CEO of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas, which is rated among the 25 best hospitals in the US, has used the principles of body-mind medicine in his work. Dr. Anderson co-authored Medical Apartheid – An American Perspective. He has this to say about hospital care; “It’s like preventive medicine if I deal with the patient’s problems and anxieties and concern ahead of time; I actually made the therapy plan and the outcome better for both of us. We beat out our medical students and our

House staff officers of compassion and empathy and a lot staff willingness to understand the person. They are told to understand the disease and that’s what they’ve tested on.

“Traditionally, hospitals have been organized for doctors, for auxiliaries, for insurance companies – everybody but the patient. Hospitals have taken in the total institution format. The total institution is like a concentration camp or a jail or even a place created to service a need, but that is overwhelmed with volume, stress, strain, and people not dealing with their own feelings. Public school systems may be the same way. Hospitals should be places created for the service of the patients. We ought to deliver care as best as we can within a very clear value system. Doctors should be customers of a hospital, but not the only customers.

“When people get to the wards and see a harried faculty member of a senior house staff, they may develop the attitude that the patient is the enemy. One of the reasons that many physically don’t want to do primary care in this country is that they’re trained in hospitals where they don’t understand the patients as that patient lives in a family and a community. They don’t have any continuity with the patient over time.

“Any physician who takes care of patients for 10 or 15 years cherishes that relationship. Medical students don’t see that. They just see an intensive care unit with the technology. It’s easier to write a prescription instead of stooping to talk to the patient. One of the things I tell medical students is that writing a prescription is not the end of the social contact with the patients. They need you to visit them, particularly the elderly person. Somehow that offends the house staff, who says, ‘She just wants social contact. What’s wrong with that if it’s healing’?”

Dr. Ron Anderson has hit the nail on its head with his perspective on effective healing environment. His perspective in medicine is nothing neither new nor common. A vital key to the healing process of a person is care which anyone has a heart could give. Care enhances the power of medicine, medical technology, and doctors’ guidance. Care could help the diseased not to be deceased easily.

The Greatest Love

Maria was very concerned with how she looked, especially her teeth. She was just not pleased with her image on the mirror. She had gone dentist hoping, feeling that each had only made her look worse. She went to have her nose fix, but they did a poor job. Each professional only mirrored her belief that she was ugly. Actually there is nothing wrong with how she looked.

Tina had a terrible breath that made people uncomfortable being around her. She was a theology student so her outer demeanor vibrated with piety and spirituality. Beneath this was a raging current of anger and jealousy that exploded from time to time, when thoughts of how a certain person was threatening her position. Her inner thoughts were expressed through her breath, and she was offensive even when she pretended to love. No one threaten her but herself.

We may know of people in similar situation – we may even be in it. We may scold and criticize ourselves endlessly. There could have been a time when praises and compliments surprised us, even made us feel uncomfortable. Again, criticism or reprimand seemed be safer water to tread. And if someone else expressed their love, sometimes we may have felt, “Why me?” – Or “You might be mistaking me for someone you know.” The belief that we are unlovable seems to be prevalent.

There is a litany of other negativities that could be included: we procrastinate on things that could benefit us. We are quite afraid to charge a decent price for our services. We create illness or pain in our body. We live in chaos and disorder, as reflected in how our house is arranged or how we work. We may even be attracting lovers and mates who belittle us.

By denying ourselves of our good, we show how we regard ourselves. Try to see these examples:

The husband is grouchy and tired; the wife wonders what she could have done to cause it.

A friend takes you out once or twice and never calls again. You think something must be wrong with you.

The marriage ends and one feels he/she is a failure.

An employee is afraid to ask for a raise.

We don’t close the sale or get the position we aim for and we are sure we are not good enough.

We mistreat our body with food, alcohol, or drugs.

A person is afraid of intimacy and allowing anyone to get close, so he/she has superficial friendships.

We can’t seem to make decisions and put other people on the spot to make decisions for us because we are quite sure that if we make them they will be wrong.

What about you, how do you show your lack of self-worth?

Problems and situations may be different but at the root of all these is how much we love ourselves. Some of you might even react on this, thinking that loving yourself is vanity or some kind of arrogance, an utter to conceit. These are beliefs that have nothing to do with love, but springs from fear. When we love ourselves, we respect ourselves and express gratitude for the miracle of our body and mind.

Loving ourselves can burst and overflow in all directions. Consequently, we feel love for the very process of life itself. We feel joy in being alive so we see beauty everywhere, in another person. We are curious and strive to learn more about how the universe works in us. Love is the miracle cure. Loving ourselves cures and transforms our lives.

Thanks to Marilitz “thoughts”.

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Using Your Intuition

When an insight suddenly occurs to you, you have tapped the trunk line of intuition. You can call this the buried sixth sense. Although uncalled for, intuition sends you clues about the world around you and often gives directions on what you need to do.

You heard about women’s intuition. Some husband would wonder, “I don’t know how she found out without anyone telling her”. Women sure have a way of feeling their way, or smelling trouble even if its miles away if someone they love is involved. A woman’s intuition often gets erring husbands busted by their wives.

Intuition is also hot in therapists, doctors and even businessmen. People try to tap into their intuition for guidance in decisions about love, health and work. Effective doctors rely no just on their physical instruments for diagnosis, which could point to 101 diseases, but also in learning to hear and trust their intuition. In the past, the cultivation of intuition was one of the major works of Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians and Persians. The influence of their cultures extended beyond the great oceans. Today, intuition is developed enough for man to bring about greater cultures and civilizations. By opening our faculty of intuition, you can by-pass the traps set by the mind as dictated by modern civilization.

Your intuition can bring you information you won’t receive from any other source. If you are quiet and calm, you can experience how your intuition sends you messages and insights. This could even be happening right now. It’s just that you often dismiss these ideas because you were taught to think in a logical and rational manner.

If you let your intuition work, however, you’ll be surprised at how intelligent you seem to have become – certain concepts have become easily comprehensible, or you are able to “see” certain aspects not normally perceived by people. In fact, your intuition can also be like an inner doctor whom you turn to all kinds of advice. Your body gives you early warning signs on what is wrong with it; your intuition enables you to find out what is exactly and what to do about it.

Many people wonder if they are indeed id touch with intuition. We all have different ways of explaining it. It’s a feeling, a subtle turning or pulling in the navel area, which some people call the “gut instinct”. Sometimes, this sixth sense appears as a quickening of the heartbeat, hair standing on end, a queasy feeling, or a burning or tingling sensation. When something is right, you feel a sense of lightness, and when something is wrong, you feel heaviness.

The logical, conscious mind is compared to a big, bossy brother who drowns out and bullies the younger sister (or the intuitive voice) by dismissing its suggestions with quick, harsh, thunderbolt judgments. Try to trick your conscious mind once in a while and be uninvolved so you can find it easier to be intuitive.

As wise and knowledgeable as your intuition may be, don’t expect it to be totally relieving you of your decision-making responsibilities. Your intuition just provides you options to take, not absolute answers or solutions. You’re still responsible for weighing your intuitive impressions against the data found in reality and then making the ultimate decision. It’s never a question of preferring intuition over the intellect because you need both.

Without getting too esoteric, intuition can be an asset, health-wise. With the wisdom your body is telling you, you can collaborate with health practitioners. He, who feels it, knows it more. The doctors are only guide by what you tell them.

On its very deep aspect, intuition reveals three great qualities: illumination, understanding and love – a love that transcends all barriers, makes criticisms and produces separation. Intuition, according to a Tibetan sage, is synthetic understanding, a comprehensive grip of universality and loss of the sense of separateness. Intuition embodies universal love and identification with all living beings.

Next time, we will explore how to tap intuition and how to feel a lie or truth in your body.

The Luxury of Spas

Locate a patch of trees and expect to find water underneath as well. Just like plants, man can survive for many weeks without solid food as long as he has water to drink. Traditionally water is considered the source of all life. What magical powers water possess?

Immerse yourself in water and relieve the ills of the flesh. Known as hydrotherapy, this has been one of the most effective forms of medicine since the ancient times. Submersion in water allows tired tissues to relax and recover stamina. A warm bath stimulates circulation, luring blood to the body’s extremities to soothe, calm, and sedate.

On the other hand, cold water inhibits the circulation to the skin, redirecting blood to the vital organs in order to restore, energize, and build resistance to diseases. Bathing in a warm tub relaxes tense muscles, turning the mind inward and instilling that sense of peace as stress drifts away.

A spas bath is an extraordinary treatment when mineral-rich sea water or fresh spring water is used. For this reason, many of the sought-after spas in the world are located on coastal areas or adjacent to natural mineral springs. Coastal spas pump in sea water for thalassic therapy – Greek for “sea treatment”. The water is heated since it is believed that doing so increases the adoption of minerals.

Mineral water spas divert water gushing from its underground source into pipes connected to the treatment rooms. In a certain area, the quality of spring water may vary, some waters sparkling with natural carbonation, which increases circulation and flushes impurities out of the skin. According to those who bathe in such therapeutic waters, the bathe stimulates as well as relaxes the mind and draw out toxins from the body. These processes are intended to cool inflammation and makes muscles more supple. The water leaves the skin soft, velvety, and well-hydrated.

Right in your homes, create an ambiance that promotes rejuvenation. Turn off overhead lights, and use several candles instead. Play some lush, relaxing music. Diffuse the air and mix the spa water with some aromatic oils of aromatherapy. Decorate the rooms with flowers.

Water temperature is critical for an effective hydrotherapy treatment. For a relaxing bath, the temperature should be at 35degreesC for 10 to 15 minutes; sore muscles at 38degressC of five to 10 minutes. For an invigorating bath; five minutes at 18-24degreesC. You can use a kitchen thermometer to determine the water temperature.

If you prefer extremely hot baths, stay in the water no longer than five minutes. Hot water dries and tightens the skin and can leave you feeling “wiped out”. The Chinese believe that staying in hot water too long is unhealthy and drains your chi.

After bathing, splash yourself with cool water to tone and invigorate your skin. Cold water also closes the pores of the skin so you don’t get sick.

Massage is also an excellent compliment while you’re still in the tub. Natural sea sponges or loofah rolled down your back and shoulders stimulate and exfoliate the skin. A pumice stone can be used to remove foot calluses.

Plain water cleans very well. Don’t sit in a tub of soapy water. Doing so dries and irritates skin