Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts

Friday, February 18, 2011

Are Alternative Medicines Effective?

Are Alternative Medicines Effective?
Word Count:
469
Summary:
A growing number of people have become interested in alternative medicine to treat illnesses. Alternative medicine as a practice has created a significant amount of controversy both inside and outside the traditional medical field. Alternative medicine refers to a treatment or substance that is unproven under the application or accepted scientific standards. The most common types of alternative medicine include herbs, supplements, therapies and activities that are outside tra...

Keywords:
alternative medicine,herbal remedies,healing

Article Body:
A growing number of people have become interested in alternative medicine to treat illnesses. Alternative medicine as a practice has created a significant amount of controversy both inside and outside the traditional medical field. Alternative medicine refers to a treatment or substance that is unproven under the application or accepted scientific standards. The most common types of alternative medicine include herbs, supplements, therapies and activities that are outside traditional medical practice. Some of these raise questions about their safety and effectiveness.
Acupuncture, massage, meditation, herbal tea, and plant extracts are popular among devotees of alternative medicine, but many traditional doctors believe these treatments are ineffective or even dangerous. Alternative medicine has become increasingly popular as more people face the aches, pains, and illnesses that accompany aging. In some cases, individuals have not obtained a cure with traditional medical approaches and turn to other options to treat their illness. In still other cases, people feel very strongly that natural methods of treatment are better than traditional medicine, so they look for answers from alternative practitioners instead of the family doctor.
There are risks associated with alternative medicine. Some of the risks arise through the use of untested, ineffective, and even unsafe substances. The manufacturers of these substances sometimes exaggerate the claims of their effectiveness. They may misrepresent the science related to the material to convince consumers to buy the product, even if its use can endanger a person’s health.
Some herbal remedies are advertised as being able to improve memory, raise metabolism, or cure cancer and heart disease. In reality, the remedies may cause harm if taken at high doses. Another risk is that someone with a serious disease like cancer will not receive traditional and proven treatments, preferring to use alternative methods that may not be effective. In these cases, people are risking their lives. Sometimes, patients may be using alternative treatments, but not telling their doctors about them. This can lead to dangerous drug interactions. If a traditional doctor is unaware of the substance a patient is taking, medications that produce harmful interactions may be unknowingly prescribed.
It is possible to recognize potentially risky alternative treatment. If a treatment sounds too good to be true, it probably is. While this is a cliché, it is often very true in situations involving alternative medicines. Be careful of products labeled ‘miraculous’ or ‘ancient remedy.’ If you are thinking about treatments such as acupuncture or reflexology, check the qualifications of the practitioner before being treated. Ask about the training received, and research the treatment to determine if it has been scientifically tested and found to be effective.
It’s a good idea to ask your doctor about an alternative treatment you are considering. Trained medical professionals have the experience and education to help you make safe decisions about your health.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Alleviating Anxiety With Zensight Process

Alleviating Anxiety With Zensight Process
Word Count:
1609
Summary:
Similar in some ways to hypnosis - and yet no hypnosis is used - Zensight Process is a self-help energy work technique that emphasizes the use of visualization together with "healing statements" in order to rapidly yet gently heal concerns.
This article outlines the basic steps taken in healing even persistent and pervasive experiences of anxiety.

Keywords:

Article Body:
Rachel looks in the mirror and notices a mark on her cheek.  Immediately her breath becomes shallow, her heart races, her chest tightens, and she feels nauseated.  She checks the spot more closely, and sees that it’s just a speck of dirt.  She washes it off and tells herself firmly that she is fine – it wasn’t the beginning of skin cancer, it was nothing.  It’s gone.  She is okay.
Although she keeps telling herself she is okay, hours later, Rachel still doesn’t feel okay.  What if seeing that spot was a “sign”?  What is she is about to develop skin cancer?  What if she already has skin cancer and she just hasn’t seen it yet?  Should she go see her doctor?  Recurring thoughts of cancer hover in the back of her mind for the rest of the day.  Weeks later she notices she is still spending an increased amount of time inspecting her skin for unusual marks or blemishes.
Like an estimated 13-16.5% of adults, Rachel has an anxiety disorder.  Types of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder.
At times the symptoms of anxiety can become so debilitating that those affected will not leave their home or attend social functions – and their lives may become consumed by the effort to avoid people, places or situations which are likely to trigger feelings of anxiety.
Traditional treatment for anxiety disorder has involved medication to help to lessen the symptoms of anxiety, and behavioral therapy to assist with coping and challenging irrational thoughts.  Treatment is generally expected to be long term.
Zensight Process offers new hope to those with anxiety.  In many cases, a practitioner who is very skilled with both Zensight and in working with those with anxiety, can help someone to experience dramatic improvement – and in some cases a complete elimination of symptoms – in just a few sessions.
In most situations, many individuals will be able to use Zensight on their own – without ever consulting a practitioner at all – to considerably improve and sometimes even eliminate their symptoms altogether.  Those who do choose to work with a therapist or practitioner to help support and accelerate their healing will also benefit from doing Zensight self-healing in between sessions, in order to obtain the best results.
How to Use Zensight Process
Zensight Process involves working with the subconscious mind in a way that is similar to hypnosis – and yet no hypnosis is actually used.  Instead, we begin by creating a “healing symbol”.  This symbol can be a word, picture, or colour.  Some people choose to use a symbol such as “ocean”.  They then can focus on the word “ocean” when that feels right, and at other times may actually visualize the ocean.
When this healing symbol is used or focused upon with intent, it allows the fears, concerns, and “blocks” that someone is experiencing to gently heal and transform.
The healing symbol is then used together with healing statements and visualization, to soften, dissolve and release the concerns that are being experienced.
In a situation of anxiety, the individual is instructed to stop and notice any visual image that comes to mind when she or he thinks about one of their specific concerns – and then focus upon this image while connecting with the healing symbol that was chosen.   
This use of visualization helps to greatly accelerate healing because it does not rely upon the limits of our conscious mind and awareness.  The visual image that comes up may be an actual representation of a specific fear or issue that is being experienced, or it may be something that is metaphorical in nature.  I have had people tell me that they suddenly see a picture of themselves with their leg caught in a trap, or that they see a large grey object that they can’t identify or make sense of.  The different images that come up are highly variable and are not always understood by the person.  The beauty of it is that they don’t need to be understood.  The image is simply focused upon while connecting with the healing symbol, and is allowed to transform.
What generally happens is that the image spontaneously transforms in a way that feels healing.  The individual watches as the trap that was holding the leg simply dissolves and disappears.  They see themselves then being able to move about freely and with a sense of contentment and peace.  The big unexplained grey object morphs into a big egg which opens up and releases light and a feeling of peace that the person senses themselves absorbing as she or he watches.
If the picture doesn’t change, if no picture is seen, or in order to resolve any remaining upset, the individual uses healing statements.  After each statement, the person takes a deep breath and lets it go, and focuses upon the healing symbol.  Upsets are then healed and transformed, as positive feelings grow and strengthen.
Examples of healing statements are:
I heal all of the fears that any parts of me have, that I can’t get free of this problem
I heal any and all feelings that any parts of me have, that I am trapped.
I let all of the parts of me know, deeply and completely, that I am safe.
All of the different parts of me now experience a growing sense of peace and comfort.
My entire body is relaxing now.
Sound simple?  It is – extremely simple, and yet powerfully and deeply effective.  Best of all, the effects are lasting - providing that energetic imbalances are addressed and healed, results will in most cases be permanent.
Energy Balancing
Zensight can be used for much more than simply targeting specific symptoms.  In the case of anxiety – especially experiences of pervasive fear and anxiety – it is best to begin by targeting energetic imbalances that are most likely being experienced.
Someone who experiences frequent and/or pervasive feelings of fear has an imbalance in his or her triple warmer meridian.  The energy meridians have been widely recognized in Eastern medicine as impacting upon our emotional, physical, and mental concerns.  Acupuncture is only one of many modalities which focus upon bringing healing to the energy meridians.
The triple warmer meridian is the meridian in the body which governs the fight/flight/freeze response.  Sometimes – often in response to an original event or series of events in which the individual felt intense fear or terror – the triple warmer meridian becomes overenergized.  In the case of anxiety, the emphasis will be upon the “flight/freeze” response, and the individual will quickly respond with fear to many situations which may to others appear innocuous.
Trying to talk someone out of their fear often has little effect.  Rachel rationally knows that the mark on her face was simply dirt and was no more an indicator of cancer than is a stain on her jeans.  However, in spite of this awareness, and in spite of her logical mind which tells her she is safe and is overreacting, Rachel can not let the fear go.
The problem that Rachel is experiencing is not in her mind so much as in her body and in her energy system.  Often patterns of triple warmer overenergization begin in childhood, in response to repeated experiences of terror.  Sometimes this may be due to experiences of abuse that were either experienced or witnessed, and sometimes it may be connected with less obviously traumatic experiences that were nevertheless fear-producing for the particular child involved.
Rachel knows that she is safe – but her body and energy system need to know it too.  In a sense, they need to be reprogrammed.  With Zensight, this “reprogramming” can occur gently and easily during a rapid yet extremely relaxing process.
Other energetic imbalances may also be involved.  Homolateral energy (where the energy runs straight up and down the body rather than crossing over it) may also be involved.  Once any energetic imbalances that are involved are addressed, many symptoms of anxiety will lessen immediately.  The work then becomes focused on targeting the concerns more directly.
Bringing Healing to the “Whole” Person
The emphasis which Zensight Process places upon using both visualization and verbal “healing statements” ensures that both hemispheres of the brain are involved during the healing process.  This assists people in linking logic with emotion.  After using Zensight, not only does Rachel logically understand that the spot on her face was not a sign of impending doom – she emotionally “gets it” as well.
Zensight also addresses the experience of parts of self.  All of us have parts of self.  In many situations where healing is not experienced even when highly effective modalities are being used, the issue is that the person on some level – in some small part of them – may believe that it’s not safe to heal the concerns.  Rachel may be afraid to completely heal her anxiety because some small part of her may fear that if she stops worrying about and expecting to develop cancer, that she will pay less attention and will miss warning signs and thus be unsafe.  Zensight allows the individual to access and bring healing to – through the use of visualization and targeted healing statements – to even those parts of us that are afraid to heal, or believe it is not in our best interests to do so.
By ensuring that the individual is treated at as a whole – physically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically – Zensight enables even concerns that are usually considered to be difficult to impossible to resolve, to be as gently and quickly healed as possible.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

5 Ways to Soothe Mind, Body and Spirit

5 Ways to Soothe Mind, Body and Spirit
Word Count:
723
Summary:
Sometimes good comes from being blinded by the light
Self improvement (or self help) tools come in many shapes and sizes; sometimes it’s physical in nature (a self help book, having a massage, painting with water colors), or spiritual in nature (flower essences, Reiki, meditation which is both physical and spiritual, etc).

Keywords:
self help, self help tools, massage, meditation, essences, healing, spiritual, tools, mind body and spirit

Article Body:
Self improvement (or self help) tools come in many shapes and sizes; sometimes it’s physical in nature (a self help book, having a massage, painting with water colors), or spiritual in nature (flower essences, Reiki, meditation which is both physical and spiritual, etc).
Five of the best self help options that I’ve used successfully to help soothe my own mind, body and spirit, are:
1. Meditation techniques – a fabulous self help tool which greatly benefits overall health and wellbeing.  There are many techniques to choose from such as:
Visually guided meditations;
Candle meditation;
Breathing meditation;
Crystal meditation;
Writing meditation (alternating using dominant and non-dominant hand);
Walking meditation;
Body scanning; and
A self healing meditation using either color; breathe work; aromatherapy; etc.
2. Painting with water colors, pastels or oil paints – express your uniqueness through art.  This is a wonderful self help tool to employ for inner healing, letting go and for creating something new (a masterpiece for your lounge room wall).
3. Vibrational essences.  Part of ancient wisdom, vibrational essences are used in healing to assist with the removal of emotional blocks and patterns, as well as resolving issues from past lives.
Essences are generally in liquid form and can also be used in creams, ointments and oils (I sometimes combine mine with an aromatherapy oil blend). 
Vibrational substances are derived from light (sun, moon etc), healing energy (universal or spiritual energy, prana, Reiki etc), plants (flowers, stems, leaf etc), mineral (crystals, gold etc), environmental (sacred places), or animal.
Some examples of essences available (there are many) to explore further as a self help tool are:
Flower, Gem, Angel, Shell, Coral, Sea, Goddess, and Chakra essences
4. Journal writing is a fabulous self help healing tool connecting you with your true essence, your spiritual self.
Find yourself a special journal/diary to write in; something special to write with (can be brightly colored inks or the more traditional black, blue or reds) and make a date with yourself to do some journal writing every morning at the same time (before rising out of bed).
I’ve practiced journal writing as a self help tool for many years and still find it, to this day, one of the greatest self help and self improvement tools around – and it costs nothing! 
Write out your worries, sadness, loneliness, or whatever is playing on your mind.  When you’ve done that write in your journal the excitement, enthusiasm and passion you intend to experience for the day ahead, the projects you’re working on, friends you’ll catch up with, food you’ll eat, possible miracles that might happen, shopping to be done, your work day etc.
5. Have a massage.  Treat yourself to some bodywork like a Swedish massage.  Swedish is a more traditional or western soft tissue type of massage, however if you’re after something a little more unique for healing mind, body, and spirit you could choose:
Aromatherapy massage – there’s nothing quite like this one using essential oils for body, mind and spirit.
Ka Huna, LomiLomi – gentle, relaxing, soothing and stretching massage (even watching this massage is relaxing);
Reflexology – therapeutic hand and foot massage;
Reiki – hands on energy healing (aligns Chakras etc)
Vichy Shower – warm water is directed over your body, gently massaging it (this is heavenly, especially after a salt scrub).
Acupressure – form of bodywork based on Chinese Meridian theory
Ayurvedic – part of a traditional detoxification and rejuvenation program of India called Panchakarma – vigorious massage with warm oils and herbs to remove toxins, is calming and balancing, and facilitates profound inner peace.
Hot stone massage – warm smooth stones are applied to the body and employed by the therapist’s hands.
A massage not listed that I experienced while ago was a form of Swedish massage.  I was given small smooth rocks to hold in either hand, at the end of the massage the therapist held my feet and ‘tuned’ me, which sounded like a clarinet going up and down the scales.  To say I felt relaxed and energised at the same time is an understatement.  It was amazing. 
I’ve road tested many self help tools over the years; it’s been an amazing journey with the most profound assistance coming from spirit.  Sometimes good comes from being blinded by the light.
<a href="http://www.michaelascherr.com%22%3emichaela/ Scherr, Spiritual Growth Advocate</a>

Saturday, January 29, 2011

5 Easy Ways to Lift the Spirit

5 Easy Ways to Lift the Spirit
Word Count:
753
Summary:
I tried the conventional way for many years and found that nothing ever really changed for me.  I still got sick, still got sad, and was still unhappy for long periods, rarely experiencing joy and peacefulness.

Keywords:
Spirit,healing,meditation,meditation techniques,intention,breathe,present moment,essential oils,aromatherapy

Article Body:
What to do? 
Luckily for me there’s always been that curiosity of what’s out there in the alternative world including the alternative therapies.  I’ve tried many of them over the years and will continue to do so, all in the hope I can make things better for my body, mind and spirit.   And it has.
I’m aware that what may work for me may not work for someone else, so the message is to keep trying until you find something that will suit your needs.
Many times I’ve been told they’ve tried everything.  What is everything?  What it actually boiled down to you could count on one hand.  It’s worthwhile to keep searching, you may find that your world expands in a most amazing way by the making of new friendships (I have) and picking up useful skills for your ‘self-healing’ tool-kit.
So what do I do when I’ve reached a cross-road and need some direction or could do with some healing?
Below I’ve listed 5 basic points that have helped to lift my spirit and with practice will also help yours:
1. Meditation!  Meditation is one of the greatest self healing tools available and costs nothing except a little of your time!  There are many meditation techniques out there, find one that suits you and begin. 
By putting some meditation music on and spending time in quiet contemplation it can soothe your soul and reconnect you with the highest aspect of yourself.
2. Aromatherapy and Essential Oils.
Rebalance and rejuvenate your spirit through blending a selection of essential oils together in an aromatherapy oil burner.  I’ve found the following blend works extremely well when there’s a need for nurturing, support and healing:
Approximately an hour before retiring to bed place a few drops of the following in an aromatherapy oil burner with some water (for safety’s sake, extinguish the flame before lights are turned off for the night):
4 drops Jasmine
4 drops Rose
4 drops Neroli
3 drops Lavender
3 drops Bergamot
The smell divine!  I use this one every now and again and not only sleep like a baby but anxiety and stress disappears, and feels like the weight of the world has lifted from my shoulders by the following morning!  (If you have a small bedroom you might like to half the amount of drops)
3. Breathe!  Stand with feet a shoulder-length apart.  Take 3 slow and deep breaths using the diaphragm muscles.  Breathe in through the nose, and breathe out through slightly parted lips.  As you do these imagine you’re inhaling your personal power, filling every cell in your body, from your diaphragm up to the top of your head. 
Be your personal power and notice how much taller, straighter and stronger you become.  Repeat the steps above.
4. Be in the Present Moment.  Take a few deep breaths and focus totally on this moment, right now. 
If you’re reading a book or magazine, or even this article, totally focus on the words and take in their meaning.  There is only you and this article now in the present moment.
If you’re in the workplace, focus totally on the task at hand, and only this task, and what you must do in order to complete it.  Nothing else matters except you and the task at hand.
5. Set an intention.  When I’m on the lookout for something new and useful for me, I set my intention on what it is I’m after. 
For example, I may want to find a book that will give me answers in regards to directing me to another healing modality or skill.  I then meditate on this intention, give it a timeframe then open my heart to it.  Lo and behold I will have a book in my hand in no time at all!  I love the power of intention – I also use intention for getting a parking space when I go shopping!
These days I rarely get sick and when I do and have a medical checkup, doctors tell me I’m actually very healthy (surely they can find something so I can get some sympathy around here!) which also includes blood test results.
I still do sadness and unhappiness well (I’m still human) though neither lasts long whereas in the past it would last many days sometimes weeks.  What lasts much longer is a peaceful state.

When using the 5 points above, my spirit lifts and life once again becomes more peaceful and joyful.