Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

Has Mother Nature programmed us to be allergic to our closest kin? Does the nose know a good mate when it smells one? Is the ability to smell out the good ones from the bad ones impaired in women who take oral contraceptives?

According to one of my male neighbors, birth control pills are really messing things up. Those little, harmless-looking pills are causing women to choose the wrong mate and destroying their sex drive, thereby leading to an epidemic of married men who are porn addicts. Could be true, I said. Who knows what all happens when we mess around with hormones.

For a really interesting look at this topic, see this recent post at Gene Expression:

Taking the pill might make your brother hawt?

Read this article about the secret sex nerve

My chest feels like an electrified elephant is sitting on it. It’s heavy. It’s twitchy. It’s hard to take a deep breath. I thought it was stress and dehydration, my constant companions here in the desert.

Well, technically it is due to stress, but stress from an allergic response to weeds. Until I checked weather.com for the humidity level I had no idea about the high pollen alert for weeds. We’ve got ‘em all over the place.

People tend to think Arizona, with its dry air and low humidity, is a great place to live if you suffer from allergies. Some move here and find out otherwise. And another big surprise awaits — the air quality in Phoenix is awful and getting worse (read about our lovely Brown Cloud).

Phoenix Allergies

Phoenix a Fall Allergy Capital

Allergy Capitals (Austin ranked number 1 for Fall Allergy 2007. Bad news for me.)

Best Places to Live in the U.S. to Avoid Seasonal Allergies?

Worst Cities for Allergies

Allergies 101

Weed it and weep.

I received an email from Tony Wright, author of Left in the Dark, letting me know that the book is now available to view online in its entirety. If you enjoy pondering the mysteries of human development, especially those that seem to make no sense outside of supernatural or mystical explanations, you’ll love this perception-altering book!

If you like studying human consciousness and enlightenment (are we truly on an evolutionary trajectory to higher, better levels of consciousness?), Left in the Dark will provide a new frame for understanding this intriguing subject. But not to worry — it is a hope-filled message, a message that quite possibly can lead us to real, workable solutions to the mess we’re in today.

The human brain, over a period of perhaps a million years, expanded at an increasingly rapid rate then, some 200,000 years ago, this expansion suddenly stopped. There is, to date, no plausible scientific explanation for either of these linked events.

Religious and mythic traditions of paradise inform us that we once lived in a benign state of perpetual wonder and joy but from this we regressed. The reasons for this are obscure. Do these apparently unrelated perspectives have something in common?

The new theory presented here and in the Left In The Dark book suggests the extraordinary evolution of our brain was influenced by changes in the activity of our own hormones. Such a seemingly innocuous idea has dramatic ramifications. It not only explains a number of recently uncovered anomalies within the human mind, but also makes sense of the stories of human degeneration that are preserved in virtually all cultural myths and religions from around the world.

Both perspectives tell the same unexpected and shocking story — Humanity is suffering from a progressive neurological condition that has distorted our perception and altered our sense of self. This seemingly dire situation however has a positive side — we still have unimaginable potential just waiting to be unlocked. There is a very real possibility of regaining our lost perceptual heritage. (from the author’s Home page)

View the book online

Consider buying the book to support further research!

More from Tony’s site:

Virtually all cultures preserve myths with an almost identical theme; that from a past golden age humanity has suffered a progressive degeneration. Is this near universal tradition based on real events? The answer appears to be ‘yes’. Recent scientific evidence supports the idea that we suffer from an inherited hormonal condition that has damaged part of our brain. In an unexpected twist, it is the damaged part that is not only driven to play the major role in telling us who we are but also dominates our basic biological functions.

Such a scenario explains some extraordinary anomalies that have emerged from research into how our brains function. It provides an underlying reason for the present crises in health, from the dysfunction of the immune system to the declining age of puberty. It also makes sense of the diverse mystic and religious practices that are said to lead to enlightened states or ‘oneness with God’.

If our common experience of near constant low-level fear and anxiety is actually a consequence of a neurological disorder, there may be a fundamental solution to the problem. We all know that fear, distrust and a lack of connection lead to conflict and ultimately war. Such a solution therefore could be of crucial importance to our global future.

To find out more, read on…

Don’t be left in the dark Read the book!

FDA faulted over unapproved uses of medications
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080727/ap_on_go_co/fda_off_label_drugs

The review that Grassley requested by the investigative arm of Congress found that the FDA is ill-equipped to catch even blatant marketing abuses by drug companies. The agency does not have any staff exclusively assigned to monitor whether companies are following the rule against marketing drugs for unapproved uses.

The FDA “isn’t keeping track of how drugs are marketed for off-label use, even though marketing for off-label use is illegal and it’s the FDA’s job to enforce that law,” Grassley said in a statement. “As a result, drug makers aren’t being held accountable for promoting unapproved use of medicine and patient safety is diminished.”

Instead, the job is handled by the office that oversees all drug advertising, including television commercials and magazine ads. That office has 44 full-time employees assigned to review ads. Last year, they had to dissect the fine print on some 68,000 advertisements.

The office tries to set priorities, by focusing first on misrepresentations that could have a damaging impact on human health. But the report found that the FDA lacks a system for tracking all the material it receives.

I’m constipated. A lot is goin’ in, but not much is comin’ out.

I’m literally full of information after days of gorging on books, Web sites and blogs. It’s like I’ve been going to a mile-long buffet table and going back for seconds, especially piling my plate with dense protein foods. I haven’t given myself time to digest anything, let alone absorb it, use it or eliminate the crapola. And I’m not the kind of blogger who can sit down at the computer and start dumping my thoughts onto the screen.

I’m suffering from vertigo too. Actually, that’s nothing new. I spin out all the time as I discover and learn more about the Biggest Issues of Life.

The other day I saw the photo below, and I ROTFLMAO’d. How can you not laugh? I suppose if you don’t like cats or have no idea what the abbreviations mean you could stare at it without cracking a smile. I love cats. But most of all I love how this scene perfectly sums up my general state of being. Enjoy!

I read today that an AP probe revealed that our drinking water is tainted with drugs and may pose problems for humans and animals. That’s old news for most in the alternative health field.

The good news is that normally you’d find this kind of article only on so-called “alarmist” health sites.

AP probe finds drugs in drinking water

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information” and might be unduly alarmed.

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

“We recognize it is a growing concern and we’re taking it very seriously,” said Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Keep reading

Who else wants to cash in on The Secret and The Law of Attraction?

I do, I do! But can I do it without selling my soul?

We all knew that 2008 would bring a fresh batch of all-things-Secret. I just received an email from a group touting Happy for No Reason, a new book by Marci Shimoff. I actually sat a few feet away from her at a seminar, where she was a “no name, no position” attendee like everyone was asked to be (yet somehow she got conspicuously noted, along with other high-profile people there). She and the presenter would go on to appear in The Secret. Too bad I didn’t get autographs to sell on ebay. (Too bad I know far more about the presenter’s life than he’d like.)

Anyway, I have such an aversion to The Secret and the so-called Law of Attraction, that my first reaction to reading about Marci’s book is a big WHATEVER!

Rhonda Byrne, creator of “The Secret” wrote:

“I want to let you in on a secret to ‘The Secret.’ The shortcut to anything you want in your life is to BE and FEEL happy now! It is the fastest way to bring money and anything else you want into your life.”

You may have seen Marci Shimoff in “The Secret” movie. Marci is an undisputed expert on the Law of Attraction.

Like Rhonda, she knows that Happiness is a powerful attractor. She knows — and she teaches you in the book and on the free recordings — that happiness helps draw to you whatever you want.

That’s how she became a #1 New York Times best-selling author. People have purchased more than 13 million copies of her books. That is extraordinary considering that most books never sell more than 2500 copies. She is a mega successful author who knows that happiness is the secret to life.

And she knows how to help anyone — YOU! — quickly become happier, and remain happy for the rest of your life. And that’s what you get in her book and in the special bonus recordings that you will receive right now when you order her book.

Why was Marci on NBC’s “The Today Show” this week? Because as one magazine just declared, “Happiness is the newest fashion.” People are finally figuring out that it isn’t the new flat screen TV, or the iPhone, or the new wardrobe that makes you happy.

It’s the old chicken/egg thing. And happiness definitely came first. Marci figured out how to get happiness to naturally bubble up from within, which is why the national media is clamoring to get her attention. She figured out that to be happier all you need is your brain — and simple instructions on how to use it. And, you should, because:

Unhappiness brings early death

Ugh.

Of course I’m all for happiness! But please oh please don’t get this wonderful thing all mixed in with a gang of marketers who may be more interested in filling their bank accounts than your blessed happiness.

(Oh, and what about all those cranky old farts that live forever?)

I don’t like drugs, and they don’t like me. So when a doctor wanted me to take Paxil to treat anxiety and depression, I declined. I had spent hours on the Internet researching Paxil and other SSRIs. I felt that the potential side effects I read about were too severe to risk. I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

So I returned to the Internet to search for “natural” ways to deal with my problem. I didn’t have time to waste barking up the wrong trees, and I was really scared. But, thankfully, I found something right away that sounded safe and effective. The cure was as simple as tweaking my diet. (More about this later.)

Millions of people take SSRIs. I don’t know how many suffer from side effects, but the numbers of people telling their stories on Web sites, message boards and blogs is alarming. Last week I ran across the new film, Uncomfortably Numb, which is getting close to release. Produced by film maker Phil Lawrence, who took Paxil for social anxiety for ten years, the documentary explores the repercussions of SSRIs.

Watch the trailer:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG6IAV5VBD0[/youtube]

Visit UncomfortablyNumb.com

(By the way, the second expert shown in the clip is Dr. Stuart Shipko, author of Surviving Panic Disorder, mentioned in this post.)

Several posts ago, I talked about the fluoride controversy. A few days ago I bought the January issue of Scientific American so I could read Dan Fagin’s article, “Second Thoughts about Fluoride.” The debate is far from over.

Long before the passionate debates over cigarettes, DDT, asbestos or the ozone hole, most Americans had heard of only one environmental health controversy: fluoridation. Starting in the 1950s, hundreds of communities across the U.S. became embroiled in heated battles over whether fluorides–ionic compounds containing the element fluorine–should be added to their water systems. On one side was a broad coalition of scientists from government and industry who argued that adding fluoride to drinking water would protect teeth against decay; on the other side were activists who contended that the risks of fluoridation were inadequately studied and that the practice amounted to compulsory medication and thus was a violation of civil liberties.

The advocates of fluoride eventually carried the day, in part by ridiculing opponents such as the right-wing John Birch Society, which called fluoridation a communist plot to poison America. Today almost 60 percent of the U.S. population drinks fluoridated water, including residents of 46 of the nation’s 50 largest cities. Outside the U.S., fluoridation has spread to Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and a few other countries. Critics of the practice have generally been dismissed as gadflies or zealots by mainstream researchers and public health agencies in those countries as well as the U.S. (In other nations, however, water fluoridation is rare and controversial.) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even lists water fluoridation as one of the 10 greatest health achievements of the 20th century, alongside vaccines and family planning.

Buy the online article

Key Concepts:

• Researchers are intensifying their scrutiny of fluoride, which is added to most public water systems in the U.S. Some recent studies suggest that overconsumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland.

• A 2006 report by a committee of the National Research Council recommended that the federal government lower its current limit for fluoride in drinking water because of health risks to both children and adults.

Here is, in my opinion, the biggest question that needs to be answered:

The much more important question is whether fluoride’s effects extend beyond altering the biochemistry of tooth enamel formation. Says longtime fluoride researcher Pamela DenBesten of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry: “We certainly can see that fluoride impacts the way proteins interact with mineralized tissue, so what effect is it having elsewhere at the cellular level? Fluoride is very powerful, and it needs to be treated respectfully.”

Is enamel fluorosis the tip of an iceberg?

Knowledge doesn’t do a bit of good unless it’s accompanied by wisdom and action.

Confession time.

I know, damn it, that consuming grains, cheese and nightshades are bad, bad, bad for me. My body can’t deal with the proteins found in grains and milk, not to mention other substances, such as mold, that come along for the ride. I discovered that I had food sensitivities after returning from a six-month stay in Thailand. While in The Land of Smiles, the only grain I ate was white rice, and no cheese was available.

Oh how I longed for the day when I would be back in the States, gorging myself with whole-wheat bread, muffins and pancakes.

I returned and joyfully resumed my whole-grain diet. Over the next several months I mysteriously started to lose weight, strength and skin color. My skin broke out with giant welts after bathing. I was going downhill fast but didn’t know why. I was concerned that I had been infected by bacteria, parasites or worms while teaching in a refugee camp in northern Thailand. All tests came back clear.

One day someone suggested that I might have food allergies. The only thing I knew about food allergies back then (this was the early 80s) was that nuts and shellfish can cause anaphalactic shock. But I thought the idea was worth researching, so I bought several books on food allergies and sensitivities. To make a long story short, I found out that I was allergic or sensitive to just about everything I was eating. I changed my diet and within two weeks I looked and felt like a new person.

I was strict about what I ate for several years. But maintaining a limited diet can get old, boring and tiring. So I started to cheat. To shorten this long story again, I’m really suffering now from almost daily consuming grains and other problematic food.

I’ve got to get back to the basics for me to enjoy good health again. Sigh. This means meal planning and food shopping, which I can’t stand to do. Maybe this year I will actually stick to a resolution to hire a personal chef.

P.S. I don’t like milk. Never have. Maybe that’s a very good thing. Yes, a very good thing.

The other day I heard from a professional acquaintance who landed in the emergency room due to feeling weak and short of breath. Tests ruled out a heart attack. The diagnosis was a panic attack, possibly caused by acid reflux. “So now I am taking medication for both anxiety and acid reflux; the former, my doctor tells me, will last 2-4 months in order to prevent another panic attack from coming on. The latter will last indefinitely (with more than 1 billion people on the planet taking these ‘proton pump inhibitors,’ I’m in good company),” he wrote.

He might be in good company, but I question how healthy and happy that company is. You see, I know a lot about panic attacks and its tie-in with acid problems. I suffered from panic disorder for many years. Attacks started when I was 19, and back then not much was known about causes and cures. We know more now, but the picture is far from complete, at least in the conventional medicine world.

I’m opposed to using drugs unless they’re required to save my life, so I sought out other ways to heal. I was able to gain control over panic disorder through diet and using energy psychology techniques and homeopathic remedies. I was also fortunate to find the work of Dr. Stuart Shipko, a psychiatrist who specializes in treating panic disorder. Although I had my panic disorder under control by the time I learned about Dr. Shipko, reading his research solved some of the mysteries.

I loved his message board and learning everything I could about the disorder so that I would not suffer again. Unless one has experienced panic disorder, it’s hard to understand how devastating it can be. I used to remark that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, including the devil.

I didn’t want to see my friend suffer needlessly (I knew his treatment plan wasn’t going to work very well), so I sent him Dr. Shipko’s ebook, Surviving Panic Disorder. I think the length of the book discouraged him (how can there be that much information about panic disorder!?), and he didn’t appear to be impressed. Little did he realize the goldmine he’d received…

Thankfully, he printed out a chapter and gave it to his doctor. And here’s what happened:

OK, Lana, you win the BIG prize today. I shared Chapter XXI (Treating Reflux) with my doctor. He was blown away. It made total sense to him and he even thought it explained a number of cases over the past ten years where people failed to respond to conventional BZD treatment for anxiety. So, he loves it and he is switching me over to Dr. Shipko’s protocol immediately. I have stopped the PPIs and am phasing out the BZDs at the same time as I have started on Sucralfate. We’ll see how it goes, but I feel very blessed and empowered to (a) have such a responsive doctor, and (b) be pursuing a path that will resolve the underlying physical issue. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

BTW — My doctor has already passed chapter XXI along to another doctor who has been working with a woman for many months with a variety of GI disorders that are not responding to conventional treatment. He thinks this may be a godsend.

Let’s hope all goes well as I phase off the BZDs! I will keep you posted.

Also BTW — How did you know about the work of Dr. Stuart Shipko? It seems like you could not have been at a better place, at a better time.

Now THIS is the kind of thing that makes me happy. I love helping people by sharing information. I was dancing around the house after receiving his email, much to my husband’s amusement. He just doesn’t get it. Receiving a million dollars for dispensing advice would make him happy. I’d like to make millions doing what I love, but for now, I’ll enjoy the real-time benefits.

Learn about Dr. Stuart Shipko

Update 12/23: Here is latest from my acquaintance. He is a well-known, successful coach who practices and teaches wellness principles for mind, body and spirit. It took a lot of courage for him to admit to thousands of his readers that he was facing a challenging health problem. Obviously, he’s glad he stepped out on the belief that his community would support him. I’m so thrilled and joyful to have given him such a precious gift — and that joy is a precious gift to me. Life itself continues and evolves through the giving and receiving of energies (and I don’t mean the woo-woo kind) at every level. We need positive emotional energy to survive and thrive.

You won’t hear that very often in England, according to a discussion on Steve Salerno’s blog. We’re fortunate in the United States to have safe, affordable dental care and fluoride in our drinking water. Right?

Back in the 80s I did a ton of research into the mercury amalgam debate. It made no sense to me that mercury, a toxic metal, in one’s mouth was safe. I didn’t buy the ADA’s claim that the other metals in the amalgam bound the mercury and posed no threat. I called and talked with the ADA spokesman about this issue. He told me that studies conclusively proved the safety of mercury amalgams. I learned otherwise from speaking with researchers in Sweden, where the debate was not a political hot potato.

The amalgam wars among dentists began in 1833, when the mixture of mercury, silver, copper, tin, and zinc was introduced. Most dentists were outraged at the very idea of putting a toxic substance in their patients’ teeth, yet proponents were able to quell the controversy. The debate continues today in the United States. The ADA has made it unethical for a dentist to recommend the removal of amalgam because of mercury. But the great thing is that consumers today think silver fillings look terrible. They insist on tooth-colored fillings. So the mercury amalgam debate may simply go off the radar.

However, there’s still another debate that rages — the safety of fluoride in water and toothpaste. Ever wonder why the FDA regulates fluoride in toothpaste? Fluoride is a poison. The average tube contains enough fluoride to kill a small child if ingested.

Studies show that fluoridated water does not decrease tooth decay, and that it increases risk of hip fracture, birth defects, cancer, arthritis, thyroid dysfunction, and the lowering of a person’s IQ. Also, increased exposures to fluoride have caused millions of U.S. children to develop dental fluorosis, damage to tooth-forming cells. Many European countries have banned the use of fluoride in water and supplements — a major push is underway in the U.S.

Learn more at Fluoride Action Network and sign the online message to Congress.

I like to err on the side of caution in such debates. Why take a chance? It’s easy to avoid mercury amalgam, and it’s easy to buy toothpaste without fluoride.

Want to save up to 80 percent on dental care?

Check out Value Dental

(I don’t receive any compensation for referrals. This is simply a public service announcement.)

Before I reveal the secret, let’s talk about quack medicine. Generally speaking, quack medications are concoctions, such as herbal remedies and other supplements, that are not regulated by the FDA and may or may not work as claimed. Without governmental oversight, it boils down to buyer beware. Some herbs can kill you if taken in excess or in combination with certain drugs.

It’s criminal to foist potentially harmful stuff onto an unsuspecting public, isn’t it?

Don’t worry, in a moment I’m going to reveal the secret to selling quack potions and raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars. But let’s continue the discussion for a bit. Let’s consider the pharmaceutical industry, which the FDA regulates. How good of a job do you think the FDA does to keep the public safe from harmful drugs? How many potential side effects, ranging from liver damage to diarrhea, are you willing to tolerate? How willing are you to be a guinea pig when a drug has been fast-tracked and put out to market without testing for the long-term in humans?

Research (deaths) found that the herb ephedra can kill. Okay, everyone, stay away from herbs! They’re not regulated and you have no idea what you might be getting!

Research (deaths) found that the diabetes drug Rezulin can kill. Oops. Sorry about that. But we’ll have a new, improved drug to take its place soon! No worries!

The secret to selling quack medicine is, drum roll please, marketing!

And the secret to selling FDA-approved drugs that may harm or kill you? Marketing!

There you go. Either route, there’s lots of money to be made.

Caveat emptor.

(The inspiration/provocation for this post comes from the December 12 issue of eSkeptic. See the article, “The Immortal Lily The Pink: The 100th anniversary of the FDA marks a milestone in medicine before which cranks and charlatans ran amok.”)

No, no, no. I’m not anti-energy. (Ha ha! Get it?) I just think that it’s jumping the gun to vigorously claim that energy psychology techniques work by effecting so-called subtle energy. This claim scares a lot of people away from these marvelous methods, and I think that’s a shame.

To illustrate my point, check out these interesting responses to an article about Emotional Freedom Techniques. One of the respondents is the happy beneficiary of EFT treatments who was featured in the article — he doesn’t care a fig about how it works.

I am the Gary Williams in the article. I don’t care what anybody says about mumbo-jumbo and all that. All I know is that, after almost 30 years of suffering, I am now leading a healthy, nightmare, flashback and depression free life.

All I would say to the sceptics is: Try it…EFT WORKS!!

For the short-term, I don’t care how it works either. But for the long-term, I do care. I want to know the nature of the universe, what consciousness is and how it works, the role of human intention in healing, and so forth. I think the real question goes far beyond the concept of subtle energy.

So with that little introduction, I am happy to announce The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) 18th Annual Conference, to be held June 19-26, 2008, in Boulder, Colorado. The conference theme is Energy, Intent, and Healing.

The not-surprising-presenters include Larry Dossey, Dean Radin, Luisah Teish, Donna Eden, and Gary Craig. The big-surprise (to me, at least) presenter is Brian Greene, a leading string theorist. I can see why ISSSEEM would invite him, though. Greene studies things such as nonlocal particle entanglement, which is a key component of the theories to explain energy healing and intention. (If you’re interested in cosmology and string theory, I highly recommend Greene’s book The Fabric of the Cosmos.)

May we soon find the answers.

Cancer.

Cure.

Controversy.

Cancer recently surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Americans under the age of 85. So much for winning the war on cancer, as the nation and Richard Nixon envisioned in 1971. Read about the National Cancer Act of 1971. Notice the quote in the sidebar:

According to Vincent DeVita, M.D., director of NCI from 1980–1988, the War on Cancer “…did everything it was supposed to do. It supported basic research handsomely. It set up application programs—the EORTC [European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer] and U.S. clinical trials programs. The incidence of cancer in this country started dropping in 1990 and has continued to drop every year since, and so has mortality. And the morbidity from cancer, comparing 1971 to 2005, is like night and day….So, every benchmark of the mandate has been hit.

For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel any better. Each year more than half a million people die from cancer. We have a long way to go, and I believe that we need to get on a new path. We can start by answering the question: What causes cancer? Don’t be so sure that cancer researchers and drug companies have a handle on the causes and cures.

Get ready for a thrilling ride on the German New Medicine® train! Before we embark, I need to tell you that GNM is highly controversial in Europe (its founder, Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer, got out of a French prison just last year) and barely known in the United States. Hamer’s bio reads like a crazy novel, which admittedly can color one’s perception about the doctor and his research, but I think it’s still worth investigating.

Here is Hamer’s theory about cancer and other diseases:

All disease is the result of a biological response to a “conflict shock,” which occurs simultaneously in the psyche, in the brain and on the corresponding organ or tissue controlled by the affected part of the brain. This process evolved to help animals and humans to heal and survive.

This is a revolutionary finding. So revolutionary that it stands mainstream thought about cancer and disease on its head, which hasn’t gone over very well with those whose power, status and livelihood depend on keeping things as they are. Including keeping us in the dark, if the theory is true.

I posted the following several week ago on my blog, but it bears repeating here:

In 1981, Dr. Hamer discovered that every disease originates from a “conflict shock” that catches us completely off guard. He found that sudden unexpected emotional stress, like an unanticipated separation or loss of a loved one, occur not only in our psyche but have, coordinated from the brain, a — predictable — effect on the corresponding organ.

From over 40,000 case studies Dr. Hamer established that, when we experience an unexpected conflict, the shock impacts a very specific area in the brain, causing a disturbance that is clearly visible on a brain scan. When the brain receives the “conflict message,” the organ or tissue that is controlled from the affected brain area also reacts. Whether the organ responds with cancer, a heart condition, osteoporosis, a skin disorder, or with functional impairment as seen in Diabetes or MS depends on the nature of the conflict.

Based on our knowledge of the evolution of man, Dr. Hamer’s findings show that what we commonly call a “disease” never happens by chance, but for a very particular biological purpose. Cancer, for example, is contrary to the conventional view not an error of Nature but rather a “Meaningful Special Biological Program” created over millions of years of evolution to assist us in coping with an unforeseen biological emergency situation. Animals experience these biological conflicts in real terms, for instance, with the loss of the nest or territory, a separation from an off-spring, a mate or the social group, or when they suffer a death fright. Since we humans developed a symbolic way of thinking, we also can experience these conflicts in a figurative sense. A “territorial loss” can translate into the loss of our home, e.g. through a divorce, or an unforeseen loss of our job, an “abandonment conflict” can be caused by being put into a nursing home or by the loss of a loved-one, a “death-fright conflict” can be initiated by a diagnosis shock and the associated fear of dying. When we experience the conflict, the Special Biological Program is instantly switched on and the physical symptoms allow our organism to override everyday functioning and deal with the particular emergency situation.

For example: A mother receives the shocking news that her child was involved in an accident. At this moment she suffers, in biological terms, a “mother-child-worry-conflict.” This type of conflict always impacts in the area of the brain that controls a woman’s breast glands. Since, biologically speaking, an injured offspring recovers faster when it receives more milk, extra milk production is immediately stimulated by increasing the number of breast gland cells. Even if the woman is not breast feeding, the event still triggers the onset of this response as it has been doing for millions of years. As long as a woman is “conflict active” the breast cells will keep dividing and multiplying, forming what is commonly called a glandular breast tumor.

Since healing can only occur after the conflict has been resolved, GNM-therapy focuses on identifying and resolving the original conflict situation. During the healing phase, the entire organism undergoes a period of repair and recovery. The healing period is often accompanied with fatigue, painful swelling (particularly when the cancerous growth is broken down), inflammations, fever or infections. Understanding the biological nature of the healing symptoms is essential, because it allows us to free ourselves from the fear and panic that often come with the onset of symptoms.

The “Five Biological Laws of the New Medicine” that control the cause, development and healing process of a disease apply to all of medicine. Dr. Hamer’s findings have been verified 30 times by physicians and professorial associations, including the Medical Faculty of the University of Trnava (Slovakia).

Source: An Overview of GERMAN NEW MEDICINE® by Caroline Markolin, Ph.D.

This morning I received an e-newsletter from Dr. Joseph Mercola, a naturopathic doctor who supports Hamer’s theory. In one of the articles, Dr. Mercola comments on a new report from the American Institute for Cancer Research, which details the main risk factors for developing cancer and what you can do to reduce your risk. Missing from the report, of course, is the notion of resolving any past emotional traumas.

Dr. Mercola writes:

Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. Fortunately, there are now practical tools that can address this. One of the best was developed by Dr. Hamer and it is called German New Medicine. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology is one of the best approaches, and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.

I have interviewed two of the top experts in the U.S. in this area. One is Dr. David Holt who is the leading US physician in German New Medicine, and Dr. Bruce Lipton who is the top researcher explaining why this approach works. I grilled each of them for nearly three hours and it was absolutely amazing information.

If the American Cancer Society knew this information and applied it, I would donate money to them because then they really would be making a difference, instead of serving as pawns of the drug industry.

Either way, information is massively important for ANYONE who is currently battling cancer. Both of these interviews should be out before the end of the year. The first one should come out the last week of November, and best of all, you will be able to get it mailed to your U.S. home for FREE.

Read the entire article (registration required) in which Dr. Mercola discusses several ways to virtually eliminate your cancer risk.

I can’t wait to hear the interviews.

Meanwhile, here’s an interesting excerpt from the Reno Integrative Medical Center website. Dr. Holt works at the center.

In the Spring of 2006 we set out to prove that Dr. Hamer’s assertions regarding cancer (and most other disease) were incorrect. After having received some initial training and applying these concepts to our patients for several months we were confronted with an abundant amount of empirical evidence supporting Hamer’s ideas. Our most basic assumptions regarding cancer had been incorrect! This paradigm turns conventional medicine and even much of alternative medicine on its head, but once an understanding of the process is grasped, it points the way in terms of choosing various diagnostic or therapeutic interventions.

As I always say, we’re living in exciting times!

Thinking requires energy. And I’m running dangerously low!

I’m literally exhausted from researching, thinking, thinking about thinking, studying human nature and the human condition, connecting the dots from various sources, creating new patterns and ideas from connecting the dots, and blogging about life’s greatest questions.

What can I say? I’m an information addict with a philosophical streak. This always happens. Eventually I reach the point of burnout. Sometimes I spin out. And sometimes I freak out upon encountering something really bizarre

But I’ll be okay after a little rest and a box of chocolate (my other obsession).

Thoughts are… things. They are sculptors of the brain. And, dare I say, they are sculptors of the body.

Eight Buddhist adepts and 10 volunteers who had had a crash course in meditation engaged in the form of meditation called nonreferential compassion. In this state, the meditator focuses on unlimited compassion and loving kindness toward all living beings.

As the volunteers began meditating, one kind of brain wave grew exceptionally strong: gamma waves. These, scientists believe, are a signature of neuronal activity that knits together far-flung circuits — consciousness, in a sense. Gamma waves appear when the brain brings together different features of an object, such as look, feel, sound and other attributes that lead the brain to its aha moment of, yup, that’s an armadillo.

Some of the novices “showed a slight but significant increase in the gamma signal,” Prof. Davidson explained to the Dalai Lama. But at the moment the monks switched on compassion meditation, the gamma signal began rising and kept rising. On its own, that is hardly astounding: Everything the mind does has a physical correlate, so the gamma waves (much more intense than in the novice meditators) might just have been the mark of compassion meditation.

Except for one thing. In between meditations, the gamma signal in the monks never died down. Even when they were not meditating, their brains were different from the novices’ brains, marked by waves associated with perception, problem solving and consciousness. Moreover, the more hours of meditation training a monk had had, the stronger and more enduring the gamma signal.

It was something Prof. Davidson had been seeking since he trekked into the hills above Dharamsala to study lamas and monks: evidence that mental training can create an enduring brain trait.

From LifeTrek Provision 11/11/07: Empathy Wiring

Well, how do you like that. Yesterday I was wondering why a study showed that overweight people have a decreased death risk from disease. This morning I found an article in the latest issue of Spirituality & Health about — get this — the unappreciated, wonderful role of fat — the fatty layer of fascia just beneath the skin.

After marveling for a few seconds about the synchronicity, which happens a lot in my life with written material, I dove in. The author, Gil Hedley, is an anatomist and former Certified Rolfer, who teaches human dissection workshops. It is a breathtaking article about how he confronted his own fear and came to see fat as a “rare vision of beauty: a glorious, shapely yellow fleece…something elemental, an essential aspect of our bodily life previously under appreciated.”

The following excerpts describe what the adipose is and its key role in the body. (I recommend reading the entire article to see the incredible picture Hedley paints.)

The energy of the adipose

The specific vibrational quality of each layer of the body — whether adipose or skin, muscle or bone — contributes essentially to the harmony comprising an integrated, embodied person. In the same way that your eyes and ears and nose interpret particular frequencies of vibration, the varying composition of your skin, adipose, deep fascia, muscle, membranes, organs, bones, and nerves both emit and absorb frequencies in a manner characteristic of their particular structure.

I had the privilege of observing many groups of professionals working intently to dissect a given layer. When they do, there is a distinct quality to the experience generated by different tissues. Before I had much consciousness of the powerful charge carried by the adipose layer, we would remove it mainly by hand….

When the tearing of the adipose began, some in the group would become possessed with the mission to see the job through, while others would be reeling from the pace, or need to cry, or even sense pain in their own adipose….

A different kind of sense organ

The living adipose is basically liquid energy and raw power suspended in a web of piezoelectrically conductive collagen fibers. Through it are transmitted fields of information from our external environment to the depths of our bodies at all times. The adipose layer is replete with specialized smooth muscle cells, whereby the tissue tone is maintained and adjusted. It is as if our soft coating of fat is a living antenna of the most sensitive kind, receiving from without and broadcasting within the waves of information that surround us. Like the skin, it is a great sense organ, a sensual wrap. But I posit that rather than conducting the signals it picks up primarily along electrochemical pathways to the brain in our skull, it is primarily conducting its signals electrochemically to the brain in our gut….

Likewise, a pregnant woman’s adipose layer grows not only as a resource to support and nourish her baby but also to heighten her sensitivity to the baby’s coos and cries and to any potential danger in their environment. She grows her inner pillow to comfort her child and also to resonate more perfectly with her baby’s body, the lines of whose form are a delicious portrait of the fat beneath the skin…

The issues that surround fat in our culture involve our health, politics, the balance of power, economics, class, race, gender, discrimination, and more. By studying the adipose layer as a gift rather than a curse, a different set of questions can emerge beyond “Am I thin enough?” “How can I lose 10 pounds?” “How can I control my weight?” and “How fat is too fat?”

Source: “How to Fall in Love With Your Fat,” Spirituality & Health, November/December 2007

Fat as an information system for survival and growth. Quite something to ponder!

Ruh roh. As one who the researchers would classify as underweight, this study caught my attention.

The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the overweight had a decreased death risk and the underweight and obese had increased risk….

They do not yet know, precisely, what it is about being underweight, for instance, that increases the death rate from everything except heart disease and cancer.

Source

That does it! I’m definitely going on a chocolate-several-times-a-day diet. Oops, did I say chocolate… again?

All kidding aside, this study is so intriguing. What are the common denominators for the decreased death risk in the overweight group? My head is spinning as I factor in what I know about epigenetics and German New Medicine.

Here’s a great introduction to epigenetics on PBS.org. The video there is amazing. Toward the end of the video, you’ll learn about using epigenetic medicine to give instructions to the epigenome. Now imagine using the power of the mind to give instructions to the epigenome. Then consider reading two extremely interesting books:

The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetic Medicine and the Biology of Intention

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles

We are living in such exciting times!

Follow the money. Follow the politics. Follow the fellow who follows a dream.

Okay, that last one has nothing to do with my point. I was just reminded of one of my favorite songs!

I just saw this news item about the battle over “natural” food labeling.

The question is at face value a simple one: When can food products, from chicken breasts to soda pop, rightfully be labeled as “natural?”

Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and preservative in sliced roast beef “natural?” How about the high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens sodas?

Equally simple answers appear elusive.

“It’s worth bringing in the rabbis to analyze these situations because it’s complicated, it’s subtle. You can argue from both sides. It has fine distinctions,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Read the entire article.

I don’t think the answers are all that elusive. Do we really need rabbis to figure it out?