Auschwitz & Life

I have spent the last week in and around Krakow in Poland. This is the nearest big town to Auschwitz and Birkenau. One of my sons is doing research there - on why young people choose to visit Auschwitz, so I took the opportunity to go there too. I've always been curious about the place, and a couple of years ago I read Victor Frankel's "Man's Search For Meaning" which I found very moving. In preparaion for my visit my son recommended I read Primo Levi's "If This Is A Man" and "The Truce". Again moving and thought-rpovoking books.

I was nervous about visiting the actual place, but went anyway. The display cabinets - spectacles, human hair, shoes, documents, shaving brushes, clothes has a numbing effect. Standing in one of the gas chambers .. viewing the place and the gallows where a camp commandant had been hung after the war .. standing in front of a wall where the inmates were shot ... seeing the punishment cells - as if just being there wasn't punishment enough ..

The most disturbing bit for me though was at the end when I climbed into one of the guard towers at Birkenau - I shivered and felt sick. It took me a few minutes to realise why - suddenly I no longer imagined myself as an inmate, now I was one of the people who perpetutated the horror.

I'm still processing my feelings about my visit, but in some strange way that I can't quite get to grips with yet irt affirms life and not death.

Verbal Questioning Skills For Kinesiologists

this book is published in German by VAK Verlags GmbH. I have just received a request from them to let the University of Dortmund have a copy of the manuscript to make a braille version of the book. Of course, I said "yes"

CAM Case studies

I've started putting more case studies on http://www.healthandgoodness.com but I'm a bit frustrated as I have a lot of kinesiology ones (particularly health kinesiology) but not so many of other therapies. I know there are lots of good practitioners and amazing stories out there, but I need to hear about them, so if you're reading this and your a therapist think about your clients and send me a storyor two. If you've ever been to a practitioner and got a positive story to tell I'd like to hear about that too ..

today's piece of inspiration

Inspiration of the Day:
A dangerously obese man has captured the heart of America by walking alone across the country to lose weight and find his soul. Steve Vaught was in a car accident in which two people died, sending him into years of depression and comfort eating. Hitting 400+ pounds, he realized that he would die if he carried on. After a year and more than 2300 miles on the road, his journey has become a symbolic quest for a better way of living. In response to a $5m commercial offer, he says, 'But how much does my integrity cost? I have done this walk to get my integrity back. I am not going to sell it.'
http://charityfocus.org/php-bin/qad.php?n=2334

Abundance

I've just read an interesting article from Kalinda Rose Stevenson on abundance. Here's a bit that made me smile:

the ones who live in abundance know how to receive. Those who live in lack don't.
One of the real reasons so many of us struggle with lack in our lives is that we internalized the words, "It is more blessed to give than receive." This Bible verse, taken out of context, sets up a value judgment: Giving is better than receiving.
I'm not going to do the critical work involved in telling you what the Greek words mean, or putting in these words in their biblical context. Let's just look at the words themselves and ask what is wrong with this kind of universalizing statement.
Consider breathing. You breathe in and you breathe out. Somehow, we all got the idea that it is okay to receive when we breathe. What if you decide that it is better to breathe out than to breathe in? You can't live very long before you realize that breathing is a cycle. If you want to continue to live, you need to receive air into your lungs as much as you need to breathe it out.

If you want to read more, here's the link:

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=165037

Animal Testing Of Drugs

A catastrophic drug safety trial which left six healthy volunteers
fighting for their lives with multiple organ failure was the result
of "a powerful pharmacological effect of the product in humans",
found the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The "unprecedented reaction" in the first human phase I safety trial
of the drug TGN1412 had not been seen in animal tests at much
higher doses, yet was not due to a dosing error, product
contamination or manufacturing problems.

Click below for the full story on NewScientist.com/news:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8956

So, surprise, suprise, animals and humans do not necessarily react in the same way to drugs. Do you remember thalidomide which was safe on pregnant rodents but not on pregnant women.

I believe that animal testing is fundamentally wrong, and that it's not as useful as some people beleive it is.

Bikini Body Here I Come

Lynn van Dyke writes upbeat sensible advice for women who want to be fit and healthy. Here's a good example:

Bikini Body Here I Come- 5 Great Reasons Not to Jump Into the Fad Diet or Crazed Workout Routine
by Lynn VanDyke

Summer is fast approaching. This is the time of year where everyone who fell off the New Year's weight loss bandwagon suddenly becomes frozen with fear. They realize that they have not met their goals to have a bikini body by this summer. Panic sets in and unfortunately so do bad decisions.Warmer weather and beach vacation plans are a sign of fad diets, intense workouts, and miracle fat loss pills. People looking to slim down by summer need results and they need them fast! I am here to give you 5 great reasons not to jump into the fad diet or crazed workout routine.

1) You Will Destroy Your Metabolism. Any diet that restricts your caloric intake, eliminates a food group or contains the word "cabbage" will not work. Not eating 5-6 small healthy meals per day will hurt your metabolism. It will slow down and become sluggish. The only way to rev it back up is to eat more healthy foods in the right amounts.

2) You Will Gain Back the Weight- Plus Some. It's happened before. As soon as you stop taking the miracle pill or as soon as you stop doing cardio for an hour every day the weight comes piling back on- plus some. You must make a lifestyle change to keep unwanted fat away for good.

3) You Will Be Quite Moody. Not eating or restricting your calories will leave you moody and sleepy. Sure you may have lost 3 pounds, but no one wants to be around you. Losing fat the healthy way will leave you feeling refreshed, energized and absolutely glowing with charm.

4) You Will Be Heading In the Wrong Direction. Not only is excessive exercise bad for you, but it also takes time away from reaching your goals. 3 weeks of over-exercising is 3 weeks not working out responsibly. It moves you further away from your goal of a bikini body.

5) You'll Be Known as a Yo-Yo Queen. You know what I am talking about. People will know that you are taking the easy way out. They will also know that in 3 weeks you will not be working out anymore. They may even place bets on how much fat you gain after you realize restricting calories and over-exercising is not a long-lasting or permanent solution to fat loss. Prove them wrong!Deep down we all know that the only way to permanently lose fat is to adopt a healthy and fit lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle means eating enough healthy food throughout the day. It involves carbs, proteins and healthy fats. A healthy lifestyle also means a responsible and safe workout program. A great program will include strength training, cardio and regular rest days.It is possible to melt the fat and have a bikini body by summer. There is no secret workout plan, there is no miraculous pill, and there is no new diet that will give you long lasting happiness. If you are serious about fat loss then do it right this time around. Get a great plan and get moving. Summer is coming!

Lynn VanDyke is the head trainer at http://www.strength-training-woman.com . Her wildly popular ebook, Melt the Fat, comes complete with over 100 exercises, 160 daily menus, 63 ways to stick with it, 100 strength training routines, 800 healthy meal suggestions and loads more. Learn more by visiting: http://www.Melt-the-Fat.com

Intuitive Mind

Here's a great quote from Albert Einstein:


The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. -- Albert Einstein

it's today's quote from the 'quote a day' service from www.charityfocus.org

To Do Before I Die

I've just come across a really nice web site:

www.2dobeforeidie.com

Bird Flu

here's some up-to-date info on the bird flu:

Research in the Netherlands and the USA has shown that while human influenza viruses are able to bind with receptors in the windpipe, H5N1 binds only much deeper inside the lungs. This makes it more difficult for the virus to infect humans, because the virus is less likely to reach the inner lungs than the windpipe. The H5N1 virus is also less likely to spread from human to human. Coughing and sneezing easily transmits viruses that have multiplied in the windpipe, but not those located deep in the lungs. If H5N1 manages to mutate so that it can replicate in the upper respiratory tract, a pandemic becomes more likely. Scientists are constantly monitoring the virus for this mutation.

To see all that I've written on this check out this web page:

http://healthandgoodness.com/health/bird_avian_flu.htm

overweight - have you given away your power?

I've posted an article with this title on the Health & goodness web site.

Here's the first bit of it to whet your appetite :-)

If you’re unhappily overweight, is it because you’ve given away your power?

Do you let others decide on your portion size?
When you eat in a restaurant, buy a ready meal, buy chocolate or an ice cream, do you let the producer decide what is the amount you should eat by finishing whatever the portion size happens to be?

to read the rest go to:

http://www.healthandgoodness.com/weightshape/weight_power.htm

Reflexology

I've been adding case studies in the 'symptoms' section of Health & Goodness:

http://www.healthandgoodness.com/symptoms/index.htm

Here's a remarkable case study from Hannah Shine, a reflexologist in Bishops Stortford, Herts, UK:

Angelika came to see me with severe earache in her left ear and a high temperature. I decided to give her a reflexology treatment.While doing the ear reflex by the little toe, I felt what can only be described as a "grain of rice" under that reflex. It was very painful.I worked on it and she went home. I got an email 2 days later headed "weird stuff"..... Angelika explained that she forgot to tell me that 3 weeks ago she went to get some new contact lens. The optician put the lenses into her eyes; she decided she did not like them and he removed them using a suction pad. He found that he had only half a lens from her left eye in his suction pad and looked on the floor, couldn't find it, looked in her eye and couldn't find it and presumed it was lost somewhere on the floor. Angelika went home and her eye felt very uncomfortable. She went back and he still could find nothing. She went to the Eye Unit at the hospital and they could not find anything in her eye on examination....Angelika was emailing me to say that 2 days after the reflexology treatment she woke up, rubbed her eye, and lo and behold, half a contact lens was in her hand!! I asked her to check her foot and tell me whether the "grain of rice" lump under her little toe was still there and she checked and said it had gone!!! At the same time, her earache also was cured.So, although there is no physical link between the eye and the ear, somehow a reflexology treatment released the offending contact lens to be expelled by the body.

What an impressive case study!

animal experimentation

As a vegetarian I find animal experimentation unacceptable. I also believe that it is not the immensely useful instrument of research that it is claimed, because many of the results from animal studies are not replicated in humans.

Here's the start of a letter I've just come across in PLOS:

"The only people who don't know in 2005 that animal research is irrelevant for human disease are those who don't understand it or those who benefit from it. As a physician, clinical researcher, and former animal researcher, I know that though they are our closest genetic relatives, primates have failed as research models virtually whenever they have been used."

Read the full letter here:

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10%2E1371%2Fjournal%2Epmed%2E0020278

Friendship & Peace

this is a wonderful project involving children in India sending letters of friendship to children in Pakistan:

http://www.friendswithoutborders.org/

and

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/11sumit.htm

a simple thing, but I'm sure it could have a profound effect on at least some of the children involved, breaking a cycle of hatred.

Foetal life and subsequent health

Here's an intersting article from the London Times:

"Want to be thin, enjoy a long and happy life untouched by dementia, with a low risk of depression, cancer and arthritis, and have lots of children? The good news is that medical researchers may have found the secret of such a healthy, successful life. The bad news is that the blueprint was laid down during the nine months before you were born"

The article goes on to say that there's a debate about how strong the effects of "foetal origins of disease" are. The basic principle is that the foetus adapts to the nutritional environment of the womb (no mention of psychological environement) under the assumption that this will be the nutritional environment later. If there is a match between these two then the person will have the resources to cope with its environment, but if the womb environment is differnt from the subsequent environment then problems occur.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2682-2078125,00.html

Drug Companies

I've just been reading some interesting research on drug company leaflets:

"Three out of 20 brochures distributed to family doctors by drug companies [in the USA]exaggerated the benefit of treatments, a study published this week has found. "

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/332/7541/568-c

the machinations of the drug companies are being monitored and publicised more and more. The findings are not reasssuring, but it is reassuring that the medical profession are now looking closely at this area.

Geopathic Stress & Subtle Energy

This is the title for my revised book on geopathic stress!

Today I feel really excited. Up to now I have seen revising this book as a chore that I didn't particularly want to do - it felt like going back over something from the last century (I wrote it in1994!), not an exciting new project, but that's changed today.

I've been expanding the part about whether GS energies are electromagnetic or subtle energies, and I've realised that I want to make this the ecentral thrust of the book - in a way I want to look at subtle energy through the prism of geopathic stress - or is it the other way round? mmm I'm excited

geopathic stress

finally I'm getting abck to revising my book on geopathic stress. I've decided I'm going to have to be disciplined and put aside at least one hour each day to work on it. I haven't done anything for severeal months because of revising http://www.healthandgoodness.com and launching http://www.mytherapypractice.com and http://www.sportandme.com, plus launching the forum and the therapist listing, and there's still a lot fo work involved, but I will just have to work more slowly on those things.

Also John's mum who lives with us and is 92 has shingles so I'm needing to spend more time looking after her than I usually do.

Life's definitely very full!

Appreciation of beauty and excellence

I thought this was very good - it's taken from the newsletter of Coaching Towards Happiness http://www.coachingtowardhappiness.com:

Seligman and Peterson (2003) make the important point that it is sometimes necessary to “strip away layers of snobbery to be sure what it is that we are valuing: someone’s appreciation of life’s finer things and moments, or merely his or her ability to afford them” (p. 520). Price may or may not reflect real value. People can savor a simple meal prepared at home as well as an elegantly presented meal at an expensive restaurant. Whether one is evaluating a dining experience, a painting or a companion, there is abundant truth in the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. While many will make superficial judgments that inaccurately assess value, the “beholder” whose strength is an appreciation of beauty and excellence may find deeper qualities that others miss. Self-styled arbiters of what is beautiful and good often err in their appraisals.

Happiness

I like this:

Happiness is not a destination, it's a journey. Happiness is not tomorrow, it is now. Happiness is not a dependency, it is a decision. Happiness is what you are, not what you have.

It's from the daily email from http://www.brahmakumaris.org.uk/thoughts/tft.asp