Posts from — July 2008

People make the decision to exercise for a variety of reasons including weight loss, health factors, sports training and participation, injury rehabilitation, and many times just for fun. For some people, exercise just comes easy and is a natural part of their daily life. These people can’t imagine their lives without exercising as it gives them energy, vitality, increased self esteem, and overall just makes them feel great. For other people, exercising is not so easy or natural and is considered a chore or something they wouldn’t normally choose to do.

The benefits of exercise are truly extraordinary. If you are someone who has a tough time motivating yourself to exercise, you might be surprised to know that just thirty minutes of modest, regular physical activity such as brisk walking most days of the week provides the following benefits:

• Increases heart strength thus reducing the risk of coronary heart disease
• Burns calories and helps to control weight. Exercise is essential for keeping off lost weight.
• Decreases inflammatory markers in your body
• Helps to relieve the pain of arthritis
• Controls blood sugar thus managing or preventing diabetes
• Improves circulation which has many beneficial health effects
• Decreases blood pressure
• Increases your cognitive ability including improved concentration and alertness
• Exercising before or after a meal decreases the levels of potentially harmful triglycerides in your body
• Decreases your risk for metabolic syndrome
• Decreases levels of bad “LDL” cholesterol and increases levels of good “HDL” cholesterol
• Boosts the immune system
• Reduces, controls, and prevents back pain
• Lowers your risk for upper respiratory infections
• Lowers your risk of dying prematurely
• Makes you stronger and more flexible
• Increases bone strength- particularly weight bearing exercise
• Increases your levels of endorphins (brain chemicals that improve your sense of well-being) thus decreasing depression, anxiety and improving mood
• Reduces the frailty of old age and reduces falls among older adults
• Helps prevent cataracts and age-related macular degeneration
• Exercise is associated with fewer doctor visits, hospitalizations and medications

Exercise can prevent and/or improve the following diseases and conditions:

Coronary artery disease, heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, type II diabetes, depression, dementia, cataracts and macular degeneration, chronic lung disease, arthritis, disability, balance and vestibular impairments, multiple orthopedic injuries and neurological conditions.

If you are already exercising on a regular basis, congratulations! Look at all the nice things you are doing for your body and your life long health. If you are not currently exercising, try starting with a ten minute walk. Any exercise is better than no exercise. Also, remember that exercise is cumulative. Breaking exercise up throughout your day is an excellent way to fit it into a busy schedule. Try a ten minute walk before or to work, ten minutes walking after lunch to improve digestion and increase your energy for the afternoon, and ten minutes later in the day. You will thank yourself now and far into your future.

Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness, www.divinehf.com, and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.

Penny Waters is continuing her information on Kitchen Skin, making use of items right in our own kitchens that improve our skin and well being.

Kitchen Skin

Take a mashed avocado, lemon juice and cucumbers and create a great summer recipe- not for the table, but for your skin! For centuries, people have passed on the secrets of everyday kitchen ingredients for making beautifying and restoring concoctions for the skin and they are just as helpful today.

To freshen the skin and reduce fine lines try the following exfoliant that can be used on the face or body:
Baking Soda Exfoliant:
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp water
Juice of 1 orange or 1 drop of an essential oil .*
Mix ingredients to form a paste. Apply in a gentle, circular motion. Rinse. Follow with a moisturizer.
* The choice of essential oil can also be very supportive of your skin care needs. i.e. Sage for oily skin; lavender for all skin; thyme is antiseptic; rose is softening and refining; lemon restores the natural acid balance.

For oily skin, try this mask once or twice a week:
Avocado Mask
1 egg white
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ avocado mashed
Mix all in a blender. Wash your face and neck thoroughly. Apply mask to those areas. Remove with tepid water and a face cloth after 20 min. Apply moisturizer.

This is a very simple recipe for a cleanser:
Buttermilk And Fennel Cleansing Milk
(for oily skin)
½ cup buttermilk
2 tbsp fennel seed, crushed
Gently heat the milk and crushed seed together in a double boiler for 30 min. Leave to stand and infuse for a further 2 hours. Strain, bottle, refrigerate and use within 1 week.

Have fun and enjoy these timeless recipes for healthy and beautiful skin.

If there is any concern about allergies you can test your creations by applying them to the inside of your lower arm and waiting 24 hrs to see if a rash, redness, itch or sensitivity occur. Remember, too, that sunscreen should always be worn if you are out in the sun for 30 minutes or more at one time. That’s the best protection against harming, drying, and aging your skin.

Penny Waters
Reflexology, Herbs, Natural Skincare
Sandpoint
Can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or sunpen54@yahoo.com

Each time you sit down to a meal, you are making life and death decisions. The effect of the food you eat on your body is making the difference between developing chronic disease or living a vigorous extended life. Food is our bodies’ fuel and is used for everything that our body is capable of.

Humans are originally (and still biologically) a hunter-gatherer type of species. We originally hunted animals and gathered fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. This is the natural way that our bodies have been nourished for thousands of centuries. Hunter-gatherers ate whole foods- foods that are in their pure, whole form the way they are found in nature.

It has only been in the last 100 years that our farming and food preservation and creation methods have become industrialized. During that time 10,000 chemicals and non-foods have been added to our food supply. Our crops have been doused in chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides. Animals are being grown and raised in unnatural settings and fed food they don’t naturally eat such as corn and soy. Animals are given medicines and antibiotics to keep them “healthy” for human consumption. Food is being engineered, processed, and genetically modified. When we eat any of this un-natural, foreign food, we are eating substances that require detoxification by our liver. These foreign substances enter our bloodstream causing our immune system to fight the invaders. This can lead to chronic fatigue and many other disease processes related to inefficient body function. A good rule of thumb is if the food wasn’t here 100 years ago- don’t eat it!

The next time you go to the grocery store, walk up and down the aisles and think about what your great grandmother or even your great, great grandmother would have been able to buy. She certainly wouldn’t have seen the rows and rows of packaged, processed foods. She would have found whole foods as they are found in nature. Whole foods contain flavor and ingredients as nature intended. They are free of artificial flavors and colors as well as added chemicals that are used to increase the shelf life of processed foods. Since whole foods have been minimally processed, they provide more natural ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A good example of a whole food is an apple in its pure state. It can then become processed and turned into apple juice with added high fructose corn syrup, apple sauce with preservatives, more processed into apple pie filling in a can, and then unrecognizable at all in the form of apple candy. The healthy choice is to just buy the apple and then eat it as is or prepare it the way you want to.

The quality of the food we are eating is just as important as what we are eating. More and more scientific studies are confirming that organic food or food raised on organic principles is more nutrient dense. Organic food has not been treated with pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, or synthetic fertilizers some of which have been proven to cause cancer, Parkinson’s disease, miscarriages, and birth defects. Organic food is also not genetically modified and animals that are organically raised have not been given antibiotics or growth hormones.

Besides the fact that organic food is more nutritious, it tastes better! We are lucky to have a farmer’s market in town that can supply us with local, fresh produce. Not all farmers can afford the expense and time involved in organic certification. Talk to your grower and find out if they farm through organic methods. If so, this is the best place at this time of year to get the highest quality fruits and vegetables. We also have a number of farmers in the area who raise their animals organically with access to pasture and grass and who don’t treat their animals with antibiotics or growth hormones. For more information please contact Kristine Battey, (208) 946-7072.

Kristine Battey is a licensed physical therapist, a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (personal trainer) and a holistic lifestyle coach. She owns Divine Health & Fitness, www.divinehf.com, and can be reached at (208) 946-7072.

Last year I was blessed to be invited to Tasmania, Australia to teach healing classes and to offer private sessions. During that quiet retreat time half way around the world I entered into a process of deep reflection and received some wonderful insights about the art of forgiveness. They have truly blessed my life, and I would like to share them with you.

Many people look at forgiveness as the most selfless act one can do for another human being. From my view point it is totally for the benefit of the giver! When we hold on to resentment, anger, sadness, fear, or hatred it can literally weigh us down with negativity. We are unable to truly move forward into the future with peace and clarity of direction. Sometimes our physical health suffers as well, leaving us in chronic pain and discomfort. Then all of our actions seem to have a dark cloud over them. That is because our bodies, minds, and spirits are blocked by unresolved traumas from the past. The act of forgiveness releases those old thought patterns and emotions and clears the way for self healing and restoration.

So why do people hang on to these negative emotions? One reason is that they might feel they are right in the conflict, and therefore justified in their emotional reactions. Another reason is that they could feel that if they let go of the negativity they will somehow let go of the memory of the incident, and no one will know the wrong that was done to them. Or maybe they feel a sense of empowerment by keeping those negative reactions alive as the result of an apparently powerless situation. Whatever the case, those negative emotions only continue to harm the person thinking them. The other people involved probably have moved on with their lives, and don’t give it a second thought! Just remember, when you forgive another you will never forget the incident, but you will dramatically release your emotional attachment to it. It is like saying, “Okay, it happened. I will never forget. But I set myself free of this unbearable emotional burden I have been carrying around, so I can get on with my life.”

When you forgive, you set yourself free.

Many times people want to forgive but their minds hold them into unrelenting negative patterns. Forgiveness takes a change of action, and takes practice. I suggest you try writing a “poison pen letter” to those who have wronged you. You will never mail it to them, but it will be used as a process to let go of your emotional attachment surrounding the situation. Sit down with a pen and paper and write down all of your feelings that you have about the incident and the people involved. Let go of all stops. Use expletives if needed! The idea is to let loose of all the feelings that you have been holding on to and get them out. No one but you is going to see this letter, and you will probably feel whole a lot better afterwards. When you have finished writing and feel released, take the letter, tear it up and throw it away. Imagine all of those negative feelings dissolving, until you are free of them. This process may take a few times, but each act of release will be rewarded with greater insight into the situation, and finally, and act of forgiveness itself.

The more you release those negative emotions, the more you will know when it is time to forgive and let go. I suggest setting aside a quiet space for yourself to consciously begin the forgiveness process. Make sure you have no distractions, such as children, pets, or phone calls. Sit down and close your eyes. Take deep breaths and relax. Keep your feet flat on the ground. Imagine breathing in light through your nostrils, and breathing out all negativity through your mouth. Continue to do so for several breaths, and then just breathe normally through your nose. When you are ready, imagine calling to you the person or persons that have hurt you. Then look into their eyes, one by one. With your heart leading the way, tell them your feelings and that you forgive them and set them free. Imagine them turning around, and walking away towards the Light.

The next step in the forgiveness process is to call to you the person or persons that you have knowingly hurt or betrayed through your actions. Again, with your heart leading the way, look into their eyes one at a time and tell them that you are truly sorry and ask for forgiveness. Then let them go into the Light too. Keep doing this process until no one else comes to mind.

The last step in the process, and the most important, is to forgive yourself for any past actions. Sit with this for a while until you feel fully renewed. Then slowly open your eyes, and realize you are free to begin a new life without any emotional strings tying you down. Repeat this process as much as necessary.

As you become more adept at the Art of Forgiveness, you will notice that situations may arise that you can forgive right away. You will be able to release your anger, hatred, fears, resentments, or dissatisfactions much sooner that before. You may feel happier in your life, and ready to try new, creative endeavors. Old worries may seem to vanish, being replaced by more peace in your life. Remember, the more you practice forgiveness the easier it becomes. And good luck with your journey.

Ilani Kopiecki, BA, CMT & IET is a CranioSacral Therapist and Therapeutic Massage Practitioner here in Sandpoint. She maintains her practice at Stepping Stones Wellness Center.

Herbs work. They are distinct from other plants in that they have constituents and properties that do nothing for the plant itself but have remarkable healing benefits for humans. They are plants that assist the body in its return to wellness, affecting every cell, organ, gland and body part. Whether we need help with tension, congestion or inflammation or more specific healing needs there are herbs to help relieve our dis-eases and restore balance. Herbs are a gift from Creation. Their power, their perfection, provided so abundantly just for us, has inspired herbalists for centuries to feel blessed and grateful, almost to the point of worship.

Perhaps you ‘tried herbs’ and ‘they didn’t work.” There are reasons for this experience. Herbs are not like pills. Modern medicine isolates specific, active components and intensifies them into power-packed pills that target a specific area or condition. This can mean fast, effective results on the target but side effects from their swift and aggressive nature. Quite often a beneficial effect in one area leads to a detrimental effect in another. Herbs, on the other hand, are complex and holistic in their make up, just like us. Certainly, they enter our bodies armed with a full range of components to target the area in need of healing. However, these herbal warriors also support other organs and body parts that are linked to the ailing area. Their effect is broader and with much more sensitive and intelligent understanding of our complex physiology. They work more slowly since they are covering much more territory but their effect is far-reaching and profound. One remarkable herb is very stimulating to kidney function making it a powerful diuretic, comparable to at least one medical drug. Drugs that are diuretic cause the loss of vital potassium from the body which aggravates any cardio-vascular problem. This herb, however, is one of the best natural sources of potassium! It is an ideally balanced diuretic that may be used whenever needed, even when there is water retention due to heart problems. What is this wonderful herbal warrior that is such an inspiring example of the perfection to be found in the Plant Kingdom? It is dandelion. (Taraxacum officinale). Yes, that dandelion. That invasive yellow flower that waves to us from all over our front lawn. Herbs are often relegated to the status of weeds because they grow prolifically and easily, invading gardens, lawns and vegetable patches crowding out more desirable plants. It’s with a heavy heart that I uproot countless red clover plants (Trifolium pratense) in my wildly weedy back yard each year. It is an excellent blood cleanser and nerve tonic, helpful for bronchitis and eczema. However, it will cover my lawn and house eventually if I do not keep it in check. Harvesting, drying and storing an herb like this requires time, effort and space that I don’t have. So, I praise it as I pull it and give thanks for the bounty in nature, knowing there are plenty more plants growing in organic and wild-crafter gardens who supply me with my ready-dried variety.

Another reason you may be saying you ‘tried herbs’ and ‘they didn’t work’ is that you may have misunderstood the nature of your complaint and wrongly decided on the herb you needed. Sinusitis often requires herbs for intestinal cleansing, for example. Did you know which part of the herb to take? How to prepare it? How much to take, how often and for how long? Which herbs combine best for your specific needs? Are you supporting a linked area for best effect? Do you know contraindications? This is the knowledge that distinguishes general understanding from proficient use and results-oriented ability.

Herbalists are trained extensively in physiology and anatomy in order to understand the complex inter-connected nature of our bodies, minds and spirits. They study the ‘specific’ choice of herb for various conditions. Contraindications are also studied.Herbalists often use a second modality in order to understand the health and ill-health of their clients more thoroughly. I use reflexology.

Herbalists are not medical doctors so we do not practice medicine. We offer natural healing principles and support them with herbs. We don’t diagnose. Our work is to match the properties of an herb to the conditions being experienced in the body in order to assist the natural healing ability of the body to restore wellness. Rarely is there no herb available to support the return to wellness when the choice, strength, method, amount and usage are thoughtfully recommended by a professional. Clients are always asked to check with their medical provider before starting on a natural healing program with herbs.

Herbs can be taken as teas or tinctures. They can be applied externally as an ointment, liniment, compress or poultice. They can be inhaled or absorbed as an essential oil. Each method has its particular benefit for body, mind and spirit but herbs, in any fashion, are helpful to us and our health and well-being. Herbs work!

Oregon Grape (Berberis aquifolium)
A tonic to all glands; stimulates the action of the liver and is one of the best blood cleansers. Found locally and in abundance.

Penny Waters
Master Herbalist, Reflexologist
Your RELAXATION DESTINATION
Sandpoint
Can be reached at: 208 597 4343 or sunpen54@yahoo.com