Swedish Death Cleaning and Plein Air

 

I recently heard a talk on Swedish death cleaning by a woman who wrote a book on this idea.  Apparently it is an old tradition in Sweden where, as the decades of one's life march along, we prepare progressively more and more for our eventual passing.  This primarily involves lightening our load and cleaning up our act.  It also makes everything a lot easier for those we leave behind.  This sounds like a good and sensible thing to me.

For all of us baby boomers and for all who come after, as we enter our fifth and sixth decades or are even pushing our ninth, it only makes sense to let go of some of the things we enjoyed in our twenties, thirties and forties.  I no longer wish to drive a convertible and I don't keep a horse anymore.  The convertible I drove in high school was an old beat-up jalopy that got me into my twenties and my former wild mustang lived with me, on the skinny, for nearly four decades.  We sure did have some fun.  But, when she put her old tired bones to rest, letting go of that time and lifestyle was appropriate for me too.

The seasons of our lives do change and paring down can be a blessing.  Several of my friends have really embraced this and have significantly downsized: giving away two thirds of their wardrobe, emptying filing cabinets and bookshelves, re-distributing or tossing old photographs and art works, and leading lighter lives.  One friend of mine re-homed her two little dogs.  She loved them enough to realize that they needed more care and she needed more time to rest and heal.  It's all good and we can let go.

This brings me to plein air.  Because, as we come to realize that statistically we may only have five, ten, fifteen, or, if we are lucky, twenty years, of quality living still to go, (which of course can happen to any of us, at any age,) it only makes sense to spend this precious gift of life doing as much of what we love to do as we can. 

I have one older friend who is devoting her life to caring for wild birds.  She is increasing our local bird species populations and supporting others on their migration routes.  When walking past her home, the birdsong is more than noticeable, it's incredible and loud, a veritable symphonic cacophony.  Given how precipitously our bird species numbers have fallen in the last five or six decades, this use of her time and energy is remarkable.  She also loves to paint.  And so do I.  But I love colored pencils, for their simplicity, even more.

Together, she and I enjoy sharing plein air sessions.  En plein air is french for "in the open air," and refers to painting out of doors instead of in an art studio.  During our day to day travels about town, we each keep our eyes open for beautiful views.  And then, as often as we can, carving out a little time, we set a date, deciding on morning or afternoon light and we go!  And then we sit.  We bring our jars of water and pads of paper, pencils, brushes, blankets and colors.  And then, for hours at a time, with little sandwiches packed and a few pieces of fruit, we chatter away about this and that, matching the colors, as busy as those birds, doing what we'd really love to do.  May you be so blessed as to be able to do so, too.

 

 

 

 

Take Me To A Novel

 

Sometimes we just need to push pause and find a way to take a break from all of the 'ins and outs,' and 'ups and downs' of life.  And thus, in steps the novel.  We all love a good story.  And reading a novel is my way of slipping into the La-La land of "Don't worry.  Be happy."

It is not something that I recommend all of the time, because there really are very serious things that require our attention, both personally and globally.  We need to care for ourselves and our loved ones.  And we need to care for our world, literally.  On the very serious side, and for an extremely illuminating reality check, I recommend listening to a recent Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the Future of our World.  He speaks of the systematic dismantling of arms control measures that has taken place over the last few decades, leaving just one in place, making a nuclear holocaust a very real potential, and the lack of awareness about this, and about the reality of climate change, both looming very large before us all.  He also proposes what we can do about it.  

We do need to lend our energy to movements for positive change.  This is part of our responsibility as global citizens.  Like our self care, it is part of our soul growth.  And, I certainly do put time and effort into this aspect of my life.  But I also need a little down time from time to time.  TV doesn't often interest me much, I prefer stories.  So, I thought I'd share with you a small handful of some of my favorite novels.

Recently I've been reading some rollicking good fun, in the form of historical fiction.  I've been focused on changes that women have made which have helped to generate cultural advancement.  My recent favorite is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.  I fell in love with her protagonist, Elizabeth Zott.  Set in the 1950's, this book is full of humor and hope and shows how things were and why they got better.  

I also really loved, The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes.  This novel is based on the true story of the depression era Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.  These women rode out into very rural areas and brought books that people could borrow for free, increasing literacy and connection for isolated families.  Jojo Moyes wrote another book that I truly enjoyed with some great girl-inspired capers, bringing wrong doers to right, called Someone Else's Shoes.

Being a woman myself, of course I do love to read about strong female characters.  Another author who focuses on historical fiction to elaborate on our past and how women have helped to change things for the better is Barbara Kingslover.  She has some of the most insightful and far reaching stories in her quiver of novels.  Perhaps my favorite of hers is Prodigal Summer.

One of the classics of modern literature, and an absolute must read is Beryl Markham's West With the Night.  This book, about the true stories of her life is filled with love and the bravery of a woman living and working in a man's world.  If you read nothing else on this list, this would be the one.

All of these books have helped me to see and appreciate the (albeit slow,) changes and much needed progressive strides that we have made toward love, respect and allowance.  They have brought me joy and have helped me to hold a positive view in the face of all that life here on earth has to offer.

There are three others, by male authors, that are really fun and wonderful.  My grandmother gave me my copy of My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell.  Frank and I have both read this one many times and we laugh and giggle our way through it every time.  Durrell's prose and descriptions of nature on the pre-war island of Corfu are beautiful.  And the antics of his family are sure to bring a smile into your heart.

The Dalai Lama's Cat by David Michie, is one the most heartwarming and enjoyable books I've found.  This wise little cat lets us peek into the inner sanctum of life at Dharamsala, bringing insights on how to find delight and peace of mind in our own lives.

And lastly, Niall Williams, with This Is Happiness, for it's sheer beauty, left me transfixed by the inner workings of the heart, a young boy's first tender loves, and how the culture of old world Ireland reaching into today, has shaped his perspective and brought him to the eloquence of a life enlightened.  This is a book to be savored and it brings happiness, indeed.

May you all have some fun with this list, 'push pause' when you need to and take a little break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Went From a "Positive" Test to a "Negative" Test, In Just Two Days, Naturally

 

I've been as careful about COVID as can be for three years now: washing hands, masking, not hugging my friends.  But then the old wall that holds the creek behind my house fell early one morning.  This happened, blessedly, between storms, so our soil profile did not wash away.  The city had built the wall and they stepped up to fix it, since it fell behind two other houses as well, and its absence threatened to undermine the nearby boulevard.  This resulted in crews of workmen coming and going with engineers and firemen and building inspectors all gathering in and parading through my backyard.  Some of them I needed to catch up with and let them know some particular or another before they disappeared.

I think that is when it happened, because two or three times I found myself out there, speaking with a small group, having dashed out without my mask.  Just four weeks before this, a friend had come round for a birthday visit on the patio.  He had come down with COVID the next day and we had been exposed.  Fortunately, I had recently remembered how effective overheating baths can be at stopping nasty viruses, (I had read that this had happened with the AIDS epidemic.)  So, I took an overheating bath and dodged a bullet that time.  (You can read more about that experience in my March 2023 blog titled "Exposed and the Overheating Bath.") 

My husband, Frank, has a good friend who comes round most mornings with his little French Bulldog who loves to play with our dog, on the front lawn.  The two men stand at a good distance from each other and talk about the repairs and various projects they are working on while the dogs dance around together, racing back and forth.  Two weeks ago, our friend showed up with a cold.  Not COVID, just a cold.  And Frank caught it.  Our friend later said he "thought that they weren't that close."  Very funny.  But air borne microbes can be like that, and as we all now know, quite contagious.

For some reason, I knew that I wouldn't catch Frank's cold.  It's amazing how you just know.  Though we took a few slight precautions I really wasn't worried about it.  Then, four days later I woke in the night, quite surprised and a little pissed, to find that I had a sore throat.  I reached for my ever handy arsenal of cold remedies: Dr. Schulze's Super-C Plus, Healthy Trinity by Natren and Equinacea Supreme by Gaia Herbs.  That backed the sore throat down quite successfully, but by morning, my sinuses, normally always free, were slightly congested and I groused at Frank about it.  By afternoon, I was feeling slightly headachy, and somewhat fatigued, with the start of a drippy nose.  I took my temperature and found it was at 99.5 degrees.  

I accused Frank of having had the dry scratchy throat proceeding his cold and said that he had just not remembered having one.  He was denying that anything was off at the onset of his cold, as he always does.  Having a full work week ahead I really didn't want to come down with what felt like a mild viral infection.  And I wasn't supposed to anyway, so I jumped into an overheating bath, which is always very effective at fighting viruses.

Frank said he had read up on the difference between a cold and a flu earlier that day, in Linda Page's book, Healthy Healing, (the same edition I referred to in my last blog with the instructions on how to properly do an overheating bath.)  I asked him to read the difference between the two again, to me, while I was in the tub.  While he was reading, he kept noting the onset of a "cold" for himself, and I kept noting the onset of a "flu" for myself.  That was when it dawned on me that maybe we had two different bugs.  And that maybe I hadn't caught this from Frank after all.

Anyway, that night, after my therapeutic hot bath, I slept in a pool of sweat and had to change the sheets and start washing everything in the morning.  I took a shower to clean the gunk off of my skin and then it occurred to me, "wait a minute, wait a minute,": sore throat, slight fever, headache, sinus congestion, fatigue.  It finally ran a bell.  And so there, on the morning of day two, I took a COVID test, and to my surprise found the faint pink line, indicating that I had the presence of the proteins in my mucus that reveal the presence of the COVID virus.  Blessedly, Frank did not.  And that hot bath, from the day before, had done me a world of good.  Apart from a slightly drippy nose, and a tendency toward chills and sweats, I felt pretty good.

That afternoon, I decided to do another overheating bath.  I took my temperature before hand and to my surprise found I was already at a hefty 102 degrees.  The day before, with my previous overheating bath, rising up from 99.5 degrees to 103 degrees had been a bit of a struggle and I definitely needed my assistant, Frank, to hand me the thermometers and hold my cup of hot tea, with a drinking straw, for me.  

Killing and then moving all of those viruses out is a lot of work for the body.  It can leave one feeling very weak.  And holding a manufactured fever of 103 degrees for fifteen minutes can be quite daunting.  So, a therapy like this is not for everyone.  Our ninety year old friend, Einar, mentioned that he had to do overheating treatments as a child for serious illnesses.  But, as he said, the only problem was that sometimes they'd "loose one" due to the rigors of the therapy.  So, this method is not something to be taken lightly.  And a capable assistant is essential.  

For me, with my second bath, going from 102 degrees up to 103 degrees was easy, I barely noticed it.  I even spiked briefly up to 104 degrees a couple of times.  It is generally not advisable for adults to go over 102 degrees for more than two full days at a time, but briefly spiking fevers of a slightly higher range are generally considered acceptable by many natural method healers who are familiar with overheating therapies. 

Fevers in the body are important.  They happen for a reason.  They burn out pathogens and then throw them off through sweating.  They also deactivate virus replication.  Lots of liquids need to be taken to stay hydrated, and the skin needs to be kept clean to avoid having toxins being partially reabsorbed by the body.  Sometimes a persistent high fever can be a sign of a more serious problem, but typically a fever, with a cold or flu, will help someone get better faster.

I do my overheating bath differently from the more measured and safer method that Linda Page, N.D., Ph.D. describes in her ninth edition of Healthy Healing.  She suggests not eating for several hours beforehand, emptying the bladder and colon before beginning, having a nice big tub and using two thermometers constantly, one for the bath water and one for the body temperature, both in use, for the entire duration of the treatment.  

For her version of the bath, the patient should be completely submerged, with only the eyes, nose and mouth above water.  She suggests starting the bath water at skin temperature, then raising the temperature of the water to 100 degrees fifteen minutes later, and then up to 103 degrees fifteen minutes after that, holding it at 103 degrees for a final fifteen minutes.  Since the person is completely covered, no body heat can escape and the body temperature will rise to match the water temperature.  The bath takes about an hour and constant supervision is required. 

She also suggests an alternative way to use overheating therapy which is a sauna.  The heat of a sauna will also inhibit the replication of pathogens, speed up metabolism and stimulate all of the glands and vital organs into increased activity.  This supports the immune system and accelerates healing functions.  Detoxification then occurs through the sweating process.  The sauna can then be finished with a cool shower and a rubdown to eliminate the toxins that have been removed from the body via the skin.

She notes that though induced fevers can be natural and effective healing modalities, advice and supervision from expert practitioners is advised.  She also notes that general vitality and heart health check-ups are also advisable and that it is necessary to determine in advance that the patient has the ability to perspire, which sometimes is absent in folks who are seriously ill.

The overheating bath that Linda Page gives is a great and quite safe technique.  But I go about mine a little more simply.  I know my body pretty well and feel comfortable doing my overheating bath this way.  And I am certainly not suggesting this method for anyone else.  But basically what I do, for me, is this, I get the tub really hot and I jump in and I stay there.   

More specifically, before I begin, I plug the overflow valve of the tub with duct tape so I can fill it right up to the top, nice and deep.  I set at least four clean towels on the floor, a quart of liquid to drink while in the tub, my two thermometers, a box of tissues and an empty quart sized plastic cup, all in close reach.  Then I put at least one cup of various mineral salts (see my previous blog for details,) in the tub and fill it right up.  

I generally empty the hot water heater into the tub with the water at or slightly higher than 115 degrees.  I plop myself in there and start to cook with one thermometer in my mouth, shaking it down periodically and retaking readings to keep track of my body temperature.  I also use a quick reacting candy thermometer to keep track of the water temperature.  If the bath gets too cold, below 112 degrees, Frank carefully pours in more hot.  Periodically using an oximeter, (the little finger gizmo that most doctors have for reading blood oxygen levels,) I keep track of my pulse.  Mine usually stays around 90 but may rise up to 105 when I'm really cooking with my body temperature at or above 103 degrees.  

Once the fifteen minutes at or a little above 103 degrees has been accomplished, I start adding in a little cold water to cool the bath gradually.  I usually soak for a good long time at these lower bath water temperatures anywhere from 105 degrees, (the average hot tub temp,) to 110 degrees.  After drinking all of my liquids and having a good long soak and sweat, to finish off the bath, I cool it a little more and linger a little longer.  Then I drain the tub and using the quart sized plastic cup, I rinse the mineral salts off my skin.  Then I carefully climb out of the tub, using all four, arms and legs.

Once I do get out, I'll often lay on and cover up with the towels on the floor to recover for a while before getting up and walking into the bedroom, where I have the heater on and piles of blankets on the bed.  I also tuck a few beach towels in between the sheets to absorb some of the sweat and I have more, at the ready, in case I want to change them in the night.  Then, using my skin as the amazing eliminative organ that it is, I sweat all of those dead viruses and other toxins out of me all night long.

I did this overheating therapy three days in a row.  The first bath, the one before I realized it was COVID, starting with a low grade fever was the challenging one.  The second one, when my natural healing body fever had kicked in and let me start the process already at 102 degrees, was a snap.  Easy.  For the third, my fever had dropped down to 99 degrees again, and it was easy too.  This morning, the third day, when most COVID cases start to really ramp up, and just two days after I tested positive for COVID, I have now tested negative and guess what?  I feel fine.  Absolutely fine.  No fever.  No brain fog.  No loss of taste or smell.  No decline in memory or cognitive faculties.  No cough.  No shortness of breath.  Isn't that amazing!

I'm still going to self isolate, with Frank, and take care of my self.  My house is full of the virus and I wouldn't want to relapse.  So, I'll stay inside, keep warm, take the recommended COVID supplements: Vitamin C, Vitamin D3, Zinc, Usena barbato extract, Bee Propolis, Goldenseal root, and Echinacea root extract.  And I'll test again in a few more days and over the next two weeks.  But I'm so happy to say, I went from a positive COVID test, with all of the initial symptomatology, to a negative test result in just two days.  And I credit that to an age old natural healing remedy, the overheating bath.  

Wishing all, good health and a very happy spring.

Update:  It has been nearly two weeks now and I still feel absolutely fine.  I did a third COVID test and remained negative.  For the first week, I was very gentle with myself and didn't push myself physically.  Now, nearing the end of the second week, I'm back to my full vigor and enjoying life immensely.  Though there can  occasionally be a false positive COVID test result, it is very rare.  And, I feel that my positive test was accurate and that I did contract the virus.  I experienced the typical initial symptomatology: the headache, the sore throat, the fatigue, the minor fever and chills.  And now, all of those symptoms are long gone.  And, I feel so very blessed.

As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.

Exposed and the Overheating Bath

 

We've been having friends come and visit on our back patio over these last few COVID risky years.  Sitting in the sunshine, with the table between us, giving us all a good six to eight feet distance and only a few guests at a time feels pretty safe and is a nice way to connect in person.  This may seem overly cautious to some, but since many of us now know a few COVID "long haulers," or even some who have died, or who have come close to death, I certainly don't want to take any chances.  

The New York Times printed an article last month (February, 2023) titled, "The Pandemic is Not Over for Older Americans."  (Because dis-information is so prevalent these days, it's good to consider reputable news sources with a history of journalistic integrity and accurate reporting when sharing information of this nature.)  The New York Times reported that there were 11,500 COVID related deaths for the month of January, 2023 alone.  Roughly 50% of the people who died were vaccinated, and 50% were not vaccinated.  The number of deaths rose proportionately with each decade of age, being over 65, over 75 or over 85 years old.  And, only 10% of the 11,500 people who died in January were under the age of 65.  

To put this in perspective, during all of the years of the Vietnam War, we lost almost 60,000 United States combatants.  Though I was barely in my teens at the time of the active protests against the war, I remember how intensely our population rose up to try and prevent our young men from going off to Southeast Asia.  And now, with this country's January COVID deaths, we've had over one sixth of all of those Vietnam years of total "casualties," in just one month's time.  Yikes!  So, yes, I agree, for older Americans the pandemic is not over.  And some of the all too common lingering symptoms like brain fog and fatigue are quite terrible so, I like to be cautious.

Though I am cautious, we all make mistakes, often without even realizing it until we look back with the hindsight view.  Last week, one of our dearest friends was fresh in town, just off of two airplanes.  It was his birthday and I wanted to make him a pie.  So, we invited him to the patio the day after his arrival, (my first oversight being immediately after his multiple public airport and plane exposures,) and served him an all fruit, no sugar home baked pie, (my second oversight because we do sometimes get a little close, with masks off, while serving and eating,) and then we wound up standing and talking, also a bit too close without our masks on, as the clouds floated in front of the sun, (my third and forth oversight.)

The next day, he came down with flu symptoms, achy joints, headache, coughing and he called that night to tell us.  The following day, he tested positive for COVID.  The next day he couldn't lift his head from his pillow and was experiencing rapid cognitive decline.  His family lives here and fortunately they were able to safely take care of him.  The next day, the forth day after we were with him, he started on the new Rx Paxlovid, within the five days suggested to stop the viral damage before it becomes too severe.  We are dropping off some lovely homemade chicken soup for him today.

In the meanwhile, having been exposed and in the susceptible age groups, Frank and I have put ourselves in 'home isolation' and have jumped on precautionary and hopefully preventative actions.  (Please see my YouTube channel for "My COVID-19 Prevention Routine.")  First and always, as we already know, after being in public: soap and water.  Washing hands, clothing, dishes, kitchen counters, a nice shower and shampoo does wonders.  Second, supplements: Vitamin C, Zinc, Vitamin D, Andrographis, Monolaurin, Usnea, and Propolis are all good friends of mine.  Third: I like to use either a simple salt water solution snorted up my nose or Xlear nasal spray: both the salt or the xylitol, when delivered to the sinuses helps to break through the biofilm, which is a protective barrier that infectious materials form around themselves to keep our immune response at bay.  Breaking through this barrier gives our immune system access to, and a better chance at overcoming the invaders.  Forth: holding a positive outlook and sleeping well.  Getting afraid, catching a chill or lack of sleep can dip our immunity.  So, it's good to avoid those stressors and hold positive thoughts, dress warm and tuck in a little earlier.

These are all great strategies to use on a regular basis, especially during the cold and flu season.  But, when I really want to stop something in its tracks, I turn to the overheating bath.

I first tried an overheating bath in the 1990's when my dad had a quadruple bi-pass surgery and I flew home to take care of him.  On the plane I caught something nasty and woke the next morning with that 'uh-oh feeling.'  I had recently read about this technique in Linda Page's excellent book Healthy Healing, the 9th edition.  We know that overheating therapies have been used since the time of the ancient Greek physicians and are still used by natural healers in clinics world round.  Many cultures of the world value the healing properties of heat and utilize: dry saunas, wet saunas, natural hot springs, sweat lodges, etc.  Since none of these are immediately available to me and I have a bathtub, I like using the overheating bath and I have found that I can gain some of the same healing effects right here in the comfort of my own home.

In her book, Linda Page, N.D., Ph.D., explains that virus replication is considerably reduced with even slight increases in body temperature and has long been successfully used against acute infectious diseases.  At the time when she wrote her ninth edition, the AIDS epidemic was raging.  Linda cited reports where overheating procedures were found to be effective in reducing symptoms of AIDS and even in eliminating the virus from the blood.   Without any effective medications available at that time and with overheating therapies being so effective, she felt that hyperthermia might again become recognized for the wonderful healing tool that it is.

As for myself, back then, not wanting to risk infecting my still hospitalized and vulnerable father, I enlisted the help of my sister-in-love and gave the bath a try.  It worked.  The hot water treatment raised my body temperature to 103 degrees, for fifteen minutes.  That night I sweated it all out and woke the next day feeling great and ready to see and start taking care of my dad.

An overheating bath is a pretty tricky procedure and I always enlist the aid of an able bodied assistant before hand, just in case I have need, because I have found that it can leave me feeling weak as a kitten.  And it is important to realize that overheating baths may be counter indicated or dangerous for people with various pre-existing conditions.  So, do some research in advance, (Linda gives a full how-to description in her 9th edition on pages 38, 50 and 51) and talk it over with your healing team before giving this a try.

I'm glad to say that it really works for me.  And I do a variation that simplifies it.  I start with two thermometers, a candy thermometer to register the bath water temperature and a standard glass and mercury mouth thermometer to keep track of my body temperature.  I have a nice deep tub and I block the overflow outlet, so I can fill it all the way to the top.  Again, do your own due diligence here before attempting this procedure.  

For my body, I can tolerate a high bath water temperature, and I put in Epsom salts and other minerals like dead sea salts and magnesium chloride flakes to aid in the detoxification and remineralization of my body.  As I spend time in the tub, my body temperature rises.  My assistant and I keep track of both.  Again, caution should be used with anyone either young or old and as Linda advises, the pulse should never rise above 130.  Additionally, if someone is ill, constant supervision is absolutely necessary.  I use this as more of an early stage or morning after kind of a prevention treatment rather than a cure, because someone who is already sick with a virus might be too weak to tolerate the heat very well.

During the bath, I usually keep a quart of herbal tea to hand, so as to prevent dehydration from sweating while the bath salts pull out toxins.  I usually take a shot or two of Dr. Schulze's Cold 'n Flu formula (https://www.herbdoc.com/cf-herbal-shot#KCFS) as well, to boost my immunity as the heat races my blood and the herbs all around inside of me.

Once I've held my internal body temperature up nice and high, preferably at 102 or better yet, 103 degrees for fifteen minutes or so, I start cooling things down by letting out a little hot water and adding in some cold water.   And, as I mentioned, high fevers can leave one feeling weak, so this is where an assistant is essential to help keep track of and monitor the situation.  (Healing clinics with spas and saunas have attendants for good reasons.)  As the bath water gradually cools over time, my body temperature returns back to normal, and I rinse the bath salt residue off my skin.  Then I slowly and carefully make my way to my bed to sweat out the reminder of any toxins, perhaps with a few beach towels between the sheets, and I sleep it off.  I keep a quart or two of water bedside to rehydrate with if I wake during the night and in the morning.  

It has been five days now, since my nice hot bath, and I'm not expressing any symptoms.  So far, so good, with my recent exposure.  I'm still going to keep myself in isolation for the full two weeks, just in case.  As we know, this virus is not just an ordinary flu.  It can be really dangerous and I wouldn't want to take the chance of being a vector.  

Bless you all.  Be careful and stay well.

 

 

As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.

Fantastic Water Fasting

 

 

My mother used to say, "Starve a cold, feed a fever."  But I like to say, "Starve Everything!"  Whenever I am feeling punky or out of sorts, I find that the quickest way for me to turn a situation around is water fasting.  I've had friends ask, "Wait a minute, Josephine, do you mean that you don't drink any water?!," because fasting usually means abstaining from something.  But, no, on the contrary, it means drinking a ton of water and abstaining from all foods, ideally, not one single calorie.  Instead, I try to get at least one gallon of water down a day.  

When it comes to healing and detoxifying my body, whenever I do cleanses, I prefer to use distilled water, as it can really pull the junk out.  Unfortunately, my first distiller turned out to be all aluminum on the inside.  Not wanting to risk alzheimer's in my later years, I quickly ditched that one and blessedly found an H2O Labs distiller instead, which is very well made.  The water only touches either stainless steel or glass and it will give me a full gallon, or 128 ounces, in one night, drop by drop.  I am always amazed by the stench and the scum that I find in the bottom of my water distiller when I go to clean it, with a little white vinegar, which I do in the mornings, after I have run it.  

Water quality is important.  For our drinking water, years ago I found out that the 5 gallon plastic water bottles, that I had been putting on top of my ceramic water cooler in the kitchen, were made from a poor grade of plastic.  The days are now long gone since those bottles used to be made of glass, and all plastic water bottles hold the potential for releasing toxins into our drinking water.  Not wanting to risk potentially toxic exposures, we now have a charcoal based water filter to use for our drinking water, which we originally get from the kitchen sink.

As Mary Oliver, the beautiful poet has said, one of the greatest crimes of her lifetime was losing the ability to drink water freely from the wild springs, streams and ponds she encountered while venturing forth into the natural world.  And this is truly a crime, sadly world wide.  But, at least, and thank goodness, in most of the western world, our water from the tap is potable, and safe enough to drink.  Many people around the world do not have that blessing these days.  And though I prefer distilled for my water fasts and cleanses, due to it's lovely clear flavorless taste and it's ability to pull toxins from my body, any pure or filtered water will do for a water fast.

When we give our bodies a break from all of the hard work of digestion, they can put that energy into the task of healing.  Water fasting also engages an activity know as autophagy or self-eating.  That may sound a little scary, but actually it is a tremendous benefit because it is like an internal house cleaning.  Children naturally have a high level of autophagy going on in their bodies because of the constant creation of new cells associated with growth.  Our bodies have a deep wells of incredible wisdom and are always trying to find or maintain the balance of health and this includes getting rid of old cells and toxins.  And when we do a water fast, that is exactly what can happen.  

The thing about water fasting is that it is extremely important how you break the fast.  Of course, we already do a little fasting during the night, while we sleep, and in the morning we usually break-the-fast with breakfast, often the lightest meal of the day, typically something like toast and tea.  But for a real water fast, say one or two or three days long, it is especially vital to be mindful about how you break the fast.  It is also best to prepare for the fast in a similar way.  So, if I am planning on doing a one day fast, I plan on three days: the pre-fast day, the fasting day and the post-fast day.  If I am going for a three day fast, I try to plan on nine days: three pre-fast days, three fasting days and three post-fast days.

In the days before a fast, I gradually move from solid and more dense foods toward liquids.  I'll stop eating heavier foods like concentrated proteins, beans, nuts or eggs, and move to foods like soft cooked vegetables or fruits and then to liquids like blended soups, juices or smoothies.  After the fast, I do the same, only in reverse.  I start with a liquid diet, move to well cooked veggies or fruits and then later onto the proteins.  The reason for this is that your digestive tract shuts down during fasting and it is best to awaken it slowly and gently.  Otherwise, you can do more harm than good.  No one wants to do their heaviest lifting without first warming up.  Cars like to be idled for a little while before driving off.

During my fasting days, as I mentioned, I drink a lot of water, at least 128 ounces a day to really help my body flush and clean itself out.  Water is good for cleaning everything, and this is where distilled water is especially helpful as it is so empty and free of dissolved substances.  This lets the fasting water pick up and carry out more toxic materials than regular water can.  And, if ever I find myself feeling a little hungry or head-achy, I just drink more water and those feelings will quickly pass.

Here is my typical routine.  I have 16 ounces by my bedside that I may drink if I wake during the night and I have an additional 16 ounces that I get down before I start my day.  That's 32.  Then I might have a cup of herbal tea.  I like Throat Coat by Traditional Medicinals.  Another 8 ounces.  Mid morning I do another 16 and may take a multi-vitamin or mineral supplement with that water, just so long as the supplement doesn't have any added calories.  That's now 56 ounces.  Around mid-day, I might enjoy a quart of water with two tablespoons of nice Bragg's Raw Apple Cider Vinegar and perhaps a drop or two of stevia extract or a little splash of vanilla or orange essence.  That brings me up to 88 ounces, and I'm well on the way to 128.  In the afternoon another cup or two of herbal tea, brings me now up to 104 ounces.  And a nice 16 more ounces in the evening gets me up to 120, and that leaves just one more glass before bed to reach 128 ounces in the day's total. 

Generally, if I decide to do a longer fast, say longer than 5-7 days, I add some calories to the additional days.  Perhaps I'll include a clear vegetable potassium broth, (to see the recipe I use scroll to the bottom,) or lemon/lime water, (after drinking, always rinsing my mouth with clear water so as to preserve the enamel on my teeth,) and perhaps a half of an avocado, capping my daily caloric intake at around 200 calories total.  Though autophagy best happens with zero calories, once activated, I personally feel that it continues with minimal calories.  

In addition, I also stop the distilled water and switch to filtered water, for my longer water fasts, as distilled water can lower one's pH, thus inhibiting nutritional uptake, if used on a regular daily basis.  And while fasting, distilled water can also result in a rapid loss of electrolytes, like sodium or potassium, and it can deplete our trace minerals as well.  But it is great for a shorter termed fast or for any short term detoxification program because it so actively absorbs toxic substances from our bodies, helping to eliminate them.  And I do always use distilled water when I make my potassium broth, as it really pulls the minerals from those vegetables, making them available for me to absorb when I drink my broth.

As Peace Pilgrim, who was a big water faster, once said, "Water fasting makes one feel preternaturally clear."  I couldn't agree more.  When we fast, little cells in our brains, called appropriately "janitor cells," get active and gobble up all of the old, dead, or toxic materials that are lying around.  They only do this when digestion is not taking place, typically at night.  But while we water fast, they really get an opportunity to dust away all of the cobwebs and we wind up thinking much more clearly.  After a water fast, I also notice that all of my joints move more easily, I have tons of energy and I feel much lighter, because I am lighter.   

We now know that almost all diseases, including cancers, are caused by or worsened by high levels of inflammation.  Water fasting drops inflammation down quick as a flash.  A water fast lasting just two to four days in length, also reactivates a tired immune system, generating new white blood cells by reactivating our stem cells.  And the good news is, if I do a fine water fast for just three days, I may loose 3-5 pounds.  And, if I do my post-fasting exactly according to plan, it says off, especially if I take care to not go crazy with the calories in the weeks that follow.  This is just one more benefit to the beauty of water fasting, permanent weight loss.

But, don't take my word for it.  I recently discovered a gem of a little book, and a really quick read, titled, Water Fasting, by Kate McCarthy.  Her subtitle is, How to Lose Weight Fast, Increase Mental Clarity, Heal Your Body and Activate Autophagy with Water Fasting.  Her book is packed full of beautiful instruction and truly convincing studies showing just how effective water fasting can be for preventing, reversing or stopping potential disease conditions like: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hormonal imbalances, obesity, blood sugar problems, cognitive decline and many other health concerns.  And she answers all of the questions one might have.  So, read Kate's book.  It's great.  

I have periodically enjoyed water fasting, my whole life long.  It has certainly helped me to get out of some tricky situations.  And is often one of the first things I turn to when I find myself in trouble or have a little problem developing with my health.  It is surprising to discover how easy water fasting can be, once you make your mind up to give it a try.  It always really helps me to increase my level of health, and I'm sure it will be able to help you do so too.  Enjoy.

 

 

Potassium Broth

In one or two large stainless steel or glass cooking pots add:
the peelings of 5 potatoes,
the peelings of 5 carrots,
one whole head of celery, chopped into small chunks,
three whole beets, chopped into small chunks,
half a head of dino kale, loosely chopped,
half a bunch of parsley, loosely chopped,
two onions, peeled and chopped into small chunks,
five cloves of garlic, minced and aired for 5 minutes before adding,
all of the nice beet greens that came with the beets, loosely chopped,
one tablespoon of Celtic Sea Salt, which contains over 84 different minerals.

Cover the ingredients with distilled water and cook for four hours.
Take the lids off of the pots for the last hour and turn the heat down to sim, to reduce the liquid a little.  This concentrates the flavors and makes a lovely broth.
Strain and store in glass jars.  This broth can be frozen, to use after your water fast.

I put my cooked vegetables in a nut milk bag and first hang them to drain and then squeeze the veggies into a separate bowl, to get more broth before placing them in my compost.  The squeezed veggies have more chance of bacterial involvement from my hands, so I keep that broth separate and consume it first. 

As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.

Christine Kent - A Whole Woman (or, How to Heal Your Knees, Hips or Prolapse Naturally)

Some of us have to fight the dragon before we can bring home the gold.     

In the 'Hero's Journey,' so beautifully encapsulated by Joseph Campbell, the hero, or in this case, the heroine, goes forth into the unknown.  They enter the forest in their own place and way.  In Christine Kent's case, this was a journey of prolapsed organs after a surgery for a minor incontinence problem.  The surgery and its subsequent prolapse left Christine emotionally isolated from the image of a whole or intact woman that she had previously known.  In an attempt to heal she found herself going against all of the conventional wisdom that the medical community had to offer.  This was the fighting of the dragon.

When the hero fights the dragon, he gets the pot of gold that the dragon was guarding and can then bring it back to his community, for the benefit of all.  Our heroine, Christine, has done just that.  She has not only healed herself, but she has also brought to all of womankind the ability to heal our hips and knees and pelvis of all sorts of disorders.  All of this is done with a few simple exercises to help us correct our beautiful posture and maintain our true natural feminine carriage, gait and grace.  And it is blessedly done without the drugs and surgeries, which are so invasive and yet are considered to be 'the gold standard of care' common these days in the medical view.

Unfortunately, our Western cultural postural ideal is based on a misinformed view of how we should stand and walk.  We all know this "ideal."  It involves tucking the butt under and holding the belly in.  I can't tell you how many times my mother whispered this to me and then tapped or struck me lightly between the shoulder blades to stick my chest out, with shoulders forced back, in the military position.  Sadly, this was all wrong, wrong, wrong, for keeping a woman's body healthy and whole.

When we tuck our rear ends under, it does indeed minimize the look of our butts.  But it also tips our pelvis forward.  As we do this our 'pubic bone,' which is actually a cartilaginous arch between two joining bones, moves to the front of the body instead of staying underneath our abdomen where it belongs.  Without this support, the female body is vulnerable to having organs fall down and out, especially if a woman has birthed children.  As Christine explains, all of the Kegels and tightening exercises to 'strengthen the pelvic floor,' are unnecessary and even damaging to the natural alignment of the organs within the female pelvis.  The real support for these organs should come from the pubic bone, acting like the straps under a saddle, naturally placed at the bottom of the body.  And this only happens when we tilt the bottom of the pelvis back, which makes our butts stick out a little bit.

It is harder to tilt the pelvis back when the stomach is pulled in.  "Pull in your stomach!"  As well intentioned as our mothers were with these words, they set us up for all sorts of pelvis and breathing disorders.  When our stomachs are pulled in we can not naturally relax and receive our in-breath.  The belly has to be loose and dropped down in order to breath properly.

For Christine's Whole Woman posture, this is the start.  Let the pelvis tilt naturally back and relax and drop the belly.  Then, as well, we don't want to collapse the ribs with a forward slouch, we want to lift the ribs and at the same time tuck the chin.  A chin-jut, which happens when we stick our chin out forward, crimps our necks in the back and pinches our cervical spine.  It also realigns the way we look at the world through our eyes.  Instead, when we lower our chin, our eye lids naturally open, allowing us to see more easily as well.

Many cultures, far older than our Western one, often embrace the posterior alignment of the rear end.  It is part of the natural feminine grace and strength.  A woman's natural posture involves: keeping the feet pointing forward while walking, tilting the pelvis back and dropping the belly softly forward to allow easeful abdominal breathing, lifting the chest and tucking the chin by letting the back of the neck be long and lifting the crown of the head from behind.  When we do this, it opens our eyes as we look forward and creates a beautiful feminine form.

But don't take my word for it.  Go directly to the source and see for yourself the vast array of support and information available to you at Christine's website, wholewoman.com.  Whether you have problems with your hips, knees or pelvis or are lucky enough to already have comfort and ease in your body, you will find a true wealth of information there.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have.

Blessings to you all and may you have a Healthy and Beautiful New Year.

 

 

As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.

 

 

Nutritional Genomics or How What You Eat Affects Your Genes

 

 

When I'm working as a Clairvoyant Healer, I've often wondered why I can look at one person and see that their main underlying problem is coffee and yet when I look at someone else, who is drinking coffee all day long, it is not a problem at all.  It turns out that there is a gene CYP1A2, that does not express itself well for some people who have that gene and drink coffee.

Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, uses a good analogy to describe this phenomenon.   He says that how our genes are expressed is like someone wearing a long sleeve shirt.  When the shirt sleeve is long, we are expressing those genes in the normal way.  But in the presence of certain conditions like stress, or negative self talk, or a particular pharmaceutical medication, or various foods, then it is like rolling up the shirt sleeve of that genetic code and a whole different expression of those same genes are revealed.  In people who have the CYP1A2 gene, it is the coffee that rolls up the sleeve.

When it comes to nutrition, the field of genomic research is still relatively in its infancy, but it certainly holds vast promise for helping us to understand why some of us react one way to a certain food while others react another way.  Donna Gates, who wrote the book The Body Ecology Diet, now in its eleventh year of publication with Hay House, is passionate about the study of nutrition and how the foods we consume relate to our individual genes.  She is the one who coined the term "inner ecosystem" to describe the vast array of non-human organisms that preside over digestion in our gut tracts.  We need this network of microbes, now called "the microbiome," in order to digest our food.  And the foods we eat feed not only us, but also these organisms, which are comprised of a variety of bacteria, viruses, funguses, yeasts and more.

If we eat a diet of primarily white flour, coffee, alcohol, meats and lots of sugar, we promote populations of little critters in our gut tract that thrive on those foods.  If we eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, we promote the growth of a very different microbiome.  

Many of us now realize that one of the biggest problems associated with poor digestion in our culture stems from the overuse of antibiotics, especially in childhood.  The current medical trend for occasional or rare use of antibiotics is helping to correct this, and fortunately does not cause the same devastation to our microbiome and the "good bacteria," as the regular use of those drugs did in previous decades. 

However, after WWII, it was discovered that the use of antibiotics in animal feed either significantly increased weight gain and/or prevented disease in farm animals.  The practice of including antibiotics in animal feed in the animal husbandry industries, continues to this day and has had a very serious lasting effect on many a digestive tract in our American human population.  So, if you are eating non-organic animal products you are adversely affecting your microbiome with low level doses of antibiotics with quite probably every one of those meals.

Most of us have heard the term 'probiotics' by now.  These are the 'pro' meaning positive, and 'biotics' meaning relating to or resulting from living things, like gut flora.  But not that many people are familiar with the term 'prebiotics.'  'Pre,' meaning that which comes before or creates, and biotics, which is basically life.  Prebiotics are fiber rich foods, like fruits and vegetables, that create the conditions that are favorable to the intestinal flora or 'friendly bacteria.'  These foods are what we need for good digestion.  Prebiotics feed the microbes so that they can first break down our foods so that we can absorb the nutritional components.  Prebiotics in the form of raw fruits and vegetables are best for breaking down into materials that promote good probiotics in our gut tracts.

Fermented raw foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, or live culture nut and other milk yogurts, (with an especially favorable nod to organic raw goat milk kefir,) are particularly good at feeding and rebalancing the microbiome.  These foods have been used for centuries among human populations to restore healthy gut flora or to assist digestion when it tends to decline in advanced age.  As my husband who makes a spectacular kimchi sometimes says,  "There is a reason for why people eat these things."

Meanwhile, pasteurized, cooked or canned sauerkrauts, kombuchas, yogurts, et all will have very little to no positive effect on repopulating a microbiome as their cultures have been killed primarily through heating, but also through other food processing methods.  So, "Rah, Rah, Raw!" for raw fermented foods.

Now, back to nutritional genomics.  Genes are in every cell of our bodies.  They are located in the mitochondria of the cell, which holds the DNA.  The DNA, as you probably recall from biology class in school, is a pair of twisted strands, looking something like a spiralized ladder.  Our genes are located on these two strands and they contain all of our genetic material.  Each and every cell in our body has genes and every cell needs food.  That food comes from our digestion.  The food is delivered to the cell by our blood.  The nutrition in the blood that feeds the cell also feeds our DNA.  If our DNA is fed bad food, we then get the bad expressions of the genes, also known as disease.  The shirt sleeve gets rolled up.  It's that simple.  That's why junk food is bad for you.  

Our individual genetic code explains why some foods are good for some people while those same foods may be bad for other people.  Knowing one's personal set of DNA answers the question of why some of us do poorly with too many carbohydrates while others do really well with non-refined carbohydrates and actually need them for good quality sleep, and good mental and physical health.  Our genes can explain why some foods serve us and some foods don't.

None of our genes, not a single one, is positively expressed in the presence of sugar.  I'm not talking about the sugar from fruit here, which is a natural and very healthful food, loaded with bioflavonoids or other wonderfully nutritive elements like enzymes, vitamins and minerals.  But the processed, stripped bare, plain old sugar that comes in a box or a bag, does not feed your good genetic expression.  It feeds the bad ones.

Genes are labeled using a series of numbers and letters.  The MTHR677 gene is very common in Italian and Hispanic populations.  When people with this gene eat the good 'Mediterranean Diet' with plenty of vegetables and fresh olive oil, they have good energy, less cardiovascular disease, increased fertility and lots of happy smiling faces.  People with the "slow" version of the CYP1A2 gene don't do well with caffeine and will feel jittery and nervous when they drink coffee or eat chocolate.  Children with autism will always have an MTHFR gene mutation and will be unable to methylate or detoxify their bodies adequately.  For individuals with this gene a clean healthy diet, free from junk foods, is especially important since it is harder for their livers to detoxify their bodies.

There are companies that can analyze your genetic code from saliva and many people are doing this now.  But there are only limited ways to figure out what all those letters and numbers mean.  I'm guessing that it is a bit like getting a printed off and analyzed astrology chart, somewhat helpful, but not terribly clear.  Hopefully more diet and nutrition majors in food science studies will enter this very promising field because coaches are not yet all that readily available.  

Also, it is worth mentioning that some of the bigger corporations have been found snatching up personal genetic information, presumably for advertising opportunities.  I understand that this was the case with a major online retailer.  They were purchasing personal data from the genetic code company called "23andMe," who was offering genetic testing comparatively inexpensively until the FDA issued them a warning, which shut down their marketing for a while, opening the door for dialogue on standards. 

If you do choose to get your genes analyzed, see if you can find a good nutritional gene coach.  They can help with bringing balance and suggest supplements to support various situations, but the main tool for creating balance and stability is always diet.  Donna Gate's book, which I mentioned earlier, The Body Ecology Diet, will get you there, pretty much no matter what your genetic code may be, because diet is always at the root of our good or bad health.  And her number one tool is first clearing the chalk board by cutting out the common offenders and stopping eating whatever is causing the trouble and then rebuilding the microbiome with raw fermented vegetables.  

So, check out my husband's wonderful kimchi video and start off your New Year with a fresh clean slate of healthy prebiotics and a great diet element for creating beautiful lasting health.

 

 As a Clairvoyant Healer, Spiritual Counselor and Intuition Instructor, I share many tips for leading a healthy and fulfilling life.  Please be advised that I am not a doctor. Nor am I licensed in any healing modality. However, I have had years of experience in alternative and complementary health and healing. All healing programs, including standard western medical protocols in addition to natural therapies, can cause harm rather than the benefit that you may be searching for. After all some people can have a strong reaction to something as seemingly innocent as peanuts or strawberries. Therefore, anything that I may recommend in these blogs and videos could be dangerous for you to try. So, it is important that you Ask Your Doctor First before trying any natural healing protocol. However, most medical doctors have little experience regarding natural healing programs and herbal medicine. So please understand if your doctor is unfamiliar with these ideas.