Your Most Elevated Thought of the Day

Lately, an elderly friend of mine has taken to asking me what was my most elevated thought of the day.  This has given me the opportunity to stop and notice from time to time where my head is at.  Just like any other part of our routines, our thoughts can become quite habitual and his question has been reminding me that it is good to remember to cultivate elevated ones.

I feel that we are more creative than we realize.  Our thoughts, and where we are focusing our minds, are the first step of that creative process.  

One of the things that my spiritual teacher, Jana Massey, used to advise, being as we live right next to a major earthquake fault line, was to take care not to envisage disaster in our area.  After the Santa Rosa fire, of 2017, here in California, and initially after the Y2K concerns at the beginning of the new millennia, my husband and I have taken the very practical steps advised regarding having an emergency evacuation kit ready-to-go.  So, we have copies of our important documents, pet carriers, change of clothing and other essentials packed and gathered should there be need.  And though thus prepared, I try not dwell on it.  As Jana suggested, I like to see my community as happy and whole and settled in my mind's eye.

Here, on the Central Coast, mere days after a severe heat wave, it is natural to be concerned about the very real results of climate change, and its varied and widespread impacts on human communities and wildlife world wide.  This is certainly something that we want to address and give pro-active efforts toward.  And though there is always room for improvement, I do much toward that end.  

Then, as well, similar to what Jana advised with envisaging peace and tranquility, I also like to make an effort with what might be called spiritual activism, thus I place some of my thoughts positively in the etheric realms as well.

Years ago, I saw a PBS documentary called 'Next Year Country.'  It was about the severe drought in Montana, in the early 2000s.  Several ranchers, fearing for their livelihoods, pooled their resources and hired a rainmaker.  He came from the Mount Shasta area and brought with him large long metal pipes and other equipment and camped out on the land for several weeks.  He aligned the pipes with underground water ways and ley lines.  Then he chanted and sang.  And he laughed and spoke with and got to know the people.  And he did indeed call the rain.  That year, that corner of the state was green and full of rain and grain.

I've been remembering what the rain-maker said.  He explained that clouds are alive and that they are like children or animals or anyone else, and we need to be delighted to see them if we want them to come around.  He said we need to let them know how we feel and engage with them, talk to them and smile and celebrate their presence.  

So, as one example of my most elevated thought of the day, lately I've been engaging in etheric, spiritual activism by practically jumping up and down with joy at the sight of these big cumulonimbus clouds that have been sailing around the edges of our sky since the two glorious days of gentle rain that fell on our dry ground right after the heat wave.  Those drops of rain swirled among the leaves of the oak trees, moistening their branches and the earth and the air.  I went out several times and danced in the rain, loving those cold drops on my skin and in my hair.  Glad of my happy warm home to come in to, and of the moisture that was soaking deep into the ground.

I remember once coming across a quote.  It might have been Ram Dass.  In any case, it spoke deeply to me and I'll leave you with this as a beautifully elevated thought for you, if you'd like, to hold for today.
"The foundation of our spirituality is to be appreciative of the gift of life, to have fun, to play, to laugh, to see our lives as a piece of God."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fleas!

We recently became overwhelmed with fleas.  So I called my retired naturopath friend and asked for assistance.  She said that Neem Oil works great and we found that it did.

For the past few years, when the summer-time flea bloom has occurred, we have resorted, as so many of us do, to using the veterinarian prescribed drops.  These are placed on the back of the animal's skull, near the base, where it meets the neck.  The solution gradually spreads over the animal's entire body and definitely kills the fleas.  But it is very toxic and can be transferred to our hands while petting our furry friends.  So, it is not what I consider safe.

Contrary to the label instructions, we have typically used a half dose of these flea treatments on each animal, to minimize the amount of poison that we use.  But even with that, our cats languished listlessly for a day or two, with very little energy or interest in food, and looked like they had really bad headaches.  

As well, for the previous two years, within a day or two after the application of the flea drops, our dog collapsed as if dead, after retrieving her ball at the park.  She lay limp and motionless at our feet, leaving us, fearing for her life, down on the ground with her, until she miraculously came back, half a minute later, a little confused at first, but then seemingly fine.  

This was very alarming, and the vet didn't know what might have caused this reaction in our dog nor what exactly it could be.  But the event was very concerning to us, and I had my suspicions that it could be related to the neurotoxin in the standard flea treatment.  So, this year, not wanting to take a chance on the possibility that it could be the drops, I decided to take a more aggressive natural flea care approach.

Of course flea combing is essential.  We use a nice fine tooth metal comb.  I find that the plastic combs don't really get them and the larger toothed metal combs can miss some too.  This required that we have our dog's hair cut quite short as the weather grew warm so that we could get the comb through her coat.  

The cats, with their finer hairs are considerably easier to comb, but they are not that fond of having their belly's combed, so a few get missed that way.  And, it seems that the combing really does have to become a part of the daily routine.

We use a container of water with a drop of dish soap stirred into it to assist with the flea combing process.  After a pass through the animals coat, combing as close to the skin as possible, I immediately dunk the comb into the water.  This confuses the flea and gives me a moment to remove it from the comb.  The soap breaks the surface tension of the water and prevents the flea from being able to jump out.  Instead it sinks to a watery demise.

Our dog's groomer says that the lawn at the park is a common source of fleas.  And that dogs often pick fleas up there.  Both our cats and the dog go in and out of the house at will, and we live on a creek, so they also get exposure to the fleas carried by the wildlife that share our home with us.  We have raccoons, possums, rats, squirrels and lots of birds that share our space with us. 

One trick that we are blessed to be able to avail ourselves of is letting our dog swim in the ocean.  Apparently the combination of salt water and then freshwater can kill fleas.  Fleas can endure submersion in either type of water for a time, but both types, one right after the other, really messes with their ability to survive.  So, we take our dog to the beach for a nice swim, retrieving her toys, and then rinse her off with the hose once we get back home.  

Vacuuming is another helpful approach.  We regularly drag out the vacuum and clean all the rugs and sweep the floors.  We also use diatomaceous earth.  This is made from the shells of tiny crustaceous creatures that has been ground into a very fine dust.  When insects come in contact with the dust, it scratches and damages their exoskeletons and causes them to die.  

Diatomaceous earth is very effective so long as it remains dry. But the powder can cause irritation to the skin and eyes along with respiratory troubles if used indiscriminately.  We handle it very carefully, so as to not raise any excess dust and carefully place it under and inside the covers of the sofa cushions, which we then additionally cover with a sheet or other piece of fabric.  We also put it deep in the dog's bedding under several layers of top fabric, so her skin or lungs will not become inflamed.  This approach helps to do away with the fleas and their eggs that are living deeper in the bedding.

In addition, we also change all of the bedding covers regularly to avoid having flea eggs and larvae, that are on the surface, hatch out in their beds.  We put these covers right into the washing machine and then the clothes dryer.  The water and the heat does the trick there.

But still, despite all of this, the fleas got ahead of us this year.  And I just didn't want to take a risk with our beautiful dog's life or cause the cats so much discomfort with the neurotoxins, which after all, are neuro, meaning nerve and toxins, meaning poisonous.

Thus the Neem oil, to the rescue.  It has been used, diluted as an insect repellent for hundreds of years on crops in agriculture.  It doesn't kill insects or the fleas, but they really don't like it, and stay away.

Neem oil is solid at room temperature, so if you use it in your pet shampoo, you need to warm it lightly first before adding it.  I just put a small amount, like a half teaspoon in perhaps two cups of warm water with about one tablespoon of shampoo.  Use it all up, as neem breaks down rapidly in soap.  It may leave a slight odor on your dog's coat, but that is what repels the fleas.  

Another way to apply neem oil is as a spray, diluted in alcohol.  Neem oil will stay in suspension in the alcohol.  I use four ounces of a good quality vodka, (I always like to support organic producers, even for a use such as this,) and add one dropperful, or fifteen drops, of neem oil into the alcohol, in a small spray bottle.  Shake first, before applying and lightly mist the dog's coat and then rub it in.  This is also a great thing to do before going for a hike in tick season, as it will prevent these insects from getting on your dog as well.  

Of course, whenever using any new product on your animal, it is good to observe how they react to it.  Cats do more grooming than dogs, thus they may consume more of the oil on their coats.  Most will do fine.  But we are all unique and anyone can be allergic to anything, so it is good to be attentive. 

Neem oil not only repels fleas, but it also helps to reduce itchiness and has been used for fungal infections and for treating ringworm and mange.  Perhaps you'd like to give it a try with your dog or cat.  It has worked great for us and it might just work well for you too.

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.

Scratchy Throat? Here's What I Do

 

Sometimes I just do something super simple like gargling with salt water or diluted Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, (I like Braggs,) and that always helps to ease a tickle in a throat.  But, when I really want to stop something in it's tracks before it even gets started, I have a much more thorough approach.

And that is one of the main keys, 'before it even gets started.'  So often, we want to deny the subtle signs that anything is wrong because we really don't want it to be real.  Instead, I openly refer to this phase as 'a slight imbalance in my wellness.'  And I let people know that I'm going to be tending to this, because this is the most crucial time to tune in and take action, rather than hoping it will just go away.  

Our bodies are masters at sending us subtle cues well before bigger symptoms occur and it pays to pay attention to them.  Headaches, backaches, changes in the bowel habit, these are all ways our body talks to us to let us know that something is amiss.  And that little, tiny scratchy throat is no exception.  So, here is what I do.

First, I drop everything, clear my calendar, at least for the rest of the day, stop what I'm doing, go inside, get warm, stay warm and start heading in the direction of rest and wellness.  I don't eat junk food or sugar, but if I did, I'd stop that nonsense pronto as that sort of eating habit is sure to dip the immune system and kick a bad thing into high gear.  

Generally, I'll then reach for a salt water gargle, first, which is always right at hand with good quality Celtic Sea Salt or Real Salt being permanent residents in my kitchen.  I use one teaspoon of salt, dissolved in, first a half a cup of hot water, stirred, and then another half a cup of cold water added in order to dilute the solution to a comfortable temperature.  While standing at the sink, I pour some of the salt water into the palm of my hand and while closing one nostril with my fingers, I snort the puddle of salt water, from my hand, up my into my sinuses, with my other nostril.  Then, I trade hands and nostrils and pour and snort some more.  

After that, I take a nice big mouthful of the salt solution and gargle and spit.  I repeat this several times, hitting high notes and low notes, and all the notes in between, vocally, while gargling.   This exposes all of the many folds of my vocal chords to the salt solution.  These folds can be hiding places for invading microbes and it is best to let them know, with the salt, that they are not welcome.

Natural salt, from dehydrated ocean water is full of minerals and it is also a good bio-film disruptor, which means that it can break through the little crust that microbes, like bacteria form, as a protective layer, on top of their colonies. These colonies are where they can thrive and multiply.  

Xylitol is another great bio-film disruptor.  So, I also reach for my Xlear nasal spray, which has xylitol in it, and I shoot a couple of good squirts up into my sinuses after I've recovered a little from the salt water snorting.

I tend to have very clear sinuses, but when I inhale Xlear up my nose, I am always amazed at how much mucus is liberated.  I'll generally need to spit and blow for a good five minutes after a good application.  It is surprising how much material can be undetected and stored up in those sinuses.  And those hidden, mucus-rich areas can be fine homes for microbes and their bio-films.  

Xlear is also one of the tricks I use for staying healthy after having spent time out in public, where I may have been exposed to any number of infectious, air-borne microbes.  In the same regard, I may use my nebulizer to inhale a very dilute mist of .75% hydrogen peroxide.  I learned about this technique from a May 2020 article that a friend of mine shared from Dr. Mercola.  Just a couple of breaths using this mist can really knock back pathogens from the lungs.

 While the water is still hot in the tea kettle from making my salt water solution, I generally brew myself a couple of cups of Throat Coat Tea by Traditional Medicinals.  This is a very soothing combination of herbs to support the health of the throat, coating it with slippery elm bark and marshmallow root.  Wild cherry bark, fennel and cinnamon add their goodness, drying mucus, easing airways, reducing inflammation and acting as antioxidants.  The licorice root boosts the immune system and gives it all a lovely taste.  Sipping this nice warm tea all day also helps to rinse away any little microbes that may be trying to set up housekeeping in the mucus membranes of my throat.

At this point I might additionally reach for a throat spray, like 'Singer's Saving Grace' or HerbPharm's 'Soothng Throat Spray.'  A couple of squirts in the back of my mouth are very soothing and also help to discourage any invasion.

I'm a big fan of Dr. Richard Schulze and his American Botanical Pharmacy.  He is one of our great contemporary herbologists and his 'Oral Therapy' mouth wash is miraculous.  I'll also gargle with that, to really knock back any invaders and I follow it with his beautiful 100% food sourced Vitamin C tablets, 'Super-C Plus.'  I'll suck on one or two of those and they feel so good.  In fact, they could go in my top paragraph as the one or two things that can be done to start turning a situation around.  After having successfully managed to conquer the invasion with this protocol, I keep a few of these little C tablets in my pocket for a few days, so I can pull one out and suck on it from time to time, in order to keep the internal balance in my throat in good health. 

After all of this flushing and chasing away of bad microbes, I like to go to my refrigerator where I keep what I need to replenish my throat flora with healthy microbes.  For this I use a beautiful probiotic capsule that has been carefully preserved from an old world source.  It is called 'Healthy Trinity' by Natren.  I put two of these beautiful capsules in my mouth and let them slowly dissolve there.  I'll often do this just before I fall asleep, for good internal mouth flora and also, incidentally, for tooth support.  This is, as the French would say, the pièce de résistance, or the final important feature for regaining the balance of health in my throat.  

I keep all of these things on hand because having a fully equipped apothecary, or in-home store of herbs and remedies, is a big part of natural healing.  This is a good idea for anyone who is interested in a holistic approach to health.  My throat care prevention supplies are  just a small portion of my personal apothecary.  I also keep herbal stores for organ cleansing, injuries and first aid, brain health, heart health and a host of other simple mostly herbal remedies for maintaining and creating beautiful health, in the way that nature provided.

 A good cook knows the importance of having basic staples on hand: vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grains, what have you.  The same holds true for natural healing techniques.  What I have given you here is one recipe from my cookbook.  There are hundreds more.  And like any recipe, it may shift and change as the years go by.  My storehouse of home remedies started decades ago, with one cupboard.  Now it is quite extensive, housed in several cabinets, a dresser or two and even a mini-fridge.  And if you haven't already, this is a perfect place to get started, a few powerful healing allies, to help stave off a sore throat, before it even gets started.  Enjoy.

 

 

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.

One Can't Say Enough About Gratitude

 

 

 

Can there ever be enough said about Gratitude?  I don't think so.

And talk about a healing balm.  Picking up the reins of our mind and turning our thoughts toward thankfulness in any situation shifts the energy instantly and brings about positive change.  Not to mention, gratitude is one of the three main types of prayer, commonly known to all of humankind, next to, 'Help,' and 'Silent Union with the Divine.'

So, yes, Gratitude.  It is always worthy of mention.  And I could almost stop right there, with 'enough said.'  But, I'll elaborate just a little more.

Habitually switching our thoughts to gratefulness can take some practice, but it is one of the best ways I know of for coming up out of a funk.  One does need to first recognize and realize that a funk has descended.  Sometimes we can really get lost in a negative internal mind climate, festering and stewing like an infection.

This is where the idea of 'the witness,' (from Jnana Yoga, from Hinduism,) comes in.  Here, there are the two birds sitting in the tree of life.  One is busy doing and experiencing all of the activities of life, while the other is just watching.  This watching bird, within ourselves is 'the noticer.'  And the noticer gives us a little perspective.  It notices when we are happy.  It notices when we are sad.  And it can alert us, as the rider of our own horse of life, when it is time to turn a run-away situation around and head in a different direction, like toward Gratitude.

Listening to the news or just tending to the day-to-day chores or foibles of life can really get us all wound up.  But, there is always something to be grateful for, even in moments that can seem quite stinky.  If we look, we'll find it.  And that gives us our first step up out of that place in our heads.  "The sky is a beautiful blue."  "I can take a breath."  "I'm sitting next to you."  There is always something to be grateful for.  We can start there.

Huston Smith in his seminal book, The World's Religions, 1958, noted the three types of prayer that I was referring to earlier.  Universal to all religions, both oral and written, they are: 1.) The Asking Prayer,  "Please help me."  2.) The Prayer of Gratitude, "Thank you."  And 3.) The Prayer of Silent Union with The Divine, where we loose our sense of self and become one with everything.

From the asking prayer, I've heard that we can get three different answers: "Yes, of course."  "Yes, but later."  And, "No, I have something better for you."  All worthy of gratitude.  And when we loose ourselves in oneness, doing what we absolutely love, be it dancing in the waves or climbing a mountain peak, we have reached a state of bliss and what is not to be grateful for there.  So, yes, gratitude.  It is what keeps the world going round and helps us to attain humanity's greatest desire, Peace, both within and without.

So, let's pick up the reins, together and come round to a unity of being, reaching for and finding gratitude, as often as possible, in every moment of every day.

Focusing on Goodness and Beauty Through Challenging Times

 

 

There are so many scary things going on in the world right now.  Even our day to day experiences can be frightening and sometimes overwhelming.  However, in spite of all of that, I find that it is important to realize and remember that at our core, we are love, all is well, and there is nothing to be afraid of.

Holding to a deep and abiding belief in the beauty and goodness of all things isn't always easy for me either, but thanks to the help of some of my favorite authors, I've become so practiced at it that on the occasions when I slip into despair, I find that those moments have become fewer and farther between and that they last a lot less longer.  So, I'd like to share with you some thoughts that I've embraced in my life that help me to more swiftly make the transition back into trust and joy. 

1.  Remembering Miracles and Gratitude.  In his book, Pronoia, Bob Brezsny explains that we tend to have the habit of thinking that the whole day is going wrong if we do something like stub our toe on the way to the bathroom in the morning, instead of recognizing that we've already experienced twenty-five miracles in just waking up from sleep and moving our bodies, flicking on the light switch and taking a nice deep breath.  His point is well taken.  There is a stupendous amount of things to be grateful for in every moment of every day.

2.  Realizing Our Higher Self's Perspective.  One of my favorite mentors, Peace Pilgrim, has a chart of her spiritual growth that is shared in the book, Peace Pilgrim, Her Life and Work in Her Own Words.  It shows how we can vacillate between the emotional ups and downs of the low self and the high self.  As we progress on the journey of a life dedicated to spiritual development, our ability to move more swiftly through the challenges of a self-centered nature become easier and we engage more regularly with what she calls our God-centered nature. 

3.  We Alone Control the Direction of Our Thoughts.  Viktor Frankl, in his life changing work, Man's Search for Meaning, wrote of his experience in a concentration camp during WWII.  He said that they could take everything away from him except his own mind and that where he held his thoughts, or his attitude, was completely under his own control.  

4.  Healthy Clean Blood Makes for Healthy Clean Thoughts.  The teachings of the great contemporary nutritional, health and well-being herbologist, Dr. Richard Schulze, consolidates the knowledge that we have gained over the last few centuries in regards to the role that good nutrition, internal organ cleansing and self-care play in our lives.  He says to "Stop doing what is making you sick and Start doing what makes you feel well."  Our bad junk food habits and sedentary lifestyles do catch up with us.  Keeping our internal organs clean and functioning well, helps to keep the rest of us clean too.  This includes our blood and thus our brains.  When our brains are not so busy dealing with dirty blood, our thoughts can become cleaner, as well.

5.  Choosing Our Level of Engagement.  Jill Bolte Taylor, in her wonderful new book, Whole Brain Living, shows us how we can identify and begin to choose between the four main parts of our brains.  We can decide which part of our awareness we would most like to have holding the microphone of our lives.  It seems that too often, we tend to jump into our left emotional brain, which is all about, "Me, Me, Me," and about all of the things that are wrong in this moment.  Instead, we can learn how to engage the other parts of our brain to skillfully handle and move through difficult events.  We can consciously choose where we want to place our awareness like: in our ability to reason and figure out how to move forward, or in our playful side, or in our expanded sense of deep interconnectedness which holds everything with compassion and love.

6.  We Can Heal Our Lives.  Louise Hay, in her ground-breaking work, You Can Heal Your Life, shows us how creating the habits of positive thinking through self love and affirmations can move us into new dimensions of gratitude and joy in our lives.  Her 'go to' reminder of, "All is well.  Everything is working itself out for the highest good.  Out of this experience only good will come.  And, I am safe." has been life changing for me.  It has helped me to work through some of the scarier situations in my life, allowing me to shift my perspective into trust and love.

7.  When We Change Our Perspective Amazing Miracles Occur.  Near Death Experiences, like Anita Moorjani's Dying to Be Me or Eben Alexander's Proof of Heaven or Mellen-Thomas Benedict's Journey Through the Light and Back, demonstrate the miraculous effects that changing our perspective can hold.  A Course in Miracles teaches this too.  Our beliefs have the potential to help us let go of the most dire of circumstances and turn them into bliss.  

8.  Our Consciousness Lives On In Love.  Some very accurate and persuading examples of the ongoing presence of human consciousness have not only been shown in cases of Near Death Experiences but have also been shown through the work of talented mediums.  These professional psychics have been able to share intimate details from loved ones who have passed on and who have reached out to their living family members to help them move beyond grief.  This type of profoundly healing information allows those who remain alive to be assured that consciousness not only lives on but is whole and happy and well.  Some of the mediums who have inspired me are Tyler Henry with Here and Hereafter, and  Gordon Smith with The Unbelievable Truth.  Death is not the end.

9.  Good News is Great News.  Most of our journal and broadcast news focuses on what is alarming and seriously concerning.  But there is a lot of good going on in the world that we hardly ever hear about.  Brilliant people, young and old are coming up with new perspectives and innovative solutions all the time.  It serves us well to search some of these good news sources out and share them with others.  Many of my environmental journals like National Wildlife from the Nation Wildlife Federation or Nature Conservancy Magazine from The Nature Conservancy often have great reports on collaborations that are turning the tides toward a healthier world or things that we can each do like planting for wildlife in our gardens.  Also, the Good News Hub reports great good news stories online.  News like this always lifts my spirits.

10.  Singing and Dancing Our Way to Beauty and Goodness.  I sing everyday.  It makes me feel happy, even if I'm just humming.  And I dance whenever I can.  When we do these two, we lighten our hearts and leave our troubles behind.  Even if you have to 'Fake it until you make it,' it is time well spent.  You will feel lighter.  And it's fun.  Just allow your playfulness to come forward.  

I hope these ten tips help you to hold a more positive outlook as much for you as they have for me.  And finally, I'll leave you with this one last idea.  Stay in your joy, as much as you can.  Try to do something that you'd love to do every day.  Make it your top priority and it will make your day, every day.

Gaining and Maintaining Beautiful Eye Health Along With Great Vision

 

 

Vision is our dominant perceptual sense.  Dogs smell.  Rabbits hear.  But we humans predominantly use our eyes to inform us about the world around us.  We see.

Just like any other muscle in the body, the muscles around our eyes can become weak or tight.  When they do, our eyeballs can loose their nice round shape, becoming more oblong or egg shaped, either too long or too wide.  If one or more of the six muscles that surround our eyes pulls habitually on that beautiful fluid filled ball of ours, then we can't see as well, becoming either nearsighted or farsighted.  When we correct this visual disturbance with eye glasses, the problem gradually gets worse as we lean progressively more heavily on that crutch.

Practicing regular eye exercises is one of the basics of maintaining or reclaiming great eye health.  Another basic is calming the optic nerve.

The optic nerve is a comparatively long and large structure that comes right from the eyeball itself, straight back into the brain.  (A portion of the nerve fibers coming from each eye, actually cross each other, but that's a detail we can save for another time.)  When the optic nerve gets highly stimulated from bright light or the tension of muscular strain, it becomes overburdened with chemical messages causing fatigue.  When this happens, it can take a little while to calm down.  This is where "palming" comes in.  I'll describe that a little later.

When I was a young girl, growing up, my mother and my grandmother were both writers.  They each spent many hours a day reading and writing.  Yet neither of them wore glasses.  Though sadly my mother passed quite young, my grandmother lived into her mid-nineties and lived her whole life long without getting any prescription glasses.  And she read almost all day, everyday.  This was because she had learned how to care for her vision from an eye health pioneer of her time, Dr. William Horatio Bates, M.D. (1860-1931.)  She read his books, did the exercises, and blessedly taught my mother, who taught me.  Many was the day when I would come across my mother or my grandmother palming or moving or resting their eyes. 

Back in the day, instead of celebrity rags at the checkout line in the grocery store, you could pick up little self care books on natural health techniques.  I still have a 35¢ hard cover copy on correcting vision problems naturally that I purchased in my early twenties.  It is titled Sight Without Glasses, by Dr. Harold M. Peppard.  The top of this little book's spine is ragged from the number of times I have pulled it out from my bookshelf.  Another small paperback, that I have from back in 1994, by Richard Leviton is called, Better Vision in 30 Days.  These little guides have kept me on track and I am so very pleased to say that they work!  And there are lots of more very detailed resources available, like Help Yourself to Better Sight, by Margaret O. Corbett or The Eye Care Revolution by Robert Abel, Jr., M.D..

The exercises, or 'movements,' as Dr. Bates used to call them, are remarkably simple.  

Palming.  Palming comes first and foremost, for calming the optic nerve.  This is done by placing the palms of your hands gently over your eyes to create a dark environment where your eyes can begin to drain off the remaining chemical residue caused by light from inside the optic nerve.  This is best done in a darkened room, with a straight spine and the elbows resting on a surface which is at about chest level.  Resting the elbows keeps them from fatiguing.  Care should be taken that the palms rest very lightly on the bony structures of the skull, around the eyes with no pressing.  

Bates felt that imagining movement, like a black boat, on a black sea, sailing in a figure eight was helpful while palming.  I like to imagine a herd of black horses running around on a black beach at night.  Doing visualizations, like these, while palming seems to help the optic nerve drain more quickly and completely.

When palming, it can take a little while for the eye to no longer see patches of lingering light and see only blackness.  I can see complete blackness typically in about five minutes.  But I have very good vision and well cared for eyes.  Bates liked for people to palm for twelve minutes, warming the hands first by rubbing them briskly together, (raising the chi,) before starting.  He also liked for people to palm before starting the other exercises or movements.  This relaxes the eyes before asking them to engage their muscles.  Then, just like gently stretching any muscle, you move first one way, and then the other.

Though there are a host of exercises allowing one to address any number of possible corrections such as double vision, wandering eyes or astigmatism, I have focused on just a scant handful of them to maintain my good vision.  Almost all eye exercises are best done outside and my favorites are these five:

Sunning.  This feels really great.  I step out into the morning air, while the sun is still low on the horizon.  I close my eyes and point my nose right at the sun.  Then I slowly move my head from left to right, allowing my shoulders and upper torso to move as well, so that my face is moving in an arc of 180 degrees.  I might do this for as long as four or five minutes.

Looking at a Distance.  The next thing I like to do is see if I can see some distant hikers on the trail going up the mountain near my home.  The trail is probably about a mile away from my front door.  It's fun.  We tend to have a lot of hikers here, and my husband and I often try to see who can see someone first.  

In our modern day and age, we rarely look at a distance, but if we were people in ancient times, it would be very helpful to see if that distant fruit tree was ripe or not, or to notice if anyone else was over there.  Spending just a little bit of time looking at a distance helps us to counter act all of the time that we spend reading or staring at close up screens while engaging with technology.  

Often while driving, on open roads, I'll rest my eyes by looking over the steering wheel at the far off landscapes ahead of me, allowing my peripheral vision to keep track of what is happening near by.  And while I'm at my computer, I frequently gaze out the window, behind my screen, at the large tree across the street, allowing my eyes to focus on its leaves and branches for just a moment or two.  These kinds of tiny habits give the close up muscles of my eyes a little chance to rest and relax and greatly reduce any symptoms of eye fatigue.  My grandmother used to say, "Look up."  She said that gazing into the sky or the trees overhead was very relaxing for the eyes and the mind. 

Looking Close and Looking Far.  This is one of my very favorites.  I enjoy seeing how quickly I can change my focusing ability.  After looking at the mountain in the morning, I'll take a few moments to briefly look at my thumbnail, held about eight inches from my face.  As soon as I can clearly see my cuticle and the details of the skin around my nail, I glance back at the mountain and see how long it takes for me to see details there.  Then I look back at my nail, and then back at the mountain.  I maybe do this half a dozen times, or more, depending on how acute my eyes are and how quickly my vision can adjust.

Swinging.  This one I do seated, with my eyes closed.  It is important not to move your eyes too quickly for this exercise.  Slow and steady is best.  Begin by holding your head in a comfortable position and looking straight ahead.  Then close your eyes, and start by moving just your eyes to the left, as if you were looking to the left.  Then to the right.  Back to the left again, and back to the right.  Go easy, especially when you are doing this for the first time.  Go nice and slow and not too far.  Repeat a comfortable and gentle number of times.  Pause for a moment or two after you've completed this, keeping your eyes closed.  'Rome wasn't conquered in a day.'  

After that, with eyes still closed, let your eyes swing up and down.  Then, after that, try moving on to the diagonals.  First up on the left and down on the right.  Then, up on the right and down on the left.  Try to make your movements nice and even, gradually moving your eyes without letting them jump along.  And always come to center, resting your eyes for just a moment or two before changing directions.  This really gives those six muscles a nice, deep, long stretch.

Watching My Dog Chase the Ball.  This one is really lovely and I do it every day.  We take our dog to the park and throw the ball for her.  I watch her very carefully, yet with soft and relaxed eyes, not straining, never straining.   As she quickly moves away and back toward me again, my focus naturally changes to follow her.  The muscles around my eyes actually change the shape of my eyeballs, in a steady fashion, slightly longer or wider to maintain the focus in a continual stream of gentle natural movement.

If you don't happen to have a dog, maybe you have a ball, a similar version of this exercise happens when you hit a ball against a wall and let it bounce back to you and hit it again.  Tennis, or pickle ball or ping pong accomplish a similar effect.  

My grandmother was a great ping pong player, well into her advanced age.  And she often rested her eyes, by sitting down and closing them briefly after a game.  She rested her eyes while reading too.  She'd hold her finger on the page, so her eyes would not have to strain and search for the next line.  She also blinked, a lot, not only at the end of every line while reading, but also while just looking around or speaking with someone.  She always read with good and even light and she never stared or let herself strain her eyes in other ways. 

Just like any exercise program, doing it once or twice won't get you there.  It takes a near daily commitment to see lasting results.

Meir Schneider, of the School of Natural Healing, based in Berkeley, California, has taken this type of work to a beautifully refined level.  He was born legally blind and can now drive on the freeway.  He teaches how to work with and improve or prevent a variety of eye health challenges including blind spots, glaucoma and macular degeneration.  There are more answers to eye health problems than just drugs or surgery.

I am currently working on not only maintaining my beautiful and blessedly perfect vision, but also on preventing cataracts.  I'm having success doing this by adding in a few new eye exercises, that I'm now learning, along with keeping my self fully hydrated and doing periodic water fasting, (please see one of my new favorite books on this method of natural healing by Kate McCarthy titled Water Fasting.)  I also use two or three drops of Dr. Schulze's Eyebright Formula in distilled water in an eye cup, every day.  This gives my eyes a nice bath in healing herbs that definitely help to increase the blood circulation to all of my eye structures, while keeping them nourished and healthy.  So far, it is all definitely working!

May you and your family and friends come to know the joy of maintaining and reclaiming beautiful eye health and vision with these simple habits of relaxation and gentle movements that you can easily incorporate into your lives.

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.

Step Into the Magic of Your Dreams

Hello everyone.  My friend Cyndi Silva asked me to do an interview exploring perspectives on Dreamwork.  Please enjoy this 50 minute zoom discussion on various types of dreams, helpful tips on how to remember your dreams and a few ideas on how to easily interpret them.  To learn more about Cyndi and her lovely work visit:  https://geneticalchemy.com  and  https://metaphysicalwisdom.com