The Saturday Signs

These were the united symbols of our journey yesterday:

We sat under the mahogany trees.
Mahogany wood:
is used for drum making

Woodpecker came to us, 3x and made herself known
the foundation is there and it is safe to follow through
stimulate new rhythms in your life
and waken new mental faculties
You may be so wrapped up that you've neglected the physical
Listen to your body's rhythms and sounds and heed what it is telling you
Don't brood
This is the time for consolidation
Shamans ride the drumbeats of the Woodpecker's rhythm
into another dimension, space and time

Deer, came to some, who saw her, who heard her
a time of new innocence is awakening
the time of gentleness
Don't push towards change in others,
rather gently nudge them in right direction

Moose came to some, heard by some, felt by some...how did you respond to her? What was your invitation?
self-esteem
primal feminine powers
(did you embrace her when she made herself known "sniff sniff" or did you back away? Do you back away from your own primal feminine?)

Circular Rainbow seen by some not all
a sign from Creator of coming change
live in respect and harmony

5 great birds...
5 is the number of grace and harmony
5 mysteries
5 elements
5 is the number of motion and adventure

eagle/hawk...some said eagle, some said hawk...
eagle: messengers from heaven, spirit of the sun
be willing to experience extremes
be willing to use your abilities
be willing to become even more than you dream
hawk:
visionaries
"I am healed and empowered through my visions"
you may feel misunderstood when you try to impart an important message
there is never a moment when the universe is not trying to get a message through to us...

add your personal messages and bits to this and read the signs for the the shamanic day's adventure.
And remember-continue to let the message unfold itself to you
each time you bring your attention back to the messages, the symbols, the shapes, you will get even more.

New Podcast

I've added a couple of podcasts to the website, and will be doing more. If you'd like to listen, click on in! This one is on Brain Integration.

brain integration podcast from Joy

Live in the land of non-sense

We were talking recently about things having to make sense to us vs letting them be in the no-sense and what do I mean by that anyway?

Children live in the land of no-sense, don't they? Little ones are delighted with everything, and are tickled with simple surprises. I put a different overshirt on this morning to go hiking and felt something in the pocket. I reached in and ... lo... it was a bunch of money! I counted out almost $50. that I had completely forgotten about!

I was DElighted! I yelled for my husband-look look look! It was just such fun for me!
And he looked at me like I was nuts. Now, that's the look I'm just used to so it didn't phaze me at all. You know the look, right? One eyebrow up like "so? what's the big deal? It's money. You left it in your pocket."

It was magic to me! To find something, somewhere you least expect it! Ok, maybe I am easily entertained, and I was, and let me say this again, DElighted! It was FUN!

It was non-sense. I didn't have to explain it, I didn't have to rationalize it. I didn't have to do anything except laugh and say WOW! I accept! A lovely way to start the morning! Now, if you are reading this and thinking, 'so? you left money in your pocket, big deal?' YOU my friend, are not even close to the non-sense. You are in the land of sense. You are in the realm of logic aren't you? You always have to find a reason, and a rational explanation?

I was like that. BORING. DULL. Oh not fun.

When was the last time you embraced non-sense?
The land of not needing it to make sense?
Let your life be made up of magical moments that you string together into nonsense!

Miracles are just things you can't explain. So is non-sense! So is magic! Let go of the how, and step back into the wonder of it all. We've gotten much too grown up and much too rigid. Play a little. Play a LOT!

Remember the small pleasures and live for a day in the land of non-sense.

In the land of non-sense, bones heal instantly, lumps disappear poof, gas tanks refill themselves, and you arrive at your location hours before you possibly could have. Let yourself live in the impossible. It's a lot more fun! Live in the land of surprises and live in the land of magic. Life can't surprise you unless you let it.

In the land of magic, I can find white bird wings by my car in a downtown parking lot. I can find a butterfly in the middle of Walmart. I can say hello to two chipmunks in Home Depot as they walk along beside me. I can find a hummingbird feather in the middle of winter and a peacock feather on a mountain trail. I can hear knocking on my ceiling and I can walk through a winter stream and come out on the other side DRY! Non-sense! But of course!

It so doesn't have to make sense for us to engage and be engaged. Non-sense means engaging with all of you instead of filtering the world through your head! Get out of your head! Let go!

Understanding Switching in the Body and the Brain

Understanding Switching in the Body and the Brain
What Does It Mean? (excerpt)

by Dr. Charles T. Krebs

The concept of switching has been around in kinesiology since its early days, but few kinesiologists have an in-depth understanding of either the nature of switching or the different types of switching. The original concept of switching came from Applied Kinesiology or AK. In the AK model, switching was perceived as neurological confusion, usually related to cranial imbalance. In later Kinesiologies, switching was perceived as a polarity problem so that when switching was “on-line,” there was a reversal of the body’s polarity, and this reversal of polarity led to a reversal of signals sent out to the body, and a reversal of mental orientation. So if a person was switched, they would often point to the Right as they said turn Left.

Likewise, when a muscle on the top part of the body was sedated, it would switch off the homologous muscle (muscle that does the same function) in the lower part of the body. From a neurological perspective there are two distinct types of switching:

1) A cortically based Projection Switching, and
2) A brain-stem-limbic based Survival Switching.

Cortical Projection Switching is more superficial and results from “stress,” either physical, emotional or mental stress, causing a reversal of the output of cortical processing such that sensory input correctly processed in a specific cortical area is then “projected” to the wrong, and usually opposite part of the body; or the brain reverses its orientation relative to the body, e.g. confusing right and left. This switching is normally transitory, and only exists for the duration of the stress, e.g. you’re very tired one day and switched, but well rested and not switched the next; or the emotional situation stressing you one day has been resolved the next day so you are no longer switched.

In contrast, Survival Switching is a much deeper level of switching caused by psycho-emotional factors that exceed your personality’s ability to cope. You cannot live long in a non-coping state, so the subconscious must do something to survive psycho-emotionally. It must somehow reduce stress levels to allow your personality to cope with your life’s circumstances once more. This Survival Switching occurs deep in the brainstem and limbic areas involved with survival, and since these areas are totally subconscious, we are unaware of their existence. However, once a survival program has become switched, it totally controls our overt behavior, particularly in stress situations, because the survival system neurologically fires first before conscious cortical areas are activated.

reprinted with permissions of author

Shaman Saturday August 29th in Park City

The Shaman Saturday is a gentle day of outdoor contemplation and both group and individual meditations with nature.
We will meet at the PCHS parking lot.

There is some uphill, with switchbacks, and if taken slow is absolutely doable. This is not about strength or destination but rather about connection to the hidden language all around us. You will be creating your mandorla from the world around you and your direct engagement.

We will be working with Nature, walking in silence, asking for answers, and come together for teaching and discussion during the day.

This is open to shamanic students that have completed level 1.
E-me for more details on cost and what you will need to bring with you.
Saturday, August 29, 9am

What do you Believe, and why?

Tonight I got an email from a reliable friend. HE is angry that Americans are so easily led that we are arguing to KEEP a healthcare system that is now ranked 37th in the world. I got curious and looked things up here...
WHO's ranking of world's health systems

and we are ranked #2 as the most expensive...and so I looked this up too...
world health expenditure by country

Maybe it's so that we can live longer? Maybe it's worth it for that reason, you say? I wondered that.
health rankings by country

Nope. Japan, Australia, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Greece, well...in fact we are ranked 24th. We are behind the statistics for male longevity by 5 years-for all our expensive healthcare!

The U.S. spent, in 2008, $2.4 TRILLION with 46 million people uninsured and 25 million underinsured. What is wrong with this picture? I don't use our insurance much, in fact. We have it for emergencies, and the USA has got good emergency care.

Did you know too, that medical debt is the major factor for half the bankruptcies filed?
How about if we wipe out the debt of anyone that isn't cured? How about if someone dies, they owe NOTHING.
What do you think would happen then? "We're so sorry, we did our medical best. Go in peace." Instead, we still ask that they lose everything that they have to pay a bill for something that didn't work out. I have a friend who's child died, and they in fact were obligated to continue to pay the debt! wow.

No other country excludes their citizens from adequate healthcare because of cost. 16% of our country cannot afford healthcare. That's an amazing statistic!

Here's the deal: don't believe any article. Read lots of them. And read the statistics yourself. Do NOT get you information from one source only, and don't get it from your hair dresser. Sorry folks. It is NOT the reliable source it used to be! :)
And-if you have an opinion, question it. Vigorously! Yourself! DISconfirm it. Try.

The #1 safest job industry in the nation is - healthcare. Why? Because we are being marketed into ill health.
We are being marketed into paying huge healthcare premiums based on fear marketing.
And we are NOT the healthiest nation by a long shot.
World's healthiest Countries list may just surprise you!

We want to believe the myth of being the best. We don't want to believe anything different, so we don't look. Pay attention and look for yourself.

Confirmation Bias and the brain

What we accept as a belief creates what is called 'confirmation bias' in our system. An opinion that is based on nothing more than the uninformed talk from others, can actually change our brain so that it begins to sort for confirming information, almost immediately.

It can be based on research and science, and substantiated opinions, or it can be stuff we gleened from chatrooms, the hairdressers or the casual flip through a magazine. Really? Yes.We are incredibly easy to influence, especially if it is charged with an emotion-especially fear.

Case in point, the emails that circulate endlessly. They are forwarded endlessly! No, microsoft is NOT giving out money if you forward the email. Neither is Nestle's, Hershey's, or any other company. Nope. Not IBM. Doesn't matter if it said "this came from my lawyer, my accountant, my best friend, my brother that is a specialist". Check it out yourself. Go to www.truthorfiction.com or www.snopes.com and check yourself. But no. It's easier to pass it on 'in case' it's true. Why are we so reluctant to do our own questioning?

I'm in the hairdressers. One woman says she has earthquake emergency kits in all cars with first aid stuff, power bars and bottles of water. Someone else inhales sharply and says "Oh no! Not bottles of water. Those will give you breast cancer! Didn't you hear?!" The whole salon comes to a silent stop. No breathing. Some agree, yes, they heard it. This is a thought meme. Whether or not it is true, it has now been introduced, much like a virus would if she had had a cold and sneezed! Each person's brain has grasped the emotional charge, and even if they think "oh come on-if there is an emergency and that is your only water, you'll drink it"...the unspoken thought was "even if it could give you breast cancer."

It's out there now, hanging in the room. Some had not heard that, some had. Those that had, confirmed it was true to those that had not heard it. It is now circulating in all their little hippocampi, getting potentiated around and around. Hardwiring into them.

Confirmation bias is now active. Their brain is going to start filtering FOR information that will confirm this and it will automatically filter OUT anything that does not.

See, we try to confirm, not disconfirm. We do it automatically. Consciously, as well as subconsciously. Peter Wason coined the term 'confirmation bias' and interestingly enough we use a different part of our brain when do it. When people around you hold a belief, you form a belief based on their belief, and your brain starts to accept confirming data, not disconfirming data. Automatically.

Haven't you heard people say the old 'three times' bit? They heard it three times, so it means it's real. You know where that superstition...er...tradition came from? The old testament. Testimony is only accepted as true if it has been witnessed three times. Once is not enough. Twice is not enough. Three times.

So, you hear about the water bottles at the hairdressers. You don't really think it's true. You overhear two women in the grocery store, coincidentally, while you are in line the next day saying the same thing. You must have missed the study and make a note to look it up. Then a few days later someone sees you with a plastic water bottle while you are out and says "don't leave that in your car. You heard about the new study right?" That's it! You might pish posh it, but the very next time you go to take a drink from the water bottle in your car...you hestitate.

It's not true, right? I mean, come on. It hasn't even been hot lately. How long does it have to be in the car? Maybe it doesn't mean anything? But you know, it isn't worth taking a chance is it? You don't drink the water. You throw it away in fact. I mean, it's not so hard to get a glass bottle for the car is it?

That hesitation means that you have formed a new health belief that is based on fear marketing, whether or not it is true, and that fast, you got walked into it. Each time you go to take a drink from a plastic bottle your brain says "danger". Do you think you are potentiating an attractor field? You could be. Is it helpful?

Here's the TRUTH girls and boys:
eated Bottles of Water Are Dangerous and Caused Sheryl Crow's Cancer-Fiction!

According to www.truthorfiction.com

Summary of the eRumor:
There are a several versions of this eRumor.

The first to appear on the Internet was a message that says a Dr. Edward Fujimoto from the Castle Hospital (no location mentioned) appeared on television and said plastic containers should not be used for heating foods in a microwave oven. He said this is especially true if the foods contain fat. The message claims that the combination of fats and plastics will release dioxins into the food and into the cells of the body with a risk of cancer. The doctor recommended using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic containers instead in order to avoid the dioxin. Prepared foods such as TV dinners should be taken out of plastic containers before heating.

The second version tells the story of a seventh-grade student who decided to do some experiments with microwave radiation on food wrapped in plastic. She is said to have enlisted the help of the National Center for "Toxicological" Research in Arkansas. The student allegedly found that not only are there carcinogens migrating from the plastic into food during microwaving, but other substances as well.

This eRumor also lists an article about Dr. Edward Fujimoto saying that he appeared on a TV station in Huntsville, Alabama.

Another version claims all this was in newsletters from Johns Hopkins University and Walter Reed Army Medical center.

Yet another version says that singer Sheryl Crow, who is suffering from breast cancer, got her cancer from drinking from plastic water bottles left in the sun and that got too hot and, as a result, were contaminated with dioxins.

The Truth:
TruthOrFiction.com has not been able to find any research that supports the fear that food can become contaminated with dioxins either from plastic wrap or plastic in microwave ovens.

Now folks, if heating in a microwave won't release those dangerous dioxins, then will getting warm in the car do it???

I got caught up the official one that said this though:

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins University- Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor:
A lengthy email about cancer and nutrition said to have been published by the famous Johns Hopkins University

The Truth:
The suggestions in the email do not appear to have come from any reputable medical source and Johns Hopkins University says it did not come from them.

In a published statement, the university said, "Johns Hopkins did not publish the email, entitled "Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins," nor do we endorse its contents. For more information about cancer, please read the information on our web site or visit the National Cancer Institute's web site at www.cancer.gov.

You know why this one got me? My husband was IN the hospital at the time, and every bit of his food was microwaved on plastic sealed containers and plates. I was vulnerable to immediately accepting this as TRUTH!

Now a year later, I can delete this from my internal files as not true, if I can. But it is a persistent one. I have even passed it on with the best of intentions, just like that woman in the hair salon. By the way-that hair salon water bottle story-truth. I was there. I heard it and watched it go around the room like lightning folks!

Watch your brain-someone has to!

iLEAP Brain Integration Sessions-taking it on the road!

I will be available for sessions in Cambridge, MA from Sept 14-18 through the Lydian Center for Integrated Healing.
If you are interested in brain integration evaluations, sessions and in trauma/stress release, please contact them directly to book appointments.

The Lydian Center

I will be available for sessions in Milwaukee, WI from Oct 2-6 through Dr. Virgina Dotson. If you are interested in brain integration evaluations, sessions and in trauma/stress release, please contact me to book.

Vibrational Medicine

"If physicians understood that emotional and spiritual blockages were indirectly responsible for organ dysfunction in the body, there would be more attention directed to dealing with a patient's psychotherapeutic needs and not just with the pharmaceutical and surgical aspects of a patient's care." pg 393 Vibrational Medicine/Richard Gerber

If you haven't picked this book up, I'd suggest it. He correlates so many of the energy healing techniques we are familiar with, as well as many others, and each time I pick it up I learn something new.

pg 201
"Electrographic scans of the body demonstrate that acupuncture points GLOW BRIGHTLY when their associated meridian is out of balance, thus allowing an alternative method of disease detection. Stimulation of acupuncture points produces changes in the nervous system because the meridians indirectly influence nerve pathways in the body. Such acupuncture-associated nerve changes are probably mediated by energy field fluctuations in the vicinity of the nerves and the glial cells which surround them."

Energy Kinesiology and Brain Integration directly works with and on these acupuncture points and meridians in a non-intrusive way using a tei-shin push stimulator and never needles.

The Science of Fear (marketing)

I feel so validated, vindicated and authenticated right now. I've been saying FOR YEARS, 15 to be precise, that we are being marketed IN to bad health, fear and fat, among other things, and to pay attention.

I've just read "The Science of Fear" by Daniel Gardner.

He sites some interesting medical statistics, which confirm what we've talked about in classes. "Many of the disease awareness campaigns are underwritten by the marketing departments of the big drug companies-not the organizations that are interested in public health. They also hire marketing departments that are expert at 'condition branding' whose skills include 'fostering the creation' of new medical disorders and dysfunctions."

Along those same lines, for instance, they shift the line between healthy and diseased, both in our mind's perception, and in the medical practice itself.

"Steven Wolosin and Lisa Schwartz, doctors and researchers at the Dartmouth Medical School, were among the first to analyze this process. In 1999 they published a paper examining proposals by various professional associations to change the thresholds for diagnosis of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity. In every case, the new thresholds made it easier for people to be qualified as having these conditions. They then calculated that if all the new standards were put in place, 87.5 million otherwise healthy Americans would suddenly be deemed to have at least one chronic condition-and 3/4 of all Americans would be considered 'diseased'." Instantly. It's called spinning the numbers, but this isn't about getting us to buy a brand of tissue, this is about our health state, which is in our mind.

"Erectile dysfunction, female sexual dysfunction, hair loss, osteoporosis, restless leg syndrome, shyness, are just a few of the conditions whose seriousness and prevalence have been systematically inflated by drug companies seeking bigger markets." How many of us have seen these ads? All of us. Every channel. And every one has a pill that you need to take. Let's ad depression, anxiety, and sleeplessness to the list as well. Arthritis is getting up there, and cholesterol. And then there are the ads for the early warnings like flu shots, mammograms, and vaccines for cervical cancer.

1. The critical first step in getting people to ask their doctors for a pill or test - language. He calls it 'medicalizing' a problem, and that's why we have so many medical ads in women's magazines next to the recipes now.

2. People will be more likely to conclude they have a problem if it is common, so they push statistics at us, but the statistics are often unsubstantiated or from reports that the medical community doesn't take seriously. They also quote from the center of the pack where the marketing dollar is, rather than from the truth. Case in point-breast cancer. I'll write more on that tomorrow.

3. And now you have pharmaceuticals treating risk factors and the risk factor becomes a disease itself which inflats the numbers because anyone taking the med is now considered a 'patient'.

This is selling sickness, and it's extremely dangerous because it bypasses our thinking mind and hits us in our emotional center-all good advertising does. It sells. And the bottom line of disease...is money.