Our Dreams are Healing Remedies

Are you a dreamer? Whether you call yourself a dreamer or not, experts say that everyone has several dreams every night. Only those dreams that occur right when you wake up, you are likely to recall. Many are just forgotten. Do you know that how you remember your dreams depends upon your health, your personality, your motivation, new skills, and the part of the world you live in.

by Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN

I know some people that learned to use their dreams to solve problems, stimulate creativity and desire to be better, and improve their relationships. Other people often ignore and forget about their dreams. Either way, the dreams will come every night for a couple of hours to help you store your memories, sort your feelings, new skills you acquired during day, and to rest your brain.
 
“Dreams are illustrations from the book you soul is writing about you,” said Marsha Norman, an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist, who received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Night, Mother. The dreams have sparked many genius ideas of the world’s most famous and talented people that later were transferred into the timeless books, music, art masterpieces, brilliant innovations, scientific discoveries and positive actions.

Listen now to Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” Don’t you think this chef d’oeuvre was written by him because of his pleasant dream? You bet, it came to him from one of his dreams. Beethoven was at this time in love with Giulietta Guiccicardi and dedicated his Sonata No.14, known as “Moonlight Sonata.” Their love relationship came to the end because she chose Count Wenzel von Gallenberg, himself an amateur composer. Their marriage was unhappy, but Beethoven never wanted to unite with her again and forgive her betrayal.

However, this the most acclaimed and influential composers of all time gave to the world his talent and one of the best musical compositions, the unforgettable “Moonlight Sonata.” You can listen to it in the morning when you wake up, and in the middle of a day when you feel upset or unhappy, experience loss of energy, or when you are struggling with problems or disease. You can listen to the “Moonlight Sonata” in the evening before you go to sleep. It’ll calm you down, enhance peace in your soul, and give you a sound sleep. You never get tired of this Beethoven’s timeless masterpiece.

Do you know that Socrates studied music, and the arts because of his insistent dream? Experts say that if you were forced to go without your dreams for more than just a few days, you would become irritable and confused, and you might even hallucinate.

“They tease me now, telling me it was only a dream. But does it matter whether it was a dream or reality, if the dream made known to me the truth?” –Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), a Russian writer, essayist and philosopher, known for his novels Crime and Punishment, the Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov.

Read our next post about how the dreams can play a major role and inspire different religions, have the power to make heroes, motivate scientific discovery, spark literary and musical genius, and forever change the course of history.
References: The Little Black Book of Dreams: The Essential Guide to Dream Interpretation by Nannette Stone, Peter Pauper Press, Inc., New York, 2006;

Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Living by Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN, Aurora Publishers, Inc., 2008.

Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN is an award-winning author, publisher, consultant, herbalist, researcher and entrepreneur. Svetlana is perhaps best known for writing her latest book, 2009 Gold Mom’s Award Winner, Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Life, which has become a best-selling book worldwide. Visit her blog at http://mamashomeremedies.com/

How to Take a Belly Breath

Stressed out? It’s time to stop and take a deep belly breath. Here’s how:

Place one or both hands on your belly. Rest your hands there lightly and notice the motion of your belly as you breathe. Again, think of your favorite smells, or loves, and notice what happens in your abdomen as you breathe. Continue this way for a dozen breaths or so–don’t count them, just go for a minute.

Then place one hand on your belly and the other on your heart area, between your nipples. Rest your hands and notice what a comfort it is. There may be a very small, delicate good feeling in just having your hands in touch with these centers of breath. Do this for at least three minutes either sitting comfortably or lying down.

10 Tips for Staying Healthy

10 Tips for Staying Healthy & Well In Times of Stress and Uncertainty

With doom and gloom surrounding the economy, it would be easy to internalize the stress around us and let it grind us down. But no matter how the financial meltdown has touched your life, you don’t have to let it affect your spiritual, mental, and physical well- being.

Each week on my radio show The Good Life with Jesse Dylan, I talk with the world’s leading experts in health of mind, body and spirit to give listeners the latest insights into personal health and transformational living. My new companion book, The Good Life with Jesse Dylan, brings together the best information of the past three years from outstanding guests. Here’s a distillation of the book’s “Top 10” tips.

1. The 35/40 Rule
You don’t have to be obese to face health risks with fat. Even if your height and weight fit your recommended body mass index (BMI), you can still have increased risk for diabetes, cancer and heart disease if your fat is in the wrong place – your lower abdomen. Wrap a tape measure around your waist at belly-button level. Women larger than 35 inches should take notice, as should men over 40 inches.

2. Eat for nutrition
Take a stand with diet. Avoid food rich in saturated fats, make the move from processed to whole grains, make sure you’re eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables every day, and get back to cooking real food with fresh ingredients.

3. Fitness in 10 minutes
California exercise guru Sean Foy has developed a new way to meet your exercise requirements in just 10 minutes a day. Using his 4-3-2-1 high-intensity interval training program, you get 4 minutes of aerobics, 3 minutes of resistance exercises, 2 minutes of core, and one minute of stretching and breathing for a complete workout.

4. Take your D3 and omega-3
Reduce cancer risk with 1000 IU of vitamin D3 each day, and decrease your risk of heart disease and Alzheimer’s with 600 mg daily of DHA (omega-3 essential fatty acid). Visit your local health store or the vitamin department of your supermarket or pharmacy for advice on good DHA and omega-3 supplements.

5. Discover adaptogenic herbs
Make food your medicine. Modern-day plant medicine researcher Chris Kilham recommends four adaptogenic herbs for enhanced endurance, stamina, strength, alertness, mental function and immunity: schizandra berry, Rodiola rosea, ashwaghanda, and eleuthero root (known previously as Siberian ginseng).

6. Remember ginger and garlic
Make tea with a little fresh-shredded ginger root and you have a powerful healing elixir for indigestion, sinus congestion, and cold prevention. Eat garlic whenever you can – it lowers bad LDL cholesterol, improves HDL cholesterol, reduces high blood pressure, and helps prevent colds.

7. Stick with green tea
Green tea is one of the most effective and least expensive natural remedies. Drink a cup or two every night to lower your cholesterol, reduce cancer risk, and increase your protection against UVA and UVB rays.

8. Heal yourself with laughter
Laughter improves immune function and accelerates healing. Dr. Bernie Siegel has been teaching patients how to heal with joy and laughter for nearly 30 years. One of his favorite games is WWLD – What Would Lucy Do? Like Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, he advises you to lighten up, let yourself be a kid again, and kindle laughter with harmless jokes and spontaneous fun. Learn to love laughter – it’s powerful medicine!

9. Live with purpose
Rediscover your life purpose each and every day. Champion triathlete Jim MacClaren and philanthropist Azim Jamal tell us to awaken each morning determined to “choose life” and live with purposeful thought and action. If we are parents, we might feel a sense of purpose in being a healthy example for our children. If we are career professionals, we can recognize the importance of eating and exercising right so we’re in the best physical and mental state to perform our work. If we are spiritual seekers, we want to nurture our body and mind as a vehicle for our inner work. Think about your purpose.

10. Meditate
Meditation improves mood, mental function, immune system response, and even personal insight (like life purpose!). Find a quiet place, sit comfortably, and close your eyes. Start with a few long, deep breaths and slow exhalations, then simply let your body dictate the pace of your breathing. Allow thoughts to come and go, watching them without judgment as though you’re “witness” to their content. Ten minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes – all you’re looking for is a few seconds of connection with Silence.

We live in challenging times, and it’s easy to neglect our health if we obsess about our bank balance, the rent or our mortgage. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Use these 10 tips to invest in something that’s sure to outlast any economic downturn: You!

For more on Jesse Dylan or to hear him talk about his new book The Good Life please check this out www.jessedylan.com

Guilt as an Ally

Is there anything you’ve been feeling guilty about? Have you slipped with your New Year’s resolutions? Or maybe you feel guilty you didn’t make any? Or is there a task you tell yourself you’re going to do but keep putting it off? 

Many of us have been conditioned to use guilt in unhealthy ways. It is not necessary, useful, or enjoyable to use guilt to beat yourself up. After all, you are doing the best that you can! 

Rather than an enemy, experience guilt as an ally supporting you in finding an avenue to bliss. Consider guilt a friendly reminder that you are out of alignment or integrity with yourself. If you experience guilt, greet it as a friend. Imagine your new friend as an ally simply tapping you on the shoulder letting you know “Buddy, you’re out of alignment.” 

If we say we are going to do something (internal commitment) but then we don’t follow through (outer action) we get out of alignment with ourselves and further away from our bliss. This could be guilt from an un-realized resolution like “I am going to eat less carbs” or a personal aspiration “I am going to meditate everyday!” or a specific action “I am going to clean out the garage.” When your inner commitment doesn’t match your outer actions, you may experience guilt. Great! That’s wonderful, it’s a healthy reminder. 

Next time guilt taps you on the shoulder, thank it, and find out where you are out of alignment and then adjust. 

Now here’s the icing on the cake. Getting into alignment doesn’t mean you have to do the thing you said you are going to do. To get back in integrity, you can adjust the inside or the outside. So instead of cleaning out the garage as an outside action, you can simply renegotiate your agreement with yourself, telling yourself inside that you are not going to do that (I like to add it to my “Someday Maybe” List, a wonderful trick I learned from David Allen or “I am going to meditate everyday!” can be renegotiated to “I don’t think that’s realistic, how about we meditate at least four times a week?”

Guilt can support you in re-navigating towards greater bliss by moving into alignment in yourself. Being in alignment or in integrity with ourselves produces greater energy and vitality, greater upliftment, and a healthier and happier relationship with ourselves. 

Practice:

If you experience guilt this week: 

1. Lovingly welcome it. “Hi… ”

2. Ask Guilt where or how you are out of alignment (how your outer actions aren’t matching your internal agreement).

3. Decide which you’d like to adjust (inside agreement / thought or the outer action).

4. Adjust accordingly. 

5. Thank Guilt for pointing it out.

In the comment area below, please share with us, your comments about this blog and your experience with this topic. We also encourage you to let us know about other areas that you’d like feedback, support, and coaching with as you continue to find your bliss.    

Dr. Cindy Lou Golin is a Life Coach with over 15 years of experience in the field of personal growth, offering an eclectic and expansive repertoire of personal growth techniques. In addition to working with clients over the phone, she has private practices in both L.A. and Miami Beach. She has a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology, Master’s degrees in Counseling Psychology and Spiritual Psychology, as well as graduate certificates in Clinical Psychology, Creative Expression, Soul-Centered Leadership, and Spiritual Guidance. In addition to Life Coaching, Dr. Golin facilitates workshops and corporate trainings, teaches graduate school courses, is a business coach, certified Fire Walk instructor and is founder of Reel Discovery, a program that teaches and facilitates the process of movie-going as a personal growth practice. For more information visit www.cindylougolin.com

Kaya Regeneration Therapy

written by Rajkurma Reghunathan, M.D

Kaya Regeneration Therapy, one of the techniques used for longevity in Siddha Vaidya is practiced in Kerala, “the emerald state,” in South India. This special technique of body treatment is traditionally used for physical, emotional and sexual health. It enhances vitality, physical beauty, functionality and productivity. As part of the broad spectrum of medical practices which constitute the Siddha Vaidya medical system, it acts as an immune-modulator, cyto-protector and physical regenerator. This translates into such things as remedies for stroke management following the critical period, and improvement in cases of scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosis. It also helps past traumas that continue to cause pain but register no physical evidence. Read more

Ayurveda, a System of Self-Healing

written by felicia m. tomasko

“Ayurveda makes life more comfortable, since Ayurveda is about creating balance through following Ayurvedic principles, our food and our life can taste better, smell better, and feel better,” says Jennifer Workman, registered dietician, Ayurvedic expert and author of Stop Your Cravings. Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning “science of life” that describes the ancient medicinal system of India, first outlined in written works thousands of years old and still widely used today. Read more

The Worst Kind of Hangover

written by christine hassler

Can you relate to any of the following symptoms: you feel like you are in a funk that you can’t get out of; you have low energy and trouble focusing on things; TiVo has become your hobby; you are starting to lose hope; you are irritable, anxious, or unmotivated?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of the above, you may be suffering from syndrome plaguing thousands which I call an: “Expectation Hangover”.

An expectation hangover is far worse than any tequila hangover you’ve ever had because no amount of aspirin or greasy food can cure it. Read more

Sound Salvation for Uterine Fibroids

Acoustic surgery with high frequency ultrasound waves is revolutionizing the treatment of uterine fibroids (non-cancerous masses located in the uterus), which cause painful and chronic symptoms in one in every four U.S. women. Ultrasound treatments have long been used to break up kidney stones, soothe muscular spasms and speed recovery in bodies that have sustained traumatic injury. Now, ultrasound waves can perform surgery without incisions, just like futuristic healers Dr. “Bones” McCoy and Nurse Chapel used to do on the Star Trek TV series. Read more