Tai Chi Ch'uan

This is a form of ancient graceful exercise, yoga and it is also a martial art which is performed as a strengthening for the body and meditation for the mind. It also helps deportment and eases joints and strengthens muscles. Slow, purposeful moves increase energy, chi, and is popular throughout the world, especially in China where it is used as a community exercise, often performed in public. To assist wellbeing, reduce stress and provide grace and poise.

Low Self Esteem?

 

There are many causes of low self esteem. It is a largely unrecognised condition that controls your life, reduces your enjoyment of life, causes you to not succeed in life, either in the work environment or in personal relationships. Especially, you might allow yourself to be badly treated by other people - or treat other people badly - and you might not be ambitious for yourself or your children. You might not realise just how low your self esteem is. Working to improve your self worth is something you can do for yourself. 

Laurel Woodward - June

The month of June and the summer solstice! The sun is rising at its northernmost declination. In the northern hemisphere this is the longest day of the year. Also known as midsummer. The solstice is an ancient solar celebration and fire festival celebrating light and the power of the Sun. In places like Iceland, the night is so short that the sky does not become fully dark on Midsummer night. In Finland, bonfires were lit to ensure good luck and drive out evil spirits. In Latvia Midsummer Eve is known as herb evening, for just as the Sun is at its zenith, the energy of the many plants are very potent and are gathered at this time. 

Gather handfuls of fresh chamomile, lavender, and lemon balm on this day or night to make your own feel-good herbal blend. Stuff the herbs into a pouch and carry it in your left pocket to guard against negative words, or brew the herbs into an infusion and drink it to elevate thought and bolster a good mood. 

Ho'oponopono

'I love you' 'I am sorry' 'please forgive me' 'thank you'

These four exclamations are the basis of Ho'oponopono, an ancient Polynesian Kahuna method of healing. The belief that mistakes, errors, stress, anger, guilt, resentment, grief break the Kapu spiritual laws and create ill health is the basis of this practice. The answer is to be open about our faults, seek forgiveness and forgive others. Defining the transgression, prayer and restitution forbwrongdoing is the answer. Parents who are unhappy can make their children unwell, can cause social disorder and other difficulties. Ho'oponopono is a mental cleansing, providing restitution; the words mean correct, good, upright,  oral, just, virtuous, fair, restoration, righteous, amend, release, rectify, adjust, tidy up, make orderly, ought, should, must.

Book Review

Book Review: Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them by Dr Susan Forward and Joan Torres. 

We each choose the best way we can to deal with difficulties in our lives, and these patterns are often unconscious because they begin in childhood, either inherited from our significant others, or from ways we develop through books, films and other influences. Many are maladaptions, that is, not the best way to deal with situations. Take for instance, when someone is angry with us, whether we escalate that anger, or manage to reduce it so we can get through the impasse to an improvement. 

Many of us in childhood, have to be the prettiest, cleverest, richest, most intelligent, most caring, most desirable, funniest, hardworking, the one who wants attention, the one who is the quietest, etcetera. In our adult life, we still might be playing those old stressful recordings, with some being vain, jealous, greedy, hurtful, needing to be the exception, to be a good provider, to duck and dive, the highest achiever, to get more than their share of life’s securities and comforts and flashy gizmos, and to be the most entitled, in the demand to achieve what once their parents desired or expected of them. We live life under huge stresses to achieve these things. 

Weight Loss Hypnosis

 

This is a weight-loss hypnosis video created by Zoe Featherstone with text by Wendy Stokes for salt, sugar and fat reduction. 

Join the Wildlife Campaign

You can get involved with saving the wonderful species of animals and plants that have graced our planet for millennia. Many species have inspired humans in inventions, such as radar from bats, and aerodynamics from birds. Many plant and animal species have provided potent medicines and more research is ongoing to use plant and animal chemicals for health. 

The two major threats to our planet’s animal species are loss of territory and slaughtering for body parts. We can support their protection by challenging the fashion industry, confronting the lies presented as ‘traditional’ medicine, stop the decorative uses of body parts of hunted species, and by campaigning against taking animals from the wild to keep as pets in extremely poor and unhealthy conditions. 

All species on our planet are interdependent, when we lose one species, the loss has a knock on effect where others also become extinct. 60% of the planet’s mammals, birds, reptiles and fish are endangered and on the verge of extinction. Goodwill Ambassadors are coming forward, such as Aiden Gallagher, Nadya Hutagalung, Wang Junkai and Dia Mirza. 

Jaime Girones - Ancestral Offer

 We honour our ancestors and dead loved ones, and their lives at this time of year, and we thank them for their blessing, as without it, our harvest would not have been possible. 

     We gather with our family and friends and talk about our ancestors. We visit their graveyards. We set up offerings for them. We cook special meals and share our food with them by setting plates for them. During this time we can take the opportunity to think, symbolically of our own harvests, of all that we have accomplished in the past year, and our successful projects, and all the things in our lives that have prospered. And at the same time, we think of those who came before us, and how their lives contributed to what we have today - and to our rich harvests. We have a great variety of ancestors. We have ancestors of blood and chosen family, and those who appear in our family tree. We also have ancestors of space, those who have lived where we live and their stories that shaped our history. And we have ancestors of spirit, and those lives that inspired or shaped our thoughts.

Chief Seattle

“Yonder sky that has wept tears of compassion upon my people for centuries untold, and which to us appears changeless and eternal, may change. Today is fair. Tomorrow it may be overcast with clouds. My words are like the stars that never change. Whatever Seattle says, the great chief at Washington can rely upon with as much certainty as he can upon the return of the sun or the seasons. The white chief says that Big Chief at Washington sends us greetings of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him for we know he has little need of our friendship in return. His people are many. They are like the grass that covers vast prairies. My people are few. They resemble the scattering trees of a storm-swept plain. The great, and I presume -- good, White Chief sends us word that he wishes to buy our land but is willing to allow us enough to live comfortably. This indeed appears just, even generous, for the Red Man no longer has rights that he need respect, and the offer may be wise, also, as we are no longer in need of an extensive country.

How To Breathe!

Why do singing lessons need to discuss the way to breathe properly? Isn't breathing just part of being alive and something that we do all the time without even thinking about it. While we all breathe, not everyone breathes properly, and one of the secrets to singing success is being able to breathe properly.

Proper breathing is one of the key aspects to learning to sing. Breathing correctly affects the quality of your voice tone and also helps you sing long notes when you need to. One of the most common mistakes made by people when they first sign up for singing lessons is that they think that breathing for singing is the same as breathing for, say, aerobics or regular activity.

Sound Healing

 Music as Medicine is an ancient art and is both enjoyable and life enhancing. By listening to healing sounds, we can realign our energy systems, reduce stress and increase health

Anxiety and Panic

Panic attacks are very common and are hugely disabling. People who experience a panic attack often feel that they are going to die. Going outside the house, meeting people, just waking up in the morning to face the day, can trigger an attack. Until a panic attack is defined and dealt with, it is a crushing and terrifying illness. It seems to run in families. Even some doctors do not understand, they hand out tablets which have side effects and can cause addiction. If this is happening to you or someone you know, there is a great deal this person can do to help themselves.

Interview with Aleesha Farhan of Safe Healing Centre

Good day friends! 

Here follows an interview with Aleesha Farhan, the Founder of the new Safe Healing Centre, a complimentary and alternative holistic wellness space which encourages people from all walks of life to visit for a chat, to try personal therapies and treatments, to attend a course or group meeting, or to buy some specially selected hand made, organic and plastic free items from the shop. The address is: Safe Healing Centre, 11 Brook Parade, Chigwell, Greater London. IG7 6PE. The centre is 5 mins walk from Chigwell station on the Central Line. Tel: 07425 577753 Visit the Website: https://safehealingcentre.com

     Aleesha is a trained psychologist and mental health advisor. She has an international private client base and she offers a range of treatment options for anxiety, depression, grief, and other common issues. As we know, our mental, emotional, and physical health are linked together and are therefore treated together instead of separately, as in allopathic medicine. Whereas a general practitioner would prescribe a pharmaceutical drug, at the Safe Healing Centre, other, more natural methods are used, such as yoga, plant based oils and tinctures, reflexology, massage, breathing techniques, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, talking and problem solving support. This might include exercises to perform, or homeopathy to take at home. 

The Grail - Relic of an Ancient Religion

Article written by the author, Simon Andrew Stirling: 

“The Grail” was written by me with an unspoken idea ever in mind – that paganism is the belief system of the future. Modern paganism is often a reaction to organised religion, with its intolerance and inconsistencies, and to the destructive materialism of a capitalist world.  The paganism practised by earlier societies was nothing less than a matter of survival.  Without water, for example, we die very quickly.  Along with those other elements – air, fire, earth – water, clean drinking water, is an absolute must.  And yet our attitudes to water are odd: we have commercialised it, privatised it, polluted it and treated it with chemicals.  Ever since shrines were de-sacralised during the Reformation, water has been nothing but a commodity.  An early pagan would be unable to comprehend our reckless behaviour towards the water we need to survive.

What is Focusing?

  

Eugene Gendlin developed this technique with other psychologists at the University of Chicago in the 1960s as a result of research that was conducted between therapists and their clients. They discovered that the clients who were in touch with their felt sense achieved greater and quicker recovery from distress. Focusing helps us to feel what is happening at the present time, creating a greater sense of truth and reality.  

The GROW Approach to Coaching

Craniosacral Specialist

 

Hugh Milne is Scottish and was born into a family of Osteopaths (his mother, father, grandfather and 2 uncles). Became a highly successful private specialist in Kensington early in his life but was hearing the voice of Spirit and became interested in psychodrama, gestalt, rolfing and other therapies and personal growth disciplines. Travelled to Bombay and met Bhagvan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) and spent seven years as the guru's bodyguard, in India and in Oregon. He returned to UK to become a writer, spiritual teacher and specialist practitioner.  

Ching Tso - Chinese Meditation

The Chinese term for meditation is 'Ching Tso', which translated means 'sitting still with a peaceful mind'. Meditation is the training of the inner senses of the body and mind. It is as rigorous as the training undertaken by an athlete or an artist. By helping us to think clearly and concentrate fully, Ching Tso enables us to commune totally with our God, without distracting or artifical thoughts. The highest and most advanced goal of meditation is to gain 'enlightenment'. We want to go beyond the limitations of our knowledge and our three-dimensional view of the world. 

Whirling Dervishes

     

This whirling dance of the dervishes is conducted to produce a trance state where the dancers gain meditation union with the Divine. The word 'dervish' is a 'holy man' of the Islamic faith who follows the mystic path of the Sufis. The dervish, Jalal al Din Rumi, was taught whirling by Shams of Tabriz. He was a Sufi poet from Persia was born in Northern Afghanistan in 1207 and wrote 25000 poems of great wisdom and profound spirituality, often based on love and transporting the reader to mystical states. Rashad Field travelled widely through the Himalayas and also studied Sufism in Turkey where he was initiated into the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes. He is the author of a series of esoteric books which are highly recommended for those interested in mysticism. 

Moon Goddess Diary Spring

Sound medicine. Sounds are powerful healers. They have a vibrational frequency that flows through your whole body when you listen to them and their medicinal properties help to clear, shift and transform your body mind and soul. Choose a sound that fills soothing to your soul. A classical music piece, a ballad, a meditation music, monks chanting, singing Bowls, whales singing, Waves crashing on the shore, wind chimes, rain on a tin roof, opera and so on. Use your sound medicine when you are craving some deep nurturing or a need to connect to your inner place of peace, joy and calm. Allow the music to soothe you with vibrations of love.