THE TRUE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

We are in the midst of the holiday season. In the past, this was the worst time of year for me. This was the time of the year that I put great expectations on myself so that, in my mind, I would experience the perfect Christmas.

I had to do the shopping. I had to decorate the house. I had to bake the myriad varieties of Christmas cookies. I had to send Christmas cards.I had to wrap the gifts and I had to decorate the Christmas tree. I had to DO IT ALL! And I had to do it...by myself! Somehow I thought, by getting ready for the "most wonderful time of the year", by myself, then I would have the satisfaction and fulfillment of my accomplishments. And then, I could be merry.

The problem was, as you might have guessed, that I wasn't merry, or happy, or even fulfilled. I was stressed, frustrated, angry and exhausted! By Christmas day, I was ready to crawl into bed and stay there until New Years Eve!

As I look back, I realized that by doing everything myself, I created my own isolated state and sacrificed my well being. I was depressed! I had forgotten the true meaning and spirit of Christmas! I had forgotten the true meaning of why we celebrate the birth of Christ. Christ brought to us the birth of a new awakening of consciousness and new awareness within each of us. Jesus Christ brought to us the awakening of the Christ... within each of us.

The true spirit of Christmas is about seeing each other with love. The true spirit of Christmas is about seeing each other with compassion. The true spirit of Christmas is about seeing each other with gratitude. the true spirit of Christmas is about seeing each other with forgiveness.

The spirit of Christmas is about celebrating the joy of abundance! The joy of gift giving (with no strings attached), is the celebration of abundance! The joy of a holiday feast is the celebration of abundance! The joy of sharing the feast with family and good times with family and friends is the celebration of abundance!

And now that I'm aware of the true spirit of Christmas, the holiday season has become more relaxed, more peaceful, and yes, more fun! And I also became aware that this is a feeling that can be celebrated each and every day.

When we see ourselves with love, joy, compassion, forgiveness, gratitude and abundance, then our lives becomes a celebration. When we see each other with love,
compassion, joy, gratitude, forgiveness and abundance, then each day becomes a gift.

Each day becomes a gift... of miracles.

I wish the spirit of Christmas be with you during this holiday season and each and every day!

NECTAR ESSENCES NATURAL REMEDIES & AROMATHERAPY

I discovered Breathe Me 100% Natural Remedies by Nectar Essence at my local Dean’s Natural Food Market (Basking Ridge, NJ) and I am hooked! These delightful little bottles (.11 fl. oz.) are made from 100% organic essential oils, flower essences and pure heavenly healing power!  And best of all, they are very reasonably priced, last for a long time, and they work!

Here is a review of my favorites:

DECONGEST IMMUNITY

I teach piano so it is important for me to have a harmonious environment in my studio. So when a student comes for a lesson with a nagging cough, sneezing or has a runny nose, I whip out Decongest Immunity, put two drops in my palms, rub my hands together, cup hands over my nose and mouth and breathe deeply. In an instant, the room fills up with this amazing floral herbal fragrance and I feel protected! I like to share this with my students who have cold or allergy symptoms, too. Within minutes of deep breathing this healing scent, this little miracle worker starts to do its work. My student's coughing and sneezing noticeably subside and our lessons resume on a happy note!

SUPER-IMMUNITY

I take this little germ buster with me when I’m traveling by plane. On my last trip to the West coast, there was a child with a bad cold in the row in front of me and a few passengers coughing and sneezing on the plane. In the past, I would worry about picking up nasty germs and getting sick. But not anymore! I use Super-Immunity to protect me and boost up my immune system. So whether I'm traveling or at home, Super-Immunity keeps the germs away so I can relax and enjoy my day. I love to share a good thing so I stockpile Super-Immunity and give it away to friends and family, too!

FOCUS, BRAIN-BOOST

My absolutely favorite scent! I love the intoxicating and biting combination of spearmint, peppermint and lemon essential oils!  This is my wake up and go remedy that helps me to focus and concentrate when I’m detoxing or when I’m having a stressful day. One of my high school students was having problems focusing during her piano lesson. It turns out, she was also having difficulty concentrating when she was practicing at home. So I gave her a bottle of Focus, Brain-Boost and suggested that she inhale it before she practices. It has been a month since she started to use it and I already see a big improvement in her focus and concentration.

ENERGY, MOOD-BOOST

“Fights fatigue by increasing energy naturally without caffeine.” Sweet and citrusy bergamot, red grapefruit, lemon, blood orange are the main ingredients that gives me an energetic boost of joy! Whenever I’m a little tired or just feeling under the weather, this wonderful remedy boosts me right into my happy place.

SLEEP

“Calms the restless mind so you can fall asleep easier.” Let’s face it. We are thinking thousands of thoughts a day and sometimes it’s hard to quiet your mind, relax and fall fast asleep. Sleep is my answer to calming me down and transporting me into a peaceful state of relaxation. Lavender and vetiver (a fragrant grass from India) are the main essential oils in Sleep that can soothe my chattering mind and help me sleep like a baby!

For more information and an ingredients list, go to Nectar Essences . They also make natural remedies for kids, too!

AUTONOMIC RESPONSE TESTING FOR CHRONIC SICKNESS

“Autonomic Response Testing  is a comprehensive diagnostic system that has helped to transform many practices in the US and abroad into healing centers - and helped many practitioners to become holistic physicians.”

                       ~ from Mercola Articles   The Best Muscle Testing System I Know Of

In My Healing Story, I give a little intro to muscle testing in order to to find imbalances and problems in the body. Both Dr. Sharon Rasa and Dr. Michael Gurevich use muscle testing in their practices, specifically Autonomic Response Testing.

Autonomic Response Testing is a highly sensitive, refined and reliable muscle testing biofeedback system that was developed by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt,* a brilliant and gifted medical pioneer who teaches Autonomic Response Testing on both the East and West coast. Both Dr. Rasa and Dr. Gurevich studied Autonomic Response Testing with Dr. Klinghardt.

When I was seeing Doc Brown, the investigative doctor who diagnosed me with chronic Lyme back in 1998, the main form of testing was blood tests. And these were the tests that the insurance company paid for. But the tests were not accurate. Especially, when you have many chronic symptoms that are confusing and difficult to treat!  Sometimes my blood work would be fine, yet I was feeling far from fine.

It wasn’t until I started to see Dr. Rasa, that I realized that blood work wasn’t always reliable. And the reason is that pathogens can be mainly found in soft tissue and not in the blood. So if you are chronically sick and go to a Western trained doctor who relies on blood work to diagnose chronic symptoms, you may be misdiagnosed and therefore, mistreated. This is a common scenario for many patients who eventually turn to alternative practitioners for help.

Through Autonomic Response Testing, Dr. Rasa found mercury in my thyroid and brain. And again, through more testIng, found the cause - 4 amalgam fillings that I’ve had since I was a kid. I had them removed by a biological dentist a few months later.

When I first came to Dr. Gurevich, he tested me (Autonomic Response Testing) and found I was still positive for Lyme, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Epstein Barr virus,  Bartonella and Candida Albicans.  Through Autonomic Response Testing, Dr. Gurevich tracked my progress while I was on the Allergie-Immun therapy.  I had been on the drops for a few months and feeling sick, exhausted and weak every day, so he tested me to see if the drops were good for me. They tested well so I stayed on the therapy.    

Mycoplasma pneumoniae - a persistent bacteria that stayed with me for years - was the first bacteria that AIlergie-Immun helped me to eliminate. How did I know this? I was still positive for mycoplasma when I started the therapy. But within a few months, I was negative and it never came back.

Dr. Gurevich also found that I had adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, parasites, more food sensitivities (including gluten, dairy, corn, soy and sugar),  unresolved emotional conflicts, gastrointestinal dysfunction, electromagnetic radiation sensitivities and a high level of mercury in my brain, thyroid, liver, sinuses, intestinal tract and kidneys.

Through Autonomic Response Testing and BAH (Bioresonance Analysis of Health - another advanced diagnostic system), Dr. Gurevich was able to detect all of the above and come up with a treatment plan. And one by one, each issue was resolved.

This video is a demonstration of Autonomic Response Testing by Dr. Douglas Phillips

I highly recommend everyone with chronic sickness  to consider going to an  alternative practitioner who is certified in Autonomic Response Testing. More and more doctors and health practitioners are learning alternative testing, like Autonomic Response Testing and BAH, in order to help their patients heal.  They are worth their weight in gold and can lead chronically sick patients to the root cause of each of their symptoms.

*Louisa Williams, MC, DC, ND and Yoshiaki Omura, MD aided Dr. Klinghardt in developing Autonomic Response Testing.

How I Got Rid of My Allergies

I used to be plagued and tormented by all kinds of allergies. When I was a kid, I developed  food allergies. I broke out in hives whenever I had chocolate,  peanuts or tomatoes. As I got older, the food allergies took a backseat to environmental allergies. After taking an allergy test, I found out that I was allergic to grass and tree pollen, flowering trees, mold, all kinds of weeds and my worst offender, dust mites.

And my symptoms were the common allergy symptoms: itchy, watery, and irritated eyes, stuffy nose and sinuses, chronic sinus infections from all the stuffiness, sore throats from the post nasal drip, and debilitating sinus headaches. I was miserable!

When I was sickened by chronic Lyme, my allergy symptoms got worse. The antibiotics that I took helped my sinus infections temporarily.  Allergy relief medications were totally useless.

My true relief came when the season was over!

In the past, this environmentally friendly park would have been off limits for me during allergy season. Today,       I enjoy my morning walks surrounded by the natural beauty and ...the weeds!

But then in 2010, I decided to take a leap of faith and try a new self-help therapy from Germany that I believed could help me. The therapy is called Allergie-Immun - a holistic bio-energetic therapy that corrects imbalances that lead to chronic conditions.  

So, you’re probably wondering, how did I find this therapy?

Out of desperation!

At that time, my younger son had been diagnosed with Lyme and had been taking antibiotics for almost a year with no improvement. So I checked out Lymenet - a site for information and support for those who are suffering from Lyme and other chronic conditions - and followed some bloggers who were taking the Allergie-Immun drops.

The problem was that no one knew exactly how the drops worked. The drops were energized. That means there were frequencies added to them. The  AI website is literally translated from German which makes it a bit awkward to read and a little hard to understand. This was not traditional Western medicine! What sold me on the therapy was the explanation of the cause of chronic conditions and how this therapy can help you to  get your health back. I had a good feeling that this new and revolutionary treatment would work for my son and eventually, for me.

The way it worked was that the user submits a DNA sample (saliva) approximately each month together with current symptoms and health issues.The lab would analyze the sample and send corresponding drops to correct whatever it is disrupting the immune system function at that time. New drops are sent with a personal biochemical and energetic analysis each month. The analysis would reveal chemical, biological and energetic disruptions in the body. And the drops are designed to correct each disruption.

Some bloggers were experiencing weird emotional and physical symptoms, like constant runny noses for months, achy, teary eyes or rashes that seemed to come out of nowhere. This is called a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction.

In order for your immune system to get back into tip top shape, a healing crisis (also known as a

Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction) is always inevitable and in a way, necessary. When the immune system starts to correct itself, the toxins, that are making you chronically sick,  are being eliminated from your body.  So what does that mean? Your symptoms will get worse, before they get better. This can take weeks,  months or longer, depending on the severity of your symptoms. My chronic symptoms hung on while I was on the drops. It took me almost two years for me to feel really good.

So was it worth it?

The therapy costs about $450.00. Euros. That winds up being about 500.00 US dollars.

My son was on Allergie-Immun for 1½ years. It has now been 7 years since he was on the therapy, and he is still symptom-free, healthy and active. (See Zack's Healing Story for more info)

I admit, I was in worse shape. It took me three years to be symptom-free plus I needed other therapies such as neural therapy (to help me eliminate the toxins),  heavy metal detox , change of diet, acupuncture and releasing past emotional trauma.

I am happy to say that Allergie-Immun helped to heal my Lyme, the Epstein-Barr virus, and other persistent infections, such as Mycoplasma Pneumonia, Bartonella, Babesia,  and of course, my ALLERGIES!

And I feel very blessed to be healthy again and thinking in a more harmonious, healthier, balanced and even wiser way.

You see, my experience taught me something. The allergens are still out there. Mold grows where it’s dark and damp, weeds are part of our landscape, flowering trees are part of spring and pathogens are just about everywhere!

But I see them differently now.

I see them as just a part of our world. Nothing more and nothing less. They don’t have to bother you. They don’t have to make you suffer.  The weeds, grass, mold, pollen and pathogens  are not out to make you miserable. They don’t have power over you. They don’t have minds and they can’t think.

But we can!

And we have the power to change.

I did.

And it was so worth it!  

For more information,  click Allergie-Immun for the website,  and my posts,  The Allergie-Immun Drops,  An Intro to Allergie- Immun and Decoding Allergie Immun.

A NEW WAY OF THINKING

I am reading a book that has profoundly changed my way of thinking. For me, it has answered the question of who we are, why we are here, why we suffer, and what is our purpose. The book has also introduced the concept that we have two different thought processes - ego thought and divine thought.

Ego thoughts are derived from fear, which manifests as anger, hate, guilt and resentment. They bounce from the past to the future.

Divine thoughts come from love, expressed as joy, gratitude, compassion, and are always in the present mind.

Back in 2011, I remember Dr. Gurevich telling me “it’s time to change the way you think.”  I remember being shocked at these words.  “My thinking is fine,” I thought. But I was so wrong. At that time, I wasn’t aware of my thoughts. I had no idea that I was engulfed in ego thought and that most of these subconscious thoughts were looping around in my mind and repeating the same mantra over and over again...I am a victim, I am being punished, I’m not good enough!!

I started to become aware of my thoughts when I was washing the dinner dishes one night. All of a sudden, my thoughts churned up past feelings of being pissed off at either my mom, or a childhood friend, or someone in my past that I believed had wronged me.

One evening, when I was preparing dinner, the thought that I was pissed off at my mother for something she said to me when I was in high school, popped into my head. It was as if my mom was right next to me, talking in an authoritative, unloving voice of disapproval of one of my  friends at that time. I remember feeling suffocated and trapped. She did not want to hear my reason for our friendship. She just didn’t like the way this person looked. Her opinion was purely based on the way he looked. I felt that I couldn’t get through to her and there was nothing I can do. I felt a rage coming over me, I despised her at that time, for being so judging.  I remember thinking, I couldn’t wait to get out of the house and get away from her. And where did this drama unfold?

In the kitchen, while preparing dinner!

And that’s when it hit me:

Was this past thought jumping up every time I prepared dinner? Could this be a reason why preparing even a simple dinner  was so burdening for me? Sure enough, the next night, my thoughts were instantly going back to the same past argument with my mother. How was I going to get this out of my head? What I didn’t realize at that time was that I already begun the process of letting go that thought. I had become aware of one thought that was causing me anger, grief and literally torturing me every time I prepared dinner.

At that time, I was still sick with Lyme symptoms, so I turned to Dr. Gurevich to help me to let go of this past trauma. Releasing conditioned ego thoughts are very hard to do on your own. (See The Holistic Dr. Gurevich for my therapy session with Dr. Gurevich)

Since I am symptom free now, I have found wonderful practitioners near me, who have helped to shift my thoughts of fear and anger to love and forgiveness.

Douglas Economy, a Holistic Psychotherapist and Life Coach,  specializes in Family Constellation workshops, and  has helped me to release past trauma and see myself and my loved ones, in a loving and joyful way.  Family constellation work is a powerful therapy that has profoundly changed my life! (See Systemic Family Constellation - A Miracle Therapy) for more info.

Kathy Sali is a gifted CranioSacral Therapist who has helped me to resolve physical as well as emotional pain. She has helped me to connect to my Spiritual Self and to the truth of who I am. Kathy is part of my life  journey in forgiveness work and staying healthy in mind, body and spirit. (See CranioSacral Therapy & Somato Emotional Release for my healing session with Kathy).

I feel very blessed that Douglas and Kathy are part of my journey of wellness. I am also blessed that they have helped me to  decipher and understand the life changing book that I mentioned earlier. For this book, is the foundation to a new way of thinking for me. Thinking without fear, without judgment, and with forgiveness, is very new to me.  And that is why I am now a student.

A student in learning to think and act with love and kindness. A student of forgiving and letting go. A student of transforming my thoughts into my “heaven on Earth.”

I am blessed to be a student of “A Course in Miracles.”

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

Back in the 80’s, I had a nice little solo career playing piano and singing in piano bars all throughout the tri-state area. One of my popular request songs was “I Want to Know What Love Is” by the band Foreigner. When I was singing the song back then, I never really thought about the words - I just loved to belt out the chorus and get everyone to join in with me:

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS

I WANT YOU TO SHOW ME

I WANT TO FEEL WHAT LOVE IS

I KNOW YOU CAN SHOW ME

I recently just heard it again on a classic rock station and this time, the words got me thinking... - “I want to know what love is”...hmmm….

Do I really know what love is?  Or... is it possible that I just have an idea of what love is? Maybe we all have an idea of what love is but there is so much more to love that we are not aware of?  I’m not talking about a romantic love - which is temporary. I’m talking about a love that defines each of us. A real love that is within us, connects us, surrounds us and never dies. A real love that is safe and eternal.

But, in our society, we receive mixed messages in the name of love. Especially when it comes to loving ourselves. We aren’t taught to look at ourselves in a kind way. We aren’t taught to respect and honor ourselves without judgment. When we look in the mirror, do these words reflect back to us?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“Love rejoices with the truth.” So what is the truth? What is real love? Is real love loaded with drama? Is real love so complicated? Is real love somehow tied to fear?

Love and drama sure seem to go hand and hand.  I recently had a crisis in my family that led me to see a vision of this perception.

In December, my  90 year old mother fell in her house and was in the hospital for almost a week. She had no broken bones but was very dehydrated and weak. While waiting to be discharged, she tried walking without her oxygen, collapsed in a chair and stopped breathing. This all happened in a matter of seconds. I called the nurse and within a flash, my mom’s room was filled with a team of nurses and doctors to the rescue.  She was resuscitated very quickly and recovered.

While driving home, later that night, I broke down, sobbing and shaking and praying to God, please get me home alive. While hysterical, I prayed to the inner guidance within me and I began to calm down. And that’s when it hit me. I was reacting in fear. I was shaking and sobbing - because of fear - not love.

At that moment, I realized that my mother and I had this entanglement of love and fear all our lives. Since I was very young, my mother had this abnormal fear for my safety. This fear is still with her.  Now, it was my turn to fear for her. I was fearing for her safety. When I saw her almost die, I felt like I almost died.  

And then,  it became very clear to me  - I saw my mother as a reflection of who I believed I was.

My mom’s close brush with death was a trigger that woke me to the thought that I was seeing myself and the world around me through the eyes of a confusing mix of love and fear. Like my mother, I believed fear and love were somehow connected - you were supposed to fear for yourself. You were supposed to fear for your loved ones. You were supposed to fear for your spouse, your partner. You were supposed to fear for your children.

This crisis was my opportunity for me to learn that  fear has nothing to do with love.

NOTHING!!

And it was also an opportunity for me to shift my perspective from seeing myself and my world from the eyes of fear...to the eyes of love.

To be cont.