I believe that one can truly heal oneself. Each of us possesses an internal healer, that part of ourselves that always guides us to safety, wellness and to make wise choices that support our good health, and rejuvenation from illness and injury. We may call upon others to help us with this process, to guide us as we learn our options and help us make choices that lead to wellness and optimal health. But someone else cannot heal me. Only I can.

This instinctive healer within each of us has the ability to restore health from virtually any disease or condition, regardless of the degree or magnitude, whether the current medical system says there is a cure or not. All we need to do is call upon this part of ourselves, listen to its wisdom, the lessons it bestows and follow its instruction. We hear of self-healing miracles all the time; people who have beaten the odds and come back from the brink of death, either from injury or illness. When you listen to these people describe how they’ve done it, they report a voice or internal wisdom guiding them.

“Just breathe. Pull the air in, deeper. Let it out. Do it again, and again. You’ll be all right,” said a voice to a young man after a near-fatal car crash. The doctors had no idea how he was able to breathe on his own, but much later, he told them of the voice he heard clearly in his ear giving him instructions.

If we still have breath within us, I believe we still have the opportunity to develop the capacity to heal. A client a few years ago came to me in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease. His adoring wife guided him into my classroom for the first time and I saw how far his health had deteriorated, even I had doubts about his ability to heal.

For his benefit I provided that 3-part cleanse series with a special emphasis on detoxifying the nervous system. We spoke often between classes and after the end of the program, fine-tuning their choices of healing foods, using the purest, most beneficial herbal remedies and lifestyle choices to support his wellness. The couple noticed immediately that the progression of his symptoms had seemed to halt. His wife said she saw improvements in his walk, his ability to control his hands and hold onto objects. At first these changes were modest.

Eventually, I moved away and we lost touch, but they continued on the program, which is the goal of my teaching. I thought of this loving couple often, and finally called and spoke to them four years later. The wife was excited to hear my voice and she told me that they thanked me every day for the support and guidance I had offered to them when everyone else had written Joe off. She continued, “You told us that it could take awhile to get the toxin load down and to repair the damaged organs and cells. Well, you were right. After about a year and a half, Joe and I noticed that he was nearly symptom free. He’d occasionally have little setbacks, but we continued on with everything you taught us. For the last three years, when Joe meets new people, they have no idea whatsoever that he even has Parkinson’s.” I smiled and felt warmth and gratitude inside for being able to share these simple gifts of healing.

We both took a long deep breath and then she added “We bless the day we met you before each meal and every night before we retire to bed, for all your good work with people like us. The difference you’ve made in our lives…” Her voice trailed off. “We’ve had so many joyful experiences these last few years together.”

“You both did all the work,” I told her.

“But you showed us the way, and guided us to make better choices,” she countered.

I said, “I am very grateful everything has gone so well for you both.” Inside, I felt very emotional, tingling, feeling those blessings were reaching all of my cells. Stories like these are why I continue to do this work.

Healing can come through many actions including general spiritual and lifestyle practices, as well as specific healing strategies and tactics. Sometimes, healing comes through prayer, tending beautiful gardens, a loving partner’s reassurances and always through cleansing the body of accumulated toxins, excess inflammation and chronic pain. We may need to look outside ourselves to find a teacher or health professional to assist us, to lead us to follow a path that fits into our belief system and our busy schedules. But at the end of the day, only I can heal my body, mind and spirit.

In the last one hundred years, we as a society have given over our ability to heal ourselves to doctors and the current medical system. We have lost our capacity to listen to our inner guide, to distinguish the inner voice from the mind chatter that fills most peoples’ heads, leading to feelings of anxiety and doubt.

As a child, I experienced chronic pain virtually every day, mostly in my knees and fingers and always worse just before stormy weather. Doctors implied I was crazy and trying to get attention by imitating some of the elders in my life who had arthritis. Decades later, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) is a known medical condition affecting more than 50,000 children in the US. Only alternative doctors, chiropractors, osteopaths and the like recognized JRA as a real medical condition back then.

I had other auto-immune conditions, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) by age 7½, and terrible eczema over much of my body by age 8. My teenage years brought migraines, digestive problems and increasing pain syndromes. Doctors offered little compassion and few options. After I began to sprain my ankles every two or three months, the rebel in me decided that I was going to find my own solutions for healing my body and mind forever.

I met a young aspiring herbalist at our local health food store who told me how I could repair my sprained ankle and help prevent the recurrences. It worked; I was onto something! (For the full account of this story, please visit: My Introduction to Healing Herbs) That experience led me to read many books in the early to mid-seventies about healing myself through natural and herbal remedies, and I’ve never turned back. When I took my herbal apprenticeship in the mid-1990’s, it felt as though I had taken the hundreds of fragments of information I’d gathered in the previous decades and stitched them together into a most beautiful and useful quilt. (For guys, the analogy might be taking hundreds of machine parts and building an engine.)

The current medical system is great at diagnostics and for emergency care, but when it comes to chronic conditions, their approach seems to be to throw lots of medications at the problem, often with little success for helping the patient actually feel better. Creating “wellness” is not even in the repertoire of most medical practices.

Drawing out that innate healer from within, providing the tools for reestablishing vital cells and taking good care of our ‘selves’ seems to produce greater results at a lower cost and often with long-term health restored and vitality returned. If you ask me, this is the kind of healthcare reform we really need in the world.

Almost twenty years ago, I had a friend named Betsy, who was the mom of two young daughters. She resisted getting them immunized, fearing that immunizations may be more harmful than taking the chance with the diseases they were developed to prevent. When Sierra, the younger child, was almost a year and a half old, her Dad was unrelenting and the girls were finally immunized. Almost immediately, Sierra stopped speaking. She became withdrawn and easily irritable. She had outbursts; screaming, stomping, pounding her fists and holding her breath. For nearly fourteen months, she didn’t utter a word; not at home, not at daycare; nothing but monotone sound, angry noises and long tones.

Sierra didn’t made eye contact anymore; and squirmed, trying to escape, whenever she was lifted or held. She began to organize everything in sight. She rocked back and forth and liked to hide in small spaces for fairly long periods of time.

She gathered and organized her older sister’s games and toys, and placed her books perfectly positioned onto the shelf. She rearranged the kitchen cupboards, the junk drawer, toy box and her Dad’s tools; everything she could. Sierra could build a block tower as high as she could reach.

This new, more dramatic and often angry behavior wasn’t like Sierra at all. As a younger baby, she had begun to speak very early, and had quite a vocabulary by the time she stopped talking. Her parents took her to their pediatrician where she was tested during the next couple of months for hearing loss; mercury, lead and cadmium poisoning; everything that her doctor could think of. Finally, the doctor broke the news to Sierra’s parents; she believed that Sierra may be autistic. They felt shocked. Was this possible?

Betsy researched autism. She could see how the diagnosis made sense, but we had all seen such brilliance in Sierra earlier, and even recently during those somewhat rare moments when she wasn’t acting out. Betsy didn’t believe that this condition was the end of the magic and wonder that Sierra had demonstrated.

Children with autism were considered nearly ineducable. Many were believed to have such low I.Q.’s that the only solution was to institutionalize them. Sierra’s doctor was not of that camp, however. She was a classically trained homeopath and M.D. from Europe, and had a very open mind with alternatives to the ‘normal’ medical beliefs and procedures. They talked about nutrition and homeopathic remedies. Betsy’s family already ate a very clean diet of organic foods, no sugar or chemical additives, with lots of vegetables and whole grains. Sierra’s doctor also suggested that there may even be some new programs showing success with teaching families to help reverse this dreaded condition in children. Yes, there was hope!

Over the next eight months, the stormy behavior continued. Sierra showed moments of that intelligence that her parents had witnessed before the changes had occurred. One afternoon, as she watched Sierra put a puzzle together, Betsy sensed that the outbursts in the daughter were a result of a deep need to be held very close to her mother and dad. She felt that a children’s meditation, yoga or karate class might help. Sierra was young for this sort of thing, but she would look into it. She felt a sense of relief for a fleeting moment.

A few minutes later, there came a blood curdling scream from the other room. Betsy ran in to find that Sierra had climbed the bookshelf mounted to the wall. It had slipped from the mount, and Sierra was teetering on the edge. Any further and she would be on the floor with an oak shelf and at least fifty books on top of her.

Betsy rushed to lift her away as she pushed the shelf back onto its bracket. Sierra held tightly to the shelf and continued to scream. Betsy held her tightly to her chest and whispered reassuring words to her child. Eventually Betsy felt a shift inside her young daughter. Moments later, Sierra’s fingers slipped from the shelf and she became limp. Betsy turned her daughter toward her and held her tight.

Betsy slowly moved about the room for twenty minutes or more, holding her daughter tightly to her and gently stroking her back. She felt Sierra’s neck and shoulder muscles relax as she finally laid her head onto Betsy’s shoulder. Tears welled up in Betsy’s eyes. It had been months since she had felt Sierra completely relax against her this way. She felt more encouraged than she had for a long time.

For the next few days, Sierra seemed more mellow. She found the missing piece to the Monopoly game and she played quietly for hours with Chinese checkers and her toy horses. One Wednesday afternoon, just minutes after her older sister came in the door from the school bus, Betsy heard her shriek, “Mom, get her OFF me!”

Betsy ran into the living room to find Sierra, rage in her eyes, on top of her sister pounding her with both hands and pulling her hair. Betsy tried to extract Sierra from the situation. Sierra fought on, shrieking and making guttural noises. Betsy wondered what shifted; why she had been so sweet the past few days; and now this! She untwisted her older daughter’s hair from Sierra’s fingers and lifted her high into her arms, carrying her into the office where it was quiet.

Betsy told Sierra that she was going to have a ‘holding time out’. Betsy explained to her young child in the calmest voice she could muster that she would need to breathe calmly for three minutes in a row and then she could get down. As she spoke, Betsy attempted to sit her onto her lap. Sierra’s back was pressed against her Mom’s chest. She crossed her arms loosely around her daughter’s upper body, and folded her legs gently around the child’s squirming lower body.

Betsy breathed long, deep, exaggerated breaths against her daughter’s back to help her catch her breath and calm down. Betsy gently rocked her and continued to speak in a soothing tone, reassuring Sierra that everything would be ok and that she was alright. Sierra fought and hollered and tried to free herself. Betsy began to quietly sing her desires. “It’s ok; everything’s ok. Calm your body; calm your mind. It’s all alright; relax sweet girl.” Eventually Sierra stopped yelling. Betsy felt Sierra’s body relax in her arms. “That’s it; that’s it. Calm, deep breaths. You’re doing great,” she sang quietly.

But the quiet, relaxed state was short lived; less than a minute of quiet and Sierra was screeching again. They had been sitting there for a total of 45 or 50 minutes by that time. Betsy felt overwhelmed, but she persevered. She continued the long exaggerated breaths and the reassuring tones as she gently contained Sierra’s little body.

Sierra cycled through moments of quiet and calm, and then another 30 or 45 minutes of squirming, screaming, pounding and yelling. Her moments of calm seemed to be getting longer, so Betsy stuck with it. After a total of three hours and forty-five minutes, Sierra stayed calm for a full three minutes. As this calm cycle began, Sierra’s body relaxed completely and she turned around, looked directly into her Mom’s eyes for a long moment and hugged her tightly. She breathed right along with her Mom’s breathing. It felt like a miracle for Betsy.

About a week and a half went by and Sierra was peaceful, gentle and kept herself well composed. She seemed to me to be doing remarkably well and her mom said she appeared to be happier. She made eye contact a few times and she began to speak again; lots! One day, as their cat was birthing kittens, Sierra exclaimed, “Look, Mom, Puffy has two kittens that look just like her and two kittens that look different. That’s four kittens, right, Mom?”

Betsy’s eyes filled with tears. “Yes; yes, that’s right!”

Sierra continued, “Mom, you remember when Dad asked you about…” on and on she went, asking about situations and details that happened throughout the previous seven or eight months! She asked questions for days. What a memory that girl had!

Sierra had another major meltdown a few days later. Betsy gently scooped her up and they went to the office chair for another ‘holding time out’. This time, Sierra squirmed less, yelled lots, and after an hour and a half or so, she calmed down. She took Betsy’s hand into hers and put it across her own heart and breathed deeply for three minutes.

Two or three more weeks passed peacefully. Then one day Sierra had an angry, out-of-control episode. To the ‘holding time out’ chair they went. Sierra screamed loud and hard. They rocked as Betsy gently rubbed her back. Within a half hour, Sierra took a very long, deep breath, laid her face against Betsy’s upper chest and continued to breathe. Three minutes passed and Betsy thanked her and let her know that time was up. “Just a little bit longer, please, Mom?” Sierra requested. “Of course” Betsy whispered as they rocked gently together.

Just a few days later, Sierra began to become angry with her sister about a card game, pounding her fists and releasing loud gurgling sounds. As Betsy approached, she asked, “Are you needing a holding time out?”

Sierra looked up, directly into her Mom’s eyes. “No, no, I’m ok, Mom. Really…” She took a long deep breath and let it out. “I can do it by myself, Mom, really. Time me,” she exclaimed. Betsy reached down and touched her daughter’s back, rubbing in a slight circular motion. Sierra composed herself, breathing deeply and then she apologized for being mean.

This was the last major outburst that Sierra experienced. When she found herself beginning to feel upset and overwhelmed, she would take some exaggerated deep breaths, sometimes asking Betsy or her older sister to rub her back or to place a hand directly on Sierra’s heart area. She would very quickly get herself into a calmer state. Sierra would occasionally thank Betsy for helping her learn these breathing exercises and other tools to handle her anger or frustration.

Sierra was beginning to read simple books. At nearly four years old, this seemed like another miracle in their lives. The entire family often expressed how blessed they felt. Harmony prevailed.

Today, Sierra is in her teens, and excelling in school, sports and a very promising future.

Although Betsy developed this strategy from her heart and through her intuition, there is an amazing, world renowned program in western Massachusetts, US, that’s been helping children and adults for more than 20 years who have any of the autism spectrum or other developmental difficulties. Called the Son-Rise Program, it has made a profound impact in the lives of several children that I have known or met over the years. If you’re the parent or educator of a special child(ren), I urge you to check this program out or read any of the “Son-Rise” books by Barry Neil Kaufman.

There are lots of things we all can do, beginning right now to silence the mind’s chatter and calm the spirit. Most of them don’t cost us anything but time and devotion. You simply need to do them regularly. Most of us know that prevention is the best medicine. These Seven Steps can be used as prevention by supporting balance for the mind and spirit before worry causes pain or serious illness. And, they may also be practiced right along with a treatment program.

1. Breathe deeply. Take about ten minutes or more every day to quiet the mind by focusing on your breath. You may try five minutes upon awakening and five minutes just before you go to sleep. Or you may prefer the shower or waiting in line to breathe deeply for a few minutes. Wherever you find a few moments in your day, just close your eyes, relax and focus on your breath.

Let your attention follow your breath; slowly in…; slowly out…; now breathe out just a little bit more. Rest a moment. Breathe in. Repeat. Listen to your body. Stay present. Whenever a thought from the past, future or the outside world slips into your consciousness, acknowledge it, agree to ‘deal with it later’ and bring your attention back to your breath. Quietly In… Out… In… Out… Relax. Breathe deeply from deep in the belly.

Whenever you find yourself in a stressful situation and things begin to feel overwhelming, try practicing this or another breathing exercise. Breathe in and out; breathe out just a bit more. Breathe in again. Now you’re better equipped to respond to whatever was compounding your stress level.

2. Feel gratitude. Express your gratitude often; to yourself; your loved ones; your Creator; to those who offer you their assistance throughout your day; to everybody and everything that impacts your life. Feel the emotions that accompany true thankfulness for all that you have right now.

Practice this acknowledgement of gratitude every day. If you’re in a particularly stressful situation, do it often throughout your day and you will notice how quickly things begin to shift.

Twenty-six years ago, when I was six months pregnant with my first daughter, I arrived home to find it surrounded with firefighters, blackened, with a few wisps of smoke still swirling from the door and windows. The surrounding ground with drenched. I had lost everything in there, but even in that moment, it felt like it was somewhat insignificant in the bigger picture of life. I just kept rubbing my tummy and mumbling “It was all just stuff; I have what’s really important to me.” I must have said this, mostly to myself, at least a hundred times over the next few days. I also felt grateful for my friends and loved ones, for strangers who reached out to help, etc. This strong sense of gratitude got me through this very difficult situation.

3. Smile as often as you can. When we smile and laugh, we produce the very chemicals that make our brain and nervous system feel happy and calm. Smiles are infectious, so if we smile more, so will those around us. We’ll all feel better. The more worried, stressed, anxious and depressed we may be feeling today, the more important it is for us to smile frequently.

When you’re feeling particularly worried, force yourself to smile. Really stretch that smile into an exaggerated grin. Hold it a few moments, and repeat. See if this helps you to cope with your current situation.

The following is a brilliant case for smiling throughout your day, excerpted from the Universal Tao Center website article “The Inner Smile”.

‘A deep inner smile spreads like a relaxing elixir making us receptive to transform negative energy into positive. Conversely, a scowl suppresses our immune system by increasing stress, contracting channels and blocking energy. Research by French physiologist Dr Israel Waynbaum indicates that facial muscles used to express emotion trigger specific brain neurotransmitters. Smiling signals happy healing hormones such as ecstatic endorphins and immune boosting killer T-cells whereas frowning triggers the secretion of stress hormones. Smile therapy actually lowers the stress hormones cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenaline and produces hormones which stabilize blood pressure, relax muscles, improve respiration, reduce pain, accelerate healing and stabilize mood. If you’re feeling down, the stress hormones secreted with a scowl may increase blood pressure, weaken the immune system, increase susceptibility to infections, and exacerbate depression and anxiety.

But what if we don’t feel like smiling? Can we fake it till we make it? Though a heart-felt smile has a deeper effect, even a surface smile tricks the brain into releasing happy hormones according to facial biofeedback research. And the more we smile, the more we want to smile, concluded a study where people allowed to smile found cartoons funnier than those suppressed from smiling by holding pencils in their lips. This is because each time we smile we reinforce happy neural pathways that fire more spontaneously with each subsequent use. Self-love smiling circuits then release healing nectar and self-hate messages release poisons that breed disease according to Taoism.’

4. Laugh frequently. It’s pretty hard to feel miserable when you laugh. If you’re stressed and worried, try going out to a club to enjoy a comedy show or a really funny play. Read the funnies, watch comedies and tell (good) jokes. Laughter, like smiling, increases endorphins, which increases a sense of well-being and seems to offer a natural pain killing ability. Laughter is shown to strengthen immune health, the cardiovascular system, helps us think more clearly and improve memory, and release physical and emotional pain. Pretty funny, aye?

5. Think good thoughts. Good thoughts help us to allow for goodness to flow about wherever we are. When a negative thought enters your mind, first stop it; then switch it around to a positive take on the given topic. When we’re stressed, anxious, withdrawn and in pain, the negative thoughts can flow like water from the tap. But just beginning the process of positive thinking allows for a break in pain and illness and gives us a sense of calm and more balance.

This can be a challenging process when we have been severely worried and anxious for awhile. Years ago, when my older daughter was a teenager, I found myself sleeping poorly and worrying about her well-being all the time; literally all the time. My mind raced from one fear to another; on and on. As part of my spiritual practice, I took on the assignment of transforming those worried, negative thoughts into calm, positive thoughts. I read that this may take a week or more to complete. It sure did! I found this process very empowering, and I worked to create positive thinking with each and every negative thought. It seemed to support my health on many levels, but it took me about eight months to finally feel that I was thinking positively nearly all the time.

If you are feeling stressed and get anxious more easily these days, you probably have a long string of fearful thoughts, like the endless loop tape, that begins upon awakening and may or may not shut off when you go to sleep. If this describes you, I urge you to try the exercise.Cchange your thoughts and begin to think more positively, one thought at a time. Every time you have a negative or fearful thought, rearrange it to become positive and kind of heart. Remember to breathe as you switch out those dark thoughts. You will likely find it difficult at first, as I did. But stay with it. The benefits are rewarding.

6. Move your body. Exercise daily; ideally for 30 minutes or more. The Mayo Clinic states: ‘Some evidence suggests that exercise positively affects the levels of certain mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain. Exercise may also boost feel-good endorphins, release tension in muscles, help you sleep better and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It also increases body temperature, which may have calming effects. All of these changes in your mind and body can improve such symptoms as sadness, anxiety, irritability, stress, fatigue, anger, self-doubt and hopelessness.’

Start where you are. If you’re not up for a 30 minute workout yet, start with six or ten minutes and every day, add a minute or two to the length of your workout until you reach 30 minutes daily.

Don’t overdo it, though. Excessive exercise can put too much stress on the heart, arteries, and glands, using up energy and putting our nervous system at an increased risk of breaking down.

7. Give back, or as I prefer to say it, pay it forward, often. Serve your community, your family and don’t forget to nurture yourself. If you have children, volunteering in your community is a wonderful way to spend time with them, and you’ll be building a strong foundation of character that they’ll take with them into adulthood.

Help an elder in your neighborhood, read to young children in a local daycare or neighborhood youth program or take on the big business polluters in your region. Whatever feels right to you, go on out there and help someone in need. Even small gestures done as often as we can make the time for make a huge difference in our own lives and in the world.

Be sure to care for yourself, too. Don’t be a martyr. We can care for our loved ones most effectively when we have also nurtured and pampered ourselves. I hear parents and caregivers often say that they don’t have the time to nurture themselves, or they just can’t afford to. I understand this well. But we really can’t afford not to, financially and with our time. Take a walk, a soothing bath, a much needed vacation or just buy yourself flowers every week.

If you are a caregiver who rarely takes care of yourself, please visit this wonderful blogsite: Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul. You’ll be glad you did!

If you would appreciate some powerful and inspirational reading to continue to help relieve you of worry and fear, please check out any of the books written by Thich Nhat Hanh, such as Peace Is Every Step, or by H.H. The Dalai Lama, such as An Open Heart.

Have a good day!

Happy New Year! January always brings a renewed desire to become more healthy and to make wise decisions toward the goal of feeling vibrant and fit. For most of us, these lofty goals don’t stay with us for long. In fact, most people are back to their same ol’ unhealthy ways before February begins.

But it crtainly doesn’t have to be this way. We can take small bites, so to speak. In this way, we may make a few small changes, get them to ’stick’, and then make a few more. Pace ourselves. Believe we can do it because we’re seeing results. So let’s get down to the business at hand; reading some great blog posts on the topic of healing. Allow the ones that resonate with you and your needs and desires to move you to action, gently and lovingly.

Phylameana is off and running with focus and purpose in 2007! The Affirmative Project is her personal 31 day “intention” to give her New Year’s Resolution (to live in a more affirmative light) a kick-start. Affirmative Project: Day 1 posted at About Holistic Healing. You may deside, like many of us, to join her in her powerful positive project!

impactednurse has written a truly beautiful and eloquent post regarding the ability to survive and thrive while working in the medical profession: the search for confluence. posted at impactED.

John Hill presents an inspirational look at the spiritual self that is truly you and me. I very much look forward to sharing this one with others searching for spiritual well-being. What Is Spirituality? posted at Universe Of Success.

A this time of year, many people experience either the occassional or very serious digestive discomforts that accompany stress, overeating and the enjoyment of the bubbly. In my blog post: Holistic Indigestion Relief posted at this site: Wisdom of Healing.

TC has written a potent essay on the effects that the practices we include in our lives have on our ability to perform reiki, and I would include all energy medicine. Check out: Does chi kung help your Reiki? posted at reikiblogger.

Vahid Chaychi expresses concern for the connection between obesity and heart disease in: The Smaller Belly, The Healthier Heart posted at Healthoma.com. Find a very practical tool and tips for your healthier heart.

Mark McManus takes a look at what causes the events of our lives. Are there forces outside of your control dictating your life’s course or are you the sole causative force in your own life? He suggests, “Simply put, I am what I am because of the dominating thoughts of my mind.” Check out: The Purpose Of Circumstance and How To Take Control posted at Build Your Life To Order ™.

Aparna provides us with a unique look at dental health in: Exercising teeth the natural way posted at Beauty & Personality Grooming.

Debra Moorhead sets us about the task of shifting our present reality (when it’s feeling less than wonderful) so as to allow for that which we need to be provided for us. Very effective tools for those times when we feel we cannot find the light are offered. Thank you, Deborah. Change Your Mood; Achieve Your Goal posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

I had to laugh (hardily) when I noticd this title! Patricia has written a delightful statement on where to find some good education and occassional pure enjoyment on the tube in: 10 Reasons NOT To Give Up TV posted at A Better You Blog.

Raymond David Salas suggests very timely tips and ideas for: How To Get Along With Your Family posted at ZenChill.com – Power Tools for Mind, Body, and Soul.

Matthew Paulson suggests that we save money as we save our health in: Say No to Soda posted at Getting Green.

Linda Freedman, an excellent writer and thoughtful practitioner, offers us a refreshing reminder that we exist in a great circle of support in: You’re Not Alone on a Bike posted at Everyone needs therapy? Lessons from a family therapist. She states: “This isn’t just about getting a little exercise, although that’s surely a big deal for this blogger when it comes to mental health. It’s about finding a place in your world, being a part of a social system.”

Steven Aitchison presents an interesting ‘tool’ called kaizen for growing more efficient and productive in your business and personal life in:Kaizen for personal development posted at Change your thoughts.

Simonne presents a brief post of an alternative view of allergy treatment in: Drug-Free Treatment of Allergic Diseases posted at All Tips and Tricks.

Jacob Gorban presents a guest blogger, drew hempel, MA with an in-depth look at:The Secret of Psychic Music Healing posted at Parapsychology articles and blog.

Neelima presents a brief background of one of the great yoga practitioners of our time, BKS Iyengar, in:Healthy B.P.M. » Blog Archive » Guru:Fitness the yoga way posted at Healthy B.P.M..

Well, there we have it for this edition of the Carnival of Healing! For more of these and other caring writers’ articles, please visit the Carnival of Healing #66. To check out next week’s carnival or to make an entry, go to the Carnival of Healing #68.

Ever since I was in middle school, I have been standing up for what I believe. Very often, positive change takes a lot of people coming together to speak up and sometimes to act up, to get the attention of the help masses, who seem to be asleep at the wheel of life.

Sometimes, though, positive change can happen in a moment, without a lot of fanfare. I have acquired quite a few stories of powerful changes that were nearly effortless to help create. I love these stories. They enliven my spirit and fill me with hope and faith for our planet and her inhabitants. Just when I was prepared to implement a letter writing campaign or phoning the proper officials to witness positive progress for a given concern, it became quite clear that that wouldn’t be necessary. Asking, it seems, would be enough to plant the necessary seeds for a significant change to take place. Change happened at the speed of thought and request.

My favorite of these stories took place about six or seven years ago, when I noticed that the larger organic tea manufacturers’ directions all read just about the same, something like this:
Pour boiling water over tea bag. Steep, sip and enjoy. Or
Pour boiling water over tea bag. Steep for at least 15 minutes. Enjoy.

As an herbalist, I had always been taught that if you want to reap the medicinal benefits of an herbal tea, you need to put a lid (or a saucer) on your cup while steeping, or those health benefits will be lifted into the air with the rising steam. Many of the tea companies on the market seemed very committed to offering an excellent selection of healthful tea formulations; why wouldn’t they mention this? I wondered about it, and then I reached for the telephone.

Having about two dozen varieties of tea on the shelf, I found one from each company and searched the label for their company’s toll free number. I dialed each one so that I could ask them why they had omitted such important information from their directions.

The first three companies gave me the run around, just as I had expected. The folks at Celestial Seasonings passed me off to at least five or six people before finally telling me that they would look into it. I called another; same story. The Yogi Tea people tried to tell me that everyone should know that. I responded that they should also know that they needed to “Pour boiling water over tea bag”, but they had printed that part. Again, their response was that someone would look into it. With these three calls, the voices on the other end of the phone seemed to exude the sentiment that they just wanted to get the consumer calling in to complain off the phone.

And then a miracle happened. I called Traditional Medicinals and the lady that actually answered my phone call said that she would be the person that I would speak to about my concern. Her voice sounded sweet and sincere. Hmmm.

So I said, “I’m wondering why your directions don’t remind people to place a lid on their cup as they steep your wonderful teas. Any herbalist knows that we must cover the cup to retain the essential oils, if we want to get the medicinal benefits that your formulations offer.” I took a deep breath and went on, “I studied with Rosemary Gladstar (the Master Herbalist that has formulated many of the Traditional Medicinals’ teas) and she stresses the importance of covering the mug or pot of tea repeatedly throughout her teachings.” I paused and waited. The response I got blew me away, especially after the earlier calls were such duds.

The woman responded, “I studied with Rosemary, as well! Of course the instructions should tell people to place a lid on the cup! Yes, we suggest that to people all the time. Our boxes don’t say that?” She excused herself as she reached for a box from the shelf near her desk and then continued, “I agree with you! That should be there on our labels! I have made a note of this, and I can assure you that all of our future boxes will be printed this way!”

I was floored! I thanked her; we talked for a few moments about what an honor it was to have studied with Rosemary Gladstar, and said our goodbyes.

About four months later, I was at my local Whole Foods Market, and picked up a box of one of my favorite Traditional Medicinals teas, and right there on the label the directions read:
Pour 8 oz. of boiling water over one tea bag and steep, covered, for 15 minutes.
I just stared… smiling ear to ear!
My daughter poked me. “Mom, how long are you going to read that box of tea? Why do you have such a goofy smile? Come onnnnn… let’s go.” I took a deep breath and followed her through the crowd to the check-out line.

That smile stayed with me for hours. It just seemed so easy. And sweet. We really do make a difference in any moment with our every action. They may be for the better or for the worse. Sometimes they’re just small differences, and sometimes they have a greaterimpact on society than we know!

What can you do today to perpetuate positive change?