November 2016

Hello, and welcome to this edition edition of my Natural Alternatives Newsletter!

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue.

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“The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.” ~Hippocrates

IN THIS ISSUE:

1) MENDING OUR SPIRITUAL FABRIC Indigenous Ceremonial Practices for Healing the Root of Mental Health Issues

2) BIOTIN (B-COMPLEX): FUNCTION, BENEFITS, BEST SOURCES...

3) TRANS-DERMAL DETOX

4) VISIT THE NATURAL HEALTH STORE

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1) MENDING OUR SPIRITUAL FABRIC Indigenous Ceremonial Practices for Healing the Root of Mental Health Issues
by Sachi James

Many moons ago, Aboriginal and Indigenous cultures lived off the land and were connected to the spirit of all living things. They believed that the foundation of who we are was made up of three deeply connected parts – the mind, body, and spirit – and that all sickness started in the spirit. The rigorous demands of Aboriginal and Indigenous lifestyles necessitated a deep relationship with the Creator and the nourishment of the spirit, through a strong connection to nature, community, and ceremony. These relationships and connections were believed to be an integral part of sustaining the health of the individual, and the community as a whole. 

Today we make very little time for self care and spiritual nourishment. Rather than being connected to the seasons, nature, and the Creator, we are driven by time constraints and social expectations. Since we have little time to access deep connections in our current lifestyles, we have begun to suffer from spirit sickness. 

Mental, emotional, spiritual, and social hypersensitivity are a reflection of varying degrees of spirit sickness which, in turn, form the basis for many common mental health issues. To understand spirit sickness, we must consider the integrity of our spiritual fabric.

Our spirit body is like an intricately woven tapestry or fabric. Its power and health depends on the quality and strength of its unique woven pattern, and its threads are woven together in a way that mimics a fractal found in nature. A fractal is created by repeating simple patterns or processes over and over again. In both nature fractals and in our spiritual fabric, each thread is woven in a repeating pattern that adds to the physical and energetic integrity of its structure.  The quality and intricacy of the repeating woven pattern reflects the power of its ability to function effectively. 

Both men and women possess these repeating patterns in the layers of their spiritual body, and this intricate and delicate part of ourselves has several functions.  When it is stress- and trauma-free, it creates a healthy boundary between you and intrusive or harmful matter from the outside world, acting like a protective barrier.  This barrier allows you to maintain healthy boundaries between what is yours and what is not yours. It also creates a mesh-like chamber that holds our spirit essence inward so that it does not leak out. 

When Our Spiritual Fabric is Torn

Because our spirit essence forms the foundation of who we are, it is the key to our connection to all living things, including ourselves. It is the source of all inner joy and peace and it feeds our life force. It forms a platform for our personal growth and ascension, and it is a source of nourishment for our heart. It is our way to  the Creator and our sense of wholeness. Hence, the health of our spiritual fabric and inner spirit essence form the foundation of our mental and physical well-being. 

When we endure ongoing emotional, physical, and/or spiritual traumas, our spiritual fabric becomes unhealthy because these traumas cause the fabric of our spiritual body to pull and/or stretch. This causes a thinning, so that we are left vulnerable to the environmental noise around us. When a tear or hole develops in the fabric due to ongoing trauma, external matter is able to breach our protective boundary and get in. As the holes become bigger, the energetic fabric itself begins to unravel and the spiritual tapestry of who we are loses its integrity. We are then left without healthy boundaries and we become hypersensitive to the triggers of the outside world.

Imagine for a moment that you went on vacation and left your windows and doors open without screens.    Upon returning home, you may be very surprised at what types of things took up residence in your sanctuary.  The spirit world reflects the same issue. If our spiritual fabric has holes in it or has begun unravelling, it functions just as ineffectively at keeping stuff out as an open window with no screen. It is certain that unwanted stuff will move in. Our spiritual sanctuary becomes unsafe as we become overstimulated and overpowered by the stuff that is not ours. We then become disconnected from ourselves, lose heart resonance and become spiritually misaligned. Hence, we become hypersensitive spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and socially with the size, and the quantity, of the holes in the walls of our spiritual fabric, reflecting the degree and nature of the hypersensitivity symptoms experienced.

Common symptoms of spiritual hypersensitivity include decreased coping skills, ongoing fatigue, anxiety, depression, emptiness, and feelings of un-groundedness. Emotional hypersensitivity is experienced as over-reactions, despair, and hopelessness. And mental hypersensitivity includes lack of focus, obsessive or intrusive thoughts, paranoia, and lack of tolerance for noise. Social hypersensitivity involves unwarranted fears, inability to set healthy boundaries, and feeling overwhelmed in group settings or public places.

Regardless of the type of hypersensitivity experienced, we lose our connection to Mother Earth, the Creator, and to others. If left unacknowledged for a time, we forget our value and sacredness within our life circle. Feelings of separation, fear, guilt, heart sickness, and physical disease develop. In essence we become a “broken spirit walking.”

Aboriginal and Indigenous healing practices and ceremonies are powerful tools used for repairing our spiritual fabric. One of the first steps in starting your own healing process is to bring your awareness back to yourself through ceremonial practices so you can observe where you begin and where you end. As you become mindful of this, you can start releasing what is not yours and start coming back to yourself.

A Three-Part Ceremony

A combination of plant, smoke, and water medicine used in this ceremony will help you cleanse and realign yourself and reduce symptoms of hypersensitivity.

Smudging – Smudging is a Native American ceremony that clears negative and heavy energies that have built up in and around our personal boundaries. The healing medicine of the smoke and plant work in unison to cleanse, raise your vibration, and bring you back to yourself. Once we find ourselves again, we can be brought back into resonance with the vibration of Mother Earth and the Creator.

 
The two most effective smudges for people who suffer from hypersensitivity are Palo Santo and smudge made from a mixture of lavender and sage. The mixed smudge removes what is not ours, and the Palo Santo is reparative and gently realigns us spiritually. 

Water Medicine – In addition to smudging, water medicine is very cleansing, especially when used in combination with plant medicine. A 20-  minute cedar bath releases unwanted energies and body toxins. If allowed to dry without the use of a towel, the cedar medicine will help to re-create boundaries around holes in your spiritual fabric. 

When preparing for your cedar bath ceremony, it is important to give a tobacco offering to Mother Earth while you are harvesting to honour her and the plant medicine she is gifting to you. Then give the cedar back to Mother Earth when you are finished, so that the cedar medicine goes back to where it came from. Be sure to wash the cedar thoroughly before using it in your bath.

Breath Work – After you have smudged and taken a cedar bath, Spirit Medicine breath work will assist you with further cleansing, realign you spiritually, and bring you back into heart resonance.

Place one palm on your sacrum at the base of your back between your hips, and one palm on your forehead. Breathe deeply, and as you breathe in, imagine that you are pulling a line up from the centre of your sacrum to the centre of your forehead. As you breathe out, pull the line back down from the centre of your forehead to the centre of your sacrum. Spend at least 10-15 minutes doing spirit medicine breathing. Once you have finished, take note of how you feel and give gratitude to the Creator, the plant, the water, and the smoke medicines and yourself for the healing and wisdom you experienced. 

Many of us have forgotten that ritual and ceremony have played an integral role in  healing the mind, body, and spirit for many moons, and that Aboriginal and Indigenous ceremonial practices provide a wealth of healing tools that we can access when treating mental health issues. The smudging, bathing, and breath work ceremony is a powerful tool not only for reducing hypersensitivity, but in providing relief for the myriad of symptoms that accompany it. Additionally, the cleansing and realigning of the spiritual body that are experienced during the ceremony offers a harm-free, holistic adjunct to conventional medicine.

It may be wise to more deeply consider how we might bridge the gap between traditional healing and conventional medicine.

About the author: Sachi “Eagle Woman With Fire Medicine” is a Traditional Native Healer who offers Aboriginal and Indigenous teachings and ceremonies, and spiritual guidance. As a practitioner of Spirit Medicine, Sachi empowers and inspires women, men, and children to achieve personal healing. Workshops for 2016 include:
Woman of Spirit Course: Aboriginal and Indigenous Teachings about Womanhood
Healing Grief and Loss with Indigenous Medicine
For information on counselling services, teachings, and upcoming workshops and retreats, email: info@sacredmedicineways.com, call (647) 930-1832  Visit: http://www.sacredmedicineways.com

2) BIOTIN (B-COMPLEX): FUNCTION, BENEFITS, BEST SOURCES...
by  Dr. Edward Group DC, NP, DACBN, DCBCN, DABFM

Biotin is a B-complex vitamin required by every cell in the body. B vitamins are a class of chemically distinct vitamins that help your body process food into energy. Also known as vitamin H, coenzyme R, and vitamin B7, biotin helps the body metabolize fats, protein, and carbohydrates. The human body needs biotin for normal growth and development, and the vitamin is especially critical for healthy embryonic growth. Biotin can also help maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails.

Biotin is a water-soluble vitamin, as opposed to fat-soluble. Unused water-soluble vitamins (C and B complex) pass quickly through the body and are excreted in urine. The body does not store them and supplies must be regularly replenished. And, because the body flushes excess amounts, water-soluble vitamins do not generally accumulate to toxic levels.

Biotin is crucial for good health and there are two sources from which the human body obtains it. The first is diet; the second is bacteria. Biotin can actually be synthesized by the microbiome—the beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Biotin Health Benefits

1. Biotin Assists Metabolic Processes

Biotin is a cofactor required by several carboxylase enzymes for carbon dioxide transfer. In more simple terms, biotin helps your cells metabolize fatty acids and amino acids, and further assists in the chemical formation of glucose from noncarbohydrate sources. This means that biotin is crucial for maintaining a normal, balanced metabolism.

2. Biotin Supports Healthy Hair, Skin, and Nails

Biotin is an important nutrient for healthy hair, nails, and skin. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of women with thinning hair found that biotin may be a capable supplement for encouraging healthy looking hair. The study found that women who took biotin supplements increased their hair count, volume, coverage, and thickness significantly compared to the control group. A separate study found that biotin can help thicken and strengthen brittle fingernails.

Biotin deficiency can lead to rashes and skin lesions. Studies have found that supplementation can help remedy skin problems caused by biotin deficiency. In one notable instance, dogs with fur and skin conditions were given an oral biotin supplement. Sixty percent of the subjects showed complete recovery after treatment, with a further 31% reporting improvement. Only 9% showed no effect.

3. Biotin May Improve Glucose Levels

Biotin plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism. Multiple studies suggest that biotin by itself or in combination with chromium encourages normal blood sugar. Imbalanced blood sugar frequently accompanies low biotin levels; both animal and human studies have found that adequate biotin supplementation may support healthy blood sugar levels. Further research is necessary to explore this effect before drawing conclusions.

4. Biotin and Pregnancy

Obtaining sufficient biotin is a concern for pregnant women. Animal tests have found that biotin deficiency can cause birth defects. Because biotin doesn’t pass easily to the fetus, a biotin deficiency can be magnified between mother and child. Even a mild or borderline biotin deficiency in the mother can result in a severe deficiency for the fetus. This can cause fetal development problems, especially malformations of the skeletal system. According to one study, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding may require more biotin in their diet than reported by current estimates.

Biotin Deficiency

Biotin deficiency is a rare but serious condition. Symptoms include dry skin, dry eyes, hair loss, cracking in the corners of the mouth, inflammation of the tongue, loss of appetite, fatigue, insomnia, and depression.

The most common causes of biotin deficiency are certain medications and conditions that reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. Biotinidase deficiency is a genetic disorder which prevents the body from properly recycling biotin. Extreme cases can cause seizures, reduced muscle tone, breathing problems, balance problems, deafness, blindness, and candida infection. It can also cause developmental problems in children. Biotin deficiency can also affect alcoholics and people with inflammatory bowel disease.

Those suffering from biotin deficiency should avoid egg whites. Eggs whites contain avidin, a protein that binds to biotin and reduces its ability to be absorbed by the body. Biotin deficiency caused by a diet high in egg whites actually has a name—egg white injury, and eczema is a common symptom. Ironically, egg yolks are an excellent source of biotin.

Fortunately, the symptoms of biotin deficiency are easily remedied. It should come as no surprise that the solution to a biotin deficiency is more biotin.

5 Vegan Foods Rich in Biotin

The very best way to supply your body with the right amount of biotin is to eat plenty of biotin-rich foods. Foods rich in biotin are the same foods that are generally good sources of B vitamins. Animal sources like pork, organ meat, egg yolk, and milk are biotin-rich, but unappealing to those of us on a plant-based diet. Vegan sources include yeast, legumes, avocados, nuts, and (happily) chocolate.

Source: GlobalHealingCenter.com

3) TRANSDERMAL DETOX
by Marie Be

Is it possible that the skin could convey healing agents into the bloodstream and lymphatic system, reaching organs and glands faster than when absorbed through the digestive system?

Human skin is like a tightly woven fabric, seemingly impervious but porous at the microscopic level. There are thousands of pores on every square inch of skin, acting as a thousand open mouths, absorbing that which is applied to the skin directly into the bloodstream and lymphatic system. Think about nicotine or birth control patches: the skin can be used to bypass the digestive system and convey active ingredients into the body.

Transdermal healing, or healing through the medium of the skin, has been extensively described in many ancient Ayurveda texts of over 5000-year-old.

Some believe that ingesting healing agents and supplements become much less effective due to stomach acids and digestive enzymes. Bypassing the stomach and liver means a much greater percentage of the active ingredient goes straight into the bloodstream where it’s needed. Most digestive systems are not functioning at peak efficiency and cannot properly metabolize the healing agents, or the digestive system is efficient but the liver is sluggish or overloaded with toxins. Furthermore, ingested supplements “cook” in your stomach for multiple hours, similarly to a crockpot, before being released through your body. This process often transforms the molecular structure and healing capacity of the medicine.

Transdermal absorption bypasses these systems, sending healing agents straight where the body needs it via the lymphatic system and bloodstream.

Full Body Detoxification Through the Skin

Did you know that the skin is the largest most important eliminative organ in the body? The skin is responsible for one quarter of the body’s detoxification each day. In most people, this vital route of detoxification is operating far below its capacity, because it is clogged with body toxins excreted through perspiration. When improperly maintained, the elimination duties of the skin are forced upon the kidneys, which often become sick under increased toxic load.

To enhance overall health, support your skin’s natural detoxification processes. Ensure it performs its main functions efficiently, which is allowing toxins to be released from the body. In this way, Ayurveda principles of transdermal absorption can be applied to send detoxifying agents straight into the lymphatic system and bloodstream.

1. The bloodstream is a conveyor that sends detoxification agents to organs, glands, and other transportation systems within the body. This includes the skin, gut, kidneys, liver, lungs, lymphatic system, and mucous membranes.

2. The lymph is considered part of our immune system and is made of white blood cells called lymphocytes and the interstitial fluid that bathe our cells, bringing our cells nutrients and removing their waste. All detoxification occurs first and foremost through the lymph. Our bodies contain far more lymph than blood, which shows how important natural detoxification functions are.

Through detoxification, every organ, gland and system within the body benefits from increased function, further contributing to the full body detoxification.

Optimal skin detoxification has powerful health benefits:

o Increases blood flow and circulation to the skin, encouraging body discharge of metabolic wastes.
o Assists the skin’s absorption of nutrients by eliminating clogged pores.
o Accelerates the clearing of toxins within the body, cleansing organs, supporting the immune system and purifying the entire body.
o Stimulates the hormone and oil glands, thus helping all of the body systems perform at peak efficiency.
o Stimulates the nerve endings, easing individual muscle fibers to activate and move.
o Rejuvenates the nervous system by stimulating nerve endings in the skin.
o Strengthens, stabilizes and regulates immune and metabolic functions.
o Reduces in-body pollutants, heavy metals, carcinogens, toxins, chemicals and free-radicals

Detoxing, or internal cleansing, is essential to restore and maintain optimal health. It is reported to improve the efficiency of the body’s immune, metabolic and lymphatic systems by reallocating the energy previously used to fight toxins, maintaining healthy natural functions. When your body is cleansed, the energy spent will shift from life maintenance to regeneration, promoting vitality and a long disease-free life.

About the Author: Marie Be’s inspiration comes from her mom who always challenged common assumptions and sought to understand for herself the major issues concerning her family and the choices she made on their behalf. She raised Marie and her brother in a rural environment, feeding them the best organic foods, and focused on building strong immune systems in her children through the use of natural plants, herbs and minerals.

As a fiery teenager, Marie traveled the world in search of purpose and dreamed of positively influencing our society. While earning her first two degrees, in architecture and sustainable development, she worked for Greenpeace and many other organizations of change. Her experience taught her that change cannot be imposed; she now aims at inspiring individuals through education and awareness.

Marie moved to Vancouver to undertake a Masters in Regenerative Sustainability under the supervision of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Teaching workshops on well-being, she started observing a widespread desire in our society for both physical and environmental health and sustainability. Feeling the winds of change, Marie founded EarthSun.
Earth for the Sun was inspired by nature, the source of life. By tuning in that source, by acquiring knowledge on ancient herbal traditions as well as new technologies, Marie believes it is possible to use nature’s intelligence and deliver simple and effective health products. Check out EarthSun for more information.

4) VISIT THE NATURAL HEALTH STORE
Please visit the Health Store for organic health foods, vitamins, supplements, beauty products and more.

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PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE!

Thank you for reading.

Livia
www.natural-health-and-healing.com
Brampton, Ontario, Canada

P.S. If you have a comment or suggestion, just reply to this e-mail. Your feedback is important to me.

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This newsletter is for educational purposes only. It is your right to educate yourself in health and medical knowledge, to seek helpful information and make use of it for your own benefit, and for that of your family. You are the one responsible for your health. You must educate yourself in order to make decisions in all health matters. My views and advises are not intended to be a substitute for conventional medicine, but simply a help you to make educated changes in order to help your body heal itself. If you have a medical condition or concern you should consult your physician.