Holistic Feathers

I was a little bit … errr … keen this New Moon to share the abundance cheque ritual with everyone!  So keen, in fact, I announced it yesterday (Thursday!)!

No need to worry, you have a full 24 hours in which to write your abundance cheques out from 7.11am this morning (UST), Friday 15th January 2010 … and I will also share with you here links to:

* the original abundance cheque ritual from Holistic Feathers, along with

* a beautiful free meditation from Orindaben, and

* a blank abundance cheque from The Secret which you may wish to use, rather than use up your own personal bank cheques (checks)

Two new items have slipped onto my abundance wishlist this January – both hearfelt, one entirely luxurious and one (I am sure is) my destiny.

The Kiss Travelwrap

My vision of home

So meditate today with the beautiful New Moon energies and watch abundance in every shape and form come to you over the coming days.

Free meditation from www.orindaben.com

Abundance cheque template from www.thesecret.tv

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GPs should prescribe meditation for depression, says Mental Health Foundation

Meditation therapy should be routinely available on the NHS to treat recurring depression and to help tackle Britain’s growing mental health problems, according to a new report.

Full article discovered on Times Online – 5 January 2010 – Author: Sam Lister, Health Editor

The study, commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation, found that fewer than one in 20 GPs prescribed meditation therapy for patients suffering depression, despite NHS guidance suggesting that it could halve depression relapse rates.

The report calls for much wider use of “mindfulness” treatment, which combines meditation with orthodox “thought training”. The report argues that if more GPs offered the therapy it would sharply reduce the financial burden of depression, which costs Britain £7.5 billion a year.

Mental health specialists said that greater use of meditation would reduce an over-reliance on antidepressants. They said that while the drugs were effective, they did not help address the possibility of future depressive episodes.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), which has its roots in Eastern philosophy and Buddhism, trains people to focus attention on one place instead of allowing the mind to be “hijacked” by emotional issues, regrets, worries about the past and future, and other distractions. This can be done in a number of ways, for example by focusing on breathing, parts of the body, or movement.

Holistic Feathers teaches and practises a similar form of mindfulness meditation for relaxation, called Art of Being Still

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued guidance on meditation in 2004 after studies suggested that it might bring benefits.

Five years later, only a fifth of GPs said they can access the treatment for their patients, and just one in 20 regularly prescribes the therapy, according to the Mental Health Foundation report Be Mindful.

MBCT costs on average £300 per patient for a course of two-hour sessions over eight weeks. Since patients are treated in groups of up to 20, the cost is said to be much lower than one-to-one cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

A key difference between the new approach and traditional CBT is that patients are seen between episodes of depression, and not when they are in the grip of the illness. Another difference is the inclusion of meditation, as research has shown that relying on CBT alone to prevent recurrent depression does not work as well.

Mark Williams, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, who contributed to the report, said that meditative therapy enabled people to switch off “brooding recrimination” and, while acknowledging these thoughts, move beyond them.

“People begin to see thoughts and feelings as a temporary weather pattern in the mind, and realise they don’t have to judge themselves,” he said.

More than 100 studies, some involving Buddhist monks, have shown that brainwave activity changes during meditation, and that areas of the brain linked to controlling emotion are bigger in people who have meditated regularly for five years.

Mindfulness training has also been shown to increase activity in the pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with positive emotion that is normally subdued in depressed individuals.

One in 10 people in Britain is affected by clinical depression — defined by a range of symptoms within a single two-week period — and 50 per cent of sufferers experience it more than once. After two bouts of depression, there is a 70 per cent risk of relapse, which rises to 90 per cent after three episodes.

Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said that doctors prescribed antidepressants too often. “Mindfulness-based therapy could help prevent thousands of people from relapsing into depression every year. This would have huge knock-on benefits both socially and economically, making it a sensible treatment to make available, even at a time when money is short within the NHS,” he said.

“Depression tends to come back for many people, with the odds of further bouts increasing each time. A single episode is serious enough, but having the illness return year after year can have a devastating impact on people’s jobs, relationships, and their chances in life generally.”

The case for making MBCT available on the NHS relies on two key studies of patients with recurring depression. One, undertaken ten years ago, showed a 37 per cent relapse rate for patients given MBCT, compared with 66 per cent for those not given the treatment. The other, conducted in 2004, showed an even bigger difference between the two groups, with relapse rates of 36 per cent and 78 per cent. Another recent trial in Exeter, with results published last year, indicated that MBCT is at least as effective at preventing relapses as antidepressants.

Jonty Heaversedge, a South London GP who learnt to meditate at a Buddhist centre and believes the practice can improve many aspects of health, said: “Depression is something that affects a huge number of my patients, often year after year, with devastating consequences. MBCT gives them the opportunity to develop a healthier, more accepting relationship with their thoughts and feelings.”

(c) Times Online

You may also be interested in reading another story via Times Online, recounting an individual’s experience of using mindfulness meditation for treating her depression: Mindfulness therapy pushes the bad thoughts to one side

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22nd December 2009
Daily Mail

Sunburn, smoking and being overweight are key factors in making people look older than they are, a study said yesterday. Drinking alcohol, on the other hand, appeared to offer protection against sun damage.

Scientists in the U.S. studied 65 pairs of identical and non-identical twins to examine the environmental causes of skin ageing. Since only identical twins share the same genes, studies of twins can be used to screen out genetic traits. Influences that affect one of a pair of identical twins but not the other are likely to be environmental.

The research was carried out at the annual twins’ festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. The study found that higher levels of skin damage linked to exposure to sunlight were associated with heavier body weight and smoking. Long-term sun exposure causes changes to the skin that result in ‘photodamage’, said the researchers.

Up to 40 per cent of ageing-related changes in the study were due to non-genetic factors. Drinking alcohol was significantly related to reduced photodamage risk. ‘It is known that certain alcoholic beverages (e.g. red wine) contain polyphenols such as resveratrol, which is an effective antioxidant,’ said lead researcher Kathryn Martires, from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland.

Although higher bodyweight was associated with more photodamage, the reverse appeared to be true for older people. ‘For those 54 or older, weight correlated negatively with photoageing, implying that although excess fat may increase skin’s susceptibility to damage, it may help mask the appearance of wrinkles in older age,’ said the study.

Read more: (c) Daily Mail

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Merry Christmas!!!

We are very happy to share our latest issue – the Winter 2009 issue – of Holistic Feathers Wellbeing magazine.

Wishing you a wonderful Yuletide and a very happy Christmas-time!!

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I am just so excited by this … if you are tired of trying to move your life forward or end up hating yourself by 11th January as you’ve tripped up on every single resolution made on New Years Eve, then do yourself a huge favour and sign up for a 1-month trial for this amazing programme.

I am also part way through reading Allison’s companionm book, due to launch mid-January 2010 – I am finding it highly effective, so if you have always wondered what it is like to work with a life coach but something has held you back, then why not try this option?

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The British Prime Minister has told more than 60,000 people concerned about the effects of Codex guidelines on food supplements that they shouldn’t be worried. We presume concerned citizens are expected to feel humbled by the wise words of the PM, and should now go about their lives never fretting about Codex again.

The Downing Street petition

As we clarify in our news item on the subject, the Downing Street e-petition to which the PM was responding, was not well worded. But the sentiment in the petition was clear. Being told by the PM not to worry is not only patronising, it also misses the point of people’s concerns that to any thinking person was clearly evident. The petitioners had after all raised the point that the Codex Alimentarius guideline will in due course establish an internationally recognised maximum daily dosage for vitamin and minerals in food supplements. Levels above these are increasingly likely to be viewed as medicinal by governments. The US Food & Drug Administration tells us they wouldn’t dream of implementing the Codex vitamin guideline into US law—but why is the US Codex delegation so intent on nodding this and other nutrition-related guidelines through in cahoots with the European Union?

In some respects, the situation is actually worse than the petitioners claimed, because rather than forcing high dose supplements into a prescription-only category, they force them into medicinal law where such products are likely to be regarded as unlicensed medicines (which are illegal). It will then be down to nutraceutical or pharmaceutical companies to license them. Will companies have either the desire or the financial capability to meet the hugely costly data requirements for drug licensing? Time will tell.

Wider concerns about Codex

What really makes so many people uneasy is the notion that the global food supply is becoming increasingly controlled by a small number of corporations and governments. We have recently updated our Codex pages to explain better to people, in layperson’s terms, how it all works, and why, in some respects, Codex’s remit on vitamins and mineral food supplements is just the thin end of the wedge.

If you’re living in Europe, Codex actually makes little or no difference to your availability of food supplements as this is taken care of by a complex of EU laws, some of which, given the EU’s major influence on the Codex Committee on Nutrition, provide templates for Codex. Some of the key areas to be very concerned about include Codex’s role in approving technologies that are either downright dangerous or create unparalleled damage to the environment. These include endorsing genetically modified (GM) crops, pesticides, food irradiation and the use of synthetic chemical additives in foods.

The most recent issue of The Economist tells us that investment in agriculture has declined relentlessly over the last 25 years. Yet we are meant to feed a population that is expected to grow by another third by 2030 and hit an estimated 9 billion by 2050. And we’re expected to not be worrying about the quality of our food and our access to concentrated sources of nutrients (food/dietary supplements) to make up for its inadequacies? It’s no wonder the UK PM’s friends in the biotech industry are rubbing their hands—they are telling governments they can do the magic, just like they did with the Green Revolution of the 1970s. Successes like this, say expert’s like ANH’s Robert Verkerk, are “unrepeatable” and were in any event far from always the successes they were claimed to be. Trying to make such promises today, armed with the tools of genetic modification is in our view a recipe for disaster.

What you can do

A lot of people rightly feel very frustrated about the difficulty of impacting Codex. Many of us are simply not willing to take the British PM’s advice and stop worrying. There is just not enough trust in the small number of governments and corporations that are wrestling control of the global food supply. Codex and the World Trade Organization have become key tools in the process.

Find out what you can do as an individual. We urge you to not take the advice of the British PM and do nothing!

(c) Alliance for Natural Health

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Pioneering British businesswoman stands up to the European Parliament to protect the health, choice and rights of UK citizens.

EU threats to restrict and eventually eradicate people’s choice of natural foods and remedies in the UK, received a wake-up call in the form of Dounne Alexander MBE, who is on a mission to stop this catastrophe and safeguard the nation’s health from further decline. Dounne says, “the end goal is for the MEPs to sign an OPT OUT Declaration, which will be sent within the next 2 weeks to the Prime Minister, Opposition Leaders and every member from both houses of Parliament, urging the UK Government to reject these EU Directives before the 31st December ‘09 deadline.

And in its place, establish an independent Legal Framework for natural foods and herbal supplements, in order to preserve our environment; protect health businesses and secure a healthier life for future generations”. Dounne is the first to single-handedly stand up to the EU, which was televised by the BBC.

Dounne received a special invitation from Godfrey Bloom MEP and on Wednesday 11th.November’09, took her case to all 700 EU members in the European Parliament in Brussels. Dounne says; “Being Armistice Day, it was a poignant reminder of the millions of UK & Commonwealth soldiers who so gallantly fought and died to preserve our Sovereignty, Democracy & Freedom. And although each year the Queen, Prime Minister and Ministers stand alongside the nation, to pay public tribute by solemnly promising to ‘always remember and never forget their sacrifice’. behind the scenes and under duress, our leaders have unwisely handed over total control and power to a non-democratic corporation such as the European Union”.

She left no-one in any doubt of her intention to make it a major election issue; by exposing their hidden agendas and will be encouraging everyone not to vote for any Parliamentary Member who does not openly protect their health and wellbeing.

Credited as being the ‘one of the most influential women in the UK’, Dounne reacted immediately and strategically, when she found out that new EU regulations will eventually eliminate and drastically reduce the effectiveness of many essential herbs, vitamins and supplements commonly used today. This not only threatens ancient traditions such as Chinese, African & Indian practices but also the survival of the majority of small health businesses and practitioners. With almost all beneficial natural products being banned within a matter of years, the real nightmare will be felt in the UK around 2011, when the public will witness the greatest infringement on natural healthcare.

The fear is that organic foods will gradually be eradicated and, in its place, genetically modified (GM), irradiated and other unnatural foods will be promoted as a cheaper, healthier option. This will ultimately destroy the environment and create an increasingly ’sick society’ dependant solely on artificial foods and prescription medication. Just this month, the Grocer Magazine reported the first GM Omega 3 from Soya oil, produced by the GM food giant Monsanto, was approved by the American Food & Drugs Administration (FDA); stating that it would provide a cheaper and more plentiful source for supplements, margarines and ready meals. Dounne says, “GM foods are dead ‘infertile’ foods, void of any life-force; people need to wake up to the long-term impact they will have on our health and environment. GM foods are also altering the natural eco-system which has maintained us since creation”.

Founder of GRAMMA’S, Dounne (60) was honoured by the Queen with the MBE in 2007 for service to the British Food Industry and has been spearheading ‘traditional natural healthcare’ for over 20 years. She is a passionate believer in ‘divine purpose, spiritual consciousness and a strong advocate of traditional self-healing’, based on the ancient principle that natural foods are meant to feed and heal. She says; “100 years ago sickness was rare (through the sole use of natural foods and herbal supplements). but sickness has now reached pandemic proportions using conventional drugs. If prescription drugs worked, we should all be in good health”.

She believes that pressure from UK & EU Regulators is all part of a hidden agenda by the ‘powers that be’ to prevent the sale of large numbers of food supplements, herbal and other natural products. “It’s hard to find any justification other than the elimination of competition by destroying health businesses to secure maximum profits for the pharmaceutical industry. Her own business was directly affected this year, when the ‘Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’ (MHRA) forced her to stop the production and sells of a unique herbal product, which in 2008 was approved by the Public Health Minister for use in hospitals and hospices. Dounne believes that it could be one of the most innovative British products, with extraordinary health benefits ranging from cancer, heart disease, strokes, seizures, diabetes, high blood pressure, incontinence, food poisoning, allergies, skin disorders and lots more. Therefore, she is currently challenging the MHRA’s decision that her product is a ‘medicine’ and not a ‘herbal food supplement’. This has nothing to do with safety or effectiveness but all about obtaining a ‘medical license’ costing up to £250,000. Hundreds of similar businesses are being challenged all over Europe by what looks set to be the most restrictive regulatory system ever witnessed in the Western world.

Furthermore, laws such as the 1939 Cancer Act was created to prevent the public from being informed about any natural product that is beneficial for cancer. Even when proven safe, effective or if scientific evidence exists, it is a criminal offence to produce, promote or sell it to cancer sufferers. Therefore, people are suffering and dying needlessly from treatable conditions like heart disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and cancer. Apart from withholding such vital ‘life saving’ information; healthcare practitioners are also being fined, imprisoned or both for restoring health by natural means”. Dounne says, ” As cancer is now affecting 1 in 3 of the UK population, then the likelihood of one member in every family falling prey to this dreadful disease is extremely high”. So she asked the MEPs “What would you do when it touches you or yours? OR how would you feel if a loved-one who has died. could have possibly been saved?”

The MHRA have more powers than the police and are raiding and confiscating products from legitimate practitioners, hence driving natural healthcare underground. This means that our freedom to choose or to take responsibility of our own lives is being taken-away.

“To make matters worse, information is being deliberately withheld from the general public to avoid resistance. The truth is incredibly disturbing. What appears on the surface to be ‘consumer health protection’ behind the scenes is actually ‘legalised health suicide’. But the scariest part of it is that majority of UK citizens do not know or realise that we need to ACT NOW!” Dounne says.

“I am therefore, calling on everyone to JOIN HANDS IN HEALTH’ today because we only have until 31 December ‘09 to stop this madness. Otherwise, on 1st JANUARY 2010, the UK population will be waking up to a 21st Century nightmare”.

Dounne formed the ‘Joining Hands in Health’ campaign not only to reveal exactly what is going on behind the scenes, but to galvanise the nation; all natural healthcare practitioners and interested parties to stop this in its tracks.

“It is said that KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, therefore please educate yourself by visiting our website and view recent television interview ‘ON THE EDGE’ with myself and Dr. Robert Verkerk (Science Director of the Alliance for Natural Health); plus ‘We Become Silent – the Last Days of Health Freedom’ – narrated by Dame Judi Dench.
We need to ACT NOW!”

PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. For more information please visit; www.joininghandsinhealth.com, or to show support for Dounne and ‘Consumer Health Choice’ please email myview@joininghandsinhealth.com

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We focus on our breathing during our Art of Being Still practice (deep guided relaxation) … this is a great technique which is very easy to  master:

(NaturalNews) The modern day lifestyle can be very fast and furious leaving many people feeling depressed tired and basically unable to cope. While these symptoms are not good they are simply our body’s way of telling us to slow down and to take a few deep breaths.

Most of us think that breathing is an involuntary act and that there is no right or wrong way to do it. But there is, and most of us do it wrong. Pranayama is a yoga breathing technique that is used to prepare participants for meditation and to help them on their spiritual journey. It teaches us that we should take note of our breathing, and that we should use the full extent of our lungs. Basically it teaches us how to breathe properly.

The Pranayama technique that yoga beginners tend to learn first is called the Three Part Breath or Dirga Pranayama. In ancient traditions it was thought best to perform the technique lying down. This way the participants can really feel their breath flowing through their body, but it is not essential to feel the full effects of the technique. It is called the three part breath because it is performed in three stages, first using the bottom of the lungs, then the middle and lastly the top. This means that the full capacity of the lungs is being used instead of the 20% that most of us scrape by on.

When we are young we naturally breathe this way, deeply and using all of our lungs. But as our lives become stressful due to work, financial pressures and kids our breathing tends to become fast and shallow. This means that our lungs do not fill up with enough oxygen and are therefore unable to distribute the optimum amount around our body. Many health problems ranging from heart disease to sleep disorders may in fact be due to what is known as oxygen starvation. We all know that our body needs oxygen to function properly. Our brain and muscles feed on it making us feel more alert and energized. Our lymphatic system, which is the system that rids the body of toxins, is controlled by the simple motion of breathing deeply.

The great thing about this type of deep Pranayama breathing is that it can be performed almost anywhere. It will help keep your mind calm and clear in any situation and done regularly it can give you an amazing sense of euphoria. This is because deep breathing is our built in defense against stress. It lowers your heart rate and blood pressure while easing muscle tension. So next time life seems to be getting on top of you just stop, take a step back, breathe deeply and try to use your lungs’ full capacity. You will be amazed by the results.

(c) Natural News

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With all of the press abuzz with news that Vitamin D may help us to combat swine flu this winter, here is an interesting (short) article I recently discovered on Vitamin D assisting with breast health …

* * * *

Experts already believe Vitamin D protects against breast cancer and in some forms may even be used to shrink existing tumors. According to recent research from Stanford University, optimal amounts of sunlight exposure may reduce your risk of advanced breast cancer by as much as 50 percent. Sunlight may not be enough to make all the Vitamin D you need (you have to be in the noonday sun without sunscreen, with 40% of the body exposed, and not wash with soap for 48 hours). Most people don’t do this.

Best bet is to spend some time in the sun and to take Vitamin D too. The vitamin alone is not a substitute for sun exposure, but few modern people get enough Vitamin D from either source to supply all of our needs.

Vitamin D blood levels above 52 ng/ml are associated with 83% reductions in breast cancer. A study that raised blood levels of Hydroxy D from 20 to 40 is associated with 35% lower relapse rates of all cancers combined. The recommended 200-400 iu of Vitamin D in a multi-vitamin is based on preventing rickets only. Cancers, Diabetes, MS, fractures and heart attacks require much higher levels of Vitamin D for prevention. To get your blood levels above 50 ng/ml you probably need 5000 to 10,000 iu/day. You can go much higher but it is a good idea to get tested if you go above 25,000 iu.

For more on the subject of Breast health and alternative care go to …. www.acupuncturebrooklyn.com/articles-by-karen-vaughan/breast-health
(c) Karen Vaughan

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NHS surgery to help the obese lose weight has more than doubled in the past year, official figures show.

There were 4619 operations in England, a 51% rise on the previous year.

Obesity costs the NHS around £4.2billion and is predicted to more than double by 2050.

But experts claim the surgery can be more effective in saving lives than drugs and dieting and that it is cheaper in the long run for treating obesity-related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Professor Alberic Fiennes, head of a specialist obesity unit at University College of London Hospital said:  “These treatments can put problems like type 2 diabetes into remission.  This will start saving the NHS money within 3 years”.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended the surgery in 2006 but experts claim not enough patients are recommended by GPs.  Of the 1,010,000 severely and morbidly obese population in England, 230,00 are both eligible and willing to have surgery.

However, David Haslam, Chairman of the National Obesity forum, says fewer than 2% will actually receive treatment.  NHS guidelines say obese adults should be considered for surgery, as should obese children aged around 16 as a “last resort”.

Read in the (c) Daily Mail, Saturday 10th October 2009

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