Innholdsfortegnelse for March - May 2015 i The Art of Healing

Dr. Vaggelis Fragiadakis is an amateur photographer and professional mathematician who was born in Greece, on the island of Crete. After completing his degree at the University of Athens, he decided to leave Greece and venture out into the unknown. After much difficulty he found himself in the U.S. where he lives and works today, keeping with him a keen sense of the Mediterranean spirit and understanding for the poor and older people. His love for art and the world that surrounds him led him to photography, and his fascination for portraits of old wrinkled people, anguished by hard work and life. Travelling around the world, Fragiadakis photographs people on the streets, immersing himself in their character while still supporting each person’s individuality and placing human dignity above everything. He…

The Australian Organic Market Report 2014 released late 2014 confirms the Australian organic market has continued to significantly outperform most equivalent conventional sectors. Australia has also performed better than most other organic markets in the Asia-Pacific region in the five years to 2014 ahead of China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Further, between 2014 and 2016 global sales of organic food and beverages are expected to continue showing higher growth than their conventional counterparts as food safety and chemical contamination becomes of increasing concern. The report included a survey from a group of Australian grocery shoppers who were asked a range of questions concerning their purchase of ‘organic’ products. Results included: - more Australians are purchasing organic than previously - organic consumers continue to…

Do you care about the impact of what you purchase but don’t have time to give it much thought? Do you sometimes find yourself wondering how your t-shirt or laptop was made, but wouldn’t know how to find out? Are you concerned about global warming, toxic pollution, animal welfare, or modern-day slavery, but wish someone else would do the homework and tell you what to buy? Good on You is a social business established in 2014 by the non-profit charity Ethical Consumers Australia, led by Gordon Renouf, Fycal Fassi and Bethany Noble. Gordon was inspired by his time as the Head of Campaigns at the leading consumer organisation CHOICE to set up a consumer organisation that made it much easier to know how our consumer choices impact on child labour,…

NagnAta is a yoga lifestyle brand with earthly ethical roots, founded by Holly Dixon and Laura May. NagnAta means ‘naked wanderer’ in Sanskrit which reflects the girls own ideals as well as being based on yogic principles. Textiles and artistic inspirations are sourced from around the world, weaving together the old and new worlds of creativity and spirituality, and tradition and innovation. NagnAta Yoga Mat Bags Handcrafted in India, nagnAta’s Yoga Mat Bags are created using recycled age-old textiles from India and Afghanistan. The bags feature the intricate hand embroidery work from traditional dress, contrasted against old Indian sari fabrics with classic techniques of kantha stitching, block printing and vegetable dip-dye. www.nagnata.com…

What is ‘Fairtrade’ and what does it actually stand for? Fair trade is an organised social movement whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading conditions and to promote sustainability. Members of the movement advocate the payment of higher prices to exporters, as well as higher social and environmental standards. The movement focuses in particular on commodities, or products which are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries, but also consumed in domestic markets (e.g. Brazil and India.) For example; coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers, gold and 3D printer filament. The movement seeks to promote greater equity in international trading partnerships through dialogue, transparency, and respect. It promotes sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and…

I started to train in massage, reflexology and body psychotherapy after many years of being an intensive care nurse. Being curious about touch therapies in clinical practice and being challenged by the lack of evidence by sceptical colleagues propelled my research work. Introduction Touch therapies, such as massage and reflexology, are increasingly being delivered in healthcare settings and hospices. Therapists train for a variety of reasons, including the desire to humanise patient care and offer choices in managing difficult-to-treat symptoms. However securing funding to grow and formally evaluate services presents intertwined challenges. Research work is complex and intimidating enough to exclude many therapists and would-be researchers. Ways of ‘doing research’ fuel academic debate about which study designs are appropriate. For many health scientists the systematic review of randomised double-blind controlled…

Facing opposite your Inner Child or Inner Adolescent (if they are smaller, imagine them sitting in your lap facing you) and looking into each other’s eyes, start to breathe in the same pattern and slow your breathing rate so their breathing pattern also slows. When your breath becomes more gentle, relaxed and in-sync, imagine that you are both merging into one. If you are standing, then both of you can move forward together. If they are seated on your lap you can draw them closer to you and into you. You will then be the one to turn around so that you are both looking through the same set of eyes. If they are smaller than you, shrink your body so that you are the same size as they are.…

Depression Stephanie Sorrell Having suffered from major depression for much of her life, Stephanie Sorrell has learned to work with the disease rather than against it. Where so many mental health books feature ‘fighting and overcoming’ depression, her experience and understanding have enabled her to see the value of the condition rather than what it can take away. In this easy-to-read introduction to depression Stephanie shows the various ways in which it manifests, what is available on a natural as well as chemical level, and how the diversity of psychological therapies serve and hold depression. The Emotion Code Dr Bradley Nelson In The Emotion Code, renowned holistic physician and lecturer Dr. Bradley Nelson skillfully lays bare the inner workings of the subconscious mind. He reveals how emotionally-charged events from your…

Communication in general is a process of sending and receiving messages that enables humans to share knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Although we usually identify communication with speech, communication is composed of two dimensions - verbal and nonverbal. Nonverbal Communication has been defined as communication without words. It includes apparent behaviours such as facial expressions, eyes, touching, and tone of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture and spatial distance between two or more people. Everything communicates, including material objects, physical space, and time systems. Although verbal output can be turned off, nonverbal cannot. Even silence speaks.…

As I am sitting typing this note on the 4th of January 2015 and thinking about the brand new year ahead, I am aware that you will likely be reading this at the beginning of March. However I do feel compelled to share my reflections and thoughts about the year ahead, as I don’t believe it will get any easier for a lot of us. More than ever I believe our saving grace will be to communicate and connect with each other. If you look back over the last few years when times were tough (after the world wars for instance), and compare these times of hardship to the world we are living in now, there are some major differences. Firstly, there was a lack of food which was needed…

Growing consumer concerns about synthetic chemicals in cosmetics and toiletries is driving growth in the natural and organic personal care products market in the UK. A recent Consumer Insights report by Organic Monitor reveals the major trigger for consumers to switch to natural and organic products is health concerns. Ninety-percent of UK buyers of natural and organic personal care products said ‘avoidance of synthetic chemicals’ was important or very important to them. When asked to name specific chemicals they look to avoid, almost two-thirds of buyers stated parabens. Compared to the previous study in 2007, awareness of synthetic chemicals has increased significantly. In 2007 the same survey showed just 3% of buyers wished to avoid phthalates and lanolin, compared to 19% today. www.organicmonitor.com…

In the beginning there was Brahman. In the end, which might have been perceived differently but was essentially still the same, there was Brahman too. And all there was, is and ever will be is Brahman. Brahman thought, “Here I am – everything, all-encompassing, all-pervasive, with no end and nothing unknown. I am indeed the One. How easily it might have been otherwise. How would it be, what might I feel, if I was a mere part of this universe, rather than the Universe.” Being All was a heavy burden. In a moment when he was imagining what it might be like to put aside his Oneness, he dreamed the universe. In this great creative act he projected something outside himself. All at once the stars, the constellations and all…

fruit march apples, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, figs, feijoa, grapes, lemons, lime, honeydew melon, rockmelon, watermelon, nashi, nectarines, oranges, passionfruit, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, pomegranate, rhubarb april apples, raspberries, strawberries, cumquats, figs, feijoa, grapes, lemons, lime, mandarins, honeydew melon, rockmelon, watermelon, nashi, oranges, passionfruit, pears, persimmons, plums, pomegranate, rhubarb, tamarillos may apples, cumquats, feijoa, lemons, lime, mandarins,, nashi, oranges, passionfruit, pears, persimmons, rhubarb, tamarillos veges march asian greens, beans, cabbages, capsicum, carrots, celery, chillies, cucumber, daikon, eggplant, garlic, kohlrabi (green), leek, lettuce, okra, onions, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, radishes, shallots, silver beet, spinach, spring onions, squash, sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini april asian greens, beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, capsicum, carrots, celery, chillies, cucumber, daikon, eggplant, kohlrabi (green), leek, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, olives, onions, parsnip, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, shallots, silver beet, spinach, spring onions,…

Bed and Broccoli, Australia’s first vegan B & B, was opened in 2010 in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley. Nikki Medwell is a cook with a conscience, and offers guests a taste of a lifestyle where people co-habitate with animals in peace. “We chose a vegan lifestyle out of our love for animals. There is no reason a living, feeling family member of the animal kingdom should die for the sake of satisfying the palate for a few moments of our day, especially with much tastier and healthier options out there!” In the book Bed & Broccoli, you can learn how to make ginger on steamed bean curd and ‘cheese’ spread made from soaked raw cashews, red capsicum, sesame seeds, nutritional yeast flakes, lemon juice, canola oil and tamari. Or mint-pea bruschetta…

As an integrative medical doctor with a special interest in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia, I was stunned several years ago when I started testing some of my most chronically unwell CFS patients for tick-borne illness after being introduced to the concept at one of my conferences. I was aware of its incidence in the U.S., but was not familiar with its incidence throughout Australia. I had never learned about it during my Melbourne University Medical training when I graduated 20 years ago and I had long suspected that these patients, who had been poorly responsive to standard supportive interventions, had a high likelihood of a chronic infection involving a stealth pathogen. After receiving a number of positive results of Borrelia +/-co-infections, I hastily began researching protocols for treatment…

It was great, wasn’t it? You would be smiling and so would your mother. Then you would snuggle down into the sheets, she would kiss you good night and you would drift off to sleep with your mind full of romantic notions of princes and castles. But the problem was, the stories never described what “happy ever after” was. Was it an endless round of parties, great dresses and an Alpha male? Was it a great job, overseas trips and a BMW? Was it three children and a white picket fence? The specifics were never really spelt out and so most of us grew up into a world where, if we knew what we wanted and had a bit of luck on our side, we could fill in the blanks…

What are your expectations when go to a healthcare practitioner? Do you usually go for a reason and because you are feeling unwell, or are you going because you want to maintain your health and keep everything in check? When I visited Di Hopkins, it was because she had told me about a different form of abdominal massage that she was quite excited about. Now this was immediately of interest to me because I have always wondered why [unless you ask] standard massage doesn’t include the stomach, breasts, or face. It has never made sense to me that we seem to just disregard certain parts of our body whenever it suits, that they are seemingly ‘separated’ from us to suit someone else’s agenda. As I am a firm believer and…

MARCH-MAY 2015 After the lunar eclipse in early April we will slowly move away from the compelling intensity of the Uranus square Pluto formation, the major outer planetary transit since 2012-2015. Globally, we have witnessed numerous power struggles, violent wars and mass revolts but this planetary alignment signifies the call for a new, more advanced model of living which will travel to all areas of the globe. The question will be if we can revolutionise society and its economies. We know that expanding markets using unsustainable resources kills life, so now will be the time for a shift to happen to transform all levels of our existence. During the year, there will be a strong impulse to unmask deception and cut through denial in order to reveal the dark reality…

It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear Italo Calvino Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true Charles Dickens To effectively communicate, we must realise that we are all different in the way we perceive the world, and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others Tony Robbins The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said. Peter Drucker Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill. Buddha It is not enough to show people how to live better: there is a mandate for any group with enormous…