Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 58 i The Art of Healing

A research team out of the University of Colorado-Boulder has found that prescription opioids may actually worsen chronic pain. The study also discovered that these drugs may in fact prolong the condition that they are supposed to help placate. This may explain why in the U.S., prescriptions of opioids, such as methadone, oxycodone (such as OxyContin®) and hydrocodone (such as Vicodin®), have quadrupled since 1999. Prescription Painkillers are Killers There is little contention to the claim that prescription painkillers are dangerous. They have been responsible for over 183,000 deaths over the last 15 years in America. Vioxx, for example was responsible for over 60,000 deaths before it was pulled off the market in 2004. But death isn’t the only risk of prescription painkillers. Misuse, abuse and addiction are also rampant in the United States.…

Tangy Hibiscus tea may taste great, but it’s also seriously medicinal. Clinical research has found that hibiscus reduces blood pressure, even beating some ACE inhibitor drugs. Other research has found it also treats urinary tract infections and improves cholesterol levels. Now that’s medicinal! What is Hibiscus? The Roselle Hibiscus plant (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a native to temperate regions around the world. These include West Africa, Central America, Australia, Thailand, China, India and other warm climes. The red flower sepal and calyces of the Roselle plant are used to make Hibiscus tea. This tea is a mainstay beverage in many regions, especially in Central America and West Africa. Hibiscus tea is made by boiling the flowers until the water turns red. However the flower is not the only medicinal part of…

Ageing is a natural process our bodies go through, however for decades scientists have searched for the fountain of youth – to no avail. But recently, a team of Korean scientists have found that while it is no secret that the acceleration of the ageing process is caused by excessive sugar, stress and toxicity (among other lifestyle factors), the consumption of some micronutrients, including vitamin C, folate and potassium can significantly delay the biological ageing process. What do telomeres have to do with ageing? According to the scientists, the leukocyte telomere length (LTL), or the parts that may reflect cumulative oxidative stress and indicate biological ageing, might hold the key to naturally slowing down the ageing process, and keep us looking and feeling younger. As reported by Dr. Axe, telomeres are…

Do any one or more of these statements describe you? • Do you feel irritable, nauseous, isolated or depressed? • Have you tried antidepressants and they are not working for you? • The antidepressants you are on are causing you to have bad side effects • Your depression/anxiety is affecting your relationships and/or work • You no longer take pleasure in activities you once enjoyed • Your libido, appetite and sleep patterns are disrupted • You worry excessively and have problems concentrating or staying focused • You are gaining/losing weight faster than usual You may not be alone! Each one of us experiences a wide array of emotions which affect thoughts, behaviour and health. With life becoming more pressured and fast-paced, the development of mood disorders and associated mental health…

Aboriginal experts such as Professor Helen Milroy have stated that when considering the range of historical experiences of trauma, there are three major themes that continue to be felt in the present. These are the extreme sense of powerlessness and loss of control; the profound sense of loss, grief and disconnection; and the overwhelming sense of trauma and helplessness. In order to address these fundamental wounds, each element needs to be dealt with in its own right as well as collectively in order to repair the social fabric, re-establish community and cultural norms, and support the safe development of children and young people. In this article, current community-based programs and the work of influential Indigenous mental health professionals will be overviewed. There are many reasons to acknowledge the enduring strength…

So how can it be possible to shift from the deepest turmoil to the highest ecstasy in an instant? Unlike spiritual experiences induced by meditation or relaxation, these experiences don’t seem to be organic, to arise naturally from particular activities or states of mind. Instead, there is a very abrupt shift to a completely different state of being, one that is almost its polar opposite. Turmoil and trauma may be the most powerful triggers of spiritual experiences, in the sense that the experiences they give rise to are usually of a very intense kind. The experiences are sometimes so powerful that they lead to a permanent change of being, and even a permanent state of enlightenment. In a research project at my university, I interviewed thirty-two people who had gone…

Many people say they would prefer to die at home, but we need to ask what they actually mean by this. For each of us, our idea of home is different. For some it will be one particular place or a geographical region where they feel their spiritual, cultural or ancestral roots are the strongest. For others, their idea of home may be more about people than an actual, physical place. Home is a complicated concept, so we must make sure that our personal view of what home means doesn’t cloud our judgement when someone we love insists that they want to die at home. For some, it may mean dying in their own bed in their own home, no matter what. For those who are living in a residential…

Thank you to the following writers for their time and contributions to this magazine: • Joy Aimee • Vanita Dahia • Julie Seamer • John Hendry • Steve Taylor Thank you to the following people for their time and contributions to this magazine: • Jack Charles • Avishai Barnatan • Yoshiko Takeuchi Thank you to the following organisations for their time and contributions to this magazine: • Australia 21 www.australia21.org.au • Ronin Films www.roninfilms.com.au • Scott Eathorne, Quikmark Media www.quikmarkmedia.com.au • Cooking With Yoshiko www.cookingwithyoshiko.com DISCLAIMER: All material provided in this magazine should be used as a guide only. Information provided should not be construed or used as a substitute for professional or medical…

Eating just a handful of nuts daily can cut your risk of cancer and heart disease by as much as 30 percent, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Imperial College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and published in the journal BMC Medicine. The maximum benefit came from eating just a single ounce (20 g) per day. The risk of diabetes, respiratory disease and premature death was also decreased. “We found a consistent reduction in risk across many different diseases, which is a strong indication there is a real underlying relationship between nut consumption and different health outcomes,” said co-author Dagfinn Aune. “It’s quite a substantial effect for such a small amount of food.” You don’t have to eat very much The researchers analysed…

 Single. Alone. These words conjure up different things for different people. On the one hand, they can evoke feelings of freedom, adventure, inner exploration, choosing our lives and spending time doing whatever it is that makes our souls happy. On the other hand, they can evoke feelings of isolation, loneliness, fear and insecurity. They can conjure up a heavy feeling of absence, of something missing from our lives. When we stop judging our own loneliness, we can begin to feel it. Then we can learn to take care of ourselves through it, knowing that it’s going to go away again and that we’ll be alright. We can express ourselves and gain perspective and accept that it’s okay to feel this way. It doesn’t make us less than. It’s not a sign of…

Do your ailments control you? Do you have an acute ache or ongoing pain? For a lot of us unfortunately, the answer is yes. Whilst we might like to be the authors of our wellbeing and have a happy ending, the reality is many of us are living in a state of dis-ease, and often with a condition that is dominating our lives. Far from appealing, Julie Seamer gives us some insight into how we might better manage this. While quick-fix pharmaceuticals enable you to feel in charge of any sickness you might experience, avoiding too much disturbance or loss of control, are you really comfortable with the remedy they provide? How much do they affect your back-pocket? How long are you expected to take them, or how long have…

Living in today’s technological world has brought many benefits including greater connection, but unfortunately it has also exposed us to unnatural frequencies and more stress and dis-ease. Consequently, we are all looking for new ways to remain healthy and sound therapy may be a very useful tool. The healing power of sound has been used since early human civilisation and is known to affect us in profound ways - physically, mentally and emotionally. Sound healing with its many different applications is becoming a more known and used modality. Music has been used for years to simply help us relax and get into a better state of mind. Sound healing takes music into a therapeutic environment to assist with pain relief, sleep, accelerated learning, enhancing productivity, raising consciousness and connecting to…

Creating Home In Another Place The concept of home is a complicated one. If a dying person no longer wants to remain in their own residence to die, there are a number of things we can do to “bring home with them,” no matter where they find themselves: • Surround them with familiar belongings, such as a knee rug, quilt or pillow • Bring their own clothes and nightwear, so they don’t have to dress in hospital gowns or pyjamas • Surround them with items of personal importance to them such as jewellery, books or a vase or maybe a small plant in a pot from their garden • If they are unable to connect with their country of origin, photos in an album, posters of the landscape placed on…

Freedom Stories Freedom Stories is an exploration by filmmaker Steve Thomas of the achievements and struggles of former ‘boat people’ who arrived seeking asylum from the Middle-East around 2001. Some were only children when they found themselves in indefinite mandatory detention in remote places such as Woomera or Nauru and then placed on temporary protection visas, which extended their limbo for years. It has taken astonishing resilience and over a decade for them to build secure lives and start contributing to their new country. These are ordinary people who found themselves caught up in the extraordinary consequences of political brinkmanship but have long since dropped out of the media spotlight. They live among us now and given the Government’s boast that it has ‘stopped the boats’ it is time for…

 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Zen Buddhist master, Thich Nhat Hanh has a very different theory about why our ecosystems are dying and our financial systems are crumbling. The Vietnamese monk credited with bringing mindfulness to the West believes that our desperation to succeed at all costs fuels our voracious economic system. An innumerable number of worldly “sicknesses” come from this singular philosophical vice. “If you consider mindfulness as a means of having a lot of money, then you have not touched its true purpose. It may look like the practice of mindfulness but inside there’s no peace, no joy, no happiness produced. It’s just an imitation. If you don’t feel the energy of brotherhood and sisterhood radiating from your work, that is not mindfulness.” On one of Hanh’s Facebook posts he said:…

The Australian National Mental Health Commission has put the impact of poor mental health on the economic agenda, as its cost to the nation soars to more than $60 billion a year. Commission Chair, Professor Allan Fels AO, said there is a need for action across sectors to improve our mental health system through the appropriate allocation of resources. “Evidence suggests we should focus on prevention and early intervention which can reduce the need for more complex and costly interventions,” Professor Fels said. “Our current focus is on treating mental illness once it hits crisis point, whereas preventative interventions can improve peoples’ lives and are cost effective.” “These interventions can involve improving health treatments as well as areas such as disability, housing and employment services.” In 2016 the Commission hosted…

community support Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects large numbers of people in many communities in Australia. There are a broad range of treatment options but what is missing in many instances is the wider picture of families caught up in the cycle of despair associated with PTSD. In this article I put forward the idea of developing intentional Compassionate PTS Communities (CPC’s) to promote a greater understanding of the role the community can play in supporting those with PTSD. In view of the impact this problem has in the community, there is a need for activists, champions and supporters, and greater awareness of the issue in schools, in the voluntary sector and amongst those who are at particular risk of developing the problem. This is a public health issue…

When Spirit Moves … Energy Trails to Montville “If you do not step forward you will always be in the same place.” For some time I had known that my life in Sydney was coming to a close. I even moved into an apartment building called “Borrowdale,” a sure sign from the Universe that I was on borrowed time. Of course, the thought of moving somewhere else was scary, and my love affair with Sydney wasn’t done. Where else could offer me such natural beauty, cultural diversity and intellectual stimulation? What about my friends and clients? And where should I go? A long-held flirtation with the South Coast over many years had turned to naught and although I still loved to visit, I knew it wasn’t my next home. I…

Arame Daikon, Sesame and Ume Salad SERVES 4 This is the ultimate alkalising salad with three strong alkaline foods; daikon, ume and arame. It is a great side dish when you are eating oily or animal products. INGREDIENTS 50g Arame, soaked in water until soft 2 tbsp roasted sesame oil 2 tbsp plum vinegar 400g daikon 2 cucumber (about 400g) 3 tbsp grounded roasted sesame METHOD 1. Drain the soaked arame and set aside 2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the arame and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add 1 tbsp plum vinegar and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until well mixed. 3. Shred or julienne the daikon and cucumber and place in a bowl. 4. Add the ground roasted sesame and 1 tbsp plum…

Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff and informed by advisors like Edward O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century, bringing together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds. The film unfolds in five acts, each with a central story and character: ACT 1 – Conservation Act 1 focuses on the conservation movement of the ‘60s, the Sierra Club, David Brower and the battle to halt dams in the Grand Canyon. It grows out of three earlier battles to halt dams: Hetch Hetchy, which was lost; the Dinosaur Monument, which was won; and Glen Canyon, which was sacrificed.…