The Cold Turnkey

Making sure you have enough space to store your things should be a primary consideration when you put your bedroom together. Your bedroom should be a space where you can relax so its important that you make it comfortable. Careful consideration should be taken when choosing the carpet, the carpet will have a huge influence on the overall feel of the room. Before deciding on a particular carpet, such as mr tomkinson carpets - you should consider what kind of style and feel you are trying to create. If you are having a clear-out see it as an ideal chance to get rid of as much of your clutter as possible.

Once you have chosen a suitable carpet you should also have a think about the ceiling. If most people overlook the importance of choosing the right carpet, nearly everyone overlooks the possibilities of adding colour to your ceiling. Done right colour on the ceiling can bring a room to life, darker tones can add warmth and depth. Darker tones can make rooms which aren’t so big have a claustrophobic feel, however on the other hand can make bigger rooms feel much more intimate. Ensuring your bedroom is correctly lit can also affect the general mood of the room. It’s a well known fact that people react physiologically to varying levels of light, brighter more intense lighting is likely to have the effect of keeping people more alert and energetic. A softer lighting is likely to create a more relaxed feeling and make you feel more relaxed. If you are installing lighting in your bedroom it makes sense to install a dimmer switch as they are cheap and relatively easy to install. Energy saving light bulbs are also a great idea as not only do they save you money but they also tend to last longer as well.

My acquaintance Alex contacts me on the phone to inform me that he’s discovered some on-line gambling sites that I must have to check into. I have never really been heavy into gambling, but I figured ok, I have to give it a trial run. So I tried out some poker and blackjack, only honestly, they just are not my cup of tea. Then I find these on-line e-lottery sites and then I realise that all over cyberspace I can take part in all different lotteries around the planet. Now to me this looks a good deal more joy, so I imagine I may give it a try out. First I tried my luck at euro millions, you know a European lottery. I decided on my e-lottery winning numbers and waited and dreamt that I would win it big. I didn’t on that occasion only when the euro millions numbers came out; I was extremely surprised to see that I had really come very near to the winning numbers. I sought out a couple of other world lotteries, only I found that I had come so close the first time on the euromillions, that I simply had to give it another shot. So far, I haven’t won a bucket load of pounds, but, I have won some money, and so I continue to play the euro millions and picking lottery numbers, going for the big break. I am one of those individuals who like to believe in the likelihood of winning it big, because it’s hard to reckon getting that sort of money any other way.

As for my acquaintance, he still goes on with his love of on-line gambling and finds himself at the online casino for at least an hour a day. He too has won some money, but it has high’s and low’s and the difference is, when you lose at gambling you normally lose a lot but when you lose at the lotto, it doesn’t cost you as near as much. I think that the lotto is the only path for me to go foreward plus the idea of hitting the jackpot and on top of that, it’s only costing me just a few pounds “makes it more appealing”.

Graduation honor cords

Graduation honor cords are on average used for the acknowledgment of an individual’s accomplishments and contribution. The graduation honor cords are included in honor society events for colleges and university graduation ceremonies. The cords are also bought by members of sorority, fraternity, department recognition and even for magna cuum laude, summa cuum laude and even cuum laude awards. Normally, they consist of warped cords having tassels on both ends. Cords are commonly rewarded to associates of the honor societies, awards, varieties of educational and non-intellectual accomplishments or honors. Dating way back in the 14th century, Graduation honor cords were a fraction of school uniform. Dissimilar categories of the honor cords designated diverse tiers of education.

For example, the graduation cords were ordinary for university students and the advanced education establishments in Europe. The students not only dressed in the educational clothes during ceremonial events, but always. However, there are other existing institutions that still carry on with that kind of tradition. The graduation honor cords would in addition stand for honors bestowed upon students of different faculties. This is very evident nowadays considering present high schools, grammar and universities use specific colors on the tassels to indicate distinctions or honors.
GraduationSource, a leader in graduation regalia products since 1960.

The two questions I seem to get asked by new people the most are “What is Feng Shui?” and “How can Feng Shui benefit me?” After more than 17 years of working with Feng Shui you’d think I could spit out an answer to those two questions like a tape recording, but in fact I stumble around for an answer as much now as I did the first time I was asked. The reason is there’s no single, simple, answer; it depends a lot on how much the other person understands about Feng Shui. You have to give a little more explanation to a person who has just heard the term Feng Shui for the first time vs. somebody who has read an article or maybe even a book on the subject and still has some questions. So lets proceed with the first question, “What is Feng Shui?” assuming you are the person hearing about Feng Shui for the very first time.

Feng Shui is an environmental science, it is not a religion, and it is not a cult. Feng Shui is 30 centuries old, yes, that’s 3000 years, a thousand years before Christ, 1000 BC, originating in ancient China and has at least 9 know schools, or disciplines, that are being practiced today around the world. Feng Shui is a tool that you can use to bring balance and harmony into your life, it is not magic or voodoo or witchcraft. Feng Shui has evolved from eons of observation of the environment and how it relates to your life or life events. It connects the intentions you have to your surroundings and hence to your higher power. It allows you a better control over your life through your environment and helps you to achieve balance and happiness.

Feng Shui is relatively easy to understand and easy to apply, it is not mysterious or restricted or unavailable. Feng Shui is more spiritual in nature than intellectual or physical, although both physical and intellectual “cures” are used to connect you to the power behind Feng Shui. Feng Shui is not tied to a religion or really even to a culture; it is connected to universal principals and the laws of cause and effect that govern the universe. Feng Shui is not affiliated to any religious philosophy but relies on the same principles that underlie all of the great religions of the world. It allows us to connect to our inner self and to the higher power that governs us all. It allows you to manifest the intentions you have for your life. Using your higher power can be as personal to you as you want it to be. Feng Shui does not care what your convictions are, only what your intentions are, and in this sense Feng Shui it is a very equal-opportunity, opportunity.

With that said lets give a little more explanation of the structure of Feng Shui. Feng Shui cures are applied in nine “life event” categories, and uses your physical surrounds to gain control and achieve your intentions or goals in these categories. Your physical surroundings are most commonly your house, but you can Feng Shui a room, a desk, a work area, even your garden. The nine categories are organized in a certain pattern or map known as a Bagua and include Health, Prosperity, Knowledge, and six others. Each category or Bagua area has definite supportive and destructive symbols associated with it such as colors, shapes and the elements. The Feng Shui Practitioner uses these symbols in conjunction with the Bagua Map to balance a person’s environment thereby balancing their lives. The key to accomplishing this is to understand the relationships of the nine Bagua areas and properly apply the Feng Shui cures to clarify you intentions. In a sense, Feng Shui could be described as the ultimate goal-setting tool, with some extra bonuses attached.

So that’s kind of the tip of the iceberg so to speak of the Feng Shui world. There are numerous details and processes and practices that go along with these concepts. The new person can easily become overwhelmed when they first start to explore Feng Shui. But with a little patience and some good instruction it begins to clear up and become useful fairly rapidly. I have been associated with Feng Shui over 17 years now. I was initially expose to it at a two hour adult education seminar and since then have read many books and articles, communicated with countless other practitioners, achieved a Masters Rating and used Feng Shui as a source of income for about the last 15 years.

I initially used the techniques for myself and then shared the knowledge with some friends and family and then transitioned into becoming a Feng Shui Practitioner and Instructor. I now devote a good deal of my time to training new people to become Practitioners and Obtain a Feng Shui Masters Certificate so they can use their Feng Shui skills to help others and develop an income. You can find out more about Feng Shui and how it can benefit you on my website. Order the Free Report on what you should know before becoming a Feng Shui Master.

Is Feng Shui in your future?
http://www.hypertracker.com/go/mariesfengshui/ezart

I am a 4th generation healer and intuitive, who has earned Practitioner Level Certification in Yeun’s Energetics Academy as well as gaining the level of Feng Shui Master. I am a level 3 Reiki practitioner, an animal communicator, and intuitive reader. I have also spent over 20 years in corporate America as a Chassis, Occupant & Mechanical Packaging Designer and Supplier Support Specialist for the “Big 3″ domestic auto makers. All these gifts combined, allow me to offer many services utilizing my intuitive and healing gifts, as well as my design and organizational skills.

Headaches are one of the most common health grievances of students, adults and even children, Headaches are very common and usually do not point to a serious illness. But even a mild headache can disrupt your daily activities

What actually happens in your body to cause headache?

The skull bones and brain tissues do not have pain sensitive nerve fibers. But muscles of face, mouth, throat, neck, scalp and blood vessels on the surface and base of brain are sensitive to pain as they contain pain sensitive nerve fibers.

The tip of these nerve fibers gets stimulated by various causes like stress, muscle tension, lack of sleep etc. The stimulated nerve tip sends message up the length of the nerve fiber to the related nerve cells of Brain. Brain locates the region of stimulated nerve tip based on these signals and we feel the pain or ache.

The headache may be mild, chronic or severe depending on the underlying cause and pain bearing capacity of the individual.
Our body produces natural pain killing proteins called endorphins. One of the theories suggests that people with low endorphin levels suffer from severe headache and other chronic pains in comparison with people having high endorphin levels.

What triggers headache?

• Anger

• Muscle tension

• Missed meals

• Vigorous exercise

• Sexual excitement

• Infections like Common cold, Flu, Fever, Ear infection, Tooth infection Sinus infection, Pneumonia, etc

• Coughing - too much coughing can cause a form of traction headache.

• Lifestyle causes Hangover, Excessive alcohol, Stress, Fatigue, Tension, Tiredness, Excessive smoking

• Dyspepsia

• Eye conditions

• Systemic or metabolic conditions, Hypertension, Thyroid disease, Anemia, Kidney failure, Uremia

• Brain or head conditions Meningitis, Encephalitis, Head injury, Heatstroke, Sunstroke

• Before, during, or after menstruation

• Hunger

• Medications (Many drugs designed to relieve pain can actually cause headache when the drug is stopped after a period of prolonged use).

• Alcohol and caffeine withdrawal

• Not getting enough sleep

• Reading for long periods of time or eyestrain

• Doing repetitive work

• Staying in one position for a long time, such as working at a computer.

The same causes of head ache have been explained in Ayurveda also. These causes vitiate all the three doshas (vata, pitta and kapha). The vitiated doshas cause tension, migraine, sinus and other head aches.

Few common types of headache are Tension headache, Migraine headache and sinus headache.

Tension headache:

Tightening of muscles of face and neck cause tension headache. It is characterized by a dull ache in forehead or back of head and pain in neck and shoulders which travels to head. Causes like less sleep, stress, reading for a long time, and working in front of a computer for long hours can precipitate tension headache.

Migraine Headache:

Migraine headache is caused when blood vessels of head get too much dilated or constricted. Females are more prone to this type of headache than males and migraine tends to run in families.

A person suffering from migraine headache feels like vomiting becomes too sensitive to light, sound and other activities. Few people experience spots or flashes before headache.

Few facts like menstruation in females, caffeine, alcohol, aged cheese, cured meat, stress, change in sleeping pattern, strenuous exercise trigger migraine headache.

Sinus Headaches

A sinus headache surfaces when fluids in the nose are not able to drain well and pressure builds up in sinuses. A cold, dust allergies, dirty or polluted water air travel may cause this type of headache.
Sinus headache causes pain in forehead, cheek bones, nose and stuffy nose. The headache increases when face is bent or touched. The symptoms are worse in the morning.

Although headaches are very common, It is recommended to consult a doctor about your headache.

Go to an emergency departmentif any of the following symptoms occur:

• Pain that develops very rapidly

• A change in concentration or ability to think

• A change in level of alertness

• Altered speech

• Weakness, numbness, or difficulty in walking

• Changes in vision

• Headache with a stiff neck or neck pain, or if light hurts your eyes

• If you feel that this the worst headache of your life

• Headache with dizziness, or a feeling that you are falling to one side

• Headache from an injury or blow to the head

• Headache with fever.

Home remedies for tension headache.

For tension headaches massage few drops of peppermint oil or eucalyptus oil on temples.

Massage the scalp with slightly warmed sesame oil. This relieves tension headache and induces sleep.

Regular exercise, yoga and meditation reduce the stress levels and keep the tension headache at bay.

Persons of vata type can use hot water bags on aching parts and a hot shower will be of good help.

Persons of pitta type can use cold or ice packs on aching parts and wrap a wet cold cloth around neck.

Home remedies for migraine headache.

Make a note of facts which trigger the headache and also the foods. Try to avoid these.

Avoid spicy foods, coffee, tea, alcohol, onion and garlic. Avoid citrus fruits except lemon.

Try muscle relaxation exercises. Progressive muscle relaxation, meditation and yoga are definitely going to help. Relax at least for half an hour everyday by doing your favourite activities like listening to music, gardening, taking hot water bath etc.

Stick to you a regular sleep pattern and get enough sleep but don’t oversleep. Avoid sleeping during the afternoon.

Rest in a dark, quiet room when you feel a headache coming on. Place an ice pack wrapped in a cloth on the back of your neck and apply gentle pressure to painful areas on your scalp.

Home remedies for sinus headache.

• Breathe in warm, moist air.

• Moist the nasal passages with the help of saline nasal spray. A saline spray can be used up to six times per day.

• Do not smoke. If you smoke, quit.

• Avoid second-hand smoke and polluted air.

• Avoid exposure to anything that triggers allergy or sinus symptoms.

• Wash your hands frequently to avoid colds.

• Seek treatment for a persistent cold before sinusitis sets in.

• Avoid alcoholic drinks. Alcohol can cause swelling of nasal and sinus tissues.

Copyright Dr. Savitha Suri, Ayurvedic Physician and web master of http://www.ayurhelp.com

Dr. Savitha Suri has been an Ayurvedic Practitioner since 1989. After getting a graduation degree in ayurveda (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) in 1988 from University of Mysore, India, she started practising ayurveda. Her articles about ayurveda have been published in news papers and websites. She is a regular health columnist to a regional news paper.

Dr. Savitha Suri lives in Mysore, Karnataka, India. She gives consultations in Mysore and also in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.
http://www.ayurhelp.com
email doctor@ayurhelp.com

Traditional Chinese Medicine contains a wealth of headache pain relief information and headache pain remedies, treatments and techniques. Some treatments like herbal therapy and acupuncture require a trained professional to administer them. However, there are many headache relief techniques such as acupressure, massage and breathing exercises that can easily be applied by anyone. All you need is a few minutes to learn
them and a quiet place to do them.

The first of the natural headache relief techniques offered below is acupressure. This involves pressing and rubbing specific points on your head, hands and feet that have been proven over many centuries in China to relieve and prevent various kinds of headache. Acupressure is simple to do on yourself and others and may be the only headache pain remedy you ever need.

The second of these natural headache pain remedies is breathing exercises. Breathing exercises offer a
multitude of benefits - stress relief, relaxation, enhanced blood circulation, pain relief, toning of your nervous system,
greater energy, improved sleep and much more. Like acupressure, breathing exercises are easy to do and also may be
the only headache pain remedy you need.

Both acupressure and breathing exercises are safe, natural headache relief techniques that can be used in conjunction
with other headache treatments or medications. If you have any concerns though, check with your health professional first. It is
also recommended that you combine the techniques, regardless of whether you suffer from the occasional tension
headache or chronic headaches or migraines. Prevention is a key factor - don’t wait till you get another head-splitting migraine to begin using these techniques. Apply them when you DON’T have a headache or when you feel one coming on and maybe
you can prevent it developing.

Headache Pain Remedies - Acupressure

How

1. Once you locate a point with your fingers or thumbs, press it until you feel no more than a comfortable pain. Hold the pressure while you rub the point for 1-2 minutes in very small
circular movements, then gently release the pressure. Do this 2-3 times a day as a preventative and whenever you have a headache or feel one developing.

2. If a point is very sensitive, this indicates an underlying imbalance or problem and pressing it is a good thing. Simply release the pressure slightly and in time it will become less painful.

3. Acupressure points adapt to stimulation so as a general guide don’t press the same point for more than 7 consecutive days. After seven days, stop for 3-4 days then continue.

Point 1 (called Fengchi in Chinese)

Two points actually - each one located in a depression at the back of your head, at the base of your skull, and just to the side of your neck muscles. Place your fingers of both hands on top of your head and use your thumbs to find then press both points, either one at a time or simultaneously.

Point 2 (Jianjing )

Located in the muscle on top of both shoulders, half-way between your neck vertebrae and the outside tip of your shoulder. Use the index and middle fingers of your right hand to press and rub the point on top of your left shoulder. Then, do the right shoulder
point with your left index and middle fingers.

Point 3 (Hegu)

Located on the back of both hands, about 3-4cm (1.5 inches) in from the edge of the webbing between your index fingers and thumbs. Use a pinching technique by placing your right thumb
on the left hand point, and your right index finger on the palm side of the webbing. Then swap the procedure to do your right hand point.

Point 4 (Taichong)

Located on top of both feet, about 3-4cm (1.5 inches) in
from the edge of the webbing between your big and second toes. Sit down, then bend forward and use your thumbs or index fingers to press then rub the points. An alternative position is sitting with one foot resting on the opposite knee.

Headache Pain Remedies - Breathing Exercises

Controlled breathing techniques can also relieve and prevent many kinds of headache. Follow the below link to two excellent photo-illustrated breathing exercises, both of which have a multitude of benefits for headache sufferers.

http://chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com/do-breathing-exercises-at-home.html

Note that when combining the above headache pain remedies (acupressure and breathing techniques) in a single session, it is recommended that you do the acupressure first.

Finally, if you have any questions about either of these headache relief techniques or would like more headache pain relief information, contact the author via his website.

Matthew Scott is a professionally trained Chinese medicine practitioner from Australia, living in China since 2000. His website http://chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com offers classic, time-tested exercises & techniques for stretching, strengthening, toning, relaxation, energy and pain relief.

Best age to start online dating is the time when you realize that you need it and are ready to try. There are no age limits. Well, may be there is for those who are under 18. But there is definitely no upper age level for online dating.

Let’s think about situations and categories of people who decide to try online dating. The first is youth. Young people are trying to be up-to-date and use all possible inventions of new generation in their life. They consider online dating as a simple way to get acquainted. It’s simple in technological and psychological senses. It’s easier to start chatting online than come up and say “Hi! Let’s go to the movie?”

One group includes people who got disappointed in casual ways of dating and/or who think it’s time to try something new.

And there is one more group. It’s a group of busy people who have no time to go dating and want to make this process as quick as possible.
Online dating does not divide people into age groups actually. It only joins those who came to find a match. People of all ages meet online, and this fact makes online dating even more interesting.

There is no doubt that alternative medicine is becoming a popular option among patients in the U.S. and Canada. We love it! We are choosing it in greater and greater numbers, even though we have to pay for many of these services out-of-pocket. Americans spend over $27 billion on out-of-pocket expenses on holistic healthcare each year. Fully one-third of us use some form of holistic services, and total visits to holistic providers exceed the number of visits to medical doctors each year.

But Western medicine is still considered the “major healthcare system” in Canada and the U.S. What will change this?

I’ve learned that there are at least ten factors holding holistic healthcare back. In this article, I’ll outline each factor, in the hopes that this will spur you, my readers, on to action to fix each of these ten issues.

#1 - Get Organized
Holistic healthcare, for all its popularity among clients, is extremely disorganized. In my city of Columbus, Ohio, we have various cliques of practitioners who isolate themselves from others and seem to consciously limit communication and interaction with other practitioners. I know this is true in many communities. Holistic healthcare must become a “profession.” It must have univeral standards, professional associations across modalities, and lots of professional networking. This is what makes Western medicine so powerful. They have a very organized and powerful professional association, in the American Medical Association (AMA) and they have strong links in to all levels of government and community. Holistic healthcare must do the same, although we must do it in our own way. We are an industry. We are professionals. We must act this way. We must get organized, professionally and politically.

#2 - Change the Laws
The laws in many U.S. states and Canadian provinces discourage use of holistic services. Here in Ohio, everyone from naturopaths to reflexologists to nutritionists are illegal, according to the letter of the law. It’s antiquated, yes, but the licensure boards feel they must enforce these antiquated laws and they often do, shutting down legitimate practitioners who are helping their clients and not harming anyone, just because the law is wrong.

We’ve organized the Health Freedom Coalition of Ohio here in this state, and many other states have similar groups. Check the national Health Freedom Website for groups in your area. Join us in changing the laws to reflect the needs and wants of holistic healthcare patients and practitioners. As far as I know, no Health Freedom groups exist in Canada. However, international laws like those coming from Codex Alimentarius are threatening healthcare freedoms everywhere.

#3 - Reject the Gold Standard of Controlled Trials
Holistic healthcare is, by definition, holistic. Controlled trials, also called randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled controlled trials, are meant to measure patients’ reactions to drugs. In a vain attempt to “fit in,” many holistic healthcare advocates are submitting holistic practices to these controlled trials to provide “objective proof” to Western doctors that these practices work.

Using positive results from controlled trials is a reasonable short-term strategy to making holistic healthcare pallatable to Western doctors and their followers, but it will not work in the long term.

The reason it can’t work for holistic practices goes back to the nature of holism. A holistic practitioner treats a patient as a “whole person - body, mind, spirit, environment.” These aspects of the person are inseparable. You can’t reduce a person down to a single organ, a single disease, or a single symptom. And, unfortunately, reductionism is inherent in the nature of controlled trials. Each controlled trial attempts to eliminate all “outside causes” and reduce the study down to “the effect of one drug on one part of the person.” This is categorically impossible in a holistic perspective.

Holistically, energy fields exist. We must take a person’s energetic profile into account with their physical body. We must understand the person’s relationships in the family and society. We must know their history. We must understand their mental state.

No controlled study can eliminate all these factors. Controlled trials are not the way to test holistic healthcare modalities. We must come up with a better way of testing our modalities, which is every bit as scientific and rigorous as controlled trials, but does not have the downsides.

#4 - Patients Need Road Maps
Holistic practitioners must be able to provide each patient with a road map of treatment, given the patient’s problems and circumstances. This is a marketing issue. If the practitioner asks the patient just to “play along” with the practitioner tries this and that, patients will not likely stick with the program, because there really isn’t a “program” that they can see.

Practitioners need to give patients an understandable set of steps that practitioner and patient will take together that are likely (although not guaranteed) to solve the problem at hand. The roadmap will include the services the practitioner can provide, the services needed from other practitioners, and the activities the patient needs to accomplish.

#5 - We Need Truly Integrative Clinics
A true integrative clinic is not just a bunch of practitioners sharing the rent and referring patients.

True integration means that a patient sees themself as a patient of the clinic, not a patient of a particular practitioner. The patient expects that the clinic will provide him with the right services at the right time, and feels that he is supported and led through the maze of various modalities to the right ones for his situation, background, needs and beliefs.

This means that the clinic has what I call a “holistic patient manager,” who is independent of holistic modalities and who’s sole purpose is to guide the patient through the process of getting healthier. The patient manager works with the patient to create a road map (see Point #4) and answers their questions and concerns throughout the process.

It also means that the practitioners working in the clinic have faith in the overall processes, and are constantly giving their input to improve it. It means that practitioners compare notes on each patient and strive to give consistent advice to the patients (NOTE: HIPAA compliance on patient record confidentiality will be necessary.)

#6 - Practitioners Must Serve Their Clients’ Need Above All
I’ve noticed that many practitioners feel that the main reason they are practicing their particular modality is for the love of that modality. For instance, a massage therapist feels that the whole reason for her practice is that she can “do the work she loves.” While it is important to do what you love, the main reason for a holistic practitioner’s business is to serve clients. When times get tough, and the practitioner needs to do things that they don’t love (taking out the laundry, collecting money, etc.), this incorrect focus gets messy. A practitioner must remember, first and foremost, to focus on the needs of the clients, and then to focus on enjoyment of the work. If this is backwards in the mind of the practitioner, the business will not survive.

Here’s a test to see if your business is client-focused or modality-focused. Look at your list of services. If the list is simply a list of modalities (massage $50/hour, reflexology $60/hour, nutrition counselling $70/hour, etc.) then you are modality-focused. If your list of services is a list of client problems (fatigue revitalization $200, headache relief $250, etc.) then you are client-focused.

#7 - Health Insurance Must Change to Include Holistic Healthcare
The day that health insurance begins to include holistic practices will be a major step towards our becoming the major healthcare system in North America.

Health insurers are well-advised to include holistic practices like naturopathy, massage therapy and herbal remedies into their programs. Their insured clients will be healthier, will cost less, and happier.

However, there is a limit to what insurance should provide. Insurance, by definition, is meant for expenses that we (the insured) can’t pay for ourselves. That means that when a car accident occurs, and my legs are broken in five places, this is a time for insurance. When I am diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, insurance needs to be there for me. When I fall down the stairs and need an emergency room visit, insurance should help.

But insurance is NOT for day-to-day health needs. The yearly or twice-yearly trip to the doctor or naturopath should NOT be covered by insurance. Monthly massage therapy appointments should not be included in health insurance, unless they are a defined part of a recovery from injury or trauma.

Why? Because if we include regular medical needs in our insurance plans, the costs will be unaffordable. There is no reason to pay your insurance company extra money, only to have them pay it right back to your doctor, naturopath, massage therapist or nutritionist. It doesn’t make sense. The insurer will take their cut out of the money and you’ll be paying much more for that regular care than if you had paid the practitioner out-of-pocket. Insurance has no place in the world of day-to-day prevention, health maintenance and wellness.

I feel very strongly on this point, and I hope that insurance companies take heed as they begin to step into the world of holistic healthcare. I’ve written a book on this subject called “Health Insurance Off the Grid,” which you can reference at the bottom of this article.

#8 - Separate Holistic Healthcare From New Age Religion
To look at a person holistically, it means that you see the person’s body, mind and spirit. The last one, spirit, seems to say that religion must somehow be involved in healthcare.

That assumption can be a costly mistake. Many Americans and Canadians are frightened of holistic healthcare for exactly that reason. They think the holistic practitioner will try to “convert them” to some new and exotic religion , which they don’t want. They’re perfectly happy being Protestants, Catholics or Muslims. They don’t want religion encroaching on their healthcare, they just want a reiki session.

Practitioners must understand this. Religion of any type, but especially new age religions, must be kept away from the practices of holistic healthcare. Yes, spirit is involved in any type of healing, but that doesn’t mean the practitioner needs to feature it front-and-center and go on and on about their particular religious icons, symbols and beliefs.

Mixing religion and healthcare is bad for business. I urge holistic practitioners to separate the two. Holistic healthcare will never thrive in the U.S. or Canada unless it is decoupled from religion.

#9 - Practitioners and Clinics Must Focus on Quality Marketing
The majority of holistic practitioners and clinics I’ve been exposed to have poor marketing practices. There often is no marketing plan, and the practitioners and clinic owners often have a distaste for the overall idea of marketing and sales.

No business can survive without high-quality sales and marketing. There does not need to be anything distasteful about marketing or sales. In fact, it is easy to see that these activities are actually “acts of love” in many ways.

I urge all holistic practitioners and clinic owners to learn everything possible about marketing and sales. The best sales training I’ve found is at the Sandler Sales Institute. You will not find a more “holistic approach” to sales. I can also say that the Sandler approach is decidedly a low pressure approach and something that anyone can feel comfortable working with in a holistic practice. Locally, here in Ohio, I can say for certain that the best sales training affiliate of Sandler Sales is Growth Resources, serving Central Ohio.

For marketing planning, my company, the Simplicity Institute, offers a range of online training classes that may be helpful. See the bottom of this article for links.

#10 - We Need High-Quality, Long-Term Apprenticeship Programs
In China, when a person decides to become a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, they go to school to learn the basics and then they become an apprentice of an experienced practitioner for many years before striking out on their own. The same is true for ayurvedic practitioners in India.

Although North America has a variety of schools teaching various modalities from massage to acupuncture to polarity therapy to energy healing, we do not have any long-term apprenticeship programs. Holistic healthcare modalities that I’ve encountered are multifaceted, complex therapies that often require years to master. The best practitioners are those who have practiced for many years, and who have attended one training class after another, year after year. They also usually found a mentor who was willing to teach them the subtle details of the modality, the art of it.

If we are to produce high-quality practitioners, we need a strong apprenticeship program like China and India. This will take time to create and may be resisted by young practitioners who wish to jump into independent practice too quickly. But it’s a very necessary step to making holistic healthcare more popular in North America.

These are my thoughts about the ten major problems facing holistic healthcare today. What can you do? Can you join a Health Freedom group in your area? Can you help your holistic clinic become more client-focused? Can you help to change health insurance to include holistic alternatives?

Please consider what you can do to help holistic healthcare to become the major healthcare system in North America. This is something that will save many lives, people who are now dying because they aren’t being helped by drugs and surgery, and yet aren’t aware of the options.

Daryl Kulak is the President of the Simplicity Institute, an online business school for the holistic healthcare community. He is also author of “Health Insurance Off the Grid”, a book to help people buy health insurance that will maximize the out-of-pocket money available for holistic services and products.

A great many companies can easily get jumbled up when the situation gets down to exchange rate terminology, on the other hand the industry jargon remarkably is reasonably plain. Therefore regardless of whether you’re an individual or a business looking to exchange foreign currency; below are your simplistic and painless definitions that might without a great deal of effort eliminate quite a bit of the obfuscation and make the often misunderstood process of earning significant extra income with trading overseas currency a tiny fraction more hassle free.

Starting at the start with the most basic of explanations an exchange rate is the specific price at one specific nationalities currency may be converted into another’s. So that, for example the exchange rate would be the quantity of the Croatia Kuna you should purchase in exchange for each Honduras Lempira. If you are ready to conduct any money exchanges? Have a look at this site.

Fixed exchange rates are also recognised by the term ‘pegged exchange rates’; pegged exchange rates are useful to stabilize the value of a currency; especially at moments when that specific currency is fluctuating a lot; to aid international business & investment.

Floating exchange rates - this is when a currencies current value is calculated via natural market forces. This is a more hazardous way to conduct business but additionally this is the scenario wherein you can often have the chance to make a profit,

You should also read talk of animals in currency; a bull is a person who predicts that market prices will go up conversely a bear is an individual that believes market prices will drop. A bull market is a market where prices are currently going upwards conversely a bear market is the exact opposite - a marketplace where prices are going down.

A currency broker is a person that acts as an intermediary man between yourself and the market place - currency brokers are actually oftentimes in the position to really obtain you the very best price during times when you are looking to acquire or conceivably sell.

The dollar rate is the exchage rate that one measure of any currency has when pitted against a single measure of the American Dollar; this is a very useful indicator for a national currencies current value.

This is obviously by no means a exhaustive and comprehensive selection of terms - it is merely a good starting point; but with a tiny little bit more groundwork you can be appreciably on your way to now becoming a financial expert in no time.

What is Shiatsu?

Shiatsu is a form of Japanese massage or bodywork that originated in Japan. Literally translated shiatsu means finger pressure. In shiatsu the thumbs (elbows, knees and fingers are also used) are used to manipulate the flow of Qi or energy in the body to prevent and treat conditions such as insomnia or shoulder pain.

The theories of shiatsu go back literally thousands of years. Stone acupuncture needles have been found in China dating from around 8,000 B.C. The theories of shiatsu and acupuncture are almost identical as they both use the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In fact, shiatsu is sometimes referred to as acupressure. Interestingly, Shiatsu was only recognized as a distinct modality in 1964 in Japan. Shiatsu is a modern refinement of a modality with an ancient history.

How Does Shiatsu Work?

Shiatsu manipulates the Qi or energy of the body by regulating its flow within an individual. Different people and different areas of the body have different needs. For example your shoulders may feel tense and hard to the touch while your lower back may ache and feel soft to the touch. The shiatsu therapist will treat the shoulders with a firm fairly quick pressure, and the lower back with a gentle, slower pressure. The difference in the duration and depth of pressure applied will change the way the Qi or energy flows in the client which rebalances the body, and leaves the client feeling healthier with less pain and stress.

Two-handed Technique

Shiatsu therapists generally use a two-handed technique. One hand manipulates a particular meridian or line of Qi in the body and the other is placed on an adjoining area of the body. The resting or ‘mother’ hand helps to calm the client, and is useful in feeling the results of the working or ‘child’ hand. In this way the shiatsu therapist receives constant feedback about the treatment, and the client feels reassured and relaxed.

What Does Shiatsu Treat?

Shiatsu can be helpful for many conditions (see list following), but is also an excellent way to prevent disease. Shiatsu is holistic meaning it can treat emotional problems as well as physical ones. Many people for example feel tension in their shoulders or upper back during stressful periods of their lives. Shiatsu and the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine see these 2 symptoms as related to one issue, and not as separate entities.

In my private practice I have treated a client with asthma who decreased the use of his puffer by about half. I have treated a client with chronic insomnia who immediately after the first treatment had a solid 7 hours of sleep. I have helped clients rid themselves of headaches, back pain, and chronic stress. I have also dealt with the aftermath of physical abuse, helping to reprogram the body’s response to touch.

Conditions Treated:

• Asthma
• Back pain
• Digestive difficulties
• Headaches/migraines
• Insomnia
• Menstrual problems
• Sprains and strains
• Stress Issues

The benefits of shiatsu include:

• Improved sleep
• Reduction or elimination of pain
• Improved digestive function
• Improved breathing
• Reduced stress and anxiety
• Improved circulation
• Increased self healing
• Strengthened immune system
• Improved posture
• Feeling of relaxation and wellbeing

This brief introduction gives you an idea of how shiatsu works and what it can do. I encourage you to try a treatment or take a short introductory course to learn more about shiatsu and its wonderful benefits.

Carol Culahne, EST
Shiatsu Therapist

www.shiatsutoronto.com