Grounding and more

http://www.caringforcarers.com.au/grounding/#der

Jon Kabat Zinn

http://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-practice/jon-kabat-zinn-video-series-on-mindful-org

Caring for Carers EM excellent collection

http://www.caringforcarers.com.au/joy/

Glutathione -Dr Hyman

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/19/glutathione-the-mother-of-all-antioxidants/

The Importance of Glutathione in Protecting Against Chronic Illness

Glutathione is critical for one simple reason: It recycles antioxidants. You see, dealing with free radicals is like handing off a hot potato. They get passed around from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then finally to glutathione which cools off the free radicals and recycles other antioxidants. After this happens, the body can “reduce” or regenerate another protective glutathione molecule and we are back in business.

However, problems occur when we are overwhelmed with too much oxidative stress or too many toxins. Then the glutathione becomes depleted and we can no longer protect ourselves against free radicals, infections, or cancer and we can’t get rid of toxins. This leads to further sickness and soon we are in the downward spiral of chronic illness.

But that’s not all. Glutathione is also critical in helping your immune system do its job of fighting infections and preventing cancer. That’s why studies show that it can help in the treatment of AIDS.(i)

Glutathione is also the most critical and integral part of your detoxification system. All the toxins stick onto glutathione, which then carries them into the bile and the stool — and out of your body.

And lastly, it also helps us reach peak mental and physical function. Research has shown that raised glutathione levels decrease muscle damage, reduce recovery time, increase strength and endurance and shift metabolism from fat production to muscle development.

If you are sick or old or are just not in peak shape, you likely have glutathione deficiency.
In fact, the top British medical journal, the Lancet, found the highest glutathione levels in healthy young people, lower levels in healthy elderly, lower still in sick elderly and the lowest of all in the hospitalized elderly. (ii)

Keeping yourself healthy, boosting your performance, preventing disease and aging well depends on keeping your glutathione levels high. I’ll say it again … Glutathione is so important because it is responsible for keeping so many of the keys to UltraWellness optimized.

It is critical for immune function and controlling inflammation. It is the master detoxifier and the body’s main antioxidant, protecting our cells and making our energy metabolism run well.

And the good news is that you can do many things to increase this natural and critical molecule in your body. You can eat glutathione-boosting foods. You can exercise. And you can take glutathione-boosting supplements. Let’s review more specifics about each.

9 Tips to Optimize your Glutathione Levels

These 9 tips will help you improve your glutathione levels, improve your health, optimize your performance and live a long, healthy life.

Eat Foods that Support Glutathione Production

1. Consume sulfur-rich foods. The main ones in the diet are garlic, onions and the cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress, etc.).

2. Try bioactive whey protein. This is great source of cysteine and the amino acid building blocks for glutathione synthesis. As you know, I am not a big fan of dairy. But this is an exception — with a few warnings. The whey protein MUST be bioactive and made from non-denatured proteins (“denaturing” refers to the breakdown of the normal protein structure). Choose non-pasteurized and non-industrially produced milk that contains no pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. Immunocal is a prescription bioactive non-denatured whey protein that is even listed in the Physician’s Desk Reference.

Exercise for Your Way to More Glutathione

3. Exercise boosts your glutathione levels and thereby helps boost your immune system, improve detoxification and enhance your body’s own antioxidant defenses. Start slow and build up to 30 minutes a day of vigorous aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, or play various sports. Strength training for 20 minutes 3 times a week is also helpful.

Take Glutathione Supporting Supplements

One would think it would be easy just to take glutathione as a pill, but the body digests protein — so you wouldn’t get the benefits if you did it this way. However, the production and recycling of glutathione in the body requires many different nutrients and you CAN take these. Here are the main supplements that need to be taken consistently to boost glutathione. Besides taking a multivitamin and fish oil, supporting my glutathione levels with these supplements is the most important thing I do every day for my personal health.

4. N-acetyl-cysteine. This has been used for years to help treat asthma and lung disease and to treat people with life-threatening liver failure from Tylenol overdose. In fact, I first learned about it in medical school while working in the emergency room. It is even given to prevent kidney damage from dyes used during x-ray studies.

5. Alpha lipoic acid. This is a close second to glutathione in importance in our cells and is involved in energy production, blood sugar control, brain health and detoxification. The body usually makes it, but given all the stresses we are under, we often become depleted.

6. Methylation nutrients (folate and vitamins B6 and B12). These are perhaps the most critical to keep the body producing glutathione. Methylation and the production and recycling of glutathione are the two most important biochemical functions in your body. Take folate (especially in the active form of 5 methyltetrahydrofolate), B6 (in active form of P5P) and B12 (in the active form of methylcobalamin).

7. Selenium. This important mineral helps the body recycle and produce more glutathione.

8. A family of antioxidants including vitamins C and E (in the form of mixed tocopherols), work together to recycle glutathione.

9. Milk thistle (silymarin) has long been used in liver disease and helps boost glutathione levels.

So use these nine tips and see how they work to help you optimize your glutathione levels. When you do, you will take one more step to lifelong vibrant health.

Now I’d like to hear from you…

Had you ever heard of this important nutrient before?

Have you tried any of the advice in this article?

What effects have you noticed on your health?

Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.

References

Chart of homemade dressings

yoga for sleep

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-15860/6-relaxing-yoga-poses-to-help-you-fall-asleep.html
seated wide angle
legs up the wall
locust
reclined bound angle
supine spinal twist
corpse

Rock ideas for garden

http://www.architecturendesign.net/26-fabulous-garden-decorating-ideas-with-rocks-and-stones/

ayurvedic 6 tastes

camera phone tips

http://coolmomtech.com/2014/02/smartphone-camera-tips-unexpected-ways-to-use-it/

urban indoor gardening, watercress

http://www.insideurbangreen.org/aerogarden/

meaning of life question from 6 yo

“So — what is the meaning of life? I think people ask that question on the assumption that ‘meaning’ is something you can look for and go, ‘Here it is, I found it. Here’s the meaning. I’ve been looking for.’ That scenario, however, doesn’t consider the possibility that ‘meaning’ is something you create. You manufacture it for yourself and for others.

So when I think of ‘meaning’ in life, I ask, ‘Did I learn something today that I didn’t know yesterday, bringing me a little closer to knowing all that can be known in the universe?’ If I live a day and I don’t know a little more than I did the day before, I think I wasted that day. So the people who, at the end of the school year, say ‘The summer! I don’t have to think anymore!’ — I just don’t know. To think brings you closer to nature. To learn how things work gives you power to influence events. Gives you power to help people who may need it — to help yourself and your trajectory.

So when I think of the meaning of life, that’s not an eternal and unanswerable question — to me, that’s in arm’s reach of me everyday. So to you, at age six-and-three-quarters, may I suggest that you explore nature as much as you possibly can. And occasionally that means getting your clothes dirty because you might want to jump into puddles and your parents don’t want you to do that. You tell them that I gave you permission.” (Via)

Neil De Grasse Tyson

John O'Donohue 1956-2008

http://www.onbeing.org/program/inner-landscape-beauty/203  interview close to his death
divine as manifest everywhere and in everything

i am...

"The ultimate faithfulness in life is the faithfulness of landscape. Landscape is always there....Your body is made out of clay, so your body is actually a miniature landscape that has got up from under the earth and is now walking on the normal landscape. If you go out for several hours into a place that is wild, your mind begins to slow down, down, down. What is happening is that the clay of your body is retrieving its own sense of sisterhood with the great clay of the landscape. " - John O'Donohue

http://www.johnodonohue.com/words

anam cara soul friend, without mask or pretension

TIME IS ETERNITY IN DISGUISE

At Christmas, time deepens. The old year gathers and the New Year becomes urgent to embrace us. Because it is eternity in disguise, time is filled with longing. In the pulse-beat is the life and the longing, all embraced in the great circle of Belonging, reaching everywhere, leaving nothing and no-one out. This embrace is mostly concealed from us who climb the relentless and vanishing escalator of time and journey outside, where space is lonesome with distance. All we hear are whispers, all we see are glimpses; but each of us has the divinity of imagination which warms our hearts with the beauty and depth of a world woven from glimpses and whispers, an eternal world that meets the gaze of our eyes and the echo of our voices to assure us that from all eternity we have belonged and to answer the question that echoes at the heart of all longing: while we are here, where is it that we are absent from? ~~ John O'Donohue (excerpt from BBC Radio 4 "Christmas Reflection" 1998)

BEAUTY

Beauty is always more than the senses can perceive. While it attracts and gladdens the senses, it also raises and refines what we touch, taste, scent, hear and see. Beauty awakens the soul, yet it is never simply ethereal. Beauty offers a profound psychological and indeed mystical invitation. The dream of beauty is the self drawn forth to its furthest awakening, where the senses and the soul are utterly alive and yet in a harmony, brimming with presence. ~~ John O'Donohue, "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace" ("Divine Beauty" in the UK and EU)

CELEBRATION

Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to your self is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and a poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you.

-- John O'Donohue (Eternal Echoes)

clean up the mind and get you into the purity of presence.  budddhism

THRESHOLDS

It is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross. ~~ John O'Donohue "Benedictus" ("To Bless The Space Between Us" in the U.S

how we cross is the key thing. Feel the passions of repitions within and cross into new ground...

BEAUTY

Beauty is always more than the senses can perceive. While it attracts and gladdens the senses, it also raises and refines what we touch, taste, scent, hear and see. Beauty awakens the soul, yet it is never simply ethereal. Beauty offers a profound psychological and indeed mystical invitation. The dream of beauty is the self drawn forth to its furthest awakening, where the senses and the soul are utterly alive and yet in a harmony, brimming with presence. ~~ John O'Donohue, "Beauty: The Invisible Embrace" ("Divine Beauty" in the UK and EU)  llisten to above interview about more on this.

I've loved this poem for a long time. Linda Pastan's idea of an “Almanac of Last Things” inspires me in a way that "bucket list" does not!

I know some people object to the idea of contemplating the end of life, or of any sort of loss, before we get there. For them it drains the joy from the moment. For me, it's just the opposite. When I remind myself that there will be a last this and a last that, including a last breath, it deepens my appreciation for the present moment. It helps me "be here now" with attentiveness and gratitude.

I'm reminded of these lines from one of Mary Oliver's most-loved poems, "In Blackwater Woods:" "To live in this world/you must be able to do three things:/to love what is mortal;/to hold it/against your bones knowing/your own life depends on it;/and, when the time comes to let it go,/to let it go."

So what is a "last thing"? It's among the last things I want to give up. It's among the things I want to be holding with gratitude when my last moment comes. And because it's something I will need at last to let go of, it's important to appreciate it fully right now.

P.S. I chose the photo because the full moon and the ocean are in my personal Almanac of Last Things. Both of them say LIFE in a big way to me, and both are on the very long list of blessings for which I can only say a heartfelt "Thank you…"   by Parker J Palmer

Like ·  · Share · 1511371

JST

Here we are in 2015... 2+0+1+5=8 ....A year of magic ahead 

Muriel said ..."As I contemplate the number 8, I become aware that it is the path of all evolutionary cycles. The 8 is the cosmic symbol of vitality and unusual power. It is the highest feminine number. It is magic, splendour, cosmic freedom. It is perfect intelligence reminding us that the lowest form of spirit is matter and the highest form of matter is spirit. Therefore, we need never know fear, False Evidence Appearing Real.

Wayne says "The sacred teachings of mankind, inclusive of all epochs and cultures, have espoused a common truth: As above, so below. The number eight (8), symbolises this awareness. In the study of. Jin Shin Jyutsu, SEL 8 represents and demonstrates this Action of Creation. The depiction of 8 as two circles, one above the other, illustrates this understanding. In symbology, the circle refers to spirit; and in the 8, the message is: spirit above, spirit below. In the English alphabet, H is the 8th letter where again, above and below manifests the sameness in symbol. Through many relationships, 8 is the key to all Depths; 8 is KEY to all dimensions. And through the Safety Energy Locks - Body (8) Mind (17), Spirit (26). In 8 Peace-fullness is realized.

So perfect and exciting that we arrive in the energy of #1 in this beautiful New Year - 1+1+2+0+1+5=1 ….Oneness 
Wayne says “SEL#1 is the place from which all activity, all movement, begins and so it’s the initiation of the process of spirit as matter. The movement of Heaven into Earth. A favourite role for #1 is helping us when we are stuck, whether it’s physically, mentally or spiritually. All of life is looking to move, #1 gives us that initiation into action. There’s a lot of 5th Depth relationships to SEL#1. It is our attainment at the highest level; the attainment of becoming who we were born to be. #5 means the final healing. So, 5th Depth will ultimately bring us back into Oneness. For instance, if we add all the Safety Energy Locks that are facilitated by the Little finger(5D): 15+18+20+23+24…they equal 100 - a really abundant #1. So Oneness is out ultimate state, the state from which we came, and it’s not only the state to which we return but also the state in which we exist. SEL#1 simply allows us to erase the illusions of any kind of separateness or anything that would keep us apart.”

Maybe we could honour the Oneness by holding our Safety Energy Locks #1’s (Masculine energy) every day …a reflection of the #8 (highest feminine number). 1+8=9 Unity and Infinity= Complete. Round off old cycles organically; to start with a clean slate.

Happy New Year to One and All   from FB jinshinjyutsu NZ

From No-Thing…

Because of Mary’s love and diligence, this theory of the Depths was developed. Thank you, Mary. Here is a description how energy becomes matter.

9th Depth is No-Thing. It is pure space, void, chaos. Think of it as pure energy.

8th Depth is “.” (The dot; the Creator, SOURCE of all sources) The first swirling…a vibration of sound and movement. It is the number of Creator Energy, God, magic, jumper cable energy. The Big Bang - “8” represents infinity. 8th Depth energy moves so fast, it denses down to the “eye of God” or the light of the eye, the light of the sun that manifests in the 7th Depth. Light cannot be seen until an object interrupts it – we are the objects. 8th Depth overflows to:

7th Depth is the SUN (energy which continually flows down. We are creatures of light. The spark of life happens at 7th Depth.

6th Depth is from the overflow of 7th Depth. 6th Depth gives birth to our unique expression of the “.” It is the (capital S) Source. (3rd Depth is the (little s) source. 6th Depth is the Blueprint. It is the breath of life essence. Here the Main Central Vertical Universal Harmonizing Energy is born. It is the exhale down the front and the inhale up the back. The space between exhale and inhale is “the stillness”. It then gives birth to the Left and Right Major Vertical Supervisor Universal Harmonizing Energy and it then gives birth to the Left and Right Diagonal Mediator Universal Harmonizing Energy.

The Left and Right Major Vertical Supervisor Universal Harmonizing Energy gives birth to all Safety Energy Locks. “SELs” are alive; they live and breathe and move. They are not precise points. Each SEL has a 6 inch diameter.

The Left and Right Diagonal Mediator Universal Harmonizing Energy gives birth to the 12 “individualized” body function energy and their harmony is measured through the 5 attitudes: worry, fear, anger, grief, pretense. The twelve kinds of body function energy circulate continuously throughout the body 24 hours a day – building, repairing and protecting it. The Mediator is the aspect that continues after death: soul. The Mediator is the bridge that transports Trinity Energy to my body.

6th Depth is the desire to be. Its vibration slows down and transforms to 3rd Depth. 3rd Depth transforms to 5th Depth. 5th Depth transforms to 1st Depth ....to 2nd Depth…to 4th Depth…and back to 6th Depth (the Blueprint).

3rd Depth: our activity; SELs 16-22; blood essence.

5th Depth: our spiritual inheritance, body function energy, 144,000 energy flow patterns; SELs 24-26; bone.

1st Depth builds our container; SELs 1-4; superficial tissue, skin surface

2nd Depth: the depth that brings together body, mind, spirit; SELs 5-15; deep tissue.

4th Dept: our personal destiny; SEL 23; muscle.

6th Depth: where 4th depth returns.

From No-Thing, July 10, 2013
Jin Shin Jyutsu Is, NJ

they can do anywhere, anytime. (She even writes about it in her book Siren’s Feast, A Culinary Memoir (www.sirensfeast.com). “By learning how to perform Jin Shin Jyutsu techniques on ourselves,” says Mehagian, “we can weather the challenges we’re all facing with greater ease.”

            Here are some examples:

To calm the nerves, simply hold the last three fingers of your hand, either side. This is the reason people wring their hands when nervous. Jin Shin is part of our innate wisdom so we are practicing it all the time unknowingly. Simply holding those last 3 fingers together is far more effective. Do this when sitting in the dentist’s chair, in meetings or doing interviews. 

To energize and revitalize the body when tired, simply sit on your hands, palms up, for 10 minutes. This can also be done in a prone position. As a bonus, sitting on your hands also helps get rid of cellulite.

For indigestion, gas and stomach aches, simply hold your thumbs, one at a time. If you are someone who tends to worry a lot, holding the thumbs also takes away worry.

For cancer prevention and to help the immune system, place the fingers of both hands on the sternum (breast bone located in center of your chest). Do this for a few minutes daily. 

Some of the challenges Mehagian has assisted clients to overcome with JSJ include turning breech babies, dissolving fibroid tumors and ovarian cysts, PMS, migraines, dissolving kidney obstructions, digestive disorders, insomnia and clearing emotional traumas.

Client and friend Quincy Jones says, “Nancy’s dedication, natural gift and mastery of the art of physical therapy is akin to the combination of a Stradivarius played by Itzak Perlman. She is in a category all by herself. A lady from the A Team.”                   

Mehagian currently resides in Studio City, CA and teaches Jin Shin Jyutsu seminars throughout Southern California.

- See more at: http://www.massagemag.com/heal-yourself-with-jin-shin-jyutsu-4841/#sthash.krV4mjkc.dpuf

Adrenal Fatigue

http://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/children-with-chronic-illness-or-disability/#external

http://adrenalfatiguesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/50-health-experts.pdf

breathing

BELLY BREATHING

The first thing you need to learn to do is what’s called Belly Breathing. This is the most basic of the breathing methods we have at our disposal, and therefore is the one you should master before trying out the others. It’s very simple, and requires just a few steps:

1. Sit down comfortably, or lay down on a yoga mat, depending on your personal preference.
2. Place one of your hands on your stomach, just below your ribcage. Place the second hand over your chest.
3. Breathe in deeply through your nostrils, letting your first hand be pushed out by your stomach. You should find that your chest stays stationary.
4. Breathe out through your lips, pursing them as if you were about to whistle. Gently guide the hand on your stomach inwards, helping to press out the breath.
5. Slowly repeat between 3 and 10 times.

You should begin to feel relaxed as soon as you have repeated the Belly Breathing exercise two or three times, but keep going for as long as you feel you need to. After you have mastered this breathing exercise, there are four additional methods for you to try, ranging in difficulty.

4-7-8 BREATHING

The method which we call 4-7-8 Breathing also requires you to be sitting down or lying comfortably. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Get into the same position as you did for the Belly Breathing exercise, with one hand on your stomach and one on your chest.
2. Breathe in slowly but deeply. Take 4 seconds to breathe in, feeling you stomach move in the process.
3. Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
4. Breathe out as silently as you can manage, taking 8 seconds. Once you reach 8, you should have emptied your lungs of air.
5. Repeat as many times as you need, making sure to stick to the 4-7-8 pattern.

ROLL BREATHING

If you are looking for a breathing exercise which you can do comfortably sitting down, try the Roll Breathing method. Its aim is not just to relax, but also to encourage the full use of your lung capacity. Beginners are advised to lie down, but after your first time you should find it just as easy to sit and complete this exercise. Follow these steps:

1. Position yourself with your left hand on your stomach, and place your right hand over your chest. Your hands should move as you inhale and exhale.
2. Take a deep breath from your lower lungs; breathe slowly, ensuring that the hand over your chest doesn’t move as you take the breath. Make sure you are using your nose to breathe in, and then exhale using your mouth.
3. Repeat the deep breath up to 8 times. On the ninth repetition, once you have filled your lower lungs, take a breath which will move your chest up, as you would normally breathe. This will fill your entire lung capacity.
4. Gently exhale through your mouth, being sure to empty your lungs as you do so. While you exhale, make a small whooshing noise. You should notice that both of your hands are moving back towards your body, as your stomach and chest fall.
5. You should practice this method for between 4 and 5 minutes. When you exhale, you should be able to feel a tangible difference in your stress levels.

MORNING BREATHING

While the above three exercises can be completed whenever necessary, the next method is called Morning Breathing and, as the name suggests, should be practiced once you have woken up. It aims to relax your muscles after a good night’s sleep, and will help you to minimize tension for the remainder of the day – so you can start as you mean to go on. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Stand up straight and, slightly bending your knees, bend your torso forward from the waist. Your arms should be hanging close to the floor, limply.
2. Take a breath in slowly, returning to your original standing position. You should look like an inflatable ghost you may see at Halloween: your head should be the last thing to straighten up.
3. Exhale, returning to the position of being bent forward by the end of your exhale. Stand up straight once you have finished, stretching your muscles as required.

DEEP MUSCLE RELAXATION & BELLY BREATHING

Finally, the Deep Muscle Relaxation technique is the most time-consuming but can also be the most rewarding for your body. This works best when combined with the Belly Breathing that I mentioned earlier, and is a great way to attain the relaxation response. You will exercise each major muscle in turn, but pay most attention to any muscles that are causing discomfort or ache. To start, sit down in a comfortable position and focus on your Belly Breathing, closing your eyes if need be. Then do the following

• To relax your face, knit your eyebrows together and release.
• To relax your neck, tilt your head down towards your neck, and push your chin to your chest, then release.
• To relax your shoulders, make a shrugging motion, then release.
• To relax your arms, push both arms away from your torso, stretch them out, and then relax them by your side.
• To relax your legs, point your toes as far away as they will stretch, and then relax.

All of these stretches should be conducted at the same time as the Belly Breathing we covered earlier. Breathe long and deep, and take your time with each stretch.

Lissa Rankin experiment with compassion and forgiveness

Lissa Rankin

Think of someone that's making you crazy. Now close your eyes and really feel how it feels to experience your emotions around this person. Let yourself really go there. Feel it in your body. Then open your eyes again and shake it off.

Now try something different if you dare. Think of that same person, but don't give yourself even an ounce of permission to think of yourself as a victim of this person's actions or behavior. What if everything that's happening in your dynamic with this person is perfectly orchestrated by the souls of both of you to help you grow? What if you have, at least on some soul level, invited this person into your life as a teacher? What are you learning from this person- patience, resilience, forgiveness, acceptance, the ability to love without conditions or attachment?

Now close your eyes again and think of this person, but this time release all your judgment and righteousness and call upon every lick of your empathy and compassion. Can you see how maybe if you were in this person's shoes, you might behave the same way? Can you try to understand why he or she is how he or she is? Can you feel the opening in your heart as you soften? Touch your heart with your hand. Can you feel it, the love inside, the Divinity within you that is not separate from the Divinity within this other person? Can you open your heart even more and find gratitude for this person, for all you're learning from him or her, for the blessing it is to have this person in your life?

From that heart space of love, compassion, peace, acceptance, and gratitude, do you notice a difference in how you feel in your body? Do you notice any call for inspired action arising?

Gifts of HIbernation

http://www.onbeing.org/blog/the-gifts-of-hibernation/7115
Adreanna Lefton

Death reckoning

http://www.ttbook.org/series/death/death-reckoning

faster Eft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAhNSHNyGd4&feature=youtu.be  4 tapsites and peace

John O'Donohue for my personal storage

John O'Donohue passed from the visible world to the invisible on January 4, 2008. Through his life and works, John has touched the lives of an enormous number of people across the globe. John's family hopes that his memory will be carried in the hearts of those who knew and appreciated him during his all too short time with us; and that his words of love will continue to weave "an invisible cloak, to mind your life."

Go raibh maith agaibh go léir agus beannacht.

MEMORY OPENS NEW PRESENCES ~~ From the essay "Tears of Grief at the Altar of Memory" by John's brother, Pat O'Donohue

The journey of grief is individually unique to each person. It is an entering into the “corner-field of memory” where all the shared moments of a past life have gathered. John used to always say that “nothing is ever lost or forgotten”. If we could grasp the full implication of that statement, we would find ourselves in the arms of the ultimate comfort.

The memories of the missing one are ageless, eternal, as pure and clear as their moment of conception. The term ‘memory fades’ means to me that it is we who are fading from the place of memory. Our desire to visit there becomes eroded by our reliance on the conveyor-belt of routine which kidnaps our days making us lethargic. While we are alive our memories do not intrude, yet I think that they are not inert but live just over our shoulder and will appear on request in order to illuminate a darkness, lighten a load or trace a tear-drop. Normally we are too distracted to be fully present to our memoria. We live our lives too much in a linear fashion with not enough attention to the chinks into the other dimensions where all the real fun happens! We must learn to move more carefully and awaken to our own rhythm so that our hearts can fully absorb all that the poultice of memory is offering us. ‘Time will heal’, only if we become attentive to the wound. Healing occurs at a much deeper level than at the surface.

(http://www.johnodonohue.com/…/tears-of-grief-at-the-altar-o…)

photo courtesy of Nutan Jaques Piraprez (a dear friend of John's)  from FB Jose Luis Avila

AVIGNON: ELEGY FOR JOHN O’DONOHUE

The invisible conversation you held while you were alive can still be heard in every shadowed wall, in the birdsong of morning, and in the last light of evening, the final rays above the river drawing the shape you make in the air by your absence. So that even in the warmth of the southern night I hear your laughter singing from the same familiar sunlit nowhere you always inhabited even before you left and that still flows with me, morning or evening, invisibly close to where I go. Even in narrow streets, surrounded by stone, I listen through those walls in parallels now, and at times inhabit an intimacy where I seem to hear your unseen heart beating close to mine, counting the seconds of my life, as if telling me to live fully in this parallel until I come, some fateful day and meet you, standing at the threshold of yours.

When I speak, the words are no longer mine to give away, even though I begin alone, we seem to finish every sentence together and often in ways I needed but could not imagine, so that now I cannot tell where I begin a theme and you join in, and I wander among my friends, wondering if they know to whom they speak. I know now the essence of our friendship because the impetus of your death continually leads me to places where I feel you just about to appear again, your hands lifted toward me, your laughter reminding me of what we both wanted while you lived and breathed, your body strangely reborn in mine, and yet continually coming and going from me, at times the familiar line of your back suddenly turning to that shouted wave at the corner before you disappear; off to some imaginative otherness where others wait, but always returning after an hour, a day a month, a year, the beckoning stranger come to meet me, shaking hands for the first time, the light in your eyes alive again to our future, with no shadow of parting.

Avignon Elegy: June 2013 © David Whyte

music to words of Beannacht https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhMCBnwS220

O'Donohue himself reading it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rYnWCophIM  Blessing the Space Between Us

http://www.onbeing.org/program/inner-landscape-beauty/203  interview
true listening, looking   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyCzIU9jPFk
read by him, several poems   http://www.onbeing.org/program/inner-landscape-beauty/feature/john-odonohues-poems-recited-poet-himself/1127
A Blessing for a Friend on the Arrival of Illness
» A Blessing for One Who Holds Power
» Beannacht
» For the Pilgrim a Kiss: The Caha River
» For the Pilgrim a Kiss: Between Things
» For the Pilgrim a Kiss: Body Language
» Since You Came
» The Nativity

Acupressure

http://acupressure.com/e-products.htm

Sherwin Nuland on What Everybody Needs

http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/02/sherwin-nuland-what-everybody-needs/

wrote How We Die  

9 steps to lower risk of alz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evfX4YV3CDQ&index=9&list=PLD8C297389F04DE7B

9 Steps to Reversing Dementia

Start by looking hard for correctable causes of memory loss. They include:

1. Pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome
2. Low thyroid function
3. Depression
4. Deficiencies in B vitamins, especially vitamin B12
5. Omega-3 fat deficiencies
6. Mercury or other heavy metal toxicity
7. Vitamin D deficiency
8. High cholesterol
9. Unique genes that predispose you to nutritional or detoxification problems

Doctors who practice Functional Medicine and follow the principles I talk about in UltraWellness can help you find these problems.

Once you identify the underlying causes of the imbalance, here are a few things that can help your mind get a tune-up:

• Balance your blood sugar with a whole foods, low glycemic diet
• Exercise daily — even a 30-minute walk can help
• Deeply relax daily with yoga, meditation, biofeedback, or just deep breathing
• Take a multivitamin and mineral supplement
• Take an omega-3 fat supplement
• Take extra vitamin B6, B12, and folate
• Take vitamin D
• Treat thyroid or low sex hormones
• Get rid of mercury through a medical detoxification program

This is just a start, but it can go a long way to giving your brain the chance to heal and recover if you have memory problems. Even if you aren’t suffering from cognitive decline, you should take these steps because they can help you prevent the aging of your brain and obtain lifelong health.

Now I’d like to hear from you…

Have you noticed memory loss as you’ve gotten older?

What have you done about the problem so far?

Which of these steps do you plan to follow?

Do you have any other recommendations?

Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below — but remember, we can’t offer personal medical advice online, so be sure to limit your comments to those about taking back our health!

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

References

(i) http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm

(ii) Tsai, M.S., Tangalos, E.G., Petersen, R.C., et al. (1994). Apolipoprotein : Risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. American Journal of Human Genetics. 54 (4):643-649.

(iii) Godfrey, M.E., Wojcik, D.P., and C.A. Krone. (2003). Apolipoprotein E genotyping as a potential biomarker for mercury neurotoxicity. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 5 (3):189-195.

(iv) Stroombergen, M.C., and R.H. Warring. (1999). Determination of glutathione S-transferase me and theta polymorphisms in neurological disease. Human and Experimental Toxicology. 18 (3):141-145.

(v) Bernardini, S., Bellincampi, L., Ballerini, S., et al. (2005). Glutathione S-transferase P1 *C allelic variant increases susceptibility for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease: Association study and relationship with Apolipoprotein E4 allele. Clinical Chemistry. 51(6):944-951.

(vi) Spalletta, G., Bernardini, S., Bellincampi, L., et al. (2007). Glutathione S-transferase P1 and T1 gene polymorphisms predict longitudinal course and age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 15 (10):879-887.

(vii) Gundacker, C., Komarnicki, G., Jagiello, P., et al. (2007). Glutathione s-transferase polymorphism, metallothionein expression, and mercury levels among students in Austria. Science of the Total Environment. 385 (1-3):37-47.

(viii) Dorszewska, J., Florczak, J., Rozycka, A., et al. (2007). Oxidative DNA damage and level of thiols as related to polymorphisms of MTHFR, MTR, MTHFD1 in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentals. 67 (2):119-129.

(ix) Rodriguez, E., Mateo, I., Infante, J., et al. (2005). Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) polymorphism modifies the Alzheimer’s disease risk associated with APOE 4 allele. Journal of Neurology. 253 (2):181-185.

(x) Mutter, J., Naumann, J., Schneider, R., et al. (2007). Mercury and Alzheimer’s disease. Fortschritte der Neurologie-Psychiatrie 75 (9):528-538.

About Mark Hyma