health

Many years ago, impeccable research in reputable scientific journals confirmed that every one of us benefits from taking the right kind of vitamin supplements. One excellent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who take over-the-counter multivitamins in the first months of pregnancy dramatically reduce their risk of giving birth to a neurologically damaged child. Neural tube defects are amongst the most horrible and most common birth defects. They cause everything from death to paralysis in the child, and they affect between 1 and 2 babies in every 1000 births. The study was carried out under the direction of Aubrey Milunsky, director of Boston University's prestigious Center for Human Genetics. It involved 23,000 women, half of whom took multivitamin pills containing folic acid—a B-group vitamin in particularly high demand during pregnancy. The results were astonishing. The incidence of neural tube defects in babies born to the women who took the supplements was less than a quarter of what it was amongst those women who took no supplements. So remarkable were these results that they shook to the core FDA officials, who had insisted for generations that taking nutritional supplements is not only unnecessary but, can cause damage our health. Nevertheless, the FDA and CODEX continue to propagandize the ridiculous idea that “nutrition has no significance for health”. The notion that if vitamins and minerals are allowed on the market, they should only be permitted in ultra-low doses. As a result, month-by-month, clinically effective nutrients are being treated as “toxins”. The levels of nutrients they contain are being reduced. Many are being removed from public access in one country after another. There’s a wonderful way around all this which I strongly urge you to explore. Shun chemically made vitamins—which over 90% on the market are—and take food-state nutrients instead. Most vitamins you buy in shops or online are made from synthetic chemicals. They’ve been manufactured in a laboratory in a futile effort to match the molecular structure of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals found in our foods. As a result, they are chock full of chemically-made nutrients. Your body has been designed to absorb vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. Manmade synthetics can never match natural molecular structures. In no way are they the same. Our bodies do not handle synthetics well. You can be taking a high-potency, man-made synthetic that somebody’s recommended, yet not effectively absorbing the vitamins and minerals it contains. This is a major reason why I am passionate about whole-food natural vitamins and minerals. Good manufacturers of whole-food vitamins usually grow most botanicals themselves that go into their food-state formulas. Using state-of-the-art scientific instrumentation, they test, validate and document the potencies of the raw materials that make up their products with high performance liquid chromatography for testing potency. They are careful in the way they handle other plant extracts which they add to their supplements. They use a specific system of drying which transfers heat gently and efficiently, removing moisture from delicate foods and botanicals in order to prevent oxidation of raw materials. This protects the integrity of the ingredients against any degradation of their nutrient content, and helps maintain the color and the flavor. Since food-state vitamins are biologically natural, you’ll often find that the recommended daily serving of some of these products can sometimes be as high as six to eight capsules a day for you to get the full benefit of what they have to offer. In addition to the common vitamins, such as vitamin A, C, D3, E, K2, folate, and so forth, many food- state multis offer a broad spectrum of bioavailable minerals—calcium, iodine, magnesium, selenium, chromium, molybdenum, manganese; as well as extracts taken from plants also beneficial to your body—extract of barley grass, for example; green papaya; Ayurvedic herbs such as astragalus, foti and kudzu root; and those used in Chinese medicine like reishi and shitake mushrooms. These are often the kind of supplements you may well benefit most from using. Read labels when looking for a good food-state supplement, and choose carefully. But beware. There are many vitamins on the market that claim to be food-state or “whole-food vitamins” that are not top quality. Always make sure that whatever vitamin/mineral complex you choose, it is free of corn, soy, yeast, wheat and dairy products, and that it has been formulated without the use of preservatives, artificial flavors or coloring. See below for some food state products I have personally tested and recommend. Dr. Mercola, Premium Supplements, Whole Food Multivitamin Plus As a dietary supplement, adults take 4 tablets two times daily with food or as directed by your healthcare professional. This product is best taken once in the morning and once at night. Order Whole Food Multivitamin Plus from iherb MegaFood, One Daily, 180 Tablets MegaFood cares about doing things the right way - we refuse to take shortcuts, and we never compromise on quality or the things that matter. Order MegaFood, One Daily from iherb MegaFood, Men Over 55 Since 1973, we have been going out of our way to source fresh and local foods from trusted farmers. We then make our wholesome supplements using our one-of-a-kind process to deliver the most authentic nutrition - much more than vitamins alone. Order MegaFood, Men Over 55 from iherb MegaFood, Women Over 40 One Daily FoodState Nutrients are made with fresh and local foods. Crafted with our Slo-Food Process, they deliver the most authentic nourishment available, which we believe the body recognizes as 100% whole food. Order MegaFood, Women Over 40 One Daily from iherb

In the next 5 minutes, I want to share with you essential truths about hormone replacement therapy—HRT. This stuff that vitally important for you to know. But first, let me ask this: Do you feel or have you fever been afraid, confused or frustrated about your own menstrual, peri-menopausal or menopausal issues? I know I once did. Intense hormonal changes can make you feel like you’re going crazy, so you’re not even sure who you are any more. And these symptoms can start as early as 10 years before menopause arrives. Natural hormonal shifts are natural transformations in every woman’s life. And, believe it or not, they can even be profoundly beneficial. But you need to learn how best o handle them. We women are constantly told that we have to take drug-based artificial hormone drugs known as HRT to do this. I’m here to tell you this is most certainly not the way to go. Why? Because medically based HRT— using synthetic drugs can produce massive side effects. It is also incapable of delivering genuine healing. It cannot treat fundamental causes. It can only mask symptoms. In the process, synthetic HRT hormones can poison your body long-term. Drug-based synthetic estrogens, progestins and progestogens commonly prescribed as HRT are fundamentally dangerous. Used long-term, they may even be life-threatening. We women need to band together and challenge the “wisdom” of conventional medical practices. It’s time for us to turn away from the widespread propaganda that accompanies the promotion of HRT as the solution to all our problems. Indiscriminate doling out of potent drug-based hormones can undermine a woman’s fertility as well as trigger the development of her menstrual agonies—from PMS and endometriosis to cancer of the breast and womb. The current attempt to make every woman a “patient” for the rest of her life by subjecting her body to long-term HRT is also a way of diminishing her personal power and undermining her control over her own body. Conventional HRT is most certainly not the answer. I believe passionately that it’s time for a radical overhaul in how we handle women’s issues. There are safer, better, more effective ways. As celebrated expert in the natural treatment of peri-menopause and menopause, Dr Jonathan Wright, Medical Director of Tahoma Clinic in Washington—a long-time advocate of bio-identical, that is natural hormones—says, “Replacing estrogen that your body is no longer producing with the synthetic versions found in conventional HRT is like replacing parts designed for a Chevy with those made for a Mercedes.” More about these alternatives in a moment. Meanwhile, let me share with you a couple of scientific studies carried out in the last 15 years which show just how potentially dangerous and ineffective conventionally prescribed HRT can be: In 2002, researchers called a halt to a huge government- run study involving 16,000 women on HRT under the Women’s Health Initiative. Researchers found that long-term use of synthetic estrogen and progestin significantly increased women’s danger of stroke, blood clots, heart attack, invasive breast cancer and stroke. Then the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published another study, showing that women who take a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin are also at high risk of getting a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. Other studies have revealed that HRT can increase your risk of Alzheimer’s, dementia and asthma. More new research indicates that combined synthetic estrogen-progestin HRT increases your risk of severe forms of breast cancer as well as your chances of dying, from the disease as well as other causes. This is but a small sample of the volume of research that has surfaced since the turn of the millennium, exposing potentially serious consequences of buying into the ongoing hype of HRT and allowing such synthetic chemicals into our bodies. Let’s look at the alternatives. There are many. Bio-identical hormones—commonly known as “natural” hormones—do a far safer, more effective job of helping most women handle the challenges they face. This is a truth now well supported by scientific research. Your hormonal system, with all its ebbs and flows, parallel those of the earth’s tides and the moon itself—acting as an interface between your emotional life and your body. Mess with your hormones and you may even undermine your ability to grow spiritually. I will soon be shooting some more new videos about Bio-identical Hormone Replacement, what it is, how it works, how it differs from synthetic HRT, as well as other natural ways of treating menstrual and menopausal challenges. So keep an eye open for them. In the meantime, go to lesliekenton.com where you can learn more right now about the remarkable things natural hormones and other natural approaches from herbs and changes in diet can do to support your own challenges right now. See you soon. Here are the links to additional information about HRT and Bio-identical hormones: 5 steps to natural menopause: http://lesliekenton.com/health/into-the-bliss/5-steps-ideal-menopause-part-2/ Beware of HRT: http://lesliekenton.com/health/into-the-bliss/beware-hrt/

What goes up must come down. These words should be engraved on everyone’s brain, particularly those of us who live full and busy lives. We worry about stress, wonder why we don’t do anything about it, and wish it would go away. Seldom do we even stop to ask what it is. If stress gets out of hand it can wear you down, ruin your looks and destroy your peace of mind. Yet stress is the spice of life, the exhilaration of challenge and excitement, the ‘high’ of living with heavy demands. The big secret about stress is that it is not what appears to be causing it that does the damage. It’s how you respond to it that does that. Change your attitude to stress and you can make it work for you rather than against you. In short, chill out. Stress is hard to pin down: fatigue, overwork, loss of blood, physical injury, grief and joy can all produce stress, but none of them accurately describes what it is. The word stress comes from the language of engineering meaning ‘any force which causes an object to change’. Austrian-Canadian scientist, Hans Selye, first coined the word stress in relation to humans back in the 1930s. In human terms it refers to your body’s response to physical, chemical, emotional or spiritual forces that ask you to adapt to them. Selye discovered a typical physical reaction to stress which he called the General Adaptation Syndrome. Its function is to keep your body in a steady state, known as homeostasis. Every stressor you come into contact with threatens to destroy this steady state. The General Adaptation Syndrome has three states: alarm, where the body becomes alert; resistance, where all systems go in order to meet the challenge and protect you from harm; and exhaustion, which happens if stress lasts for too long and the body’s weakest systems begin to break down causing illness, chronic fatigue, even death. you are unique Everyone responds differently to stress. This depends to some degree on your conditioning, and on the amount of adaptive energy you were born with. This is why some people seem to breeze through stressful situations while others quickly reach exhaustion. Selye believed that once adaptive energy is used up, nothing can be done to restore it. We now know that this is not altogether true, but adaptive energy is certainly precious. This makes it imperative to examine carefully how yours is being used and if it is being burnt up unnecessarily. It also makes it important to remember that what goes up must come down. For making stress work for you means being able to switch off at will. This is something that most of us have to learn to do. Learn to move easily between stress and relaxation, and you will begin to experience your life as a satisfying and enriching challenge like the ebb and flow of the tides. Then you will never again have to worry about getting stuck in a high-stress condition which saps your energy, distorts your view of the world, and can lead to premature aging and chronic illness. Humans are natural seekers of challenge. Primitive man faced the daily challenge of survival – when in danger, the body reacted instantaneously to provide the energy needed to fight or flee, then relaxed again when the danger passed. We may no longer need to worry about meeting a saber-toothed tiger, but we still react to stress with the same physical responses – raised blood pressure and breathing, a rush of adrenaline throughout the body. The trouble is that modern life, with its noise, quick pace, social pressures, environmental poisons, and our tendency to sedentary, mental work, presents many of us with almost constant threat situations. This is particularly true in the business world where someone, instead of moving rhythmically in and out stressful situations, remains in the danger state for long periods, with all the internal physical conditions that accompany it. balance it The automatic, or involuntary, functions of your body are governed by the autonomic nervous system. It looks after the changes in the rate at which your heart beats. It regulates your blood pressure by altering the size of veins and arteries. It stimulates the flow of digestive juices and brings on muscular contractions in the digestive system to deal with the foods you take in. It makes you sweat when you are hot and is responsible for the physical changes in your body that come with sexual arousal. This autonomic system has two opposing branches: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic branch is concerned with energy expenditure - particularly the energy involved with stress and meeting challenges. It spurs the heart to beat faster, makes you breathe hard, encourages you to sweat, raises your blood pressure, and sends blood to the muscles to get you ready for action. The other branch of the autonomic nervous system - the parasympathetic - is concerned with rest and regeneration rather than action. The parasympathetic branch slows your heartbeat, reduces the flow of air to your lungs, stimulates the digestive system, and helps relax your muscles. When you are in a state of stress, the sympathetic nervous system comes into play. The parasympathetic branch is dominant when you are relaxed. A good balance between the two is the key to making stress work for you. Balance makes it possible for you to go out into the world to do, to make, to create, to fight, and to express yourself, as well as to retire into yourself for regeneration, rest, recuperation, enjoyment, and the space to discover new ideas and plant the seeds of future actions. make stress work for you The secret is getting the right balance between stress and relaxation, between the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Unfortunately, few of us get it right by accident - we have to learn. Take a look at the kind of stress you think you are under, eliminate unnecessary stressors, and discover new ways of working with stress. Second, begin to support your body physically with food, exercise and natural stress relievers to enable you to face stress with ease. Finally, learn to relax fully so that you can find the right balance between stress and relaxation and keep it. Not only will this help your body stay in balance and increase your level of overall vitality, it can bring you a sense of control over your life that is hard to come by any other way.

Every one of our cells needs a continual supply of oxygen. It is this oxygen that feeds our brain, sparks metabolism and calms nerves. One of the reasons why regular aerobic exercise is so beneficial in slowing down the rate at which you age and warding off degenerative diseases is because it improves your use of oxygen. So can learning to breathe fully. It can also improve your mood, increase your resistance to colds and illness, and improve sleep as well. Full breathing is also an important tool for encouraging waste elimination. It is a kind of spring-cleaning process that can go on all year round every day of your life. Chinese medicine (which I spent three years studying and working with) has a long tradition of natural-law ageless aging. And a great deal of it centers around the use of the breath. This is something to which we give little attention in the West and it is strange to think that specific breathing techniques are so ignored when the body's use of oxygen is the central determinant of the rate at which we age. Few people breathe fully. Most of us, particularly if we have sedentary jobs, breathe high - that is we breathe quickly and shallowly concentrating the inhalations in the upper chest area which is the part of the lungs which holds the smallest quantity of air. Not only does this kind of breathing inhibit oxygen intake, it can also encourage the lungs to atrophy and to lose much of their natural elasticity - something which is a common occurrence as people get older. Other people, who allow the air to flow deeper into their lungs are mid-breathers - an improvement over breathing high because it encourages the ribcage to move and brings more oxygen into the lungs for body use. But to make the best use of oxygen for ageless aging it's important to develop the habit of taking total breaths so they become your normal way of breathing. The Total Breath This is not something that you can learn overnight for there is nothing more unconscious and habitual than the way we breathe and that takes time and a little persistent effort to change. In breathing totally all of your breathing apparatus comes into play - the chest and ribs are lifted but not by themselves. The intercostal muscles also expand the ribs outward to create a large space in which your lungs can inflate to their maximum. Finally the diaphragm moves down, pulling the lower ribs outward which lets even the very bottom of your lungs fill up completely with air. With total breathing a much higher proportion of your lung power is used, as are most of your chest, rib and stomach muscles. Practice it lying down for five minutes a couple of times a day - perhaps just on awakening or just before going to sleep - and gradually it will become an automatic way of breathing which will not only help in ageless aging but will also improve your resistance to fatigue, improve the glow of your skin and help protect you from minor illness. Here's How Lying flat on your back with a small pillow beneath your neck, place one hand on your abdomen and rest the other on one side of your ribcage. Now inhale slowly through your nose while imagining that you are sending your breath to a place about 2 inches below your navel. Your tummy will start to well outward rather like a balloon. This has the effect of filling the lower part of your lungs with fresh air. As the in-breath continues, let it fill the rest of your stomach and then expand your ribcage outwards to the side as well as the midsection of your chest. You can feel this side expansion by keeping your hand against one side of your ribcage and making sure it moves outward. Now let the fresh breath fill the upper part of your chest area as well, watching it as it expands outward and to the side. (The whole process of inhalation should take about 5 seconds altogether.) Hold your breath for another 5 seconds. (In time you will find you can hold it much longer which gives your lungs a good opportunity to absorb all the oxygen available to them.) Now exhale following the same process you did in inhaling: first contract your lower abdomen gently to move the air upwards then as the lower lungs deflate you should feel the ribcage contracting again followed by the upper chest. This process too should take about 5 seconds. Rest for a second or two before beginning the whole cycle again.

Cancer is the most feared disease amongst women. These days we’re bombarded with propaganda about how dangerous it is. We’re told we need to be using drugs and expensive medical procedures to protect ourselves from the dreaded cancer in its myriad of forms. I believe it’s time to turn away from all the drama, and get practical. Fifty years ago I was trained by some of the finest medical doctors. These men and women had all been conventionally trained MDs. But each one of them had chosen to leave behind the approach to treating illness by prescribing powerful and potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals. They chose instead to teach people how to access their own natural potentials for creating highlevel health and protecting themselves from illnesses. Thanks to all I learned from them, I was able to raise my own four children without drugs, as well as transforming my own health. Let me share with you some of the things I learned from them when it comes to helping protect your body from cancer and other illness. You will need to make some simple yet profound changes in the way you may have been living. But, in the process, it can help you—as it did me—to expand your health so effectively that you will never look back. By the way, did you know that less than 10% of all cases of breast cancer are likely to be related to genetic risk factors? Other risk factors are almost all environmental issues. For we live in a highly poisonous world which you need to learn to protect yourself from. Here’s my simple checklist. How many of these changes are you willing to make in your life to achieve high-level wellness long-term? Stop buying convenience foods from supermarkets and clear all of these foods out of your kitchen now. They are full of pesticides, colorants, chemicals and flavor enhancers all of which are fundamentally damaging to your body and health. Go for REAL foods in everything you eat: Meats and eggs from pastured organic animals, only wild fish— never farmed fish—and organically grown dark greeb vegetables and a few low glycaemic fruits. Grow as many of these as you can in your own garden or kitchen windows, or find a good source near you and shop there. Get plenty of Vitamin D3. Hang out in the sun if you are lucky enough to live in a sunny country. It is a proven fact that the more elevated your solar UVB exposure is before 11am and after 3pm, the less susceptible you will be to developing cancer of many kinds. If you live in a country with little sunlight, be sure to take a supplement of vitamin D-3+vitamin K-2 twice a day. You’ll need between 2000 and 5000 IU of D-3 and 100mcg-200mcg of vitamin K-2. Never cook your meats at ta very high a temperature. Charring may taste good but it is not good for you and has been strongly associated with cancer risk. Never eat unfermented soy in any form, be it milk, tofu, or any other. If you want to eat soy, be sure it is only fermented soy and is non-GMO, traditionally fermented soy including natto, tempeh, miso and tofu. These fermented soy products may even help prevent cancer. Drink a pint of green juice from organically grown vegetables every day without fail. Take a top quality omega-3 oil every day. Steer clear of electromagnetic fields every chance you get. Don’t use Wi-Fi in your home. If you need to use it, turn off the Wi-Fi as soon as possible. When you do not have to use your cell phone, make sure it is in Airplane Mode. Get plenty of simple exercise daily: walking, dancing, weights, Pilates, whatever you like best, and make this a habit. Re-establish your body’s healthy weight and stay that weight. These simple measures work like a dream for everyone.

Now we come to the exciting stuff - energy. This is where life breaks all the rules. Biological science is just beginning to penetrate the mysteries of life energies. For thousands upon thousands of years, until now, they have remained the province of mystics and sages. When it comes to rejuvenating the body, energy is where it's at. Put simply, successful rejuvenation depends on being able to activate energies which support the life force within. It is this life force that governs growth, nourishes us, sustains us, deep cleanses our bodies, regenerates our cells, heals us and makes us feel grateful just to be alive. buffalos and daffodils This ineffable life force is found in abundance in each of us as it is in all living things from buffalo to daffodils. Different cultures call it by different names. The Indians speak of it as Prana. In Polynesia it is know as Mana. The Chinese call it Chi. All of these words describe various forms of subtle energy which until the advent of quantum physics remained largely unknown to Western science. Yet throughout history all forms of traditional medicine from Paracelsus to Chinese and Ayurvedic herbalism have worked with it. biophotons and quantum magic Long ago quantum physicists established that wave particles such as electrons, atoms and molecules in living systems behave as biophoton energies. These energies appear to help regulate and control enzyme activities, cell reproduction and other activities in living systems. Experiments such as those reported in the March 1995 issue of Scientific American by Brumer and Shapiro established the existence of these particle/wave reactions in organisms. Like light bulbs, atoms give out radiant bio-energies which can either act constructively or destructively on the body's own molecules. Scientists are beginning to define how the interference wave forms generated both by internally manufactured toxins and by environmental pollutants act either constructively on the body to support health and vitality, or destructively, interfering with the harmonious biophoton energies (another name for life energies) on which health and protection from premature aging depend.  In the future we are going to hear a lot more about these biophoton energies and their effects on our health but for now we can make practical use of the knowledge there already is of how to influence them for healing and regeneration. energy consciousness From the point of view of quantum physics, as human beings we are not only immersed in an energy field.  Our bodies, our minds, our selves, are energy fields. These fields are constantly expanding, contracting and changing as our thoughts, diet and lifestyle change. The aim of any form of natural treatment, from dietary change and detoxification to hydrotherapy, exercise and meditation, is first to enhance positive bio-energies in an organism and second to help to balance them and create order. sheer radiance In University Parapsychology Research Laboratories such as the one at UCLA in California, scientists like Dr Thelma Moss have experimented with techniques such as Kirlian photography to examine, record and analyze the unique energetic patterns living things emanate. Kirlian photography is one of the methods whereby ordinary non-visible force-fields around and through living and non-living things can be recorded visually and studied. Kirlian photographs are extraordinarily beautiful. Researchers find they get consistent results when working with the Kirlian method to photograph plants and foods when comparing cooked foods with their raw counterparts for instance, or the leaf of a healthy plant to the leaf of a damaged one. The luminescent energy corona recorded on film from a living thing such as a healthy plant, or one of the superfoods such as organically grown herbs, wild crafted algae, organic green juices, and plant enzymes, is significantly stronger, more radiant and wider than in that of a processed food. The corona produced by well harvested spirulina or an organic raw carrot or cauliflower is dramatically reduced when these foods are cooked or processed. Uncooked vegetables and fruits radiate brilliant spikes of light, harmoniously surrounded by geometric shapes. Cooked and processed foods show only the dimmest evidence of corona discharge. Foods, plants, and herbs with a wide corona carry a lot of the life energy useful for rejuvenation. etheric forces Chromatography is another tool useful for studying energy. It is widely used in chemistry, biology, medicine and industry as a way of analyzing complex substances such as the amino acids in a protein or for detecting impurities in a compound. The use of chromatography to measure energy differences between living things and between natural and synthetically made substances was originally developed by European chemist Ehrenfreid Pfeiffer. Early on in his career Pfeiffer was asked by the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner to find a chemical reagent that could be useful in charting the quality of life energy - what Steiner called the formative etheric forces - in living matter. After experimenting with many different substances Pfeiffer discovered that when he added extracts of living plants to a solution of copper chloride then let it evaporate slowly it would produce a beautiful pattern of crystallization typical of the species of the plant used. Radiant form and shape consistently indicated the life strength of the plant. Pfeiffer established that strong crystallization patterns indicated health, while weak ones indicated ill-health. Nowadays scientists working with techniques like chromatography, Kirlian photography, photomicrography and polarized light field photography - as well as clairvoyant healers who can actually `see' changes in energy patterns around plants, people and animals - confirm that certain foods, herbs and plant products carry high levels of harmonious bio-energy. They can be used to enhance the beauty of a living organism's energy patterns. So can techniques of breathing, meditation and deep relaxation as well as the laying on of hands or spiritual healing, hydrotherapy, bodywork and autogenics. That is why all of these things can be so helpful in the rejuvenation process. healing the impossible One of the most interesting researchers to look into the area of life force treatments for healing and regeneration is the American healer Mitchell May. At the age of 22 May was in a car accident that rendered him profoundly damaged. He lost several inches of bone from his legs, and the tissue and nerve damage was extensive. He lay in insufferable pain. His physicians told him he would never walk again and that it was necessary have his right leg amputated. They also informed him that his immune system would be permanently compromised and that his health would be severely restricted for the rest of his life. May was lucky enough to have been hospitalized at one of the most important medical research centers in the world, the University of California Medical Center at Los Angeles. There he became part of a special study involving ongoing experiments into life force healing and extrasensory perceptions using skilled spiritual healers working under strict scientific controls. He met and worked with a very gifted healer named Jack Gray. Gray had a great gift in his ability to activate powerful and natural healing life force energies within a person. Within a week of Gray's having begun simple laying on of hands treatment, May discovered he was able to turn off and on his experience of excruciating pain using the techniques Gray taught him. energy healing May became fascinated with the whole area of life force healing and become an apprentice to Gray. He developed an interest in states of consciousness, subtle energy and in discovering ways to enhance life force through the use of spiritual healing, plant foods and biological compounds - those which have a particularly high quality of energetic radiation. May's own story is one of the most well documented tales of impossible recovery in medical annals. Not only did his body heal, he was able to learn to walk again and eventually regained full use of his body. In the process he has also become one of the most respected and acclaimed healers in the world. During the period of his recovery May worked intimately with Gray and with Thelma Moss in her Parapsychology Research Laboratory at UCLA, photographing energy patterns around foods and other nutritional substances. He also carried out wide searches of scientific literature and conferred with physicists, health professionals, doctors and practitioners of natural medicine both trained in Western science and Oriental health traditions. He set out to discover, test and record information about specific foods and plant compounds which can enhance human health not only chemically by supplying an abundance of vitamins, minerals, phtyo-antioxidants and immune enhancers, but also by providing an abundance of life force. May wanted to find ways of making it possible to help people live at their fullest energy, vitality, and wholeness, in maximum health and wellbeing. entranced by beauty Before long May became totally fascinated by the beauty of energy patterns certain foods and plants emitted. He also became convinced - as had many researchers before him and since - that the fundamental processes of healing and rejuvenation depend on intensifying the life force within an individual and then helping to bring about a harmonization and balance of its movements within the living system. He saw that there was so much potential to help people by working in an energetic way. He also discovered (as have practitioners of natural medicine) that it is not just food and plants that are able to enhance the life force. He experimented with many forms of meditation and breathing, shifts in attitudes of mind, and various healing modalities, energy-shifting exercise such as Tai-Chi, yoga and the martial arts, which enable us to awaken the life force within. Most of all, he loved working with plants. Slowly, painstakingly, he identified plants, algae, mushrooms, sprouted seeds and grains, all of which carry an abundance of this life energy. He also found they could be used to intensify a person's own life energy and help create coherent and harmonious patterns of energy within. As early researchers into the healing effects of living foods such as Dr Max Bircher-Benner and Dr Max Gerson had insisted, plants are holders and emitters of quantum sunlight - life force which we can use to our advantage either taken fresh and live or when grown, harvested and dried properly. These plants are able to transfer their life force to us. perfect balance May's highly practical experiments were carried out over 20 years, during which he conferred with the very finest medical practitioners in Western medicine as well as experts in Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, and spiritual healers. Slowly, painstakingly, he was able to identify foods and plants - organically grown - with a particular abundance of life force and to develop ways of further heightening their powers for healing by combining them in a carefully formulated synergetic way, so that the energies of each balanced and enhanced the energies of the others. Out of this he developed what I believe to be the most remarkable and potent nutritional supplement that I have ever come across. It is called Pure Synergy. Its combination of 62 of nature's most potent and nourishing components include organically grown freeze-dried herbs, organically grown immune supporting mushrooms, plant enzymes, freeze-dried royal jelly, wild crafted algae, organic green juices and many other natural ingredients, and is the finest super food made so far. energetic rejuvenation May, and others like him such as Dr David Peat and twice nobel nominated Robert O Becker, have delved deeply into the field of subtle energy. They have helped to build bridges between orthodox, chemically-based, allopathic medicine (which until recently paid little attention to the energetic aspects of healing) and the ancient traditions of medicine which have always viewed healing as primarily an energy art. Breathing, movement, thoughts and dreams as well as the metabolism of the foods that we eat, all contribute to active energy `information' or life `intelligence' capable of bringing about a continuous circulation of harmonious energy to transform and heal the body. Energetically speaking, illness and degeneration are viewed as some sort of misalignment or blockage which interferes with the natural flow of energy, perverting its natural balance or siphoning energy off from its natural vital function of supporting the body. Rejuvenation takes place by using everything at one's disposal to enhance this harmonious and orderly circulation of life energy. The dynamic harmony within body/mind and the restoration of energetic balance which energy-based rejuvenation aims to bring about is not a static state but a dynamic process whereby energy continually circulates and health continually unfolds. This is living in the zone at its very best. This in turn helps bring about a process of renewal, regeneration and expansion of the individual spirit and its life purpose. After all, everything each of us needs to regenerate and rejuvenate ourselves lies within. pure alchemy There are no magic bullets for rejuvenation. What works is creating a lifestyle for yourself that continues to support your energetic flow at a very high level. The Chinese, who have probably delved into the whole process of rejuvenation more than any other culture, consider the whole process an alchemical one. They see it as a great art and science in which ultimately a person becomes more fully who they truly are, living out their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual potentials to the full. To put it another way, rejuvenation is a process in which `base metal' undergoes a remarkable series of transformations first by being broken down into its materia prima (here is where detoxification comes in) and then transformed into `gold'. This alchemical process which is also recognized by the Sufi tradition, and the Ayurvedic one, not only occurs on a level of external and material change such as a younger, stronger, healthier body, but also on a spiritual, psychological level whereby the soul, the heart and the head are united together with the material body in what is traditionally referred to as a `mystical marriage'. urgent needs At this point in history we have a greater need than ever to learn to practice such alchemy within ourselves. Our air and water have become polluted. There is less and less good quality fresh food readily available. Much of our food is poisoned by herbicides and pesticides which distort bodily processes, polluting our bodies and undermining our clarity of thought and visions in ways that can seriously interfere with our ability to maintain health on a physical and spiritual level. Only we can change that for ourselves. I believe it is time we began to turn away from the whole idea of magic bullets, symptomatic treatments and quick fix ideas, replacing them with foods and natural techniques that enhance our energies and support our lives in the best possible ways. Once the life force energy is built the body heals itself.

Every one of us has more potential for health, happiness, self expression, energy and good looks than we ever make use of. Although there are many tools to help you towards self fulfillment - good food, exercise, stress control, beauty techniques, etc. - by far the most important of all is learning to use the power of your mind. you are what you think Because we create our lives from thoughts, it is important that we think constructively. Unfortunately most of us, without being aware of it, limit our possibilities for fulfillment because we continually bombard ourselves with negative thoughts. We all carry on some sort of internal conversation throughout the day. Usually if we tune in and listen, we find that it is full of negative thoughts and self doubts. Most often we are hearing the voices of our parents, or of people in authority telling us that we can't expect to be happy, that we are bound to fail, that life is suffering and that we should face the stark realities. Out of these negative thoughts arise our self-image and our sense of purpose and direction. It is clear to see, with so much criticism and so little sense of possibility, why we never dare dream of better things. The first step in changing your attitude towards yourself and your life is to stand back and listen to the voices in your head objectively and realize just how ill founded they are. Once you detach yourself from the rubbish going on in your head, you can begin on the path to self-fulfillment. love thyself Whether you feel you are too fat, too thin, too short, too tall, too selfish, too sensitive etc., in order to change, you must begin by accepting yourself right now for what you are. Try this exercise: Look at yourself in a mirror and repeat the words, "I love and accept myself completely, as I am" in your head over and over. And as you do write down any blocks that seem to keep you from accepting yourself. You may feel stupid or ridiculous or embarrassed, but stick with the exercise and you will find that it begins to ring true. positive affirmations You can learn to program your mind to bring about success and fulfillment in all areas of your life through positive affirmations. An affirmation is a phrase which can be silently thought, spoken aloud, written down or all three. The great thing is that affirmations can be done anytime and anywhere in one form or another. There are a few basic guidelines for contacting the appropriate part of your brain and evoking results. Once you understand them, you can create your own affirmations to help you become all that you can be. present tense The subconscious part of the brain only understands now - the present tense - so it is important to phrase your affirmation in the present tense. If you try the future tense, e.g. "I will be happy." your goal will remain constantly out of your reach. It may take a bit of getting used to to write or speak your dreams in the present tense, but remember that is just a formality. first person The most powerful suggestions are those made in the first person. Remember when you say "I" you are including all of you and so helping to integrate and employ your entire being in your goals. It is always better to make affirmations positive rather than negative. In other words in stead of saying, "I no longer overeat" say "Everything I eat returns me to my ideal weight of...." specific and realistic Set yourself specific goals at first, which are within your capabilities to achieve. Once you have accomplished them you will be encouraged and can set more challenging goals. If you are trying to give up smoking, for instance, begin with the affirmation that you will cut down the amount you smoke by half. Then you can cut by half again until you finally stop altogether. short and simple Keep affirmations as short and direct as possible. A concise brief affirmation will have more impact than a long wordy one. suspend disbelief Try while doing affirmations to cast aside doubts and believe in the possibility of what you are saying. If you keep experiencing negative thoughts, get them down on paper, then get rid of them and reassert your positive affirmation. personally phrased Make sure that you are happy with the wording of your affirmation. For each person, the word choice may need to be slightly different. Feel free to change any of the affirmations we suggest to suit your own requirements. all encompassing Remember that the affirmation can be used to transform any area of your life, from career and self image to your relationships with others. The Bible says: 'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find.' Know that you have every right to be successful and happy and that your life is yours to create. Here are some favorite affirmations. Find one or two that you particularly like and repeat them to yourself often. My daughter and I both like the written affirmations, because for us they seem to solidify things. Other people prefer to repeat them silently in meditation, or even sing them. If you do write them down keep a special affirmation journal and write in it any thoughts that arise as you write. Also make a note of things that change for you for the better, and be sure to give thanks for what is given to you. We find seven a useful number to work with. Repeat the affirmations in multiples of seven at a time. some affirmations Every day in every way I am getting better and better. I have everything I need to enjoy life here and now. I create my life and it is good. I love and appreciate myself just I am. Each day my life unfolds in beautiful perfection. I enjoy to love and be loved. The more I give to others the more I have to give. My relationship with ....... is getting better and better. It is good and right for me to have everything I want. Everything I eat makes me strong and healthy. I eliminate wastes easily and completely from my system. I have an exciting, rewarding and well paid job. I have plenty of energy and I enjoy work. I communicate freely and easily with others. I have all the time I need to accomplish all I want to do. It's okay for me to enjoy myself and have fun. God's energy within me produces perfect results in everything I do. Everything that happens is working for the good in my life. I can do ........ and nothing can stop me. ....... or something better now comes to me for the total good of all concerned. I give thanks for all that I am blessed with.

Summer is on its way—at least for those of you who live in the Northern Hemisphere. The rest of us have some weeks to wait for it. Doesn’t matter. If you start now, even in winter, by the time summer arrives you will be far ahead of the game in every way. Vitality is the secret to successful summer living when so much of your body is revealed—skin, hair, hands and feet. It is now that holistic health and beauty come into their own. It’s time to leave self-neglect behind, charge your batteries, get savvy about what to eat and drink, what supplements to take for radiant wellbeing and energy, and what to use both internally and externally for great hair, skin and nails. It’s easier than you think once you know the ropes. BUILD YOUR ENERGY Few of us cash in on optimum energy levels. Our lives are too full of personal ‘energy thieves’, from excess toxicity to negative attitudes. Both drain away natural vitality, and undermine potentials for looking and feeling great. Decide now to create for yourself a vitality-centered way of living that makes room for delicious exercise, good food, restorative sleep and effective self-care. Step One—Claim Your Right to Energy Energy levels depend a lot on our self-perceptions—how you think about yourself. There are important physical changes you can make through exercise, diet, and relaxation, but attitude is just as crucial. Now is the time to just stop doing everything yourself and start delegating at work and at home. Don’t say yes to everything. Guard your time jealously, and limit the hours you spend on inessential things such as people you don’t really care about just because you feel it is expected of you. Decide today that you matter. Put yourself first for once. Make time at least twice a week for doing whatever brings you bliss. It can be walking in the park, watching a good movie, or even taking a deeply relaxing bath filled with Pure Magnesium Flakes—highly-concentrated crystals of magnesium chloride sourced from the ancient Zechstein seabed in the Netherlands—nothing added and nothing removed. These magnesium flakes are extremely pure because the seabed lies 1,600 to 2,000 meters beneath the surface of the earth where it has been protected. Take one of these baths three times a week, before bed. Not only are they relaxing, they are deeply healing and cleansing for both body and mind. Here’s how: Pour 1-2 cups (400 grams) of Life Flo Health Pure Magnesium Flakes in the bathtub and then soak for 20 to 30 minutes. The temperature of the magnesium bath should be warm (101°F to 105°F) rather than hot. If the water in the bath starts to feel cold, add some hot to it. If it starts to feel too warm, add some cold. It’s just that, when you add the flakes to warm bath water, your body experiences the healing results faster. Then crawl into a warm bed and sleep blissfully. Step Two—Clear Out The Junk Eating packaged foods, as 95% of people in the Western world do, drains your body of essential vitamins and minerals. It also causes wastes to build up in the tissues. Any manufactured food squanders your vitality because your body has to wrestle with the health destroyers they carry instead, so it is unable to maintain your cells in peak condition. Drink lots of clean water—2 litres a day is ideal—to flush out your system. Cut out sugary snacks, which are terrible energy robbers. It is time to clear the junk from your shelves and drawers too. Step Three—Bite Into Beauty Take advantage of the warmer weather and the spirit of the great outdoors to try out some delicious and nutritious new recipes, designed to detoxify your body in an on-going way while you’re developing a new high level of wholesome nutrition. For instance, start the day with a super-quick fruit and protein breakfast. It will help keep you cellulite free and brimming with energy. You can use one of the new powdered, micro-filtered whey protein products athletes so love for the most easily assimilated low-fat protein in the world, or simply an organic or free-range egg: Summer Smoothie: Place a dozen raspberries, strawberries or blueberries in a blender or food processor with ½ apple. Add 1 cup of unsweetened coconut water, 1 organic/free range raw egg or 2 tablespoons of Vita Whey Vanilla whey protein, and several drops of English Toffee Stevia. Blend well, sprinkle with a little cinnamon and serve. A great summer resolution for health and good looks is to make one meal a day a delightful meal-in-one raw salad plus protein. It supplies everything you need in one bowl and takes only 10 minutes to prepare for 4 people. Forget the old limp lettuce leaf and slice of tomato and cucumber and go for splendor. When you shop for vegetables, bring them home, wash them and put them in bins in the fridge so they are ready in a moment. Summer Festival Salad: Chop and/or grate a selection of raw vegetables (include 1 grated apple for sweetness): carrots, celery, rocket, radicchio, raw beetroot, spinach, red or yellow pepper, or any others you happen to have. Place them in a salad bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and either the juice of 1 lemon or 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground black pepper, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, toss and serve with slices of cooked chicken breast, tuna, sliced organic tofu or grated hard boiled eggs. If you use tofu, make sure it is organic... 95% of all soy products are GMO and very dangerous to your health. Check out some of the great recipes in my New 10 Day Clean-Up Plan e-book for soups, salad dressings, stir fries and main courses. Step Four—Charge Your Batteries There are two kinds of fatigue. One comes from doing a lot of hard physical work, like chopping wood or chasing after several young kids. That kind needs physical rest—sleep, relaxation by lying in a warm scented bath or learning a simple meditation technique. The other fatigue (which most of us suffer from these days) comes from stress. It depletes our energy reserves and undermines vitality. To counter this sort of tiredness, you need to exercise. Your body thrives on movement—even the simplest kind. Go for pleasant unhurried walks. Climb stairs instead of taking the lift whenever you can. Take your children with you if you need to; it is good for them too. Swim at your local sports center or even consider taking up weight training, which I love. There is no age barrier to beginning. If you are over forty, fifty, or even sixty—great news: New research shows it is actually easier for you to build lean body mass (good firm, sleek muscles instead of flab) than your younger brothers and sisters. Another way to charge your batteries and develop great-looking skin, nails and hair at the same time is to make some of the best food-state nutritional supplements part of your summer vitality program. Vitamin C is important for good firm skin. Make sure you get plenty throughout the day—even more when you are under stress. So are the bioflavonoids which are essential for your body to build new collagen on which youthful-looking skin depends. Green supplements can be the way to go for minerals and nature-made vitamins that beautify hair and nails. They are based on algae like spirulina—rich in Vitamins E, B1, B6, B5, C and B12—and on young cereal grasses rich in fatty acids which bolster skin moisturization. Why not try one of the new vitality-enhancing herbals too—they come in capsule form—such as guarana from Brazil, Korean Ginseng, or the root of the wild Suma plant. Step Five—Grin And Bear It Laughter is a great energy maker. Three minutes of laughter a day is every bit as good for you as a ten minute aerobic workout. It increases oxygen consumption, reduces muscle tension and even lowers blood pressure. It also makes you look and feel years younger than your chronological age. Go to a funny film whenever you can. Get together with friend and throw a ‘laughter afternoon’ where everybody brings jokes and crunchy summer vegetables. This way you get two bites into vitality energy at one go. Laughter works because it is one of the faces of joy. Self-care is another. Psychologists confirm that men and women who look after their appearance experience far less depression that the general population. Take pride in yourself. Hair longs to glow in the summer sun, but it needs protection from UV light which can do as much damage to your crowning glory as it can to your skin. Use a shampoo that is gentle enough for daily washing plus a conditioner containing a UV protector to nourish your hair while keeping out harmful rays that destroy elasticity and split ends. If you color or perm your hair, leave at least a month before going into the sun and make sure you pile on the protein-based deep conditioners and treatment products in the meantime. Forget complicated styles for the holidays, keep blow drying to a minimum and use a low setting. The mineral element silicon or silica is also a great strengthener for hair taken as a nutritional supplement. Make use of it daily. The benefits will last all the way through next winter. It will make nails and skin stronger and more radiant too. Step Six—Dare To Be You The best way of all to get lasting vitality and glowing good looks into your life this summer (forever after, for that matter) is to discover what gives you your greatest satisfaction and make space for it in your life. Each of us is totally unique. True beauty—like lasting energy—depends on our living out that uniqueness. This is not only the secret of charisma—that mysterious quality that seems to draw every good thing to you no matter what your age. When we love what we do, we bring love to others too—fulfilling our own goals and offering the very best of our unique gifts to our families, our communities and the world at large. Begin today to do some little thing that brings you joy. Plant seeds of joy and they will bear rich fruit for you and those around you. Have a great summer! Below is a list of some of my own Get Ready for Summer Favorites. 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No matter how sparse and how good your diet or how many antioxidants you take, no matter how conscientiously you deal with stress and how enthusiastically you exercise - all of which are central to ageless aging - it can be helpful periodically to spring-clean your body from within. Controlled fasts are not the only way of doing this. In fact I have come to believe that they are not even the best way. The natural-law approach to age retardation and the long tradition on which it is based also offers a number of other simple methods. Some - such as a spring-clean semi-fast or the sauna - are helpful when used every few weeks, while others, such as techniques for improving lymphatic drainage, can be used to advantage every few days or even more often. The whole purpose of spring-cleaning is to stimulate your body's eliminative capabilities so that any sluggishness in the blood and lymph circulation and any stasis in the tissues is cleared away. Then whatever toxicity may be present - heavy metals and cross-linkers for instance - can be broken down and eliminated via the skin and lungs, bladder and colon before it can cause degenerative damage and premature aging to your body.