Pathways Article Summaries and References
Issue 17 - Spring 2008
Letter from the Editor
Jeanne Ohm, DC
We are living in exciting times. There is a constant buzz of activity in books, e-newsletters, documentaries and other forms of media reflecting a major transformation, a shift in consciousness. This shift is affecting all aspects of our lives: it is affecting how we identify and interact with our selves, our families and our communities.
During times of transformation, old patterns are challenged and dissolved. New perspectives are initiated and formed in replacement. This process of transformation may bring up feelings of both elation and trepidation. These feelings are normal and to be expected in times of great change. It is important is for us to maintain a sense of balance during this shift so we can adapt to these changes more effectively...Read more
About the Author:
Read Dr. Ohm's bio here.
FEATURE
Gift from the Future
Dawson Church, PhD
From the Article:
Relationships between parents, children, and society are in the midst of a
tectonic shift. Behaviors once thought to be private matters, such as child battery,
alcoholism, drug abuse, and spousal abuse, are now considered public matters.
Attitudes have changed drastically in just a century. Consider:
• Just 150 years ago, children “hurriers” in Great Britain were still sent down tiny
mine shafts to haul coal wagons up to the surface. Most died early and horrible
deaths of black lung disease. The US did not ban child labor until 1938.
• When my grandfather was born, women in England and the US did not have the
right to vote. Women did not get the right to vote until 1920 in the United States
and 1928 in England—and not until 1971 in Switzerland!
• Ten striking workmen were killed by policemen and thirty wounded in Chicago
in 1937. Among their outrageous demands? A 40-hour work week. This event is
within the memory span of many people still alive today.
• There are many countries today in which exercising your religious preference
can cost you your life. In Iraq in 2002, there was a stable, established, and
thriving Christian population. Today, an estimated two-thirds of Iraq’s Christians
have been killed or driven out. But in most Western societies, religious preference
has become so unimportant that friends may not even know which church
others go to, or whether they go to church at all...
About the Author:
Dawson Church, PhD, is the author of several books including Communing With the Spirit of Your Unborn Child (Aslan, 1988, www.communing.com) and The Genie in Your Genes (Energy Psychology Press, 2007, www.geniebestseller.com). The latter describes the exciting new science of epigenetics, which investigates how genes are affected by the environment outside the cell. Dawson is the Research Director of ACEP, the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, the founder of Soul Medicine Institute (www.soulmedicineinstitute.org), and former president of a large health and spirituality publishing company.
Dawson is the author of several scientific papers on Energy Psychology, and its treatment potential for emotional trauma, anxiety, and depression. He also studies its effects on championship athletes and other peak performers. He gives around 100 radio shows and print interviews a year, lectures at psychology and medical conferences, and trains organizations in how to apply the epigenetic insights of Energy Psychology for peak performance. He recently started the Iraq Vets Stress Project (www.stressproject.org) to offer the benefits of these brief therapies to returning veterans.
Website: www.dawsonchurch.com
WELLNESS LIFESTYLE
The Benefits of Laughter
Daniel Decker
From the Article:
FACT: Preschool-aged children
laugh up to 400 times a day, but by
the time we reach adulthood, we
only laugh about 17 times per day!
I don’t know about you but when I read that statistic above, it makes me wonder why there is such a drop in laughter as we age. Is it because we begin to take life too seriously? Is it because our jobs and obligations begin to demand so much from us that we forget life is about living rather than just existing? Maybe it’s because as we enter adulthood we want people to take us seriously; in the process we trade laughter and silliness for what we consider maturity and respect. Or, it could just be that we no longer have a Big Wheel or crayons or can sit and watch an episode of Barney without someone making fun of us. Who knows?...
About the Author:
If you have jokes or ideas to help others create more laugher and joy in their lives, email your comments to Daniel@GiftOfKindness.com.
Watch a Great Short Inspirational Video About Risk
Things you might not have known about Michael Jordan, The Beatles, Abraham Lincoln... and more.
Website: www.giftofkindness.com
HOLISTIC HEALTH CARE
How to Choose a Holistic Practitioner
Recommendations from the American Holistic Medical Association
From the Article:
Your first responsibility as a patient/client is to select a practitioner who
will join your “team” to support you in obtaining and maintaining optimum
health for your body, mind, emotions and spirit. While most holistic
practitioners use modalities that are currently labeled “alternative medicine,”
their interests and practices may vary widely. Thus, one person might work primarily
with nutrition and herbs, while another might look mainly at the spiritual
aspects of health and disease. Other areas of interest include spinal manipulation
and body work, “energy medicine,” mind-body medicine, acupuncture and
stress management. It is important to remember that there are many different
definitions of holistic medicine...
References:
This material is used with the permission of the the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA). It was originally created in 1988 as a consumer education pamphlet for the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA) and the American Holistic Medical Foundation (AHMF) by the AHMF Education Committee. The chair of the committee at that time was Suzan Walter, who is now president of the American Holistic Health Association.
CHIROPRACTIC FOR LIFE
Real Change
Sarah Farrant, DC
From the Article:
When most people come into the practice, they are coming in “for” something and are carrying with them a particular symptom which they want rectified instantly. They have usually tried everything else: pills, herbal mixtures, a new exercise, fads and other health care professionals. Most have found one or a combination of them didn’t deliver what “it” promised, or rather what they were expecting, which is usually instantaneous relief. We are constantly in search of one thing that will make us better, more stable, or which will ultimately take the pain and/or discomfort away. We generally want the pleasure without the pain. However, the universal intelligence doesn’t deliver one-sided emotions. Pleasure and pain are inversely proportional to one another...
Excerpted with permission from the book The Vital Truth. Order the book here: www.drsarahfarrant.com/products.html
About the Author:
Dr. Farrant’s revolutionary approach to health and vitality is reshaping how people see
themselves and their health.
As a chiropractor, author, mother and international speaker Dr. Farrant is leading a new wave of thought about health. She establishes a strong foundation for understanding where health comes from, how you get it and, most importantly how you keep it. People from all over the world are drawn to hear her speak and share her inspiring insights on life, health and chiropractic.
Her vision is “to share vitalistic philosophy with the world and how it relates to health for the purpose of changing the health consciousness of individuals, families, cities, states, nations and the world; to inspire a desire in others to do their life differently; to ask different questions.”
With qualifications in physical education, general science and psychology in addition to her Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Farrant brings a sound understanding to her teaching. Yet it’s not simply her qualifications that speak – Dr. Farrant has combined philosophy with practice stories and moments of her own life to help warm the heart and touch the soul.
Sarah is married to Dr. J. Randall Farrant who is also a chiropractor. They have 2 boys Anam, 4.5 yrs and Rui, 2.5 yrs; and a little girl Anais born at the end of 2006. All were born at home. They reside in Queensland, Australia.
Website: www.drsarahfarrant.com
PREGNANCY & BIRTH
Natural Birth-Wow! How Amazing!!??
Olivia Gleeson
From the Article:
“Wow! How amazing! You had a natural birth!!” is something I have heard repeated since we welcomed Clancy, William, and Tomas into the world on the 15th June, 2007.
Yes, we have triplets.
Yes, I had a vaginal birth of all three.
I am extremely proud of myself: that I continued to question and reject the premise that my so called “high risk” pregnancy had to end in a caesarean delivery and grateful that we got the birth outcome I wanted for my babies and myself...
About the Author:
Olivia Gleeson is a chiropractor and resides with her family in Australia.
Gleeson Chiropractic
61 Carrington St.
Palmyra, WA Australia 6157
email: oliviagleeson@rts.com.au
THE OUTER WOMB
Cradles of Life
Sydney Seaver
From the Article:
Since the beginning of time indigenous cultures have worn their babies. The cradle appears to have originated as a part of the culture of the early Mesolithic hunters in Asia. Early Pleistocene migrations probably brought the cradle to North America since the cradle is linked predominately to nomadic hunting and gathering cultures. Contrasted to the variety of modern furnishings used in the United States today to carry and transport infants, the North American Indian cradle is an example of a simple but highly versatile design. Perhaps the popularity of the plastic infant seat and back carriers we have seen in the US recently reflects an increasingly mobile and somewhat nomadic society, in which women feel the need for a carrier that will secure the baby and keep it close...
References:
- The ERGObaby carrier, inc.
- American Indian Art Magazine, Volume 5 Number 4, Autumn 1980
- Bibliography: Rex L. Jones and Catherine Whitmore-Ostlund, Assistant Curators of Anthropology at the Riverside Municipal Museum, CA
NUTRITION
Fluoride-No Reason to Smile
Robert Schecter
From the Article:
At the end of last year, with the hope of improving dental health, Southern California began to add fluoride to its water supplies—a procedure first adopted 68 years ago in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Surprisingly, even though fluoride is now added to most public drinking water and found in the vast majority of toothpaste, few of us actually know what it is...
References:
Click here for complete article references and footnotes.
About the Author:
Robert Schecter is the father of a twelve year old girl and the author of the soon to be published The Art of Parenting and Keeping Children Healthy in an Unhealthy World.
PARENTING
Casual Remarks
Elizabeth Pantley
From the Article:
It’s a curious affliction: the tendency to talk about one’s children in the most brutally honest and hurtful ways without realizing that the cherished subjects of the offensive comments are listening to every word. Right now, you may be saying to yourself, “This never happens to me.” Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I think there’s a good chance you’ll see yourself in at least one of the following examples.
Unloading a cart full of Cheerios, macaroni-and-cheese and hot dogs at the grocery store’s checkout counter, a harried mother chats animatedly to the cashier. “…Only one more week ‘til summer vacation, then the kids will be home all day. I can already hear the bickering and whining! I don’t know how I’ll manage to live through the next few months! Want to buy two kids, cheap?” The cashier laughs and shakes her head, “Oh, no thanks, I have my own! I know what you mean! I’m already waiting for next September!” In their supposedly innocent light-hearted banter, neither one notices the shopper’s two children standing right beside her, listening quietly to every hurtful word. Neither one notices a pair of small eyes cast downward just so, or a nervous little cough...
Excerpted with permission by NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group Inc. from Hidden Messages – What Our Words and Actions are Really Telling Our Children by Elizabeth Pantley, copyright 2001.
About the Author:
Parenting educator Elizabeth Pantley is president of Better Beginnings, Inc., a family resource and education company. Elizabeth frequently speaks to parents at schools, hospitals, and parent groups around the world. Her presentations are received with enthusiasm, and praised as realistic, warm and helpful.
She is a regular radio show guest and frequently quoted as a parenting expert in newspapers and magazines such as Parents, Parenting, American Baby, Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping, and Redbook and on hundreds of parent-directed Web sites. She publishes a newsletter, Parent Tips, which is distributed in schools nationwide.
Elizabeth is the author of eight popular parenting books, available in 18 languages, and she was a contributing author to The Successful Child with Dr. William and Martha Sears.
Elizabeth and her husband, Robert live in the state of Washington, along with their four children, Angela, Vanessa, David, and Coleton, and "Grama." Elizabeth is an involved participant in her children's school and sports activities and has served in positions as varied as softball coach and school PTA president.
Website: www.pantley.com
FAMILY LIFE
Jumping Jeepers: Why Won't These Kids Sit Still?
Renee Fuller
From the Article:
“She’s hyperactive, you know.” Mrs. Bryant said it with deep concern. Then, as if to mitigate the cause of her concern, she added with an embarrassed giggle, “I guess Erica got it from me.”
With considerable astonishment I realized that Mrs. Bryant was genuinely upset. But why was she under the impression that there was something wrong with her daughter, and that it carried the label “hyperactive?” Eight-year-old Erica had just spent almost two hours in my office with no sign of any disturbance. What I had seen during the psychological-neurological examination was a lively, charming, and a quite average eight-year old. Two hours was enough time to see that Erica had no problems paying attention, or staying with a task. Where could her mother have gotten the idea that this was a hyperactive child?...
About the Author:
Dr. Fuller is a developmental psychologist and creator of the successful reading series, Ball-Stick-Bird. To reach her with comments and questions, please write:
Ball-Stick-Bird Publications
PO Box 429
Williamstown, MA 01267
info@ballstickbird.com
Website: www.ballstickbird.com
MOVING AND LEARNING
Why Recess Is Different from PE
Rae Pica
From the Article:
When school began last fall, many parents discovered that recess has disappeared from their children’s day. Of those who asked why, some were probably told that because their children have physical education class they don’t need recess. But PE and recess serve different purposes for children.
Certainly, if the development of motor skills and physical fitness were the only benefits of recess, then schools offering a daily, developmentally appropriate physical education class might feel justified eliminating recess from their programs. But there are two major points to be considered here: First, daily physical education is about as rare as purple dinosaurs. Second, recess has much more to offer than the development of motor skills and physical fitness. Recess certainly contributes to these outcomes. It is in the outdoors that children can fully and freely experience large motor skills like running, leaping, and jumping; manipulative skills such as throwing, catching, and striking; and gymnastics skills like climbing and balancing. But, because it is unstructured, recess also has a great deal more to offer young children.
About the Author:
Rae Pica is the author of A Running Start (New York: Marlowe & Company, 2006). Rae has been a children’s physical activity specialist for 26 years and is the author of 15 other books, including the textbook Experiences in Movement (3rd edition) and the award-winning Great Games for Young Children. Rae is known throughout North America for her active and informative keynote and workshop presentations and has served as a consultant for many groups, including the Sesame Street Research Department, the Centers for Disease Control, Gymboree, and Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues.
Website: www.movingandlearning.com
MIND-BODY
Evolve Your Brain-The Science of Changing Your Mind
-Part 3 of an Interview
with Joe Dispenza, DC
From the Article:
Dr. Joseph Dispenza studied biochemistry at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. He went on to receive his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree at Life University in Atlanta, Georgia, graduating magna cum laude. He is the recipient of a Clinical Proficiency Citation for clinical excellence in doctor-patient relationships from Life University and a member of the International Chiropractic Honor Society.
Dr. Dispenza’s postgraduate training and continuing education has been in neurology, neurophysiology and brain function. He has authored several scientific articles on the close relationship between brain chemistry, neurophysiology and biology, and their roles in physical health. He has authored the book: Evolve Your Brain: the Science of Changing Your Mind. Dr. Dispenza was also one of the scientists, researchers and teachers featured in the multi-award winning hit movie,“What the BLEEP Do We Know!?” ™
Joseph Dispenza is known by his ability to translate scientific concepts of physics and biology into every day comprehensible language.
About the Interviewee:
Dr. Joseph Dispenza studied biochemistry
at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, N.J. He went on to receive
his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree at
Life University in Atlanta, Georgia,
graduating magna cum laude. He is the
recipient of a Clinical Proficiency
Citation for clinical excellence in
doctor-patient relationships from Life
University and a member of the
International Chiropractic Honor Society.
Website: www.drjoedispenza.com
Dr. Dispenza will be speaking at the ICPA's Family Wellness Extravaganza in May 2008. Find out more here: www.familywellnessfirst.org
INFORMED CHOICE
Defending Informed Consent to Vaccination in America
Barbara Loe Fisher
From the Article:
Vaccination is a medical intervention performed on a healthy person to theoretically prevent infectious disease that could harm that person or be communicated to someone else and cause harm. Many people experience infectious diseases, such as chicken pox and mumps, and do not develop complications that cause permanent health problems or death. Others do...
About the Author:
Barbara Loe Fisher is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center and has led the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in the U.S. since 1982. She is co-author of A Shot in the Dark, author of The Consumer Guide to Vaccines, editor of the NVIC E-News (www.nvic.org) and a blogger at www.vaccineawakening.blogspot.com. She served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum, the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative and is a member of Consumers United for Evidenced-Based Healthcare, Cochrane Collaboration – U.S. She is the mother of three children.
GRATITUDE
Gratitude
James O'Dea
From the Article:
Your body loves gratitude! Not a superficial “oh gee, thanks” but a deep, heart-connected appreciation that carries love and acceptance from a place of higher consciousness and well-being.
Your body loves it because it washes away the biochemistry of stress and insufficiency and replaces it with the alchemy of flow and emotional warmth. The resonance from gratefulness warms both the giver and receiver; it generates a field of appreciation sometimes referred to as limbic resonance. In the field of appreciation, we create a healing and reviving antidote to psycho-toxins such as “I don’t have time,” “I don’t have enough,” or “I am drained.”...
About the Author:
James O’Dea is the President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and a native of Ireland. He was previously the director of the Washington, DC office of Amnesty International for ten years, where he represented Amnesty International to the State Department, the White House, the US Congress and the World Conference on Human Rights. Subsequently, he spent five years as executive director of Seva, a nonprofit organization dedicated to international health & development issues in Latin America, Asia, and on American Indian reservations. "Seva" is a Sanskrit word meaning service.
During the past five years, James created and co-leads a series of dialogues funded by the Fetzer Institute called "Compassionate and Social Healing." The dialogues bring together leaders and activists in a variety of fields related to human rights, peace, and social reconciliation initiatives.
James has lived and worked in Turkey and Lebanon, and witnessed civil conflict and massacres, which influenced him deeply. He brings to IONS a sense of urgency about the issues the world currently faces, as well as an Irish sense of humor and love of language.
Organization: www.noetic.org
Media membership: www.shiftinaction.com
PARENTS PERSPECTIVE
Conscious Parenting in Real Life
Liberty Liscomb
From the Article:
There are three legs to my existence as stay-at-home mother of three young children—places I go for nearly everything I need. Being a mother with ideals weaving through and around emphasis on sustainability, community and learning, it is easy to trace them all back to my favorite resources: Google, Goodwill Thrift Shops and my Families for Conscious Living/FCL Community Group...
About the Author:
Liberty Liscomb is a Bradley Childbirth Instructor and mother to two sweet boys. She has an Education degree from Brown University but finds her time better spent at home unschooling, reading and writing. Motherhood and parenting has opened an entirely new way of life and thinking for she and her husband and she loves nothing more than to assist other mothers in finding the doorway to their own female/family empowerment and joy. She lives in Harwinton, Connecticut.
Email: lcliscomb@charter.net
WHAT IF, WHY NOT
What if...Spring Brought Us New Perspectives
Jen Groover
From the Article:
Spring is upon us once again! It’s officially the time for the air to get warmer and sweeter, the flowers to return, the birds to come home, and for us all to check up on how we’re doing in regard to our New Year’s resolutions.
Okay, okay, so the latter isn’t actually a true function of spring but it does help me illustrate a point. Do we even remember, three months after the fact, what our resolutions for the new year were? And if so, are we still continuously reflecting upon and growing from those positive changes we decided to put into action? In short— did we really make our resolution with the proper conviction and then adhere to that new doctrine of our life?...
About the Author:
Jen is an innovative entrepreneur, product developer and a busy mom. She has always asked the questions, "What if?" and "Why not?" but eventually, instead of waiting, decided to create her own answers.
Jen Groover Productions is a company built on the desire to build innovative products that solve problems. As the holder of many patents and trademarks, Jen believes that everyone has had an idea of how to do something better or differently; but doing so takes courage and perseverance. In creating our products and concepts we want to inspire our consumers to follow their dreams and believe in their visions. We are dedicated to bringing ideas to fruition.
Jen Groover is simply a successful and balanced businesswoman who refuses to pick one box to fit into and instead thrives in all of them. Her religion is that of inspiration, creativity, and perseverance and it is reflected in her mantras "Have more fear or regret than failure" and "What if..? and Why not..?". Jen will further these messages in the near future with such anticipated offerings as the release of her aptly titled first book, What if..? and Why not..? (for which she has already created and launched a blog of the same name www.whatifandwhynot.com) and various television productions that are guaranteed to push the envelope in terms of thought and function.
Website: www.jengroover.com
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