Yoga May Help Women in Menopause, Research Shows

Posted on by Tammy

Yoga may help women limit symptoms of menopause, according to researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, the Daily Mail reported. The researchers found stress reduction therapies, including yoga, may offer an alternative to hormone replacement therapy for women in menopause. The review was published in the menopause journal Climacteric.

Professor Nancy Woods and colleagues are the first to study the effect of these therapies on multiple issues, including hot flashes and low mood, rather than individual problems, and examined non-drug studies, including herbal medicine, Chinese medicine, yoga, exercise and relaxation.

The researchers found relaxation therapies and yoga showed the most promise, and yoga significantly cut hot flushes, while improving concentration, sleep and pain levels. Also, in certain groups, yoga showed benefits for sleep, mood, and pain symptoms

‘Selected mind-body therapies may provide useful treatment for menopausal symptoms, although properly controlled studies are still required to confirm these benefits,’ Woods stated. “In particular, yoga showed significant treatment effects for hot flushes and cognitive symptoms.”

Messages from Heaven Communication Cards by Jacky Newcomb

Posted on by Tammy

Jacky Newcomb, columnist for Take-a-Break’s ‘Fate & Fortune’ magazine, and the best-selling author of numerous books about real-life Guardian Angel and Afterlife encounters, created a card deck to help others connect with loved ones from the other side

The Messages from Heaven card deck was created to help people reach out to the other side of life in a familiar way. The deck can be used in numerous ways to connect with direction from loved-ones and for continued, positive and uplifting guidance and support.

Reader can select a card when they need divine inspiration or pick several to create a reading, similar to tarot or angel cards, and a booklet is included to provide deeper meaning of each card.

Finding Success With the Law of Attraction

Posted on by Tammy

By Sherry Winn

Does the law of attraction work? Absolutely. When it fails to work, it’s not the law that is the issue. It’s the way it’s being applied.

The law of attraction cannot work if there is an underlying belief that goes against what you desire. If your conscious mind desires a new $500,000 house, but your subconscious mind believes you are not worthy of living in a $500,000 home, your subconscious mind wins out every time.

In a coaching session this week, a client said, “I am so sick of being positive. I’ve tried being positive, and it doesn’t work. I’ve tried this law of attraction stuff, and I’m still stuck. I’m still living the same life I have been living despite reciting affirmations every day.”

She was ready to throw in the towel until I asked her to examine why she thought the law of attraction wasn’t working. I prodded her with questions until she admitted she didn’t believe she was worthy of having what she wanted. Her subconscious mind was overruling her conscious efforts. She needed to shift her paradigm.

It is not enough to say affirmations, have a vision board, or visualize. You have to change your internal belief system. If your inner landscape consists of the belief that life is hard, scarcity is real, there is not enough to go around, only some people make it to the top, or you are constantly being punished for your imperfections, then your subconscious mind is driving your boat. It is why you are going around in circles rather than moving toward your goals.

In order to receive, you must create a shift in what you believe. In order to receive abundance, you must believe that abundance is part of our package. It is available for all people to have. It is not based on talent, luck of the draw, or genes. It is a gift from the Universe. We all have the opportunity to receive it, and if we fail to receive it, it is because we haven’t yet made the connection to the understanding we are meant to live in joy, happiness, love, and financial abundance.

This shift in paradigms means you might have to separate yourself from what your parents, religious leaders, or the actors on reality shows have taught you. How do you do this? You consciously create new habits of thinking.

Tony Robbins said, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

My client kept doing the same things expecting different results. She believed if she kept working harder at doing the things that weren’t working, she would make them work. Working harder doesn’t change reality. If you keep practicing the wrong things, you just keep getting better at getting worse, which in turn creates a negative attitude. It is not about working harder; it is about working right. It is about doing the right things to create the results desired.

How do you create a shift in your beliefs? You create new habits of thinking by:

Reading books that promote abundance such as “A Course in Miracles.”
Using guided abundance meditations on YouTube.
Listening to people like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Abraham-Hicks and Deepak Chopra.
Seeking out people who have experienced success using the law of attraction.
Asking yourself what limiting beliefs you hold, and then using different techniques like Ho’oponono or Emotional Freedom Technique to let them go.

Take a moment to do a gut check. Are you failing to get what you desire because you have limiting beliefs holding you in limbo? If so, you are the answer to your dilemma. The answer is always you. Make a shift in your paradigm so you can receive all you desire.

Sherry Winn is an author, EFT Practitioner, Certified Law of Attraction and Master Life Coach and a motivational speaker, whose topics include “Making the Impossible Possible,” “Loving Challenges,” and “Catching Your Dreams.” As a former elite athlete competing at the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988 in the sport of team handball and head collegiate coach for 23 years, she possesses a deep passion for helping others become motivated to reach their highest levels of success.

Winn overcame her fears and limitations when she contracted chronic pain at the age of 33 and was told by 17 different medical professionals there was no answer. Through books, meditation, mentors and Webinars, she discovered the power of healing through positive thinking.

To receive a free 50-minute Law of Attraction coaching session, or more information about Winn, she can be contacted by email at sherrymwinn@gmail.com, through her website at www.ucancreatesuccess.com or on Facebook.

Russell Simmons’ New Book “Success Through Stillness”

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New York Times bestselling author and hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons, tackles the topic of meditation in his newest book “Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple,” showing the connection between inner peace and outward success. Simmons shares how meditation has had a major effect on his own life and success, and what he’s learned from masters of the practice.

“Sitting in silence for 20 minutes can be a tool to wash away the pain, frustration and insecurities that have been coloring your existence and allow you to get back to the state of happiness that is your birthright,” Simmons says in the beginning of the book. “The path that I will lay out in this book represents the simplest route between your current state and that happiness.”

He also interviews other successful leaders in a variety of industries. Whether a beginner or advanced meditator, this book aims to help readers find greater clarity and focus, and become healthier in mind and body.

“This is a simple and straightforward guide on how to use the tool of meditation to get the most our of your life – written with the authority of someone who has used that very tool every day for the past fifteen years himself,” Simmons said.

Purchase Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple here.

Time to Ditch the Anti-bacterial Soaps

Posted on by Tammy

Before you reach for that antibacterial soap or sanitizing gel to clean your hands, you might want to reconsider. So many of us have become afraid of bacteria, doing everything we can to kill germs and viruses on our bodies and in our homes, but studies show the chemicals found in these products are doing more harm than good.

The active ingredients found in many of them include triclosan in liquid soaps and triclocarban in bar soaps, and have been shown to create bacteria resistance, disrupt hormones, and affect the heart and other muscle contractions in the body.

Triclosan is actually a registered pesticide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is a synthetic chemical developed more than 40 years ago for surgical scrubs. Today, it can be found in approximately 75 percent of hand soaps and more than 140 personal care and home products, including body washes, toothpastes, cutting boards, mattress pads, clothing and furniture.

In January, Dr. Mehmet Oz interviewed Heather White, executive director of the Environmental Working Group on the Dr. Oz Show to discuss the topic. White explained triclosan may interfere with thyroid hormones, and the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone, and some studies show it may damage the heart muscle.

“In the lab, it disrupts hormones and can damage reproductive systems,” Dr. Oz explained in a Health-Tribune column. “In the environment, it pollutes water and then transforms into something much worse, the cancer-causing agent dioxin. Like all plentiful antibiotics, it promotes antibiotic resistance, and it’s everywhere. Three-quarters of North Americans have triclosan residue in their urine; it’s even common in breast milk.”

Additionally, studies show triclosan may encourage the spread of mutated bacteria that can survive antibiotics, and the American Medical Association recommends not using triclosan in the home because of this. In an article on his Web site, Dr. Joseph Mercola said:

“Even the FDA states, ‘animal studies have shown that triclosan alters hormone regulation’ and that ‘other studies in bacteria have raised the possibility that triclosan contributes to making bacteria resistant to antibiotics.’”

The Food and Drug Association recently declared it has seen “no evidence” that triclosan is any more effective at preventing disease than plain soap and water, and in December 2013, asked manufacturers of anti-bacterial soap and body wash to prove their products are more effective then plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of infection, and also prove their products are safe for long-term use. These manufacturers have until December 2014 to submit studies proving this, and If they can’t provide evidence, they will need to reformulate their products or re-label them.

Reading labels and avoiding anti-bacterial and other products listing triclosan as an ingredient is the best way to start. Below are a few we recommend as all-natural alternatives.

Honest Hand Soap Founded by actress Jessica Alba, The Honest Co. offers all natural products for the body, home and baby. Their hand soap is all-natural, non-toxic and biodegradable, infused with essential organic lemongrass oil and grapefruit seed botanical extracts to clean and soften hands, and it is free of phalates, triclosan, dyes, phosphates and more. They are available in Mandarin, Lavender or Lemongrass, and each bottle is 12 ounces. www.honest.com; $4.95 each.

Honest Hand Sanitizer Spray
This moisturizing antiseptic kills 99.9 percent of germs and bacteria naturally with plant-based ingredients, including aloe vera. It is chemical free, and does not use tricolsan, benzalkonium chloride, phthalates parabens, fragrances, glycol, enzymes, dyes, chlorine, ammonia chloride, formaldehyde or petrochemicals.It is also available in a gel form. www.honest.com; $5.95 for 2-pack of spray.

100 Percent Pure Hand Wash
These hydrating hand washes from 100 Percent Pure contain antioxidants, vitamins and other anti-aging nutrients, and while they are anti-bacterial to kill germs, they remain free of toxins, including triclosan, and do not contain any parabens, artificial fragrances, sulfates or chemical preservatives. Available scents include Lemon Green Tea, Forest, Key Lime and Mint, and Clementine, and each is 11 ounces. www.100percentpure.com; $11 each.

Meditation Linked to Faster Stress Recovery

Posted on by Tammy

Meditation may alter the expression of genes linked to inflammation and promote a faster recovery from a stressful situation, according to a new study published in the journal, “Psychoneuroendocrinology.”

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison took blood samples from 40 volunteers — 19 were longterm meditators — before and after an eight-hour session. The group of experienced meditators spent the session in guided and unguided meditation, while the other group watched documentaries, read and played computer games.

While there was no significant difference in genetic markers between the two groups at the start of the eight-hour test period, at the end of the day, researchers found reduced expression of certain histone deacetylase (HDAC) genes and of the genes RIPK2 and COX2 — all of which are linked to inflammation, the report stated.

“The changes were observed in genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic [pain-relief] drugs,” said Perla Kaliman, lead author of the article and a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona, Spain.

In a stress test, the volunteers performed an impromptu public-speaking role involving mental arithmetic performed in front of two judges and a video camera. Levels of cortisol — a hormone associated with high stress levels — were measured before and after the stress test. Among both groups of volunteers, those participants with the lowest levels of RIPK2 and HDAC genes had the quickest return to normal, pre-stress test levels of cortisol.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” said study co-author Richard J. Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the statement.

Additionally, there was no difference in the tested genes between the two groups of people at the start of the study. The observed effects were seen only in the meditators following mindfulness practice.