Meditate Much?

I listened to John Tesh last night, a radio show host who hosts the program, "Intelligence for your Life".  I've talked about his show before, and I really do love it!  It's perfect when I'm running in between errands at night and he really has some great tips!


Last night's was on the power of meditation.  He spoke about how in recent studies, two groups were given two options to deal with pain: mediation and morphine.  Those with morphine lowered their pain by 20% but those who meditated were able to lower their pain by 40%.  Additionally, and unfortunately I was only half listening at this point, but there was something about being able to lower one's blood pressure or something through meditation just as well as taking medication.  Sadly, I don't remember the specifics.


Awesome, though!  With all the push and need for natural remedies and less reliance on things like OTC drugs and pharmaceutical companies, I thought this was really great information!  I'm not saying do away with everything, but it's refreshing to remember the incredible healing power the body possesses itself.


Maybe I should take his advice should Greece give me more of a sunburn than I can handle.  Aloe, vitamin E, and meditation anyone??

Food Matters

I love Netflix.  Yesterday, I watched one of the most interesting documentaries I've seen in a while.  The title?  FOOD MATTERS.  In fact, if, upon reading this snippet you're interested in learning more, there is the FOOD MATTERS website.  


So what is it about?  Well, just like Food Inc. talks about the realities and dangers of GMOs and pesticides in food and hormones in food, which sadly goes unnoticed by a large majority of the population and is often kept quiet by food companies, Food Matters deals with food and it's link to medicine.  For example, they discuss how nutrition should be more of a focus for doctors, but how it is immensely underplayed, not taken seriously, and often not taught in medical school.  Seems like a no brainer to me.  Food supplies nutrients.  Nutrients keep things working properly and keep you healthy.  If you're sick, obviously there is a problem.  


One example specifically, which I enjoyed, was the use of extremely high doses of Vitamin C to cure illnesses.  Vitamin C is that same drug you're told to take in tablet form when you feel a cold coming on.  Logic would lead, therefore, to say that if small doses help small colds, then large IV-fed doses would help larger problems.  It's even cooler, however, that this same idea was discussed in the TV Series:  HOUSE.  YAY!  The other one I thought was cool was how the original founder of AA treated alcoholism and depression with Vitamin B3, until the drug companies overtook the medical field.  Again, pretty cool.  Natural vitamins to fix problems.  (It is also known that 2-3 handfuls of organic cashews daily has the same chemicals effect as Prozac).  


Now, don't get me wrong.  They don't completely knock the importance of modern-day medicine.  If you need a quick 7-14 day antibiotic, they were in full support.  This had more to do with how drug companies and the medical field affect economy, why drug companies don't actually want to "cure" you in the long run, and how today's society has seriously overlooked one of the most fundamental parts of health and life in general:  The importance of good nutrition and the benefit of organic foods.


Check it out for yourself.  Maybe you'll find you learn something, maybe you'll find support for what you already know, or maybe you'll just expose yourself to a different perspective.  It's up to you if you want to believe it or understand it or not.  But I loved it!  

CPR - Y?

At school today we had "CPR" Training, for all the teachers involved in sponsoring sports and after school activities.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but the 2-2.5 hour class ended up being extremely interesting.  We learned CPR and the "Heimlich" Maneuver.


Having never learned CPR, there were a lot of informational tid-bits that I didn't know prior to today.  For example, apparently they change the protocol for CPR every 5-10 years.  No, the actual process doesn't change, but little things can.  Like, for example, it is now customary to use a barrier between your mouth and the other person's mouth if such a barrier is available.  Why?  Simple put, with all the different diseases (think Aids, Hepatitis, etc) having a barrier between your mouths protects both parties.  Now, granted, since most CPR is done within family, you probably already know the ins-and-outs of your family members, so it's not so vital, but, nonetheless, that is one change.  Another, is that the number of pushes on the person chest changes.  Right now it's 30.  30 presses, 2 breaths, repeated 5 times.  According to our fire chief / instructor, they (the CPR Gods) are debating moving the number of chest compressions up from 30 to 50, which would change procedure from 30 compressions / 2 breaths, to 50 compressions / 2 breaths.  Interesting.


I also learned some cool things, like:  How to do the Heimlich maneuver, or that the Heimlich family is suing for royalties, so they have "unofficially" changed the name to something basic like "Choking Procedure", or that if you're doing CPR on a child aged 1-8 that you use only 1 hand instead of 2 during the chest compressions, and finally, the entire reason we do CPR is to keep Grandpa "away from the light," as our instructor so comically explained.  


Honestly, I highly recommend the class for every person.  Apparently in Washington State it is required in school that everyone learn the procedure, so they are the state with the highest number of citizens versed in CPR.  Therefore, should you ever decide to have a heart attack or become unconscious, I highly recommend getting yourself and your heart over to Washington State.  Otherwise, best of luck, and, although I am "trained" now, I would just prefer that you keep breathing on your own.  Thanks!