Well, school is up and running again, but I am still in "vacation mode" I think... Anatomy exam on Monday and I have barely studied! I just wanted to write a quick blog to comment on how COOL my school is.

My last 2 classes today were Art & Practice followed by Soft Tissue Manipulation. Art & Practice will begin each week with a DRAWING exercise. Today's was to draw ourselves with our greatest problem. Then to draw ourselves WITHOUT our greatest problem. Then to draw what would get us from the first to the second... This was surprisingly hard (and emotional for many). Assignments in this class include: Drawing and presenting our "social atom": ourselves at the centre and rings of people around us as our supporters, stressors, whatever. Creating a visual "life map" of major events/influencers in our lives AND drawing our vision for our futures. Going on a contemplative (all day suggested) "nature walk" and journalling about the experience. The whole class is focused on personal development, learning listening skills/compassion, and generally becoming great healers. THIS IS WHAT SCHOOL SHOULD BE FOR!!!

Following that class I have 4 hours of Soft Tissue Manipulation. This is the class in which we learn basic massage techniques. It is 7 weeks long and consists mostly of practical sessions in which students learn and practice massage on one another. Today we had a little "intro" class in which 50 of us in my section went around the room and introduced ourselves and discussed a bit about why we are becoming NDs, our experience with massage, and any other interesting stuff. For this many people it took a long time, but was FASCINATING! Then we ended the class by learning and giving each other a shoulder/head massage! Sooooo good. And I get to do this every week.

By no means is my program at school easy, affordable, or stress-free, but it is more enjoyable than any other schooling I've ever had. It goes far beyond the purely academic to reach physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.

I just wrote a blog with my ten resolutions for 2007 and realized that most are the same as last year and that they can all pretty much be summed up into one big resolution:

I resolve to do my best to ensure that my life is healthier, happier, and more peaceful than ever. This means:

- eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep

- making time to spend with friends and family and by myself

- refusing to let anxiety, boredom, or insecurity drive my decisions

- being honest and authentic with myself and others

Have you ever wondered how an O-non can possibly put on weight easily and quickly? Wait and wonder no more! Here is a simple and easy to follow guide to provide you with the key factors which will guarantee weight gain for even the trimmest, healthiest O-non:

1. Stop exercising. Arrange your life so that you have no time or energy left at the end of the day. If you are a member of a gym, make sure it is far away. Once your membership expires, DO NOT RENEW IT. If you MUST exercise, avoid vigourous exercise and instead choose yoga and leisurely walking exclusively. These activities will fool the O-non brain into thinking the body is exercising, but in reality do little to ease stress and keep a vibrant O in fighting form. If you are ever tempted to go for a run around the neighbourhood, this can be easily prevented with mysterious foot/knee/hip/back problems which require physiotherapy. Hopefully your physiotherapist will forbid you for running, at least for a little while…

2. Eat more grains. Zero to three servings per week is only a GUIDELINE, people! Ezekiel buns make for easy and enjoyable dinners. Walnut butter is yummy, but only reaches its full potential slathered on a rice cracker. Make sure you reach for rice crackers or other grain-filled snacks FIRST when you arrive home hungry. If you ruin your appetite for a healthy protein-and-veggies dinner, it will still be there tomorrow, right?

3. Re-classify rice syrup as a “neutral”. It’s in all kinds of otherwise compliant snacks, like flax and quinoa protein bars, so what’s the harm in eating a little here and there? Any immune suppression resulting from this extra sugar is minor, and definitely couldn’t be the cause of mild, recurring ear infections or scratchy throat… The next best thing to rice syrup is agave syrup, which actually IS neutral for O-nons. Make sure to overuse it and ALWAYS choose it over vegetable glycerine (which is no good at all for blood sugar spiking).

4. Cut back on sleep and DO NOT stick to a consistent sleep schedule. You need more time for school and work, so why not dip a bit into the sleep bank? One way to do this is to study or work right up until the time you plan to go to bed. This will ensure that it takes you much longer to get to sleep AND your sleep will be of lower quality. DO NOT meditate before going to sleep, this will only improve your sleep. Make sure that you only have one day per week on which you can sleep in, and then waste half of that day catching up on sleep. This will prevent you from following a consistent sleep schedule for the rest of the week.

5. Increase your stress level. Enroll in a full-time, demanding program that is so expensive that you must also work part-time as much as possible. Add to this trying to have a social life and your stress will easily double or triple. Become a perfectionist so that you MUST know every detail about a subject before you are tested on it, ensuring that you are in “fight or flight” mode as much of the day as possible. Make silly mistakes like deleting a 15-page paper the night before it is due or setting your alarm clock for PM instead of AM – these will keep the cortisol pumping!

6. Eat too much and eat ALL DAY LONG. Eat for comfort, eat out of boredom, eat to procrastinate, eat when you are full. Ensure that you have nearly no breaks during the day – this will help you eat at EVERY AVAILABLE opportunity and eat when you aren’t hungry because who knows how many hours will pass before you can eat again? Follow the currently popular advice of “grazing” rather than sticking to meal times. This will prevent you from being aware of how much you are really eating and will screw up your body’s hunger/satiety signalling.

So, yes, I have been doing ALL of these things for the past few months and I have some extra weight to show for it! Stay tuned for my New Year’s Resolutions which will address most of the issues above…

Not much time to blog these days, or rather, not much time to think of good blog topics! My brain doesn’t have much time to wander…

However, yesterday I noticed something interesting. A few months ago there was a thread on the forum about scars and someone had mentioned rosa mosqueta (aka rose hip oil) for scars. I have quite a nasty, raised scar on my elbow from falling off my bike when I was 10 that I only really noticed a few years ago! It’s hard to see your own elbow… So, I bought some rose hip oil and massaged it into the scar most nights for a couple of weeks. I didn’t notice much difference in the scar and then school started and I got busy, then it got cold, so I stopped seeing my elbow, etc. Yesterday I saw the elbow by chance in the mirror and noticed that the scar has changed significantly!

I’ve had this scar for over 15 years and it used to be a big pink/red and lumpy “U” on my elbow. Now it is only slightly darker than my other elbow skin, less lumpy, and I can’t really distinguish a shape anymore. I am now a believer in rose hip oil.

One of my classes this semester is Homeopathy and while studying for my midterm tomorrow (Halloween – you’ll see why this is funny later in this blog), I was inspired to write a blog about it!

Homeopathy literally means similar (homeo) suffering (pathos). It is based on the principle that “like cures like” – that a similar, but stronger, energetic force can displace a weaker one. It was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann who observed the relationship between the curative effects and poisoning symptoms of Cinchona (used to treat malaria). His observations were not new; however, he was the first to form these theories into a workable philosophy of medicine.

Homeopathy is energetic, rather than physical. Disease is defined as a mistunement or energetic imbalance of the life force which can be acute (self-limiting) or chronic (ingrained). Most remedies (those at 12C and higher) contain no actual molecules of the remedy substance, but instead carry the energy signature transferred to the solvent (usually alcohol) by the substance as it was sucussed (mixed) and diluted.

The mechanism is cure is this: a similar (but not same) and stronger “artificial” disease (the remedy), which has a signature vibration, is introduced to the life force, which has its own vibration (the disease). The vibration of the remedy is similar to the vibration of the life force, but stronger, so it alters the life force’s vibration (interference). The life force now responds to the artificial disease and in the process is able to throw off the natural disease. The artificial disease is removed when the remedy is completed and the life force returns to a healthy state.

Homeopathy treats people, not problems. No two people have the same disease, they only have some (perhaps many) symptoms in common. They may both be diagnosed with MS (for example), but the symptoms of MS are not the whole story because these people are not even close to being identical. It is their differences which form the unique signature of their mistunement. Therefore, the skilled homeopath must examine the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual symptoms to determine correct remedy. And because these will differ, these two MS patients will not receive the same curative remedy.

Homeopathy is difficult and time-consuming because the practitioner must thoroughly understand his or her patient and form a complete picture of the correct remedy. However, a skilled homeopath can also achieve seemingly miraculous results in so-called hopeless cases. However, it comes the closest (in my opinion) to addressing the true cause of disease and treating the whole individual and as such is a very rewarding modality to practice.

Personally, I didn’t believe in homeopathy either, until I learned about it and proved its efficacy on myself. I don’t believe that it is the answer to all medical woes, but I think it can be a powerful tool in the hands of people who are skilled in its use. I would like to be one of these people.

There is an interesting discussion going in the forum titled Is homeopathy connected to the occult? I have read this discussion with interest, but I haven’t joined in, simply because I have nothing (or too much?) to say! I am not a person who views the world as “bad” or “good” and therefore the word “occult” doesn’t mean much to me either way.

Everyone chooses the boundaries within which they are comfortable living. My desire is to be open enough to try things that I don’t understand/agree with and use my own values and principles to judge them. As many people say about the BTD, the only way to know if something “works” or is right for you is to try it.

I have many studies and articles both for and against homeopathy, including a detailed rebuttal written by some of the world’s top homeopaths in response to a recent article in The Lancet condemning homeopathy. Please leave me a comment if you would like me to forward these to you.