Alright, I’m going to be really honest with you here. There are times when I am not honest. That’s right, I’ve admitted it. And man, does it ever feel good to say it out loud. Because here’s the facts: Most of us are not honest with ourselves or others most of the time. You’re very welcome to dispute this after you’ve gone through your life and all your actions, past and present, with a fine toothed comb — but not until then. I’ll give you a moment to ponder this rather strong statement and come to your own conclusions (I’ll warn you though. It is rather tricky to look at the truest truth about ourselves)…

Here’s the thing about human beings that I have started to notice through careful study  and observation (of myself mostly). We, as a species, or shall I say some part of us, likes to be liked. We enjoy approval and fitting in and being wanted and appreciated and praised. We do not, for the most part, enjoy conflict and criticism and above all rejection. And so like any animal, we avoid those things that bring us what we don’t like; we practice and repeat the behaviours that bring us what we enjoy. It’s quite simple really. But, here’s the clincher. We are the only species that has the capacity to choose whether we will be truthful or not. For example, if my past experience suggested that telling someone how I truly felt about them would bring rejection and perhaps even conflict, I could choose not only to keep these feelings from them, but even to create a story that was the opposite of my true feelings. In this case perhaps I would tell them how wonderful I feel they are and how much I enjoy or appreciate their actions, when in fact this is very far from the truth. In the animal world (particularly with horses), this discrepancy is referred to as incongruency, or when our inner state does not match our actions or words.

Not surprisingly, many animals view this type of behaviour as dangerous. In the horse world, it can mean the difference between life and death. Take the following example. There is a bear meandering through the forest, seemingly oblivious to the herd of horses grazing a few hundred feet away. It is up to the horses to sense whether his meandering is indicative of a full and content belly, or whether it is a false pretense, covering up the fact that he is very hungry and on the hunt. If they respond incorrectly it could have dire consequences. Not surprisingly, evolution has sharpened this sense to ensure safety.

As humans, even though we tend to be further away from our instinctual nature, we can still sense when someone is being incongruent with us. Often our awareness feels like irritation and confusion, and perhaps a sense that someone cannot quite be trusted. It starts to make sense then, why so often our relationships with others feel distant or not quite right.

This past week, I’ve had several surprising opportunities to be honest with myself and others. In choosing honesty (or what feels true from a deep heart space), to my great shock, all results have been positive, and some have been downright beautiful and life changing. It seems that when we show up as our selves, others are allowed to do the same. Who would have thought! So in the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, here is mine…

I resolve to be true to my heart, even when there is a chance that others may be upset for a time. I acknowledge that this congruency will strengthen the trust of my friends and acquaintances, and deepen our relationships.

Have a wonderful 2012!

Alexa Linton, is a Certified Bodytalk Practitioner, a Kinesiologist, Reiki Practitioner and Equine Sport Therapist.

Anger has been given a bad rap. Women have been traditionally misled to believe that if they are angry they are bad people, out of control, not co-operative, too emotional or, quite frankly, bitches. For men, anger has been equated with being strong, firm, a leader. Although times are changing and gender roles are not so absolute, the fact is that most of us have never had functional anger mentored for us.

What is healthy anger? The first thing we need to do is to define the difference between healthy anger and unhealthy anger; the difference being key to understanding this complex emotion.

Unhealthy anger can be explosive, misdirected, stuck, blaming, out of control, suppressed for a long time, a child-like tantrum, reactive, disproportionate or completely inappropriate to the situation and often things are said that we later regret.

Healthy anger on the other hand, is ignited by having boundaries crossed in the present moment. It serves us to move forward purposefully from whatever entanglement we are in. When we are in functional anger we are in control, it is appropriate for the situation, we take 100% responsibility for the emotional angst we are feeling and express what needs to change to make things better for ourselves. Anger does not have the power to transform the other person. Functional anger is expressing our truth in a way to create change without emotionally damaging another person. They may not like the change we are advocating, they may even resist the change but they cannot deny what is our truth.

A while ago, I was working with a team of people on a project. We were new to each other and were meeting by telephone conference. After introductions, a couple of ideas were suggested. One of the team members stopped the entire process. He had specific ideas and made it very clear that we were not to waste his time and that everything would be done the way he said or he would withdraw from the team. His voice was sharp and underlying currents of anger hung in the air. As he was the most experienced member of the team he had tremendous credibility. A part of me collapsed in the face of his criticism: my throat contracted, my stomach knotted and my knees shook. I stayed mostly silent through to the end of the call and hung up.

My first reaction was suppressed anger. After hanging up, my thoughts (…well many of them cannot be shared here), began raging. “He is so rude! How could he treat me this way? I am feeling so insignificant and unheard, I never want to see or speak to this person again. I am withdrawing from this project.”

However, it was really important for me to be a part of this team and I was motivated to find a way to continue. Why was I reacting so strongly? What could possibly be going on that would make my body feel as distressed as it was? Why could I not say anything the moment this man stated his boundaries?

And then I realized… when I was a child, my father was a very angry man. (Our relationship today is much different). When he became angry there was no opportunity to speak. Even if I had something important to say, if I tried to speak, his anger would escalate. I learned to be very afraid of anger and that keeping quiet was the safest thing to do.

Working with this man in the present had triggered my little frightened girl from the past. My body was reacting the way I did when I was a child. There was a direct connection to my past.

For me, suppressed anger such as this does not just go away with a logical explanation. It took a week of self-care to dissipate what had been locked inside me. A tremendous amount of movement and directed release brought me back to presence.

How could I now respond to this situation with healthy anger? In this case I was very blessed. The man I was working with realized there was something wrong and came to me. “Is there something I have done to offend you?” he asked. “Yes,” I responded. “The other day on the phone, I felt my ideas for the project were really stopped short by how you approached the situation. I know I have a lot to contribute here and need the opportunity to speak more fully.” The conversation continued and we moved into healthy debate, brain storming and sharing. He acknowledged his impatience and became more open to hearing what I had to say.

Anger has enormous potential as a resource for change when understood, and a forceful weapon of destruction when misused. Building relationship with our own anger is a powerful form of healing.

Amy Hanson is a Certified ARC Bodywork Therapist compassionately working with people from her Shawnigan Lake home.

Some of them manufacture plant nutrients, and others deliver those nutrients to my plants. There are miners who mine critical plant nutrients out of the rocks in my garden, using acids that they know how to manufacture. Others help run the recycling department, turning waste plant material into plant food. There is a law and order department as well, and they monitor any disorderly conduct that arises from those imbalances in the soil that we like to call soil borne plant disease. They protect my plants’ roots by manufacturing substances like hydrogen peroxide which helps to control the offending organism, and they insure that the food supply lines for my plants stay open and free from attack and obstruction. This soil dwelling community works overtime during the growing season and they now deserve some time off.

The beauty of a truly organic garden is that the work that goes on in the soil is a well-coordinated system. When the plants are dormant, the microbes that deliver nutrients are dormant. When the plants become active, the microbes become active and begin to break down and deliver nutrients on an “as needed” basis. Nothing is ever wasted in nature. This is how nature has functioned since the beginning of time; and how ecosystems, if left alone, continue to grow in richness and diversity. It is only when we are unaware of how to work with this system that we run into all kinds of problems.

We have become a very visual society. Television and movies, glossy colorful ads, lights and shiny objects have become common place as competing interests vie for our attention and our dollars. Without stopping to take stock of things, chances are that we can be distracted enough to ignore the tiny soil creatures that we may not even be able to see without high powered microscopes. Ancient societies had more of a feel for these sorts of things. They may not have been able to see the tiny inhabitants of the soil, but they were keen observers. Their life depended on eking out an existence in cooperation with nature. They could not go to the supermarket to pick up a bunch of carrots or a cabbage for dinner. Once humans got past a certain amount of superstition they quickly learned which practices provided for them and which ones did not. In fact some superstitions involve rituals that are very beneficial to the soil, creating a series of successful practices which, although not fully understood, was passed down through the generations to ensure that everyone had food. There were floods and droughts, and scourges of insects, just as now, but if humans had not been so successful in their ancient methods I would not be writing, nor would you be reading this today.

This is why I mindfully allow my soil dwelling community some rest and relaxation during this time of year. I am thankful for the work they do for me. I believe in offering them a comfortable time off. I make sure they have enough food in the form of organic matter, and I insure they are kept warm and protected by blankets of organic mulch. If they happen to stir during a sunny winter afternoon they will not go without food, moisture, or a mulched up blanket of protection from the cold night that usually follows our sunny winter days. When the decomposers wake up they will use the raw materials in the mulch to provide food for other microbes as well as for my plants. Until then I will stock their pantry with the raw materials they will need, and protect them from temperature extremes with a blanket of mulch. It is the least I can do for my hardworking crew.

Connie Kuramoto is a former instructor and technician at Vancouver Island University and now teaches courses through Nanaimo Community Gardens as well as the Organic Master Gardener Course for Gaia College.

Mifflin Gibbs was born on April 17, 1823, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of four children born to Jonathan and Maria Gibbs. His father, a Methodist minister, died when Mifflin was a child, and his mother worked as a laundress.

Gibbs was a man of accomplishment. He was an activist in the abolition movement, a businessman, author, politician, lawyer and tradesman. Upon his arrival in Victoria, he bought land and operated his own business and became popular among the colony’s black elite. Gibbs briefly returned to the US in 1859 to court and marry Maria Alexander, who had studied at Oberlin College.

In developing a coal mine in the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1869, he was instrumental in building British Columbia’s first railroad. A tireless advocate for the black community, he helped to organize the colony’s first militia, an all-black unit known as the African Rifles.

As an elected delegate to the Yale Convention, he also helped to frame the terms by which British Columbia entered the Canadian confederation. He became the first black man elected to the Victoria City Council and the second black elected official in Canada.

It is unclear why Gibbs left British Columbia, where his economic fortune was assured and where he had found a modicum of political success. In 1870, he returned to the United States and settled in Oberlin, Ohio.

After a prolonged period of declining health, Gibbs died on July 11, 1915, at his home in Little Rock, Arkansas; and he is buried in the Fraternal Cemetery on Barber Street.

Resources:

Nanaimo African Heritage Society

www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/gibbs-mifflin-wistar-1823-1915

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/multiculturalism/black/people.asp#gibbs

http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1657#

(photo submitted)

This year’s lineup of events starts from February 2nd to the 26th; please contact Nanaimo’s African Heritage Society for more information at www.NanaimoAfricanHeritageSociety.com

I read in a running magazine about a 40-something, urban Australian businessman who didn’t realize he was in a rut until a massive heart attack caught his attention.

After recovering from the heart attack, he left the business world to take up cattle ranching. Every morning he would let the cattle out of their enclosure to graze. He stayed with them on the range all day, running around in front of them to keep the herd together. Since the grass was wet in the morning, he wore his wellies. He had reinvented himself as a rancher, less the dog.

After about four years of running around with his cattle, he read about a multi-day, 700+ kilometer cross-country race. He said to himself, “That’s what I do all day,” so he registered for the race. He showed up at the starting point in his wellies, ran and won the race, outlapping his nearest competitor by a day. He again had reinvented himself, this time as a long-distance runner.

If this man had not become aware he was in a rut (in his case it took a heart attack), none of this might have happened.

There is a big difference between correcting yourself and reinventing yourself. If you’re out of shape and know you need exercise, you could join a gym to correct the problem. But if you really enjoyed going to a gym, you probably would be already doing it. If hiking is something you have always wanted to do, however, and you pursue it and find you love it, you have reinvented yourself and corrected the problem along the way.

Likewise, if an alcoholic wants to overcome his problem and simply stops drinking, he may have achieved a temporary fix. He may even be able to maintain the abstinence with a support group and a sponsor. If he wants to overcome his alcoholism permanently, however, a major self-reinvention is in order.

You can get into a rut in various areas of life: your thinking, your relationship, your work, your politics, etc. What matters is that you become aware that something isn’t working for you, confront it, and to be open to whatever changes will inevitably accompany your reinventing yourself on that dimension.

The only certainty is that you will emerge from the rut a more complex person than you were before you got into it. Growth is certain; the form it will take is unknowable. Kind of scary!

If you know you are stuck and you want things to change, there are some things you can do to help yourself move forward.

At the top of the list is self-reflection. Make this one a lifelong habit, because working on yourself, with or without professional help, is never wasted.

Reflect often on the things in your life that you really appreciate and let yourself feel that gratitude.

Love is a great healer and transformer. If you are in a relationship, renew that love. If you are single, be open to new love and the unknown new life that will follow when you find it.

Finally, it’s emotionally and mentally rejuvenating to spend time around nature, around growing things. It is no accident that so many throughout history have had transformational experiences while gardening. An old girlfriend told me how as a little girl she used to spend hours with her neighbour as he tended his garden. His name was Albert Einstein.

Dr. Neill Neill is a registered psychologist in Qualicum Beach. He helps capable people who feel stuck… trauma, relationships, addictions.

CESAR CHAVEZ: Farm Workers Rights Activist

Photo from photobucket.com

Born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona to a poor Mexican-American family who lost their farm during the depression, Cesar Chavez became a champion of farm workers’ rights. Chavez became a migrant farm worker at age 15, leaving school when his father could no longer work, a lifestyle that meant moving from farm to farm, and town to town. At age 21 he married, and he and his wife raised 8 children.

My personal introduction to Chavez was through the boycott of table grapes in the mid 1960s, which became known as “La Causa”. Pesticides sprayed on the grapes were having a terrible effect on the health of farm workers; as well, working conditions were unsanitary and wages were very low. In looking at the history of racism in the United States, desperately poor Hispanics were also exploited. Knowing this, I vowed to only buy unsprayed grapes and raisins.

In 1962, Chavez organized a union along with Dolores Huerta, which came to be called the United Farm Workers Association. When Mexican and Filipino grape workers decided (independently of a union) to walk out from work in 1965, Chavez, in solidarity with their action, seized the moment to organize a 340-mile march to California’s state capitol to inspire more workers to join the union. Bolstered by so much support, UFWA called for a boycott of a company that owned the majority of vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley, a strategy that was successful, and soon other grape producers were forced to sign contracts. Eventually, through Chavez’ leadership, union reps travelled the country, generating a boycott of all table grapes, which did lead to improved contracts with significant benefits to farm workers.

Like many others who are motivated to take action against injustice, Chavez was influenced by the peaceful philosophy of both St. Francis of Assisi and Gandhi. Following in the latter’s footsteps, Chavez went on several hunger strikes, drinking only water for 25 days, 24 days and in 1988 for 36 days to call attention to the continued health hazards of exposure to pesticides. It is truly inspiring to realize the sacrifices he made for the cause, including being jailed many times for all of his actions. Still, he always faced his formidable foes with non-violence and dignity.

Chavez’ motto was “Si, se puede”, meaning “Yes, it can be done”.  When he died at the age of 66 in 1993, more than 50,000 mourners came to honour the charismatic labor leader and respected civil rights activist at the site of his first public fast.

VANDANA SHIVA: Seed-Saving Environmentalist

Photo from ifg.org/events/soil_not_oil-Vandana_Shiva-2008

Born in 1952 in Dehrudun, in northern India, Vandana Shiva trained to be a nuclear physicist, but to the world she has become one of the world’s most potent advocates of small-scale sustainable agriculture and seed-saving.

Her achievements are many. She has applied her penetrating intellect to author more than 20 books and over 500 publications about the impact of our economic, political and food-buying decisions. At universities and international conventions, she lectures on ecology, feminism and the harsh impacts of globalization, yet she is equally at ease working with peasants in rural India where she has made a considerable impact.

Several years ago I showed a documentary following her fearless actions around the world: at a WTO summit in Mexico, inside US biotech giant Monsanto in Missouri, at the European Patents Office in Munich, and protesting with peasant women in Kerala, India, to close down a Coca-Cola plant that polluted the local groundwater. The film’s title is Bullshit, named because she was awarded the “Bullshit Award” by a Monsanto lobbyist, who claimed she lies about the negative effects of globalization, yet to Shiva, in her native India “cow dung is the most beautiful of materials”.

In 1991, she founded a national movement called Navdanya that promotes organic farming and fair trade, and protects the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seeds. Navdanya has established 65 seed banks across the country, providing poor farmers with 1 kg. of seed; if they return a good harvest, they give back 1.25 kg, or they pass it on to another farmer, thus sustaining the cycle. They operate within many Gandhian non-violence principles, mainly the idea of “swaraj”, which means the ability to self-sustain.

Some seeds conserved by Navdanya have climate resilient properties developed through hundreds of years of farmer selection, such as seeds that are drought, flood and saline resistant. More than 5,000 crop varieties of seeds have been conserved, including 3,000 of rice, 95 of wheat, 150 of kidney beans, and so on, including medicinal plants. This seed-saving work is a vital response to agricultural biodiversity crises caused by climate instability.

As Navdanya’s chief spokesperson, Dr. Shiva is eloquent about the harmful ecological and health impacts of GMOs. She has seen first-hand the deepening crisis caused by the unreliability of GMO seed — and how the high cost of GMO seed creates debts that poor farmers can never repay, leading to over 250,000 farmer suicides in India, and exposing the deceit of the myth put forth by Monsanto claiming that GMOs feed the world.

Vandana Shiva combines sharp intellectual enquiry with courageous activism. She is one of the world’s most dynamic and provocative speakers, and it can be truly exciting to hear her speak, especially when she stands up to bullies.

JOEL SALATIN: Grass Farmer Guru

Photo by Nick V.

Joel Salatin is a 54 year-old, third generation, full-time farmer whose 550 acre Polyface Farm (“the farm of many faces”) rests at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Salatin has become a brilliant prophet to a growing movement of back-to-nature farmers in North America.

I first read about him in the New York Times best-seller Omnivore’s Dilemma by food writer Michael Pollan, who visited Salatin to explore what is possible beyond Industrial Farming. (He also appears in the world-acclaimed documentary Food, Inc.) As an old foodie, I was hungry for this information; it was exciting to read Salatin’s story of reclaiming some less than ideal land, to make it much more than an economically viable farm. In his book, Sheer Ecstacy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, he shares stories of his 50 years as a localized, compost-fertilized, pasture-based farmer, and explains the differences in how farmers view soil and water, how they build fences, market their products or involve their families… and how this alleged lunacy actually offers a life of ecstasy.

Many say that Salatin makes lectures about farming feel like religious revival meetings where people who have never farmed before are inspired to become farmers. He loves to explain how at Polyface Farm, the animals interact ecologically to create a powerfully effective farming ecosystem. Cattle graze different areas of pasture every day; then chickens pick through the same fields, eating bugs and spreading cow manure around the field, before they return to their mobile coops. The pigs generate fertilizer by rooting around the floor of the barn, and aerate the mix of hay, cow manure and wood chips. This process takes nothing out of the environment, and when this compost mix is spread on fields, it puts nutrients back in.

The farm services more than 3,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants, selling pastured poultry from Salatin’s “happy hens”, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey, and forestry products. Polyface only sells its products within a roughly 4-hour drive from the farm.

Salatin is deeply dismayed by how farm animals are treated on most farms today, believing it speaks ill of a nation’s moral health. That is why he has dedicated his life to creating a more righteous way to farm, and sees Polyface as being “in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, and healing the culture.”

With passionate conviction and his unique humor, Salatin believes that small-scale sustainable farming is the only system that can feed the world. His work shines a light for those who want to reclaim the wonder of the small farm and local food systems.

Tsiporah is a Gabriolan of 37 years, and keen observer of our times and evolutionary potential as compassionate human beings.

Does fear hold you back from pursuing things in your life and career?

If this sounds familiar to you, don’t worry because you’re not alone. Most people have some fear or the other at different times: fear of heights, fear of water, fear of flying; you name it, there are so many different types of fears that can keep us from experiencing life in its full measure. While these fears impact our lives sometimes, there are some fears that have a bigger, more profound, impact both on our personal as well as professional lives. They are more subtle in nature but actually keep us from realizing our true potential and capabilities.

People are often afraid of taking risks and keep themselves ‘frozen’ typically because of the following three types of fears:

Fear of Unknown. This type of fear arises because of lack of familiarity. You are not acquainted with the ‘unknown’ be it a location or a variable and because of that you stop yourself from attempting new things. For example, you are afraid of travelling or relocating to a new destination so you pass up on a job transfer or looking for a new job even when you know that it will be good for your career and overall life. Unknown variables cause the basis of this type of fear.

Fear of Change. Change is uncomfortable for many and one would rather choose to stay in the familiar even though it may be unhealthy or ‘bad’, because of the fear that if they introduce change they are not sure what that will mean. For example, people would rather choose to stay in unhappy jobs or certain positions because they don’t know if they will find another position. They are familiar and comfortable being where they are and they don’t know what change will bring, so they’d rather not rock the boat, if you will. Therefore because of their fear, they pass up on potential opportunities to grow, evolve and move forward.

Fear of Failure. Fearing the worst outcome that you won’t be successful if you took a certain action keeps many paralyzed. Say you want to start a business and this is your first time, you could be afraid of whether you will succeed — or not. If you are starting a new course in school and have made a significant investment, you could worry what if you aren’t successful? What will others say if you did do something and it didn’t work out?

If you find yourself immobilized due to the above fears and want to change your situation, the first thing is to become aware of your situation. What kinds of fear hold you back? How do they hold you back? What kind of choices do you make because of your fears? How are they impacting your career, and for that matter, your entire life? Recognizing that fears are not rational most of the time, they are simply a state of mind, will help in moving past them.

And finally, recognizing that change and movement is part of growth and expansion in life as well as your career will help you get the courage to embrace your future. Staying still, not taking opportunities because of your fears is robbing you of success and fulfillment that you so deserve.

Ruchira Agrawal is CEO of a communications company, an author and personal development coach.

As we are moving into a new year this is usually the time when most of us establish a few resolutions with the hope of making a positive change; the most popular being losing a few pounds and getting into the gym more. Did you know the average rate of “falling off the wagon” is around 60% before June (based upon my own experience I would say it is more, but who am I to argue with statistics)?

If it was as easy as doing what we know to be good for us… wouldn’t we all be doing it? The secret to change lies in the psychology of our behaviour. Here are my top five tips for lasting lifestyle change.

Be patient. Create a timeline of (at least) 12 months. Goals are great, but if they are made for the near future, they can add pressure and stress into the mix. Once change becomes stressful, the old behaviours tend to creep back in.

Start slow. It is a fact that if a new exerciser adds over three days per week of exercise from the start, they are more apt to drop out than someone who starts with two. Begin with two days a week and if you are successful at that, add another day the next month (and the next month, and the next month, and so on, and so on).

Do not try to change everything at once. Some people try to quit smoking, eat more veggies, and get more exercise all at once. That is a recipe for disaster. If changing your diet and getting more exercise is at the top of your list, pick the once you will be more successful at. Mastery is key and a great motivator to continue.

Record your progress. Research shows that when people record their changes they are more successful at making them. From recording your food, your physical activity to recording your emotions and sleep patterns, our records give us a clear picture of what is being done, what is getting in our way, and what we can do to make further change.

Celebrate your failures! Every time you “fall off your wagon” there is a chance to learn about yourself and your barriers to change. This is a great opportunity to examine what got in the way and create action plans for greater success in the future. Lapses in behaviour do not mean you cannot change; you most certainly can. The important thing is you set your goals over the year to accommodate for such “wagon accidents” and the time it will take to learn from them.

Changing our behaviour is a challenge at times, but needn’t be dramatic or stressful if done thoughtfully. The key is patience with a focus on overall health. It’s a fact that programs based upon weight loss, for example, are less successful than programs based upon health. Go slow, enjoy the process, be forgiving of yourself, and you will be closer to attaining your healthy resolutions… for life.

Kathi Cameron is a health writer and popular speaker on topics related to health promotion and realistic health behaviour change. She holds a masters degree in Exercise and Health Psychology.

One of the fastest, most effective ways to release the past is a relatively new healing modality called EFT.

If you’re not already familiar with it, EFT (which stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a safe and gentle form of energy medicine that is now being recommended by the American Psychiatric Association, and is widely used in VA hospitals in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Like acupuncture, EFT is a meridian-based therapy, but with EFT, no needles are used. Instead, the EFT practitioner (or the client) taps on various acupuncture points on the client’s face, body, and hands, while the client focuses on the issue that needs to be healed by repeating phrases about it, for example: “Heartbroken because my husband passed away.” The combination of focusing on the issue while tapping releases it from the body-mind spontaneously and permanently.

EFT has been successfully used to treat dozens of issues and conditions, including grief, trauma (including PTSD), fears and phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, insomnia, anxiety, depression, migraines, chronic pain, and more. Sound too good to be true? When I first heard about EFT, I certainly thought so. And then I tried it. The results I got were so powerful that within a week, I had dropped the other healing techniques I’d been using in my private practice for four years and was exclusively using EFT. Since then, I’ve used it to help my clients heal myriad issues, including everything listed above. The EFT motto is: “Try it on everything.” The reason for this is that no matter what the problem is, if you do EFT on it, more often than not, you’re going to see improvements, and usually dramatic ones.

Developed in 1993 by Gary Craig, EFT has been rapidly gaining worldwide popularity ever since. Do an internet search for “Emotional Freedom Techniques” and you’ll get over four and a half million hits. Enter the same phrase into the Amazon search bar, and you’ll have your choice of over 200 books. It’s being used by physicians, psychotherapists, nurses, chiropractors, coaches, sports psychologists, and teachers all over the world, on everything from PTSD to sports performance. Psychiatrist Curtis Steele has said “EFT is the single most effective tool I’ve learned in forty years of being a therapist,” and Candace Pert, PhD, former Chief of Brain Biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, says, “EFT is the most important development in medicine since antibiotics.”

The reason EFT is such an effective tool for healing is because it unlocks the body, where the pain is stored, and clears it out, permanently. With each tapping session, more and more of these energetic imprints from the past are released, setting us free from the suffering that they cause. Whereas psychotherapy can give people tools and insights for coping with their issues more effectively, and can sometimes provide temporary relief from emotional pain, with EFT, the issues are permanently healed, so that we don’t have to cope with them, because they’re gone. As long as we’re carrying the past around inside us, it will continue to affect our present day lives — the choices we make, how we see the world, and the extent to which we’re able to realize our potential. EFT offers a way to systematically release the past from our bodies, setting us free from suffering, and allowing us to blossom in ways that were never possible before.

Heather Ambler, MA, CBP, uses EFT to help people heal from grief and trauma.

The ancient texts of yoga, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, says simply, “Breath is the key to ultimate emancipation.” When done properly and when the body is well prepared, the yoga practitioner can practice working with the breath to experience the merging of individual self with the universal soul and know silence within.

BKS Iyengar states that the three stages of breath in pranayama — inhalation, retention and exhalation — are the means by which we can abide in stillness in both body and mind and merge with the great mystery. During inhalation we invite prana into the house, he says. And when prana enters, the individual self moves out of the way for the soul. We generate energy, expansion and awareness within.

Mr. Iyengar believes that in normal breathing the brain is drawing energy to itself. The energy causes tension in the brain and thus the breath is constricted. However during the practice of pranayama the brain relaxes and is kept in a passive, receptive state. Then the physical body initiates active breathing. Rather than sucking in air, or grasping for prana, the body receives the breath as one does a respected guest. BKS Iyengar says we must cajole the breath as one would a skittish animal. Nothing can be forced; receptivity is everything. Do pranayama with the intelligence of the heart — not the brain.

Beginning pranayama is a big step. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Pada Two – Saddhana Pada 49 to 53 state that we must build strength in the body and stability in the nervous system through yoga asanas (poses) before attempting pranayama. He also cautions that if one should feel tension in the head or around the temples, one must revert to normal breathing since you are initiating the breath from your brain and working aggressively.

To begin pranayama:

Take a supine position, lying on the floor with a bolster spine-wise. If you do not have a bolster you can create support by rolling a firm wool or cotton blanket into a cylindrical shape and securing it with string at both ends. You will also need a cushion for the base of the skull and neck so that the forehead skin moves from the hair line downward to the chest. When the props are placed correctly the chest opens and relaxation comes. Be sure that the buttocks are well lengthened from the edge of the bolster and you have placed the back floating ribs on the bolster. See that the skull and neck are supported by the blanket you have cushioned the head with. Release the arms from the side body so that the armpits are open and receptive. Give yourself time to settle into the pose after you make all the small adjustments the body calls for. Let the eyes look downward as if under the bones of the face into the chest.

Pranayama begins with observation of the breath. After a while you will notice that the breath becomes slower and slightly deeper. Notice if the abdomen rises with the breath — if the ribs move and any other markers of breath in the body. Observe the quality, texture and duration of both the inhalation and exhalation. Listen for the sounds that the in and out breath make.

Now, after a long slow smooth exhalation, if a pause comes just let it be there. If you gasp for the next inhalation, your pause was too long. To initiate the inhalation, spread the ribs and the breath diaphragm out to the sides of the rib cage. Let the lower abdomen be absolutely quiet and uninvolved with the breath.

If you feel yourself gasping for air or tension arises in the jaw, throat or temples, it means you are working too aggressively and you must stop and revert to normal breathing until the tension abates.

If you feel relaxed and calm in your body and most especially in your head, continue: a short pause after the exhalation followed by a gentle spread of the ribs and breath diaphragm to entice the next full soft inhalation. Start slowly with 5 -10 minutes including the time spent settling on your bolster and head support. When you conclude your pranayama session, come slowly and gently to a seated position, keeping the eyes soft and the brain quiet. In that way you do not jar your nervous system and you do retain the benefits of this peaceful and powerful practice.

Namaste.

Kelly Murphy is owner of a yoga studio in Nanaimo.