Category Archives: Body, Mind & Spirit

Magnesium & Your Health

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Magnesium’s Importance Far Greater Than Previously Imagined

4th January 2013

By Sayer Ji

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

Calcium deficiency is a common nutritional concern, but how many folks consider the vital importance of magnesium in human health and disease?

New research published in the journal BMC Bioinformatics indicates that magnesium’s role in human health and disease is far more significant and complicated than previously imagined.

While it is well known that all living things require magnesium, and that it is found in over 300 enzymes in the human body, including those enzymes utilizing or synthesizing ATP (the molecular unit of currency for energy transfer), the new studied titled, “3,751 magnesium binding sites have been detected on human proteins,” indicates that a deficiency of magnesium may profoundly affect a far wider range of biological structures than previously understood.[i]

The proteome, or entire set of proteins expressed by the human genome, contains well over 100,000 distinct protein structures, despite the fact that there are believed to be only 20,300 protein-coding genes in the human genome.

The discovery of the “magneseome,” as its being called, adds additional complexity to the picture, indicating that the presence or absence of adequate levels of this basic mineral may epigenetically alter the expression and behavior of the proteins in our body, thereby altering the course of both health and disease.

Indeed, modern medicine and nutrition fixates primarily on calcium deficiency (due, in part, to the WHO’s highly unscientific definition of osteoporosis), even in the face of accumulating peer-reviewed research indicating that excess calcium consumption can greatly increase cardiac morbidity and mortality.

Magnesium Research

Research relevant to magnesium has been accumulating for the past 40 years at a steady rate of approximately 2,000 new  studies a year. Our database project has indexed well over 100 health benefits of magnesium thus far.  For the sake of brevity, we will address seven key therapeutic applications for magnesium as follows:

  • Fibromyalgia: Not only is magnesium deficiency common in those diagnosed with fibromyalgia,[ii] [iii] but relatively low doses of magnesium (50 mg), combined with malic acid in the form of magnesium malate, has been clinically demonstrated to improve pain and tenderness in those to which it was administered.[iv]
  • Atrial Fibrillation: A number of studies now exist showing that magnesium supplementation reduce atrial fibrillation, either by itself, or in combination with conventional drug agents.[v]
  • Diabetes, Type 2: Magnesium deficiency is common in type 2 diabetics, at an incidence of 13.5 to 47.7% according to a 2007 study.[vi]   Research has also shown that type 2 diabetics with peripheral neuropathy and coronary artery disease have lower intracellular magnesium levels.[vii] Oral magnesium supplementation has been shown to reduce plasma fasting glucose and raising HDL cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes.[viii] It has also been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and metabolic control in type 2 diabetic subjects.[ix]
  • Premenstrual Syndrome: Magnesium deficiency has been observed in women affected by premenstrual syndrome.[x] It is no surprise therefore  that it has been found to alleviate premenstrual symptoms of fluid retention,[xi] as well as broadly reducing associated symptoms by approximately 34% in women, aged 18-45, given 250 mg tablets for a 3-month observational period.[xii] When combined with B6, magnesium supplementation has been found to improve anxiety-related premenstrual symptoms.[xiii]
  • Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: Low serum magnesium concentrations predict cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.[xiv]  There are a wide range of ways that magnesium may confer its protective effects. It may act like a calcium channel blocker,[xv] it is hypotensive,[xvi] it is antispasmodic (which may protect against coronary artery spasm),[xvii] and anti-thrombotic.[xviii] Also, the heart muscle cells are exceedingly dense in mitochondria (as high as 100 times more per cell than skeletal muscle), the “powerhouses” of the cell,” which require adequate magnesium to produce ATP via the citric acid cycle.
  • Migraine Disorders: Blood magnesium levels have been found to be significantly lower in those who suffer from migraine attacks.[xix] [xx] A recent Journal of Neural Transmission article titled, “Why all migraine patients should be treated with magnesium,” pointed out that routine blood tests do not accurately convey the true body magnesium stores since less than 2% is in the measurable, extracellular space, “67% is in the bone and 31% is located intracellularly.”[xxi] The authors argued that since “routine blood tests are not indicative of magnesium status, empiric treatment with at least oral magnesium is warranted in all migraine sufferers.” Indeed, oral magnesium supplementation has been found to reduce the number of headache days in children experiencing frequent migranous headaches, [xxii] and when combined with l-carnitine, is effective at reducing migraine frequency in adults, as well.[xxiii]
  • Aging: While natural aging is a healthy process, accelerated aging has been noted to be a feature of magnesium deficiency,[xxiv] especially evident in the context of long space-flight missions where low magnesium levels are associated with cardiovascular aging over 10 times faster than occurs on earth.[xxv] Magnesium supplementation has been shown to reverse age-related neuroendocrine and sleep EEG changes in humans.[xxvi] One of the possible mechanisms behind magnesium deficiency associated aging is that magnesium is needed to stabilize DNA and promotes DNA replication. It is also involved in healing up of the ends of the chromosomes after they are divided in mitosis.[xxvii]

Best Sources of Magnesium In The Diet

The best source of magnesium is from food, and one way to identify magnesium-containing foods are those which are green, i.e. chlorophyll rich. Chlorophyll, which enable plants to capture solar energy and convert it into metabolic energy, has a magnesium atom at its center. Without magnesium, in fact, plants could not utilize the sun’s light energy.

Magnesium, however, in its elemental form is colorless, and many foods that are not green contain it as well. The point is that when found complexed with food cofactors, it is absorbed and utilized more efficiently than in its elemental form, say, extracted from limestone in the form of magnesium oxide.

The following foods contain exceptionally high amounts of magnesium. The portions described are 100 grams, or a little over three ounces.

  • Rice bran, crude (781 mg)
  • Seaweed, agar, dried (770 mg)
  • Chives, freeze-dried (640 mg)
  • Spice, coriander leaf, dried (694 mg)
  • Seeds, pumpkin, dried (535 mg)
  • Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened (499 mg)
  • Spices, basil, dried (422 mg)
  • Seeds, flaxseed (392 mg)
  • Spices, cumin seed (366 mg)
  • Nuts, brazilnuts, dried (376 mg)
  • Parsley, freeze-dried (372 mg)
  • Seeds, sesame meal (346 mg)
  • Nut, almond butter (303 mg)
  • Nuts, cashew nuts, roasted (273 mg)
  • Soy flour, defatted (290 mg)
  • Whey, sweet, dried (176 mg)
  • Bananas, dehydrated (108 mg)
  • Millet, puffed (106 mg)
  • Shallots, freeze-dried (104 mg)
  • Leeks, freeze-dried (156 mg)
  • Fish, salmon, raw (95 mg)
  • Onions, dehydrated flakes (92 mg)
  • Kale, scotch, raw (88 mg)

Fortunately, for those who need higher doses, or are not inclined to consume magnesium rich foods, there are supplemental forms commonly available on the market. Keep in mind, for those who wish to take advantage of the side benefit of magnesium therapy, namely, its stool softening and laxative properties, magnesium citrate or oxide will provide this additional feature.

For those looking to maximize absorption and bioavailability magnesium glycinate is ideal, as glycine is the smallest amino acid commonly found chelated to magnesium, and therefore highly absorbable.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2013/01/04/magnesiums-importance-far-greater-than-previously-imagined/

Acupuncture, Qi, & You

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Acupuncture & the Qi Phenomenon

6th January 2013

By Adam Cantor, MS, LAc

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

What is Qi and why has Western science failed to explain away this phenomenon?

Modern acupuncture research has tried to understand Qi but instead of coming away with one unifying theory, or perhaps even a way to flat out disprove its existence, science has posited several possibilities as to the biological manifestation or physiological occurrence that the Chinese refer to as Qi. What follows is my interpretation of Qi as it pertains to acupuncture as well as the practice of Qigong, a form of moving meditation that translates into “life energy cultivation”.

Chinese Medicine is really abstract, full of flowery imagery and concepts that are foreign to most of us in the West. In that sense, it’s quite different from Western medicine which is steeped in reductionism or the idea of breaking the body down into small isolated pieces in order to understand each component; this often leads to forsaking the forest for the trees. Perhaps this explains why biomedicine has such a disconnect between the mind and body.  There are specialists for just about every area and function of the human body and yet, only a select few physicians are able to see the way these disparate systems interrelate or connect. Conversely, Chinese medicine views the human being as an integrated whole, a divine cohesive unit that must be treated as such in both life and in medicine.

Is Qi really as esoteric as it sounds? Not really. I’ll give you some Western biomedical explanations of how it works. For starters, Qi is, for all intents and purposes, “matter on the verge of becoming energy or energy on the verge of materializing” (Kaptchuk, Web That Has No Weaver). Let’s put that into more Western terms: potential and kinetic energy. Everything in this world has either potential or kinetic energy and according to physics and the law of conservation, energy cannot be naturally created, only transferred from one state to another. With that in mind, Qi can be viewed as the manifestation of energy in a state of flux – somewhere between potential and kinetic. This is why, when we cut someone open, we can’t see their Qi, yet it’s something that everyone can feel in themselves (with training).

I practice Qigong regularly and am able to feel Qi movement in my body. I even notice differences from session to session, based on what’s going on with me at a given time, physically as well as emotionally. Qigong is essentially exercise, but instead of just building the muscles, it builds the mind as well; something modern science is just now beginning to understand with it’s extensive studies of neuroplasticity and meditation.  Keeping in mind that the body and mind are to be viewed as one, Qigong requires relaxation, breath work and an open yet disciplined state of consciousness. The mind guides and the Qi follows. If the mind isn’t open during practice, results are tempered. The stronger your mind, the easier it becomes to cultivate and guide the Qi. This doesn’t mean the smarter you are, the easier it becomes, but rather the more relaxed and receptive your mind is, the easier it will be to experience results. As traditional societies have known for quite some time with their own cultivation practices (i.e. Ayurvedic, Shamanic or Native American), the building and cultivation of ones self can only be truly achieved through meditation or meditative-like practices. The stresses of modern life such as smart phones and all of the other non-stop stimuli inundating our brains make such development and practice that much more important – and simultaneously, that much more difficult for the average person.

Qi has also been described and quantified in the West as our bioelectric charge. Bio-electromagnetism refers to the electrical and magnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues and organisms. During the electro-physiological research of the 1960′s, scientists proved that bones are in fact piezoelectric. This means that under mechanical stress, chemical processes convert energy to electric current. It is understood now however that the human body is constructed of many different electrically conductive materials, and that it forms a living electromagnetic field and circuit. All living things on this planet, large and small have some level of electric and/or magnetic charge. Humans and some plant cells, experience living “electrical events” known as action potentials, or nerve impulses, in which neurons, muscle cells and endocrine cells facilitate inter-cellular communication and activate intra-cellular processes. Electromagnetic energy is continuously being generated in the human body through biochemical reactions such as those we experience in assimilation of our food and air.

In addition, we are constantly being affected by external electromagnetic fields such as those of the Earth, moon and large bodies of water. Anyone who has ever practiced Qigong next to a river or ocean can attest to the difference!  Many acupuncturists use magnets or electricity in their treatments for this very reason. Dr. Robert O. Becker, author of The Body Electric, reports in his book that the conductivity of skin is significantly higher at acupuncture points. Dr. Becker’s book, as well as several other reports on the subject, confirm the notion of Qi is indeed both real and scientific.

Most people go about their daily lives with no sense of the Qi within them or around them. However, there are the naturally gifted few that are born with the innate wisdom and sensitivity to be able to see and work with these energetic fields. Again, these people are truly rare today and I believe that most who profess such skills are telling half-truths or flat out lies. That being said however, such individuals certainly exist and there is absolutely an aspect to energetic healing that is beyond the scope of modern medicines capability to explain. For the rest of us normal humans however, it requires extensive training and development of our minds and our nervous system to be able to get in touch with this field, let alone control it or yield it… but it is possible.

The ancient Chinese people had no knowledge of electricity, yet they knew that when an acupuncture needle was inserted into the body at a specific location, some form of energy other than heat was produced. In acupuncture theory, Qi ‘flows’ through the body via channels or meridians that connect our entire structure. These meridians, although not identifiable formations by Western biomedicine, have been mapped, described in detail and utilized by Chinese medical practitioners for thousands of years. Meridians contain ‘gates’ or points along their pathway where manipulation of the energy or Qi that flows through them is possible and particularly effective. By manipulating these points, one can influence the flow of Qi along the meridian in order to help the patient regain health and wellness. That’s the acupuncturists’ job, to transmit the message to the patient’s body in order to allow them to regain balance. The healing isn’t in the needle itself, but rather it’s in the practitioner’s ability to read the patient and transmit the correct message to them at the correct time in order to facilitate that person’s natural ability to heal and self-regulate. In that respect, true wellness is actually up to the patient and their ability to receive that message.

Western medical research has determined that acupuncture points are locations of fascial bundling. Our fascia is a seamless web of connective tissue that covers and connects the muscles, organs, and skeletal structures in our body — it’s absolutely everywhere! While much of the incredible healing power of acupuncture is still being researched, acupuncture points have been found to mostly lie along fascial planes, between muscles or between a muscle and bone or tendon. Fascia envelops the smallest fiber of muscle, every bone and joint and holds us together, in effect, supporting our structure and giving us our shape.

So what does Qi have to do with fascia?

A blockage of Qi can be viewed as an alteration in fascial composition and the majority of acupuncture points correspond to the sites where fascial networks converge. Thus, manipulation of an acupuncture needle produces change that can propagate along the fascial network and communicate with our entire body since everything is connected via this massive web of tissue. Think of fascia like a spider web; when something hits the web, the spider doesn’t have to see it, it just knows exactly where it is because of the vibrations. Similarly, when acupuncture needles enter the fascial web, it propagates a signal to our nervous system and our neurochemistry responds accordingly. A 1995 study by H. Heine, a German MD, documented the existence of perforation points in the fascia. He found that the majority (82%) of these perforations are topographically identical with the 361 classical acupuncture points of Chinese medicine.

I’m going to get a bit more in depth so bear with me if you can, because this is really interesting stuff!

Fascia is densely innervated by mechanoreceptors, also known as golgi bodies. These receptors influence local fluid dynamics of the tissue and their activation triggers the autonomic nervous system to change the local pressure in blood vessels. Strongly stimulated fascial fibers can even influence the extrusion of plasma from blood vessels into the interstitial fluid matrix, thus changing the viscosity of the extracellular environment. The interstitial mechanoreceptors can also trigger an increase in vagal tone or impulses from the vagus nerve, which leads towards more trophotropic tuning of the hypothalamus. In other words, the parasympathetic (rest and digest) aspect of our nervous system increases, our muscles relax, our adrenals close up shop for a while and our body essentially down-regulates into a deeply relaxed state — all from a properly inserted acupuncture needle!

Qi is absolutely real and cannot only be felt but it can be measured.  While acupuncture has been the focus of roughly 1,000+ scientific studies around the world over the past five years, Qigong has earned only a fraction of that attention.  Interesting considering Qigong practices are thought to pre-date acupuncture, a healing modality dated somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 years old.

Although the aforementioned studies have shed a great deal of light on the Qi phenomenon, there are still several questions left unanswered. For example, how can the mind generate a force in order to circulate the Qi of the body (as in Qigong)? How are we as humans affected by the electromagnetic fields that surround us in our environments? What about our daily use of electronics; how does that impact us? How do the fields of other people affect us? Why is it that you can be at a party and when someone walks into the room that is upset or angry, even without seeing them, you can sense it in your body? How do we quantify those things?

Nanotechnology is beginning to help us address some of these queries. But the future of Qi research and our exploration of the internal is going to be quite an adventure.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2013/01/06/acupuncture-the-qi-phenomenon/

L. Sharashkin on Materializing Machines

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Build Your Own Materializer Build Your Own MaterializerDesign: Materializer’s front panel contains operating instructions written right on the box with a marker.

Build Your Own MaterializerRight side has a pouch for the Energizer.

Build Your Own MaterializerMaterializer’s back panel has a door (rectangle cut in the box on 3 sides) for Administrative Access inside the box.

Build Your Own MaterializerLeft side has a pouch for Success Reports.

Build Your Own MaterializerWrite your wish on a piece of paper and into the Materializer.

Build Your Own MaterializerTake the Energizer and insert it into the slit.

Build Your Own MaterializerThe Energizer protruding from the top of the Materializer is a sign that there is a new wish inside.

Build Your Own MaterializerBecause the Materializer has over 100% success rate, all wishes can be put straight into the Success Reports pouch.

Build Your Own MaterializerThe Materializer on a shelfIt has worked for me. Will it work for you?

Build Your Own Materializer

Story by: Dr. Leonid Sharashkin

Inspirational Matter
Of all the practical exercises we’ve enjoyed at the Ringing Cedars workshops, few aroused as much enthusiasm as building your very own Materializer – a simple device to manifest any wish.

Inspired by Anastasia’s beautiful visions presented in The Energy of Life, I thought: “She keeps saying that thought is the most powerful energy of all, showing that each of us is creator of our own destiny. But – while the rest of us are not quite there yet – we need some kind of tool to help us experience our limitless potential first-hand.” After all, we all know that many things we cannot see do exist, and yet we somehow feel that “seeing is believing!”

And then when I was reading The Power of Luck, it suddenly stuck me: if all this talk about our all-powerful consciousness is actually true, then manifesting any wish should be as easy as a push of a button – literally! The Materializer design was born in my mind and I fervently set about building it out of an old cardboard box.

Just Add Wishes!
Half an hour later it was ready, sporting a big green Button, an Energizer and all! The moment has come to test it. Amazingly enough, I did not have any shadow of doubt: I simply knew it will work.

“Now, what is it that I really need but do not have?” I asked myself. The answer was clear: I needed an Internet connection! My modem had burned down in a thunderstorm a month before, but my Internet provider had been out of stock ever since – and because it was their proprietary model, I could not buy it anywhere else! (Besides, my place is so remote there was no other Internet company I could switch to!) They had been telling me to wait a week, then another week, then another two weeks. And all this month I had been driving thirty miles to town to just check my e-mail – enough to drive anybody crazy!

That very day I had called the Internet provider again and the representative told me that not only was my modem model still out of stock, but that they were no longer confident they would ever have it back in stock as they were upgrading their systems and were moving away from this model altogether! He said he could put me on the waiting list for the new system install. “How long would that be?” I asked in desperation. “Two weeks, maybe, but we cannot guarantee that,” was the answer.

But now that I had a Materializer, I had no intention to wait even a day. I took a piece of paper and wrote on it: I want a reliable Internet connection NOW! This wish looked completely hopeless, and I knew that! So much for the all-powerful human thought and the Materializer! However, I was determined to go all the way through, even if it meant an inevitable failure. I folded the piece of paper with the wish, inserted it into the Materializer, energized it with the Energizer, and pushed the big green button. Done! It was nearing midnight, so I went to bed.

“It Works!”
The first thing I saw the following morning was the postman delivering a package for me. I looked at the return address and my heart leapt as if I had just jumped out of an airplane. It was from the Internet company, and I knew what was inside. It felt completely surreal. I went inside and unwrapped the package. There was a modem.

After I recovered somewhat and already had it happily pumping megabytes of incoming emails, I called the company to cancel the installation order for a new system. “May I ask why you are canceling?” asked the representative. “Well, because I got the replacement modem you sent me!” was my answer. “Did you? Strange! I’m not seeing it on your account. We’ve been out of stock for two months now, and it’s been discontinued!”

Everything else I had learned in my life paled before this feeling of discovery: Eureka! IT WORKS!

A 1000% Success Rate
I then used my Materializer to manifest all kinds of wishes with a 100% success rate – which had a profound impact on my worldview. What am I saying? It is not 100% success rate, but a 1000% success rate – or rather an infinity – because the awareness it brings with it goes well beyond a particular dream fulfillment. Just as promised in The Art of Soaring: see the “magic” work once, and you will never be the same person!

And then I saw my daughter build one! At this point I realized I was ready to share my discovery of the Materializer with others. So I took it with me to the Ringing Cedars workshops around the world. And today – after countless people confirmed to me that it works – I share its design with you. For free. No secrets held back. No need to buy anything – you can easily put it together in a few minutes with some scrap materials you have at hand. Some suggested I patent it, manufacture it, and sell it. I have no need for that. I would rather see the world a happier place, and as for anything else – we can take care of it with our Materializers, right?

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the Materializer’s operation apparently involves the same principles that underlie the functioning of the entire Universe, as revealed in Co-creation. This is probably why it never fails.

Are you ready? Great! Here we go!

Materialize your Materializer: A Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide
Materials needed: a used cardboard box (I used an old Priority Mail box), some scraps of cardboard, some Scotch tape or paper glue, a marker, a couple sheets of thick paper, a small piece of colored paper (your favorite color) or a color pencil. Of course you can go fancy and use other materials, add more decorations, etc. but this does not seem essential for Materializer’s effectiveness. What matters is that you like it. The same goes for the size: some make it real big (like a TV box), others – just as successfully – make it small enough to fit into your pocket. Again, the important part is that you like it, that it feels like the right size to you. Mine is approx. 10″ (25 cm) wide, 9″ (22 cm) deep, and 6″ (15 cm) tall. My Energizer is 8″ (20 cm) long and just above 4″ (10 cm) wide at its widest point.

Time needed: 30 minutes. After that, it can last a lifetime and be passed on from one generation to the next. Potency will only increase with time.

Power requirements: Does not require batteries or grid electricity. Powered exclusively by your muscles (the Energizer) and your thought (all the rest). Note that Energizer does NOT refer to batteries brand – it means “the one who energizes.” It is the same as “Potentizer” and both terms can be used interchangeably.

Design: Materializer’s front panel contains operating instructions, written right on the box with a marker.The instructions read (with appropriate signs to aid comprehension): “1) Insert your wish. 2) Insert Energizer. 3) Press button. 4) Allow some time, check success reports.” The button (a circle of colored paper about 1″ or 3 cm in diameter) is attached in an appropriate spot with glue or tape.

Right side has a pouch for the Energizer. The pouch is made of two strips of thick paper (I used an old Priority Mail envelope) attached to the body with tape or glue.

Materializer’s back panel has a door (rectangle cut in the box on 3 sides) for Administrative Access inside the box. For convenience, the door has a handle (strip of cardboard attached to the door with tape or glue on both ends. For added security, the Admin panel is equipped with Login and Password fields (drawn with a marker) and an Enter button (drawn with a marker as well).

Left side has a pouch for Success Reports. The pouch is a rectangle of thick paper attached to the box on three sides with tape.

Materializer’s top has its name – MATERIALIZER – written with marker, and in the center – a slit for inserting your wishes. The slit can be adorned with a heart-shaped paper attached with tape or glue.

Bottom of the Materializer does not have any special features yet. This leaves room for further improvement.

Energizer is made our of a piece of cardboard, and is given a shape consistent with its purpose. An image of a cheerful Energizer is drawn thereon with a marker. By universal convention, Energizer is a masculine figure, while the Materializer is feminine (“Matter” literally means “Mother”).

Friendly Step-by-Step Operating Instructions
1) Write your wish on a piece of paper. You can use a pen or pencil of your choice; any kind of paper (even tissue paper) has proven quite successful.

2) Insert the wish into the Materializer through the top slit.

3) Take the Energizer and insert it into the slit. Agitate it, vigorously moving it in and out (up and down) until the Materializer is fully energized. After that, leave it immersed into the slit. Then push the big green button.

4) The Energizer protruding from the top of the Materializer is a sign that there is a new wish inside (similar to a flag on a mailbox – which actually uses the same basic principles). The Administrator (the person responsible for fulfilling your wishes – in my household it is myself regardless of whose wish it is) enters his Login and Password, presses the Enter button, then opens the access door, takes out the wish, reads it, and places it into the Success Reports pouch on the left side. The Administrator then removes the Energizer from the slit, congratulates him on the work well done, and places him to rest in his pouch – this is a sign that Materializer is ready for another wish.

Note: because the Materializer has over 100% success rate, all wishes can be put straight into the Success Reports pouch immediately after being taken out of the Materializer.

Troubleshooting: “I followed all the steps, but my wish is not yet fulfilled.” Possible causes: a) You have not energized your wish enough with your Energizer. Remember: your thought energy is what powers the whole thing. The Materializer is not a magic box that does it for you! b) You have not allowed sufficient time for it to manifest. c) What you think is your wish actually is not! The Materializer only materializes your dreams. An example: you think that you wish a latest model of a sports car. It is actually not your wish – it is that of the car manufacturer! (For more examples, see the incomparable Growing Vegetables with a Smile by Nikolay Kurdyumov.) d) You do not believe it will work. Again, the whole thing is powered by your thought – so how can it work if you think that it won’t!? I even think that the only reason why we humans are mortal is that we cannot believe sincerely and without reservation in our own immortality. But this is already another topic.

That’s it. Create! Enjoy! Soar! Prosper! And you do not even need to give me credit for inventing the Materializer: I have grounds to believe that the mysterious Ankh of Egyptian Pharaohs is actually an Energizer, so I could not agree more with how Kurdyumov put it in his Growing Vegetables with a Smile: “I have no doubt that many ingenious practices have been invented ten times over since ancient times. Yet we keep stumbling blindly along towards false goals. Why don’t we apply successful methods to our lives? Why are common everyday routines more acceptable than success? The reason is all in our minds.”

It has worked for me. Will it work for you? It depends on no one but you! But look at me: for quite some time now, my Materializer has been collecting dust on a shelf – I have no unmanifested desires left!

Dr. Leonid SharashkinDr. Leonid Sharashkin
Is the Series Editor, Co-translator, and Founder of the Ringing Cedars Press. It is through his efforts, that the Anastasia material and the Ringing Cedars Series have been published in English
Since his work on the Anastasia books, Dr. Sharashkin has been involved in a number of different projects which promote self-reliant, sustainable lifestyle choices based on the integration of human habitat with agro-ecosystems. He also travels internationally speaking on these topics and has recorded a collection of DVD’s that showcase his larger purpose.
Inspired by Anastasia’s reference to the existence of people who for eons have held fast to the ways of the ancients, Dr. Sharashkin’s latest quest has led him to seek out many of the keepers of Russia’s most secret traditions and take on the task of introducing their wisdom to the western world.
Dr. Sharashkin can be reached at: www.ringingcedars.com

from:    http://spiritofmaat.com/magazine/january-2013-the-new-time-issue/build-your-own-materializer/

Leaving Regret Behind in 2013

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How to Live Without Regret in 2013

It’s been said that “regret is insight that comes a day too late.”

For many of us, this insight comes decades too late. We reach a point in our life and look back wishing we had taken a different path, lived a more meaningful life, acted more authentically.

This is what nurse Bronnie Ware learned during her years working in palliative care. As her patients approached the end of their lives, she often asked them what they would have done differently.

The number one thing they mentioned was this:

“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Wow! Ware’s patients were honest. Facing the specter of finality demands honesty, and they expressed what many of us secretly yearn for — to live a life of our choosing, one that is not controlled by fear or guilt or about what other people think.

Psychologists call this need autonomy — which is simply our natural desire to do things because we want to, not because we are forced to. Personal autonomy is among a handful of psychological nutriments that, like their physiological counterparts, are essential ingredients to a healthy, high-performance life.

It’s only by doing what you love, of your own choosing that you become what you are meant to be.

But autonomy does not mean independence. We are also hardwired to interact and care for others — to feel connected and know that we belong to something greater than ourselves. Think about your most meaningful experiences. We bet you shared them with others.

And herein lies the challenge. How to balance the me with the we. We yearn for self-expression and self-direction, yet are drawn to other people. We want to pursue our own, personal goals and care for those around us.

It takes courage to balance these two competing needs — to be true to ourselves and others. However, it is only here that we can live without regret.

Here’s how to do it.

First, identify what it is that you long for most in your life — your vision of the “good life.” One of the best exercises for identifying this vision is to picture your deathbed experience and then work backward to today. While metaphorically laying on your deathbed, ask yourself these two questions: “What is my legacy?” and “Who is there with me?”

These two questions challenge you to recognize your core values. The first question pushes you to choose your own destiny — autonomy in action. The second challenges you to recognize who matters most in your life — love in action.

Now begin working backward to today. What are major milestones (specific goals achieved) that you would need to accomplish along the way? These should be professional and personal — what you want to achieve in work and life. Begin mapping in your mind your accomplishments, from future to present.

Second, draw a line horizontally across a sheet of paper. On the top write “professional” and on the bottom write “personal.” Moving from left (today) to right (future), write down your above determined milestones. This gives you a map of accomplishments for your journey.

Initially, the various stages of your journey may appear vague, a little undefined. As you continue to reflect upon specific goals and experience small successes, the means to achievement becomes more evident. Start walking your path; it is in movement that your vision continues to unfold and unexpected opportunities present themselves.

Third, make a proclamation. Say out loud the vision that you have discovered for yourself. This is a type of name-it-and-claim-it experience. Write it down and share it with others. Make your expectations known. Now you own it.

Fourth, work toward your vision without regret. You’ll discover here what many have experienced before you — that the journey toward the goal, moving toward the vision, with all the ups and downs, is actually the best part of the process. As you pursue your dreams, be ever mindful of writer Lloyd Alexander’s affirmation that “the journey is the treasure.”

As far as we know, no one has arrived at their deathbed without missed opportunities, failed goals, and relationship blunders. Everyone misses it. However, successful people will tell you that their ability to persevere, embracing the “we and me” experiences along the way, happens because they are in the driver’s seat of their destiny.

Resolve today to live without regret. Don’t wait for tomorrow, next week, or the new year. It is in our daily experiences that we discover who we are and what we can become. Own your own destiny and become who you were designed to be.

J.R.R. Tolkien perhaps sums it up best,

“The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.”

Dr. Frank Niles and Dr. Nick T. Ogle are co-founders and managing partners of Scholar Executive Group, LLC, a boutique consulting firm that provides coaching, counseling, and leadership development training for Fortune 500 companies and influential people.

from:    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-niles-phd/happiness_b_2365223.html?utm_hp_ref=gps-for-the-soul&ir=GPS%20for%20the%20Soul

Letters to Strangers

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Writing Love Letters to Hundreds of Strangers “Absolutely Healed Me”

To cope with intense loneliness after moving to New York City, Hannah Brencher offered to write an old-fashioned love letter to any stranger who needed one. She never guessed how many people she would ultimately reach,
Hannah Brencher

Hannah Brencher. Photo from The World Needs More Love Letters.

In college, Hannah Brencher corresponded with her family via handwritten letters—not texting, Facebook, email, or phones. She found comfort in writing on paper.

Later, as a college graduate in New York City, she continued writing letters—this time to strangers—to curb the loneliness she felt in the city. She left them in cafes and libraries, and even at the UN.

When she posted a promise on the Internet to write a handwritten letter to anyone who needed one, her inbox flooded with stories from so many lonely and struggling people that she decided to start an organization, The World Needs More Love Letters, to help strangers connect and support one another in an increasingly fragmented, electronic world.

“I began writing letters on the train to individuals who seemed like they, too, could use a boost,” Brencher writes. “In the span of nine months, I wrote and mailed over 400 love letters to people in need around the globe. And the process healed me. It absolutely healed me.”

 

from:    http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/hannah-brencher-love-letters-to-strangers

Dangers of Whooping Cough Vaccine

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Deadly New Pertussis Strain Linked with Whooping Cough Vaccine

Pertussis Vaccine7th December 2012

By Carolanne Wright

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Whooping cough (pertussis) has reached epidemic levels in the U.S. — the highest in five decades. Considering a majority of those who contract the disease are vaccinated, the absurdity of the call for increased pertussis vaccinations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is yet another example of our broken medical system.

Even more disturbing, scientists now suspect that vaccines are actually causing this upsurge in whooping cough — contributing to mutations of the original bacterium into more virulent forms.

The nature of pertussis

Whooping cough is an extremely contagious disease of the lung that can be contracted at any age, but is especially dangerous for children. It begins with congestion similar to a cold, lasting up to 10 days. A severe cough then sets in with a ‘whooping’ sound accompanying the intake of breathRecovery can take several months, depending on the constitution of the individual. Babies and small children have the highest death rate due to complications that arise from the disease.

Bacterium mutation linked with whooping cough vaccine

The CDC would like to keep the American population ignorant about this startling fact: Our current pertussis epidemic is caused by a deadly new strain of Bordetella pertussis bacterium (ptxP3) and its emergence is directly connected to the whooping cough vaccine.

According to the article, Whooping Cough Epidemic Caused by Virulent New Pertussis Strain — And it’s the Result of Vaccine, research by Frits R. Mooi offers a theory about the recent increase of pertussis:

The Mooi report focuses on the virulence of the new whooping cough strain and makes a direct association with the vaccine. It points out that the strain was first isolated in the United States in 1984, and that the virulent ptxP3 strains have been replacing the vaccines’ ptxP1 strains. They also note that the greater prevalence of whooping cough in older age groups (that is, adolescents and adults) is directly related to the new ptxP3 strains.

This may explain why whooping cough rates are sky high in those who have been vaccinated — bacteria are adapting to the vaccine and mutating, much like antibiotic resistant superbugs, becoming more pronounced and lethal. The dangers of this new mutation include a 10-fold increase of illness and death.

The research paper Bordetella pertussis Strains with Increased Toxin Production Associated with Pertussis Resurgence, found on the CDC website, states the following:

“In this period [1989 -2004], ptxP1 [original pertussis bacterium] was gradually replaced by ptxP3, which increased in frequency from 0% in 1989 to 100% in 2004.”

“The persistence of pertussis in the face of intense vaccination is unexpected because B. pertussis is extremely homogeneous, implying a limited ability to adapt. However, the Ptx promoter showed a relatively high degree of polymorphism…”

“…ptxP3 strains were not found in the pre-vaccination era.”

“Vaccination against two avian viruses, the Marek disease virus, and the infectious bursal disease virus, were associated with the emergence of more virulent strains.”

“Based on mathematical modeling, vaccines designed to reduce pathogen growth rate and/or toxicity may result in the evolution of pathogens with higher levels of virulence.”

CDC solution – Increase vaccinations

Even though the CDC is aware of the link between vaccination and a new super-strain pertussis bacterium, their ‘solution’ for the epidemic is to increase vaccine use. True to form, the mainstream medical establishment actually perpetuates whooping cough through their harmful, propaganda-riddled recommendations. In the end, the pertussis vaccine could land unsuspecting individuals with the very disease they are attempting to avoid.

Article Sources 

“Whooping Cough Epidemic Caused by Virulent New Pertussis Strain – And It’s the Result of Vaccine” Gaia Health. gaia-health.com

“Bordetella pertussis Strains with Increased Toxin Production Associated with Pertussis Resurgence” Frits R. Mooi , Inge H.M. van Loo, Marjolein van Gent, Qiushui He, Marieke J. Bart, Kees J. Heuvelman, Sabine C. de Greeff, Dimitri Diavatopoulos, Peter Teunis, Nico Nagelkerke, and Jussi Mertsola, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. cdc.gov/eid/article/15/8/08-1511_article

“Has the DTaP vaccine caused the increase in whooping cough?” Smartvax. smartvax.com

“Whooping Cough: Worst Year For Pertussis in 5 Decades, CDC Says” Mike Stobbe, July 19, 2012. huffingtonpost.com

Pertussis: Summary of Vaccine Recommendations. Department of Health and Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/pertussis/recs-summary

“Whooping Cough Outbreaks in Vaccinated Children Become More and More Frequent” Heidi Stevenson, Gaia Health, June 27, 2011. Retrieved on November 19, 2012 from: http://www.gaia-health.com

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/12/07/deadly-new-pertussis-strain-linked-with-whooping-cough-vaccine/

On Mammograms

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Some interesting studies are coming out on all levels and in all areas.   It is time to think twice about certain things, but do the research.

30 Years of Breast Screening: 1.3 Million Wrongly Treated

2nd December 2012

By Sayer Ji

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

The breast cancer industry’s holy grail (that mammography is the primary weapon in the war against breast cancer) has been disproved. In fact, mammography appears to have CREATED 1.3 million cases of breast cancer in the U.S. population that were not there.

A disturbing new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine is bringing mainstream attention to the possibility that mammography has caused far more harm than good in the millions of women who have employed it over the past 30 years as their primary strategy in the fight against breast cancer.[i]

Titled “Effect of Three Decades of Screening Mammography on Breast-Cancer Incidence,” researchers estimated that among women younger than 40 years of age, breast cancer was overdiagnosed, i.e. “tumors were detected on screening that would never have led to clinical symptoms,” in 1.3 million U.S. women over the past 30 years. In 2008, alone, “breast cancer was overdiagnosed in more than 70,000 women; this accounted for 31% of all breast cancers diagnosed

As we revealed in a previous article,[ii] the primary form of mammography-detected breast cancer is ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as ‘stage zero’ or ‘non-invasive breast cancer.’ Unlike truly invasive cancer, which expands outward like the crab after which it was named (Greek:  Cancer = Crab), ductal carcinoma is in situ, i.e. situated, non-moving – an obvious contradiction in terms.

Also, DCIS presents without symptoms in the majority of women within which it is detected, and if left untreated will (usually) not progress to cause harm to women. Indeed, without x-ray diagnostic technologies, many if not most of the women diagnosed with it would never have known they had it in the first place. The journal Lancet Oncology, in fact, published a cohort study last year finding that even clinically verified “invasive” cancers appear to regress with time if left untreated:

[We] believe many invasive breast cancers detected by repeated mammography screening do not persist to be detected by screening at the end of 6 years, suggesting that the natural course of many of the screen-detected invasive breast cancers is to spontaneously regress.[iii]

The new study authors point out “The introduction of screening mammography in the United States has been associated with a doubling in the number of cases of early-stage breast cancer that are detected each year.” And yet, they noted, only 6.5% of these early-stage breast cancer cases were expected to progress to advanced disease. DCIS and related ‘abnormal breast findings,’ in other words, may represent natural, benign variations in breast morphology. Preemptive treatment strategies, however, are still employed today as the standard of care, with mastectomy rates actually increasing since 2004.[iv]

The adverse health effects associated with overdiagnosis and overtreatment with lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone-suppressive treatments cannot be underestimated, especially when one considers the profound psychological trauma that follows each stage of diagnosis and treatment, and the additional physiological burdens such psychic injuries lead to, including up-regulation of multidrug resistance genes within cancer as a result of the increased adrenaline associated with the ‘flight-or-fight’ stress response.[v]

Also, it is now coming to light that chemotherapy and radiation actually increase the proportion of the highly malignant cancer stem cells to the relatively non-malignant daughter cells within the tumor colony. Much in the same way that conventional antibiotic agents will drive multidrug resistance within the subpopulation of surviving post-antibiotic bacteria, ensuring recurrence, conventional treatments also drive the surviving stem-cell enriched tumor populations into greater resistance and metastatic potential when it does inevitably recur. Or worse, radiation therapy may actually increase the ‘stemness’ of breast cancer cells making them 30 times more malignant (capable of forming new tumors).

If it is indeed true that DCIS, other abnormal breast findings, as well as clinically confirmed invasive breast cancer, either remain benign or regress when left untreated, the entire breast cancer industry, which is already deeply mired in cause-marketing conflicts of interest, must radically reform itself, or face massive financial and ethical liabilities vis-à-vis outdated and no longer “evidence-based” practices.

Another serious problem with mammography (and there are dozens of them) not addressed in this latest research finding concerns the unique carcinogenicity of the x-rays the technology employs. We now know that the 30 kVp radiation, colloquially known as “low energy” x-rays, are between 300-400% more carcinogenic than the “higher energy” radiation given off by atomic bomb blasts (200 kVp or higher).[vi] Present day radiation risk models used to assess the known breast cancer risk associated with mammography against the purported benefits do not take into this profound discrepancy. In fact, these models were developed before DNA was even discovered.

Also, considering that breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1/BRCA2, interfere with the DNA self-repair mechanisms needed to reduce the carcinogenicity associated with radiation exposure within those who carry these genetic variations, the harms associated with mammography may be exponentially higher than the conventional medical community presently understands and communicates to their patients.  Indeed, it is likely that x-ray based mammography screenings have been planting the seeds of future radiation-induced breast cancer within exposed populations.

With top-tier biomedical journals now publishing research diametrically opposed to the policies and recommendations of both governmental, non-governmental and industry-sponsored health organizations, the time is ripe for us to critically evaluate conventional medicine’s conventional standard of care and to educate ourselves further to the true causes of cancer, and how to go about preventing and/or removing them.

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/12/02/30-years-of-breast-screening-1-3-million-wrongly-treated/

Tips on Decalcification of the Pineal Gland

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Decalcify The Pineal Gland With Alkaline Foods

by S. Ali Myers

Charge up your third eye (pineal gland) with high-vibrating, nutritionally enriched foods and drinks!

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Most people, especially in America, are consuming a diet that is detrimental to our spiritual growth. With the influx of low vibratory foods (ie. fast food, sodas, microwave dinners, sugars etc.), we are contracting more diseases and evolving slower spiritually than we have to.

There are two types of foods: acid-forming or alkaline-forming. The differences between the two are like night and day. Or, diseased and not diseased. Or, a healthy pineal gland versus a overly calcified pineal gland.

Your body is designed for your blood pH balance to be between 7.35-7.45. Too much acid in the blood causes imbalance and eventually, diseases and further calcification of the pineal gland. Whenever you eat something that is incomplete (not wholesome) and acidic, your body has to pull the nutrients out of your body’s minerals to try to neutralize the acidity.Alkaline Foods to Help Decalcify the Pineal Gland

A high level of spiritual growth through pineal gland decalcification can be gained by eating more alkaline foods. Look at it as alkaline charges you up while acid drains your power. The following list will provide you with a number of food options that will help you charge up your third eye and re-gain your innate spiritual power!

Once you begin to consume more alkaline foods you will start to increase your intuition, ‘psychic’ powers, dreams, calmness, peace of mind, happiness, creativity, and overall energy!

Note: Green supplements are a wonderful addition to any diet to get more chlorophyll and alkalinity.

The foods listed below are all alkaline-forming. There is a difference between acid-forming and alkaline-forming. A citrus fruit like an orange is acidic but when your body assimilates it, it leaves an alkaline ash. Therefore, the orange is an alkaline-forming fruit.

This list is a combination of all the research and experiences I’ve had. There may be other foods that are not listed but that just means it slipped my eye. The important thing is that we make a conscious effort to consume as much alkaline-forming foods as possible.

Please share this list with everyone you know!

Also see: What Are You Eating? Find Out With These pH Alkaline Charts

Alkaline-Forming Vegetables (All fresh, not processed or canned)

Alfalfa
Artichoke
Asparagus
Barley Grass
Beets
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chives
Chlorella
Collard Greens
Cucumber
Dandelions
Eggplant
Garlic
Green Beans
Kale
Kelp
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce
Lima Beans
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Okra
Olives
Onions
Parsnip
Peppers
Pumpkin
Radish
Rhubarb
Rutabagas
Spinach
Spirulina
Sweet Potatoes
Swiss Chard
Turnip
Watercress
Wheat Grass
Yams
Zucchini

Alkaline-Forming Fruits (all fresh, not processed or canned)

Apple
Apricot
Avocado
Banana
Blackberries
Boysenberries
Cantaloupe
Cherries
Coconut
Currants
Grapefruit
Grapes
Honeydew Melon
Kiwi Fruit
Lemon
Limes
Mangos
Muskmelons
Nectarine
Olives (green)
Orange
Papayas
Peaches
Pears
Pineapples
Raisins
Raspberries
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Tangerine
Tomato (small)
Watermelon

Alkaline Forming Nuts, Seeds & Grains

Almonds
Buckwheat
Chestnuts
Cumin Seeds
Fennel Seeds
Flax Seeds
Lentils
Macadamia
Millet
Pecans
Pumpkin Seeds
Sesame Seeds
Walnuts

Alkaline Forming Spices & Seasonings

Chili Pepper
Cinnamon
Curry
Ginger
Herbs
Sea Salt
Soy Sauce

Other Alkaline Forming Foods

Blue Green Algae
Stevia
Olive Oil

Worst Acid Forming Foods (These “foods” should be limited or avoided)

There are many acid-forming foods (mainly all the unnatural, man-made “foods”) but these are the worst of the worst.

Alcohol
Artificial Sweeteners
Cakes/Pastries
Dairy Products (cheese, ice cream, milk shakes, yogurt etc)
Flour (white)
Juice (sugar-filled)
Meats (including fish, chicken, turkey etc)
Pasta
Salt (use Sea Salt)
Soda
Sugar

from:    http://in5d.com/decalcify-the-pineal-gland.html

Cedar Rivers on Multi-Dimensionality

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Crossing The New Frontier of Multidimensionality

27th November 2012

By Cedar Rivers

Humanity is in the midst of transforming, and a new unity consciousness is emerging. In future history this era may be viewed as an era of a monumental Spiritual Renaissance.

The spiritual significance of the final days and weeks of 2012 cannot be overstated. We are currently traversing the period from the Age of Pisces to the beginning of Aquarius, the end of the Hindu Kali Yuga, the completion of the Mayan fifth age, and the close of the Mesoamerican fifth world, and with these endings and beginnings the very fabric of reality is changing.

Seers, shamans, scholars and astrologers have written volumes about this pivotal time with its various cosmic configurations and planetary alignments over the three days of the summer/winter solstice of 20, 21, 22 December 2012. Vastly differing views of the possible ramifications range from apocalyptic scenarios to enlightenment of large sections of the global population.

Beyond the much-publicised fear-engendering turbulence there is a glorious world of radiance and reconnection to the divine Infinite in progress. Whether we know it yet or not, we are all participating in this massive evolutionary shift.

Humanity has been living an illusion or false consensus reality for eons – a virtual dream or hologram held in place by energetic matrixes that can no longer be sustained and are currently breaking down. This dismantling is enabling individuals to see beyond the gross illusions that the majority have accepted as the true nature of reality for eons.

New Beginnings – 2012 and Beyond

The personal clearings and subsequent awakenings have been radically accelerating for the past few decades and particularly since the Harmonic Convergence in August 1987. No-one can truly know exactly what will happen in the time-frame around the December 2012 solstice, and throughout 2013 and beyond, because it is ‘we’ who are the creators and midwives giving birth to this new reality by our personal choices and the manner in which we prioritise our intentions. In the light of exponential spiritualisation, it is impossible to know just what we’ll bring into existence, both individually and collectively. The time is perfect now to do a detailed personal reassessment and visioning for all the dreams you have ever held for yourself, your loved ones, and for the planet.

As we become more aware of our growing spiritual enlightenment, we find it unconscionable to do harm to any living thing. The shift in consciousness and energy popularly known as ‘The Shift’ is an on-going process, and with the associated illumination comes massive evolutionary advancement. People actively exploring full consciousness, societal improvements, and an understanding of our place in the galaxy are gaining a real sense of the magnitude of transformation during this time frame. The Shift ushers in the turning point for genuine personal and planetary ascension. We can make the most of this remarkable time by understanding how we empower and manifest whatever we give our attention to.

It is crucial to be extremely mindful of the quality of our thoughts, emotions, intentions and actions. In the coming weeks and months we may find ourselves having many more epiphanies or aha! moments along with being presented with unprecedented opportunities for further awakening. Spontaneous pineal and heart openings, for example, may lead to phenomenal spiritual experiences that confirm the actual nature of our multidimensionality, connections with previously invisible spirit beings, and a true understanding of our connection to the Infinite and all that it means.

By welcoming exponential change and keeping our wits about us, we may rest in the knowledge that our intuition and allies will guide us to the best ways through the changes both within ourselves, and in those around us.

Look for guidance and answers in the Spirit Orb phenomenon.

No-one is alone on this journey to exponential illumination. Light-workers are willing to support our awakening, aided by nature spirits, innumerable angels, ascended masters, and other spirit beings.

The Old Frontier: Opposites and Illusions

When the earth is dying there shall arise a new tribe of all colours and all creeds.  This tribe shall be called ‘The Warriors of the Rainbow’ and it will put its faith in actions, not words. – Prophecy of the Native American Hopi people

In order to understand and embrace the New Frontier, let’s first briefly examine the nature of life on earth as we have known it for millennia. It may also be called the Old Frontier, or the Old Reality. We know these Old Frontiers very well as we have traversed them endlessly, repeating the same patterns and life experiences over and over again. In this context the ‘frontier’ is much more than a boundary or a veil, as once crossed it opens to infinite fields of experiences and possibilities.

The Old Frontier was an illusory world restricted within matrixes very often made of beliefs, agendas and rules imposed and controlled by others. It was largely characterised as an external world of opposites such as good and evil, fear and love, harmony and chaos, war and peace, heaven and hell, wealth and poverty, clarity and confusion, wellness and illness, and other distorted perceptions that enforced duality as the true nature of reality. This perception is now changing in the current climate. In the future the ‘demarcation line’ between the Old and the New may be acknowledged as having occurred around the December 2012 Solstice.

Socrates wrote, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’  He had a good point. The gift of life is not all about life missions, job descriptions, and obedience to external authority as we have been led to believe. Self-discovery is a foremost reason for existence, along with learning to follow our passions and to live from the heart. Many may be experiencing a number of ‘dark night of the soul’ episodes requiring intently working through unresolved shadow issues to gain understanding and forgiveness.

This inner work is the greatest work we can do. As we garner insights and turn them into wisdom, we free ourselves from the shackles of a painful past if applicable, while those who have enjoyed a pain-free past may discover new ways of being creative and of service. The inner emotional work clears our energy fields of encumbrances. Once insights are brought to light and acknowledged, there is no desire for endlessly repeating already lived experiences. Grand new vistas await and we can consciously embark upon the next stage of evolution involving such pleasures as an ever-deepening connection to the natural world, greater intimacy in relationships, enhanced creative endeavours, access to the sacred mystical realms, and a conscious connection to the Infinite.

Symptoms of The Shift

Choices are being made at either a conscious or subconscious level to either remain in the cataclysmic world of opposites, or to evolve into the authentic and glorious realms of Oneness. This involves the shattering of long held beliefs. Some will have noticed appreciable changes in dynamics with family and friends, and in career and living arrangements. Ultimately, the movement away from any stagnant places and non-supportive relationships facilitates the expansion of personal growth and enlightenment.

Throughout the past decade a growing number of people seem to be experiencing symptoms of The Shift, frequently referred to as Ascension Symptoms that may be either gradual or spontaneous, and debilitating or exhilarating. Eventually, challenging symptoms are replaced by the euphoria of an authentic sense of belonging, an increase in synchronicities, faster manifestation, miracles, deeper connection to nature, greater sense of beauty, heightened creative skills, new healing abilities, genuine self-love, total presence in the moment, meetings with remarkable beings, abundance when needed, enjoyment of the simple things, light hearted humour, and inner peace.

The New Frontier: Multidimensionality and Oneness

We may ask ourselves: How will my life function in the presence of timelessness? As time subsides linear time becomes obsolete. This is what is meant by the end of time. Think about that. Previous timelines of past, present and future will all be simultaneous in the quantum fields of the New Frontier. We learn to live with full awareness in the moment, much like a young child who involves all the senses to give total attention to the activity at hand.

We will discover the gracious art of creating through the heart with love and gratitude, and once awakened to this, there will be no desire to revert to old outmoded ways of living. We will have access to all information that ever was, is, and will be, as we move into the higher expressions of ourselves, and participate in becoming an entirely new species as we metamorphose from homo sapiens into homo luminous.

Homo Sapiens > Homo Luminous

habits > spontaneity

linear time > eternal time

busyness > presence in stillness

striving > allowing

limitation > mastery, unlimitedness

competition > co-operation

predictability > unpredictability

opposites > oneness

struggle and pain > joy and miracles

fear > fearlessness

external laws > motivated from within

separation > unity

density > light

egoic identity > true identity

health challenges > wholeness

time > timelessness

form > formlessness

the illusion > the real

Seers and Shamans Light The Way

Numerous seers, shamans, leaders and way-showers throughout the world may already be experiencing the awakened Cosmic Consciousness of Oneness. Some have become role models paving the way for our homecoming to the Infinite, inspiring participants to seek the truth, and in anchoring the intense new energies.  Many are working assiduously at this golden time of cosmic change to ensure that another long cycle of the duality of opposites never has to be repeated.

In recent years, health issues, scandals, misrepresentation and corruption have thwarted many of these great leaders of integrity and vision from delivering their teachings. On occasion, dark, jealous and corrupt forces have worked to tarnish their credibility and to dilute their messages. Fortunately, in the current energies now facilitating total transparency – people, politics and corporations are being seen for what they are in their true light – or darkness.

Ethical spiritual leaders appear filled with light as their auras expand with vibrancy, and their skin glows with luminosity. Merely coming in contact with them may elevate receptive students to total healing on all levels and to new mystical experiences. It is becoming more common for seers and shamans to dematerialise and shape-shift into other dimensions, bi-locate and spontaneously levitate before their students. Some can access hidden records of the earth to help navigate humanity along the profusion of pathways and bridges to the New Frontier.

Awakening the Slumbering Genius

The road to awakening lies within. Enticements to look outside for the Holy Grail have been instrumental in maintaining the illusion, when all along it has been slumbering within, silently awaiting our discovery.

As we progress through The Shift we experience the full capabilities of the body and mind. When the glands, chakras, pranic tube, brain and high heart in particular become activated beyond their current minimal capacity, perception changes and we live from the fullness of our merged aspects and new mastery. The hypothalamus, pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, pineal, and the reproductive glands are the major glands forming the human endocrine system and none of these have been functioning to their maximum capacity. When fully operative these glands secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream that are responsible for the regeneration and transfiguration of the body. By turning within and meditating, and by observing in silence of mind we finally become familiar with the vast being that we truly are, and have been all throughout eternity, as human expressions of the Infinite.

We are much more than our body, mind and emotions.

A Glimpse of What May Lie Beyond

Matter is lit from within. Matter is energy and light.

Entirely new modes of living naturally occur in Oneness

Timelessness. Past, present and future being simultaneous.

A life of synchronicity and miracles.

Observer consciousness. Awareness of the very big picture.

Love takes on new meanings.

All needs met for every individual on earth.

Sacred interaction with the environment.

Absent loved ones greeted in the present.

Immense gratitude for learning, love and enchantment.

Changes in bodily needs and functions.

Enhanced abilities.

Wellness, youthfulness, and immortality.

New means of communication.

Access to the archives of the earth and cosmos.

Zest for living, discovery and creation.

Life becomes a work of art and excellence.

Co-creation with spirit orbs, ascended masters, angels, nature spirits and star people.

Exploring celestial holy cities and environments.

Free energy and high technology devices.

Developing a deeper relationship with the Infinite.

Seeing the Infinite in all things.

New information in frequencies and light.

The mystical gifts that have been there all along, yet hidden become sublimely apparent as we venture to explore what lies within and beyond the New Frontier. It is evident that we only know a minute fraction of what ‘is’, and now, during this Spiritual Renaissance, humanity has the opportunity to make known the unknown, in order to further access the unknowable. Along with dealing with various debilitating ascension symptoms, our immediate challenges are in developing our under-utilised capabilities, and in having the courage to welcome monumental positive change into our lives.

As we open to the new and modify our beliefs and behaviours we come to understand that we are made of many multidimensional aspects. By slowing down and allowing sufficient time to befriend and absorb these aspects we are able to integrate our new discoveries and abilities with ease and without resistance. As we cross the borders into the New Frontier we are welcomed to fields upon fields of glorious experiences silently awaiting our discovery and delight.

About the Author

Cedar Rivers is the author and photographer of the newly released print book and full colour eBook – The New Frontier: multidimensionality

from:    http://wakeup-world.com/2012/11/27/crossing-the-new-frontier/

On Continuing Human Evolution

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Human Evolution Enters an Exciting New Phase

Image: Kevin Dooley/Flickr

If you could escape the human time scale for a moment, and regard evolution from the perspective of deep time, in which the last 10,000 years are a short chapter in a long saga, you’d say: Things are pretty wild right now.

In the most massive study of genetic variation yet, researchers estimated the age of more than one million variants, or changes to our DNA code, found across human populations. The vast majority proved to be quite young. The chronologies tell a story of evolutionary dynamics in recent human history, a period characterized by both narrow reproductive bottlenecks and sudden, enormous population growth.

The evolutionary dynamics of these features resulted in a flood of new genetic variation, accumulating so fast that natural selection hasn’t caught up yet. As a species, we are freshly bursting with the raw material of evolution.

“Most of the mutations that we found arose in the last 200 generations or so. There hasn’t been much time for random change or deterministic change through natural selection,” said geneticist Joshua Akey of the University of Washington, co-author of the Nov. 28 Nature study. “We have a repository of all this new variation for humanity to use as a substrate. In a way, we’re more evolvable now than at any time in our history.”

Akey specializes in what’s known as rare variation, or changes in DNA that are found in perhaps one in 100 people, or even fewer. For practical reasons, rare variants have only been studied in earnest for the last several years. Before then, it was simply too expensive. Genomics focused mostly on what are known as common variants.

However, as dramatically illustrated by a landmark series of papers to appear this year — by Alon Keinan and Andrew Clark, by Matt Nelson and John Novembre, and another by Akey’s group, all appearing in Science, along with new results from the humanity-spanning 1,000 Genomes Project — common variants are just a small part of the big picture. They’re vastly outnumbered by rare variants, and tend to have weaker effects.

The medical implications of this realization are profound. The previously unappreciated significance of rare variation could explain much of why scientists have struggled to identify more than a small fraction of the genetic components of common, complex disease, limiting the predictive value of genomics.

‘The genetic potential of our population is vastly different than what it was 10,000 years ago.’

But these findings can also been seen from another angle. They teach us about human evolution, in particular the course it’s taken since modern Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa, learned to farm, and became the planet’s dominant life form.

“We’ve gone from several hundred million people to seven billion in a blink of evolutionary time,” said Akey. “That’s had a profound effect on structuring the variation present in our species.”

Akey isn’t the first scientist to use modern genetic data as a window into recent and ongoing human evolution, nor the first to root rare variation in humanity’s post-Ice Age population boom. The new study’s insights reside in its depth and detail.

The researchers sequenced in exhaustive detail protein-coding genes from 6,515 people, compiling a list of every DNA variation they found — 1,146,401 in all, of which 73 percent were rare. To these they applied a type of statistical analysis, customized for human populations but better known from studies of animal evolution, that infers ancestral relationships from existing genetic patterns.

“There were other hints of what’s going on, but nobody has studied such a massive number of coding regions from such a high number of individuals,” said geneticist Sarah Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania.

Akey’s group found that rare variations tended to be relatively new, with some 73 percent of all genetic variation arising in just the last 5,000 years. Of variations that seem likely to cause harm, a full 91 percent emerged in this time.

Why is this? Much of it is a function of population growth. Part of it is straightforward population growth. Just 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, there were roughly 5 million humans on Earth. Now there are 7 billion. With each instance of reproduction, a few random variations emerge; multiply that across humanity’s expanding numbers, and enormous amounts of variation are generated.

Also playing a role are the dynamics of bottlenecks, or periods when populations are reduced to a small number. The out-of-Africa migration represents one such bottleneck, and others have occurred during times of geographic and cultural isolation. Scientists have shown that when populations are small, natural selection actually becomes weaker, and the effects of randomness grow more powerful.

Put these dynamics together, and the Homo sapiens narrative that emerges is one in which, for non-African populations, the out-of-Africa bottleneck created a period in which natural selection’s effects diminished, followed by a global population boom and its attendant wave of new variation.

The result, calculated Akey, is that people of European descent have five times as many gene variants as they would if population growth had been slow and steady. People of African descent, whose ancestors didn’t go through that original bottleneck, have somewhat less new variation, but it’s still a large amount: three times more variation than would have accumulated under slow-growth conditions.

Natural selection never stopped acting, of course. New mutations with especially beneficial effects, such as lactose tolerance, still spread rapidly, while those with immediately harmful consequences likely vanished within a few generations of appearing. But most variation has small, subtle effects.

Visualization of the distribution of potentially harmful genetic variation across protein-coding portions of the human genome. The top section represents variation that predates the human population explosion 10,000 years ago. The bottom represents variation that arose since then. Image: Fu et al./Nature

It’s this type of variation that’s proliferated so wildly. “Population growth is happening so fast that selection is having a hard time keeping up with the new, deleterious alleles,” said Akey.

One consequence of this is the accumulation in humanity of gene variants with potentially harmful effects. Akey’s group found that a full 86 percent of variants that look as though they might be deleterious are less than 10,000 years old, and many have only existed for the last millennium.

“Humans today carry a much larger load of deleterious variants than our species carried just prior to its massive expansion just a couple hundred generations ago,” said population geneticist Alon Keinan of Cornell University, whose own work helped link rare variation patterns to the population boom.

The inverse is also true. Present-day humanity also carries a much larger load of potentially positive variation, not to mention variation with no appreciable consequences at all. These variations, known to scientists as “cryptic,” that might actually be evolution’s hidden fuel: mutations that on their own have no significance can combine to produce unexpected, powerful effects.

Indeed, the genetic seeds of exceptional traits, such as endurance or strength or innate intelligence, may now be circulating in humanity. “The genetic potential of our population is vastly different than what it was 10,000 years ago,” Akey said.

How will humanity evolve in the next few thousand years? It’s impossible to predict but fun to speculate, said Akey. A potentially interesting wrinkle to the human story is that, while bottlenecks reduce selection pressure, evolutionary models show that large populations actually increase selection’s effects.

Given the incredible speed and scope of human population growth, this increased pressure hasn’t yet caught up to the burst of new variation, but eventually it might. It could even be anticipated, at least from theoretical models, that natural selection on humans will actually become stronger than it’s ever been.

“The size of a population determines how much selection is going to be acting moving forward,” said anthropologist Mark Shriver of Penn State University. “You have an increase in natural selection now.”

An inevitably complicating factor is that natural selection isn’t as natural as it used to be. Theoretical models don’t account for culture and technology, two forces with profound influences. Widespread use of reproductive technologies like fetal genome sequencing might ease selection pressures, or even make them more intense.

As for future studies in genetic anthropology, Akey said scientists are approaching the limits of what can be known from genes alone. “We need to take advantage of what people have learned in anthropology and ecology and linguistics, and synthesize all this into a coherent narrative of human evolution,” he said.

Geneticist Robert Moyzis of the University of California, Irvine, co-author of a 2007 study on accelerating human evolution, noted that the new study only looked at protein-coding genes, which account for only a small portion of the entire human genome. Much of humanity’s rare variation remains to be analyzed.

Moyzis’ co-authors on that study, geneticist Henry Harpending of the University of Utah and anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin, also warned against jumping to early conclusions based on the new study’s dating. Some of what appears to be new variation might actually be old, said Hawks.

Even with these caveats, however, the study’s essential message is unchanged. “Sometimes people ask the question, ‘Is human evolution still occurring?’” said Tishkoff. “Yes, human evolution can still occur, and it is.”

Citations: “Analysis of 6,515 exomes reveals the recent origin of most human protein-coding variants.” By Wenqing Fu, Timothy D. O’Connor, Goo Jun, Hyun Min Kang, Goncalo Abecasis, Suzanne M. Leal, Stacey Gabriel, David Altshuler, Jay Shendure, Deborah A. Nickerson, Michael J. Bamshad, NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project & Joshua M. Akey. Vol. 491, No. 7426, Nov. 29, 2012

from:    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/recent-human-evolution-2/