Natural Communities Magazine A magazine devoted to the local natural wellness culture.

BASICS OF MINDFULNESS
• Mindfulness can be defined as paying attention, in the present moment, without judgment
• Developing the ability to pay nonjudgmental attention to our present moment experience can help us:
• awaken from living life on automatic pilot and live more consciously;
• live more fully and joyfully
• learn from our difficult experience to develop more resourceful coping strategies
• build concentration by training the mind to pay attention
• let go of judgment of ourselves and others
• Mindfulness meditation is the way we train ourselves to pay attention in the present moment.

If you keep up with current health and wellness literature, it’s likely that you have read something about mindfulness. It seems to be a hot topic in today’s world but it is actually an ancient practice, grounded in wisdom. Mindfulness meditation stems from insight (vipassana) meditation and has been practiced for approximately 2500 years.

Perhaps you have identified with what you have read about mindfulness. Or maybe you identify with the need for mindfulness in your own life. You may have decided that a mindfulness practice would be good for you but don’t quite know how to start.

A mindfulness practice consists of two components: the practice of mindfulness meditation and the process of paying nonjudgmental attention to our experience of daily activities. The distinction between these two components is artificial since both components are about awakening to and living in the moment. The distinction is used for the purpose of discussion.

Mindfulness meditation begins with taking time away from other daily activities to sit quietly and to practice bringing alert, nonjudgmental awareness to each moment. In mindfulness class we begin by focusing on one part of our present moment experience, the breath. Then we expand the focus to include other aspects of our moment-to-moment awareness.

Practicing meditation over time, you learn to slow down, nurture calmness and acceptance, and stop “doing” and start “being”. You learn to watch your thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them; learning that there is more to you than those thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness meditation helps you open to a calm space within you, a source of vast resources. During stressful times, our lives seem chaotic, much like the choppy waves on the surface of the ocean during a storm. Mindfulness meditation can help you access some peace within ourselves, like the calm below the surface of a stormy sea.

Mindfulness meditation helps us to train our minds so we can pay nonjudgmental attention to our experience of daily activities such as eating, communicating, peeling a carrot or hugging a loved one. Most of us do many daily activities on auto-pilot, not really paying attention, not really there, so it is difficult to live in the moment. To illustrate this point, the next time you take a shower, notice your moment-to-moment experience. As you get in the shower, try to slow down your movements and notice your immediate experience. You may notice the feel of the warm water, the smell of your favorite soap, the sensations as you wash your skin. Most likely your mind will quickly wander away from the present; your mind will not be in the shower, but focused rather on the future or the past. In mindfulness practice, we notice our experience, including the wanderings of the mind, accepting it all and returning again and again to the present moment.

Commitment

A strong commitment to the practice of mindfulness is essential. When an athlete is in training, she exercises even when she’s not in the mood, is tired, or is not making the progress she wants. This is the kind of commitment that is essential to make the life style changes that mindfulness practice requires. To paraphrase the athletic shoe commercial, “Just Do It, Mindfully”.

The attitude and expectation that you bring to practicing mindfulness is important as well. If you assume that “this is never going to work”, well, it probably won’t. You may not give it enough of a chance and then your experience will confirm your assumption. Conversely, with the idea that mindfulness is the “magic pill”, your expectations may be so high that you try too hard (which is antithetical to mindfulness), feel frustrated and quit. Bringing an open mind, some healthy skepticism, and persistence to your practice of mindfulness will be helpful.

Just as bringing an open mind to the practice of mindfulness is helpful, consciously cultivating certain attitudes can also help strengthen your commitment. The attitudes discussed below are an integral part of mindfulness; so, to intentionally foster those attitudes in yourself will strengthen your ability to be grounded in the present moment.

QUOTE - “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nonjudgment

Developing the ability to be an impartial witness to your own experience helps you cultivate mindfulness. To do that you must first become aware of the judgment in your mind. You don’t need to try to stop the judging process. However, when you notice judgment, let go of it, and remind yourself to just observe your experience.

People who begin practicing mindfulness are commonly amazed at the extent to which judgment permeates their thoughts. Some of the judgments are blatant, like “you’re so stupid” or “she’s so rude”. Other judgments are subtle, like “you should …” or “I don’t deserve that (compliment)” or “this will never work”.

However blatant or subtle, for many people the flow of judgment is near constant. See for yourself … for ten minutes notice the judgment in your thought process. What judgments did you make?

When a baby learns to walk there is a process in which she experiments and learns. She pulls herself up and falls. Then she stands for a while without support. Eventually steps are taken, one at a time, but it doesn’t happen all at once. We adults do not judge the baby’s process, in fact, we think it’s precious. If we could treat our own experience in this accepting way, we could more easily be in the moment.

Patience

Mindfulness is helped along by recognizing that sometimes things must unfold on their own. Cultivating patience can help us respect the natural process of events and refrain from detrimental interference.

Imagine the process of learning to play the guitar. It takes time to build callused fingertips, learn to play chords, and develop finger coordination. By understanding that this process has its own timing, you can experience the joy of learning.

The process of mindfulness has its own unfolding process too. Because we are not trained to be mindful, our minds wander from nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment. Being patient with your own mental process will help you continue practicing mindfulness. As you develop mindfulness, you learn to accept and release judgment of each moment. This, in turn, facilitates a deeper level of patience.

QUOTE - “Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?” Lao-Tzu, Tao-te-Ching

Beginner’s Mind

The next time you are around a baby, watch the child’s reaction if she sees a new toy for the first time. She would normally be curious about it; maybe display a look of amazement, a big smile or a baby squeal. As she gets older, the newness wears off because she formulates ideas about the object of her attention. This loss of curiosity, though a natural process, can rob her of the delight in learning more about what comes into her field of attention.

Seeing life with fresh eyes can help us see the richness of life. If we let our old perceptions and beliefs get in the way, we take every day experience for granted and lose the opportunity to learn from our experience. Cultivating a beginner’s mind helps us to be open to new possibilities and learn how our perceptions and attitudes influence our thinking. Notice the next time you eat a meal. If you think you already know what the food tastes like, you may missing out on really tasting your food. Try eating with a beginner’s mind and notice what it is like to eat your favorite food.

QUOTE - “What is needed is to learn afresh, to observe, and to discover for ourselves, the meaning of wholeness.” David Bohm

Trust

Consciously developing a sense of trust in yourself, your feelings, and that life is a beneficent mystery, is an integral part of mindfulness. The practice of mindfulness helps us cultivate an awareness of the vast internal resources we have. This in turn helps us to trust our intuition and emotions.

The next time you feel anxious, see if you can trust that your emotion is valid and important instead of listening to someone who might tell you that you shouldn’t feel that way.

Non-striving

In practicing mindfulness meditation, we stop doing everything except paying attention to our present-moment experience. Many people think of meditation as getting relaxed, or enlightened, or becoming a better person. That can happen, but if you strive toward these goals while meditating, it will only bring more tension and limit your experience.

The lessons learned during meditation can be applied to daily activities. Though our culture teaches constant striving and improvement, this can create dissatisfaction with the present moment and the tendency to try to force things to be different. If you are trying to get somewhere or to be someone different, then it implies that you are not okay right now. For example, if you are learning to play the guitar, forcing yourself to play the guitar beyond your current capabilities may only lead to frustration. Alternatively, if you focus on the present moment activity of playing instead of striving to be better than you are right now, you will probably learn more and find pleasure in the process.

QUOTE - The joy of non-doing is that nothing else needs to happen for this moment to be complete. Jon Kabat-Zinn

Acceptance

Acceptance of the present moment comes through seeing the moment for what it is. Whatever the present moment brings, it is here right now, so why not accept it? It does not mean that you have like it or that you take a passive attitude toward your circumstance. It just means seeing it clearly for what it is.

Intentionally fostering acceptance helps make living in the present moment possible. When we resist or deny what is real in the present moment, we use a lot of energy trying to force things to be another way, when, in that very moment, it just isn’t. Giving up that struggle and opening to the reality of the moment can help us redirect our energy to finding resourceful ways of handling the present moment and those to come.

In mindfulness meditation, we take each moment as it comes and remind ourselves to be open and receptive to whatever comes to our attention, accepting it because it is here right now.

QUOTE - “I exist as I am, that is enough.” Walt Whitman

Letting Go

If you pay attention to your inner experience for awhile, you will probably find that you have certain thoughts and feelings that your mind holds on to. The attachments you have, whether to thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, can unnecessarily limit your life. Worrying about something that you can’t change, is an example. Excessive worry about whether your child will be safe in this world will not make it happen. In fact, it may cause you to be overprotective and controlling. As a result, your child may not learn how to take care of herself.

In mindfulness meditation you can learn to observe your inner experience, notice thoughts and feelings and your tendency to hold on to and react to them. You can also learn to intentionally let go of thoughts, feelings and judgments and simply let things be exactly as they are in the moment.

QUOTE - “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” -Swami Satchitananda

If you want more information on the basics, you can refer to the Health and Spirit April/May, 1998 issue or the author at the Women’s Wellness Center at 713.522.7032.

Author Micki Fine is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher and founder of Mindful Living in Houston, Texas. She combines the practice of psychotherapy with teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to help individuals heal emotionally and physically, transform beliefs to live more fully and peacefully, and deal with stress in creative ways.
Phone: 713-522-7032
Email: micki@livingmindfully.org
Website: www.livingmindfully.org

Following the recall of more than half a billion commercially-produced eggs potentially tainted with salmonella, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now petitioning the U.S. Congress for more power and authority over food. Margaret Hamburg, FDA chief, recently pressed for laws to be enacted that would permit the agency to take a “preventive approach” in food safety endeavors.

According to reports and estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 1,300 people have been sickened by salmonella poisoning from eggs distributed by two mega-farms in Iowa, prompting a widespread egg recall. At this point, there are no reported deaths from the bacteria.

Ironically, the FDA already has the power and authority to regulate the food industry in a way that could have prevented this outbreak, but the agency has utterly failed to hold producers responsible for maintaining clean and safe facilities. For years, the FDA has permitted large commercial egg producers to run filthy operations without consequence.

Commercial egg production has continued to become more consolidated over the years as well. Many commercial flocks live in tighter, filthier conditions than they used to, which has caused more disease to spread. The two producers involved in the current egg recall, both of which operate egg production facilities that have been in violation of safety standards on numerous occasions, have been permitted to continue operating despite their atrocities.

“It’s a horrible story. It could have been prevented. Everybody knew it was a problem, and nobody was willing to take action,” explained Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University and author of several books on food safety and nutrition.

But instead of apologizing for its grave regulatory errors, the FDA actually had the audacity to ask for more power. The last thing the agency needs is more control. If anything, a massive reduction in FDA power is more fitting in light of the current dilemma.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/029570_egg_recall_FDA.html

Insomnia adversely affects the lives of millions of people every day. It does so by disrupting the circadian rhythm, which affects daytime performance and results in poor memory and concentration. If you have difficulty sleeping three nights a week or more, chances are you are suffering from insomnia.

A person may have insomnia when:

• They have trouble falling asleep at night.
• They wake up frequently during the night.
• They wake up unrested due to a poor quality of sleep.
• They are unable to fall asleep.

A common reason for not being able to fall asleep is not being able to shut off the mind. Peaceful and secure thoughts promote healthy sleep. Replacing unwanted stressful thoughts with meditation and visualization  helps the body to relax, resulting in a good night’s rest.

Forming new habits is a very important part of this process. The following suggestions may be instrumental in helping to get that much needed full night’s restful sleep:

• The bedroom should be used only for two purposes: Sleeping and intimacy. Other activities, such as watching television, reading, etc., should preferably take place in another room. Sometimes, because of our hectic households, we seek a place of quiet and solitude for these activities. In these instances, reading and watching television should be done from a chair, not the bed.
• Sleeping and waking time should be consistent. Set a specific time for going to sleep and waking up.
• Avoid naps, especially in the evening. Don’t fall asleep in that easy chair while watching television after work. If you feel as though you are getting drowsy, get up and pursue another activity until it is time to sleep.
• Take a relaxing hot bath before bedtime.
• The bedroom should be kept well ventilated, quiet, and dark.
• Avoid looking at the clock. It will only make you anxious - a reminder that time is ticking away.
• If sleep does not occur within 15 to 20 minutes of lying down, move into another room, making sure that the lighting is dim.

If trouble sleeping is the result of anxiety and tension, a cup of herbal tea will help to relax the body and the mind. Passionflower is a sedative used for anxiety, worry, and an overactive mind. Catnip is a gentle sedative. Chamomile eases tension and soothes the stomach. However, chamomile should not be taken if one is allergic to ragweed and prolonged consumption can lead to allergies.

Other herbs that promote sleep are valerian, hops and kava.

Herbal pillows can be a delightful way of promoting sleep. They can be purchased online, or at various health and herb stores. Another option is to make your own herbal pillows.

A simple pillow can be made by filling a 3 to 5 inch drawstring bag with the desired herbs and closing shut. For those who like to sew, you can make it more decorative. Fold a 5 x 12 inch cloth and stitch one side closed. Launder with a no fragrance detergent or fabric softener. Fill with cotton or fiberfill material, about a cotton ball size, add herbs, fold over the open side and stitch shut.

To Reduce Stress:

Mix one-half cup hops, one-half cup mugwort, and one-eighth cup sweet marjoram.

For a Restful Night’s Sleep:

Mix one-quarter cup lavender flowers, one-quarter cup mugwort, and one-quarter cup hops.

For nightmares:

Mix one-quarter cup rose petals, one-quarter cup rosemary, one-quarter cup lavender, and one-quarter cup hops.

Author: Luella May is a natural health advocate helping people to heal naturally.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/029553_insomnia_rhythm.html

We notice that every now and then the question “Who am I?” awakens in us. It can come in moments of great shock or suffering; it can also come in moments of true wonder and joy; or it can arise as a result of the conscious efforts we make in our lives to live more honestly. Sometimes it just seems to arise by itself, as a gift from the unknown.

When the question does arise in a serious way, one way to support its flowering is to check in on your breathing and allow your awareness to move inward with your breath—to begin to experience yourself as a breathing being. The process of breathing is a living metaphor for understanding how to expand our narrow sense of ourselves and be present not just to the miraculous energies of life that are both in and around us but also to the deep silence and spaciousness out of which these energies arise. By checking in on your breathing, by noticing all the inner and outer movements of your breath as they take place, you are actually getting in touch with a deeper, more-conscious dimension of your own being.

Allowing your breath to take you deeper inside yourself, however, takes practice. So check in on your breathing right now. Allow all the sensations of your breath, all the internal and external movements related to how you are breathing now, to enter your awareness. See if you can discover a quiet, non-judgmental place in yourself from which you can discern which parts of your body your breathing engages. Just be aware, without any attempt to manipulate your breathing, of what your breath feels like and how this awareness influences your sensation of yourself. How do you feel right now? What, if any, new perceptions are arising? Without coming to any conclusions, what does this experience tell you about who you are? And, perhaps even more important, who or what is aware of all this? Who or what is able to see and listen to what is actually happening?

As you continue to explore yourself in this way, you may notice, though it will probably seem somewhat uncomfortable at the beginning, that the question “Who am I,” a heart-felt question that opens you to the unknown, releases, at least temporarily, the constricting egoic prison of habitual thoughts, beliefs, feelings, perceptions, and sensations that you identify with and take to be yourself. And, if you remain quietly alert, simply following the many movements of your breath, you may notice the precise moment when identification with your ego consciousness—your self-image—returns again, instantaneously shutting out any sense of the unknown. It usually comes in the form of mental or emotional judgments, such as “I’ve done this long enough,” “I think this is silly,” “I’m not learning anything new,” “I’ve got something very important to do now,” and so on. In the name of what you refer to as “I,” all exploration ceases. Catching a glimpse of this process of identification (or attachment) is a moment of real freedom. And once you have seen your own form of identification clearly, and allowed the significance of your inner slavery to your thoughts and emotions to penetrate into your consciousness, you will begin to notice “identification” more and more often in your life. It is this “noticing” that will help you awaken to your real nature—pure welcoming awareness, pure love.

By Dennis Lewis
Based on his many years of exploration in the Gurdjieff Work, Advaita Vedanta, Taoism, and chi kung (qigong), Lewis believes that the work of self-knowledge and self-transformation is a work that requires the participation of our whole being—body, emotions, mind, and, especially, consciousness.
Source: http://www.authentic-breathing.com/

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the swine flu pandemic officially over on August 9th. The swine flu, which we were warned would kill millions, if not tens of millions of people, turned out to be a complete “dud” as far as pandemics go, but health agencies and governments around the world still managed to create massive fear of this hybrid flu virus.

And, of course, vaccine makers made millions off their novel H1N1 vaccines.

For those in the southern hemisphere, like Australia, the flu season has already begun, and the health hazards of this year’s seasonal trivalent vaccine have already become evident.

For the rest of you, the flu season is nearing, and another round of advertisements for flu vaccines are about to hit the media.

Summary of a Failed Pandemic

Last year the United States contracted for the manufacture of over 170 million doses of swine flu vaccine. Probably the most significant accomplishment of this website was that we were able to contribute to the fact that only 90 million doses were used in the United States.

Armed with the facts, less than one-third of the US population fell for the fear mongering.

It quickly became very clear that this was in fact a very mild disease that was not going to kill people in large numbers. Yet the projected number of casualties in the US alone was declared to be between 60,000 to 90,000! And the campaign to hype up the fear and force the untested, unproven pandemic vaccine on the masses through any means reached previously unheard of proportions.

Within a week of Australia reporting that the virus appeared to be 40 times less lethal than originally feared, the WHO instructed countries to simply stop lab confirming suspected H1N1 cases, which meant that any and all flu-like symptoms were reported as pandemic influenza, padding the statistics.

STILL, despite this misrepresentation of the facts, last year’s flu season turned out to be one of the mildest in recent years!

Since 2003, the official government statistic on flu deaths has been an average of 36,000 deaths per year (although as previously reported, this number is also far from the truth as it includes pneumonia deaths, which account for most of these deaths), but last year the CDC reported only 12,000 flu deaths – a mere one-third of the average!

These cases were also not serologically confirmed to be influenza, but included pneumonia and other flu-like illness, which means the actual number of people who died as a direct result of the flu – let alone H1N1 — was even lower than that.

See, whenever you see flu mortality statistics, you need to beware that the number includes secondary respiratory complications such as pneumonia, which may or may not have been preceded by a bout of flu. This is sort of a catchall category that has been conveniently ascribed to influenza when, oftentimes, that’s just the precipitating trigger.

Now, typically, one of the common mechanisms of death as you get older is respiratory infections. The influenza doesn’t actually kill the person, the secondary pneumonia does, and it does so because their immune system is too compromised, whether due to age or underlying poor health.

Either way, the fact that last season’s flu mortality statistic was a mere one-third of the average should serve as a valuable eye-opener to anyone who may still be panicking at the mere thought of the H1N1 swine flu.

Key WHO Pandemic Advisors had Financial Ties to Vaccine Makers

This was perhaps suspected, but when the World Health Organization finally released a list of its pandemic advisors, it finally confirmed that at least five of the key players who influenced the phase six pandemic declaration indeed had financial ties to vaccine makers.

As we now know, our tax dollars were completely wasted on these nonessential pandemic vaccines, and it appears as though financial conflicts of interest between WHO pandemic advisors and the industry may have had a great deal to do with it.

Is it really wise to take advice from people who have a financial stake in the outcome of the decision to declare a worldwide pandemic?

I think recent history tells us the answer is clearly NO!

On June 24th, the European Parliamentary Assembly criticized the lack of transparency and “grave shortcomings” in the decision-making processes relating to the pandemic, stating:

“The Parliamentary Assembly is alarmed about the way in which the H1N1 influenza pandemic has been handled, not only by the World Health Organization (WHO) but also by the competent health authorities at the level of the European Union and at national level.

It is particularly troubled by some of the consequences of decisions taken and advice given leading to distortion of priorities of public health services across Europe, waste of large sums of public money and also unjustified scares and fears about health risks faced by the European public at large.

The Assembly notes that grave shortcomings have been identified regarding the transparency of decision-making processes relating to the pandemic which have generated concerns about the possible influence of the pharmaceutical industry on some of the major decisions relating to the pandemic.”

They also remarked that:

“In Recommendation 1908 (2010) on lobbying in a democratic society (European Code of conduct on lobbying), the Assembly noted that unregulated or secret lobbying may be a danger and can undermine democratic principles and good governance.”

I believe the swine flu pandemic of 2009 was a perfect example of just how devastating such ‘secret lobbying’ can be.

Flu Vaccine Does Not Prevent Death in Elderly, CDC Director Admits

Clearly, what the pharmaceutical industry would love for you to believe is that the flu vaccine is going to somehow magically protect you from dying from the flu, when in fact the evidence couldn’t be more clear — It doesn’t work at all in the elderly! And the data is flimsy at best when it comes to children and adults.

In fact, in April, Michael Osterholm, director of the national Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), publicly admitted that flu shots don’t work in the elderly.

We also know the flu vaccine is fraught with side effects and health complications, so many people are literally receiving zero benefit and all risk when getting this vaccine!

There is a massive attempt to defraud and deceive people to generate profits from flu vaccines. Fortunately, we are able to penetrate this veil of misinformation, as we did so effectively last year. And this year, we want to start early by warning people about the new plan…

WARING: This Year’s Flu Plan

The news for this year is that the flu vaccine you’ll get this fall will be a combination vaccine that contains both the regular flu- and the swine flu vaccines – you will not be given the choice to take them individually.

Barbara Loe Fisher explains:

“In February of 2009, the CDC announced that every single American from the age of 6 months through the year of death should get an annual flu shot — every single one of us, whether we’re healthy or we’re sick.

In March of 2009, this mysterious H1N1 bird-pig-human hybrid influenza virus was discovered.

So here we are… Everyone is supposed to get a flu shot every year. We’re going into the flu season of 2010-2011…. [But] they have decided that in the annual influenza shot for this year, there will be three type A or type B viruses, and one will be H1N1.”

This is the same type of vaccine that Australia recently suspended for use in children under the age of five because it caused a surprisingly high number of reports of children suffering high fevers, vomiting and febrile convulsions.

But children aren’t the only group that seem to react more violently to the trivalent vaccine that contains the H1N1 component.

A special government committee has been created to investigate last year’s H1N1 monovalent vaccine for signs that it may be associated with a higher rate of certain kinds of reactions. What the committee found out provisionally is that there were three signs of trouble with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine used last year.

Fisher explains:

“One was Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which we know has been associated with influenza vaccine since 1976 when the first swine flu vaccine was used. There is [also] a sign of a blood disorder called thrombocytopenia. Thrombocytopenia is when your blood cannot produce enough platelets. It’s an autoimmune type reaction.

The other is Bell’s palsy. That’s a facial paralysis. It’s a neuroimmune reaction.

The government is saying they don’t know if these are true signals or not, but there were some red flags that were raised.”

So now we’re moving into the 2010-2011 flu season with a vaccine that may be very reactive.

“I am concerned,” Fisher says, “We have over 300 million people [in the US] which… are supposed to get this influenza vaccine. And we have a very aggressive push by the media and others who are following the lead of the government, so we could have a bad situation.”

Flu Vaccine Doesn’t Work for Seniors, So Their Dose is Quadrupled!

For seniors, the news may be even more dire.

When H1N1 first hit last year, the CDC explained that seniors weren’t included in the first round of shots because studies indicated the risk of infection in this age group was less than for younger groups.

But now that H1N1 is part of the seasonal shot, the CDC and WHO have some hefty plans for the same seniors who, last year, they said were less likely to get H1N1.

In the ACIP Provisional Recommendations for the Use of Influenza Vaccines, dated February 24, it states:

“A higher dose formulation of an inactivated seasonal influenza vaccine (Fluzone High-Dose, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur, licensed by FDA on December 23, 2009) for use in people age 65 years and older will be available in the 2010-11 influenza season.

“Fluzone High-Dose contains four times the amount of influenza antigen compared to other inactivated seasonal influenza vaccines. …

Studies are underway to assess the relative effectiveness of Fluzone High-Dose compared to standard dose inactivated influenza vaccine, but results from those studies will not be available before the 2010-11 influenza season.” [Emphasis mine.]

Yes, you read that right: if you’re age 65 or older, the CDC wants you to take a flu vaccine this fall that not only contains an antigen they previously said you probably already have antibodies to (H1N1), but that is also four times as potent, with no safety evaluation whatsoever until AFTER the season is underway!

Again, the CDC is asking you to be a part of a large public health experiment.

This is why we’re warning you early, because for the most part, none of this is really known. It’s not been announced. It certainly has not received widespread publicity.

Another mind-bending irony is that unused or expired flu vaccines that contain the mercury preservative thimerosal can by law not be disposed of in regular garbage because it’s considered hazardous waste.

Yet it’s deemed to be safe to inject into your body – in the case of the flu vaccine, once a year, each and every year of your life!

Is the Vaccine Safe for Pregnant Women? Nobody Knows!

We now have the policy in place that every single American is supposed to get a flu shot this coming year, from six months of age through the year of death. That means every clinic; every doctor who has that flu vaccine is going to be pushing hard for it. Even in pregnant women.

“I am very concerned about the issue of pregnant women getting influenza shots, particularly this one,” Fisher says. “We don’t have enough scientific studies that have looked at the effects of giving influenza vaccine, particularly this H1N1 vaccine, to pregnant women.

Last summer the NIH announced that they were doing studies in children, adults and in pregnant women with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine. About 120 pregnant women were supposed to be enrolled in a study in early September… We have yet to see any announcement of what the results of those studies were.”

I agree. It’s shocking to think that pregnant women are advised to take a vaccine that has no scientific backing for its safety for either the mother or the unborn child.

Cradle to Grave Approach to Flu Vaccine – Is it Wise?

Fisher says:

“I think that we really need to take a hard look at this cradle to grave approach for influenza vaccine. We have to certainly demand that the proper scientific studies be done.

For those people who want to use influenza vaccine, they deserve no less. But we certainly shouldn’t be in the business of mandating the use of influenza vaccine in this country. It seems like every single time the CDC recommends a vaccine for universal use by children, and now by adults, there is this issue of whether or not it should be required.

I am very concerned about that because we should all have the right to make free choices about the kind of healthcare we want, and the kind of products that we want to use, and that should go for vaccines as well.”

Remember that products like vaccines that contain additives like mercury and aluminum can cause brain damage, or even death. If you happen to have certain genetics or biological high risk factors that put you at greater risk than others for suffering vaccine induced harm, you’re out of luck…

There’s also the issue of contamination, such as the rotavirus vaccine that was recently found to contain potentially dangerous pig viral DNA.

In truth, we have no understanding of what the acute implications are, let alone the long-term ramifications to the second and third generations.

Fortunately, we fought back and the H1N1 vaccine was not made mandatory last year. That was a major victory for the freedom to choose. So now, I encourage you to spread the word, to get educated, and to let your friends and relatives know about the flu plan for this year because they are not going to hear this from the conventional media.

In order to make an informed choice, you need to have the facts of what you’re up against; including all the risks and the benefits.

Your involvement can play a huge role in preserving you and your family’s freedom and protecting innocent children from undue harm. Let’s make sure that we are never in a position where we are forced to get an influenza vaccine that has not been proven safe, effective, or necessary.

One More Time – Vitamin D to the Rescue

I’ve written about the benefits of vitamin D to ward off the flu in the past, and I’m pleased to announce that more and more studies about how Vitamin D can prevent infections, disease, and flu are coming out.

For example, if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant, you’ll be pleased to know that an article published May 1 in the American Academy of Pediatrics News recommends pregnant women take 4,000 IUs of Vitamin D daily to fight infection and disease, to maintain good health, and to deliver healthier, stronger babies.

But even this seemingly large amount may be seriously inadequate in many women. Some may need more than 10,000 units per day and the only way to know for sure is to have your vitamin D level tested.

Then, take a look at this Japanese study from last year, which showed that a group of children taking Vitamin D3 was 58 percent less likely to catch influenza A. That’s a higher effectiveness than any flu vaccine can claim, and doesn’t come with a barrage of potentially devastating side effects!

Since we already know that most children and teenagers are Vitamin D-deficient, I urge you to get your children’s vitamin D levels tested, and if found deficient, follow my recommendations for optimizing their levels. Do this, and they’ll be far less likely to catch any cold or flu this year.

Author: Dr. Mercola
 www.mercola.com

Corporate Accountability International has launched a campaign urging McDonald’s to “retire” its famous mascot, the clown Ronald McDonald.

“It’s time to send Ronald McDonald to join Joe Camel in the retirement home of marketing icons, where he hopefully will never be heard from again,” writes Michele Simon, author of Appetite for Profit, in the forward to the group’s “Retire Ronald” report.

Ronald McDonald was introduced as a marketing mascot in 1963, in one of the first attempts in history to market directly to children. McDonald’s has pursued this strategy aggressively ever since, and today spends roughly 40 percent of its massive publicity budget on ads aimed at kids — not even counting money spent to persuade parents that McDonald’s food is not unhealthy for children.

McDonald’s also uses Ronald McDonald in many of its educational and charitable campaigns, including nutrition education programs in schools. According to former CEO Fred Turner, the company adopted this strategy “for very selfish reasons. It was probably 99 percent commercial. It was an inexpensive and imaginative way of getting your name before the public and building a reputation to offset the image of selling 15-cent hamburgers.”

But given that unhealthy food like that sold by McDonald’s has been strongly linked to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and slew of other health problems, even many of those who look fondly on McDonald’s and its clown mascot see Ronald McDonald as the food equivalent of the tobacco industry’s Joe Camel. According to a 2010 poll by Corporate Accountability International, 47 percent of U.S. residents support a call to retire Ronald McDonald. This number holds steady even among those with favorable opinions about the clown and the corporation.

The group is calling on McDonald’s to end all use of Ronald McDonald and other cartoons, celebrities or characters that appeal to children; remove all toys and other incentives from happy meals; and remove all advertising from areas frequented by children.

Sources for this story include: http://retireronald.org and http://www.naturalnews.com/.

A report issued on April 18, 2007, by Prevent Blindness America estimates the costs associated with adult vision problems in the United States at a staggering $51.4 billion.

According to Richard Wallingford, OD, President of the American Optometric Association (AOA), approximately 25 percent of all school-aged children have vision problems.

“Sixty percent of people aged 65 and over nationwide have cataracts, and that (percentage) increases with age,” says John Ciccone, Director of Communications for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Fairfax, VA.

These numbers are an indication of the enormity of the problem of vision deterioration.  I’ve heard estimates that more than 80% of the population in the USA has vision problems.  Our eyesight challenges seem to be getting worse, not better, despite well over 32,000 optometrists currently in practice in the United States alone (as per information on the AOA website).  What is wrong with this picture?!?

Optometrists advise us to have regular, preferably annual, eye exams, so they can prescribe compensating lenses at the earliest sign of vision deterioration.  However, the obvious tendency is for vision to get worse, not better, when glasses or contacts are worn.  Glasses are a nuisance, contacts are not much better, and in general most users of compensating lenses are not satisfied with having to use these crutches for the rest of their lives.  Out of despair, people turn to laser operations in large numbers, while cataract sufferers wait for the ‘ripening’ of their cataracts so they can have lens replacement surgery.

Is there another option?  Is there a natural approach to solving these many vision challenges?  Is there a solution without associated risks or nasty side-effects?

Happily, the answer is a resounding YES.  Dr William H Bates, MD, an ophthalmologist from New York (1860-1931), discovered that eye strain is the major cause of vision deterioration and he set out to find the solution.  He concluded that the tension on the muscles around the eyes could be released by simple relaxation techniques, and that applying these techniques resulted in a speedy return to clear vision for most people.  His techniques are still taught today and are known as ‘The Bates Method’.  The key to reducing the cost and number of vision problems IS available, and the side effects are pleasant: clearer vision, better color perception, increased depth perception, reduction or elimination of headaches, improved memory, and more.

Over the years, the Bates Method has been misunderstood and it is sometimes interpreted as a series of eye exercises.  This is unfortunate, as the essence of the method has nothing to do with exercises; it is all about relaxation.

Attempting to cure eye strain with eye exercises is like trying to run a mile with strained calf muscles; it is likely to be counter-productive.  The smarter idea is to release the strain on the muscles first, and if you then want to do exercises…well, go ahead, enjoy.  You will notice, however, that people with clear vision do not do eye exercises.  They have no reason to.  After releasing the eye strain, the vision clears up naturally; and, there will be no need for eye exercises.  In order to be healthy, the eyes simply need to be used in a relaxed, effortless way all day long.

Anyone who is dissatisfied with their current level of visual blur or who is frustrated with the need for compensating lenses will be happy to know that it is possible to return to clear vision naturally.  The first step to reaching that goal is to become aware of how you currently use your eyes.  Do you tend to squint or stare?  Or do you effortlessly blink and let your eyes move freely?  Do you tend to reach for sunglasses the moment you step outside or are your eyes comfortable with bright light?  Squinting, staring and light sensitivity are indications of eye strain.

Regular, easy blinking; eyes that happily move rapidly and freely; and the ability of the eyes to be comfortable in bright sunlight are signs of relaxed healthy vision.  To go from strained vision habits to relaxed vision habits requires an awareness of how the eyes are used, and continually applying relaxed vision habits in place of the old strained habits.  It is not possible to predict how long it will take to return to 20/20 or better vision, but the good news is that it usually takes much less time to return to clarity than it took to reach your current level of blurry vision!

For guidance on how to return to a relaxed way of seeing, and to free yourself from the burden of glasses, contact lenses, or the risks of surgery, contact an experienced Bates Method teacher.  You too can begin and enjoy your path to clarity.

Copyright Esther Joy van der Werf, 2007.

Esther Joy van der Werf loves to help people regain good eyesight in a relaxed effortless way.  She is a certified teacher of the Bates Method and has been teaching Natural Eyesight Improvement since 2000.  Esther improved her own eyesight from 20/50 to 20/20 in two weeks, and progressed to 20/15 in just a few months.  Originally from The Netherlands, she has taught classes throughout the USA and in Europe.  She currently lives in Ojai, CA.  Visit her informative website at www.VisionsOfJoy.org

Good day,

Just to let everyone know, there was a widespread hack against the entire hosting company Media Temple.  It was not specific to our site but it did affect us for a few days.  We now have everything cleaned up and we are back in business with improved defenses.

Be well,

Jeff Strand
Publisher/Editor
Natural Communities

We already know that cloned beef has entered the food supply both in the United States and the UK. Now, thanks to revelations from JR Simplot, a U.S. company specializing in the cloning of cows for beef production, we’re learning that dead cows are cloned to produce the next generation of beef cattle.

Here’s how it works: A large number of cows are slaughtered and then chopped into steaks that are tested for their flavor, texture and other qualities important to steak eaters. The source animal of each steak is recorded, and cells from that source carcass are preserved for possible cloning in case the steak turns out to taste good. Once all the steaks are gauged for their desirability, the dead cow carcasses from which the flesh was cut to produce the steaks are harvested for their DNA.

This DNA is then used to clone new cows who are fed, raised and slaughtered to see how their flesh steaks taste. This cycle is repeated through multiple generations in order to “evolve” cow clones with great-tasting flesh.

“The animals are hanging on a rail ready to go to the meat counter,” JR Simplot employee Brady Hicks (yes, that’s his real name) told BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-e…). “We identify carcasses that have certain carcass characteristics that we want, but it’s too late to reproduce the genetics of the animal. But through cloning we can resurrect that animal.”

This “bovine resurrection,” it turns out, is just the latest mad science idea from an industry that recognizes no value in the life of a cow but tremendous value from its dead carcass.

Frankenfood beef
The upshot of all this is that the beef people are buying and eating in the US and UK right now could be from cow clones raised from the dead carcasses of other cows whose DNA were harvested for cloning. Yep: Only in the food industry do you see this sort of Frankenstein science — trying to create life from dead body parts through a process they call “resurrection”… and then serving up Frankenfoods to consumers.

Of course, by the time a thousand cow carcasses are all ground up, mixed together, extruded, irradiated and packaged, no one can tell where the beef actually come from… or even if it was cloned in the first place. Slap a greasy patty of cloned beef between two hamburger buns at a fast food joint and no one is the wiser.

That’s sort of the point, actually: The beef industry knows that people don’t really have much of a clue where their beef comes from — and they don’t want to know! So even if beef comes from cloned animals raised from the harvested DNA of dead cow carcasses, the average consumer remains clueless.

The high price of low cost
The goal of the beef industry is to create the best-tasting beef in the world at the lowest cost possible. Period.

There is no consideration in the industry for the experience of the cow, nor the ethics of playing God with bovine DNA, nor compassion for the suffering of these animals when they are slaughtered, nor the impact of factory farming on the environment. It’s all about corporate profits at the expense of the cows who are born, bred, cloned and slaughtered merely to produce another quarter-pounder that ratchets up another dime in profits for the beef factories.

If you haven’t yet seen The Meatrix, be sure to check it out: www.TheMeatrix.com

Think about that the next time you dare to buy anything made from cow parts. You may be buying Franken-cow beef originating from the “resurrected” DNA of a bovine carcass.

By the way, very few American consumers know the truth about this. They have no idea cows are being cloned from dead carcasses to create cloned beef that the FDA has already declared to be “safe” for the food supply. To help spread the word, please share this story using the Facebook or Twitter buttons above. People need to know the truth about what’s really going into their foods.

Whole Foods, by the way, has banned cloned meat products in its stores. So if you do eat beef, you can safely shop for it at Whole Foods without encountering cloned beef. Of course, you’d probably be better off with a predominantly plant-based diet, but that’s another article altogether.

Cloned beef will NOT be labeled as “cloned” in the USA. So there’s no way to know whether conventional beef you’re buying at the grocery stores (or eating at a restaurant) actually contains cloned beef. The industry will lobby hard to avoid honest labeling in much the same way that the GMO industry doesn’t want foods labeled as “genetically modified.”

There’s one thing we all know for sure: The beef industry prefers to keep consumers in the dark about where all that beef really comes from.

Author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world.

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/029487_cloned_beef_DNA.html

Non-Organic Cosmetics…

10. Fuel Oil Addiction

• There’s an oil spill leaking from U.S. bathrooms that’s roughly the same size as the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s coming from the petrochemical-based cosmetics we’re rubbing into our hair and skin and rinsing down the drain.

9. Spawn Superbugs

• The widespread use of products containing the antibacterial agent triclosan is promoting the growth of dangerous superbugs.
• The use of nanosilver will also lead to the development of antibiotic resistance among harmful bacteria.

8. Unleash Biocides

• Nanosilver is a powerful biocide that can kill beneficial bacteria in the environment, especially in soil and water, creating an unacceptable toxicity risk to human health and the environment.
• Biocidal nanosilver threatens bacteria-dependent natural processes. Beneficial bacteria are of vital importance to soil, plant and animal health. Soil bacteria fix nitrogen and breakdown organic matter. Denitrification bacteria play an important role in keeping waterways clean by removing nitrates from water contaminated by excessive fertilizer use. Bacteria in our guts allow humans and animals to digest food.

7. Make Drinking Water Deadly

• Triclosan can react with chlorine in the tap water to create the carcinogen chloroform.
• When sunlight is added to the already toxic triclosan-chlorine mix, dioxins are formed.
• Dioxins are highly toxic persistent environmental pollutants that can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.
• Common household products such as shampoo can interact with disinfectants at U.S. wastewater treatment plants to form cancer-causing nitrosamines, which end up in drinking water.

6. Make Us Fat

• Exposure to phthalates, endocrine disrupting chemicals found in perfumes, nail polish and other cosmetics, is linked to childhood obesity.

5. Speed Up Puberty

• As girls are showing signs of puberty at younger and younger ages, researchers are beginning to examine the link between cosmetics ingredients that mimic the effect of estrogen and premature puberty.
• Girls younger than 10 with early onset puberty show a high rate of exposure to endocrine disruptors found in nail polishes and other cosmetics.
• Phthalates, triclosan, musks and parabens are all known to alter the hormone system.

4. Increase Infertility

• According to a report on the health risks of secret ingredients in fragrance, hormone-disrupting chemicals commonly found in perfumes may be a factor in infertility, which increased by 20 percent in American couples between 1995 and 2002.

3. Cause Birth Defects

• Nail salon workers exposed to solvents without proper ventilation, face an increased risk for miscarriages and birth defects similar to fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Endocrine disruptors have been implicated in birth defects of the male reproductive system, such as undescended testicles and a penile deformity called hypospadias. Incidence of both conditions appears to have risen in recent decades.
• Pregnant women with higher levels of phthalates commonly found in fragrances, shampoos, cosmetics and nail polishes are more likely to have children who display disruptive behavior years later.

2. Give Us Cancer

• The President’s Cancer Panel warns that nitrosamines found in cosmetics are implicated in brain & kidney cancer, phthalates found in cosmetics, hair conditioners, and fragrances, increase the risks of breast and testicular cancer, and nanomaterials found in cosmetics, personal care products and suncreens “can be extremely toxic.”
• 22% of all personal care products are contaminated with the cancer-causing impurity 1,4-dioxane, including many children’s products.

1. Aren’t Regulated or Safety Tested

• The Food and Drug Administration has no authority to make cosmetics companies test products for safety or recall products that are found to be harmful.
• The President’s Cancer Panel recommends research on toxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals in personal care products and cosmetics, noting that only 11 percent of the ingredients in these products have been tested for safety.

By Ronnie Cummins
 http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21394.cfm