This Blog is for those participating in the current “Yoga Teacher Training” at Heart Center Therapy. Please feel free to leave you comments, questions, sharings, and thoughts!  We will check it as much as we can to reply and post back!

Blessings!

HCT & Inti-Yoga

In fibromyalgia the nervous system has become overloaded and the cellular structure becomes both inflamed and stagnant.  The inflamed cells create tremendous amounts of pain within the body, while the stagnant cells create fatigue and flue-like symptoms of lethargy and achiness.

Energy Healing Massage uses a variety of very gentle healing therapies to calm the nervous system and relax the body.  The Energy Healing and Cranio-Sacral component of these sessions sends a ultra-violet heat and/or cool through the healer’s hands to the client with the intention of rebalancing the internal temperature of the cells.  Once the temperature is regulated, the cell may then begin to regain its homeostasis, or natural functionality.  The Acupressure and Massage Therapy component of these sessions uses very specific points on the body to stimulate the internal organs and immune system into action creating a relaxation of the overly stimulated nervous system.

Many times the fibromyalgia also holds an emotional component of grief and/or sadness held in the body tissues.  The Energy Healing Massage supports the gentle release of this pent up grief and allows the client to move forward with joy.

Please pass this information on to anyone you know suffering from fibromyalgia.  We have great success stories when my clients work with myself and my naturopathic herbal doctor.

Article By:
Sheri Gilburth

Whenever I talk to people about Nondual Healing (formerly called, Integrated Kabbalistic Healing or IKH), I am always asked, “What is it?” and “How does it work?”  To state it simply, Nondual Healing works with a person to reach the core of their own truth and how they want to “be” in this life so they can fully “co-create” their lives by healing whatever they need to heal whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.

As human beings, we live on a planet where duality exists.  Opposites such as “good” and “evil” are here.  We all experience struggles in life related to relationships, money, work, addictions, illness, self-expression, and knowing our purpose.  We don’t often understand why bad things happen and how to face this startling reality.  And, yet we continue our journey through life despite what we go through “creating.”  We can all agree that change is the one thing that is constant here on Earth!  It’s how we navigate the change that is important to living our truth!

We have all experienced feelings such as anger, sadness, happiness, frustration, and greed to name a few.  Some feelings are pushed away from us because they are too unpleasant to feel.  We “cut off” from certain feelings because we are taught NOT to feel them, and a judgment value is placed on those feelings, especially the ones we identify with as “bad.”  Much of this cutting off of feelings occurs in childhood even though this serves us well in childhood.  In childhood, we have others telling us how to live and defining our truth because we are not old enough or wise enough to navigate life own our own.  We store all of our beliefs (and feelings) in our bodies, minds, and spirits.  These beliefs have a profound effect on us as we grow into adulthood.  Familial lineage (genetics) patterning is also stored in our bodies.

The storing of our “false truths” related to memories, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and patterns in our bodies does not allow us to fully be who we are meant to be.  And, in adulthood, we may find ourselves feeling stuck, unhappy, and feeling “let down” by life.  We may repeat unhealthy patterns; we may struggle with what we are doing for a living; or, we may be struggling with life questions such as “purpose.”  The Nondual Healing approach can assist people in working through life’s struggles and free us into “wholeness” or heals us into living our own truths.  Healing can occur on all levels – emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical.

Here is how a typical session works:  A client brings any life struggle (or struggles) into my healing room to discuss for about 45 minutes.  As a client talks about the struggle (or struggles) I go through a diagnostic process to feel into their struggle relating to the nature of my own struggles as a human being.  As we explore their struggle together, I drop deeper and deeper into the struggle with them and eventually land on a healing that serves them best in the moment.  After about 45 minutes, my client usually lays on my healing table, and I place a hand on their shoulder and the other one on their knee.  I then hold a meditative state around their struggle or struggles for about 10 to 15 minutes.  The session ends!

I became a Nondual Healing Practitioner because I didn’t resonate with traditional psycho-therapy or counseling as a way of working with my own personal struggles.  I felt more “met” as a human being by working with a Nondual Healer, and I have received my greatest healings in doing this work.  The Nondual Healing approach has been a three-year journey for me to become certified to work with people.  I completed a fourth year of graduate studies, and I participate in monthly supervision to deepen my skills as a Nondual Healing Practitioner.

Nondual healing draws from components of Buddhism, Kabbalistic teachings, quantum physics, and 20^th century psychology.  To learn more visit www.kabbalah.org.  To learn more about me go to www.heartcentertherapy.com

In deep gratitude…Jan Mitchell

When you think of massage, you probably think of relaxing the physical tension from your muscles and joints.  What if a massage session could also relax your mind, and heart while recharging your love of life??  Heart Center Therapy’s massage therapist, Sheri Gilburth, ads special healing work to her massage sessions in order to create a balance and reconnection of the mind, body, and heart space in her clients.  Sheri is trained and certified in reiki mastery healing and teaching, pranic healing, alchemical hypnotherapy, and shamanic healing.  With these trainings, Sheri is able to send ultra-violet high frequency vibrations through her hands.  These vibrations flow into the client’s places of physical, emotional, and/or mental stress in order to release tension, and create a peaceful state of being.  The combination of massage therapy and energy work gives the client a safe healing space to let go of all tension and stress and regain focus, courage, and joy.

Energy Healing Massage Helps:

Worry and Stress

Fatigue

Depression/Anxiety

Cancer Patients and/or Chemo Recovery

Fibromyalgia

Caregivers such as Nurses and Mothers

ADD/ADHD

Diabetes

Blood Pressure Concerns

Support Through Life Transitions such as Career Change, Divorce, College Transitioning

Insomnia/Sleep Problems

Chronic Physical Pain

Pre and Post Surgery

Eating Disorders and/or Digestive Problems

Grief and/or Loss of Loved Ones

And much more….

Contact Sheri: 404-357-0424, Sheri@heartcentertherapy.com www.heartcentertherapy.com

Article by Sheri Gilburth

[Excerpt from Paul Dong's book, Chi Gong: The Ancient Chinese Way to Health, Paul Dong and Aristide H. Esser, 1990, Marlowe and Company]

Haughtiness invites ruin; humility receives benefits.
-I Ching (The Book of Changes)

Paul Dong has a personal interest in the effect of chi gong on cancer which he explains as follows:

Because several of my relatives and friends died of cancer, I always felt particularly fearful of cancer. When I came across a Chinese book on five chi gong exercise techniques and discovered that chi gong can cure cancer, I became highly interested and started collecting materials on this subject. I also went to China in 1984 to see for myself, and found that it is definitely true that chi gong is being used to cure cancer. In the eleven years since 1979, the Chinese have cured hundreds of cancer victims through chi gong, and thousands upon thousands have used chi gong to achieve improvement and to prolong their lives. When news of this spread outside China, many medical professionals from other countries came to mainland China to observe. Members of the staff at Harvard Medical School have shown great interest in this area and have been to China twice to observe the practice. According to the article “Cancer Does Not Mean Death” by Ke Yan,1 an American oncologist (the article doesn’t give the doctor’s name) visited China and requested an interview with the pioneer of chi gong cancer treatment, Mrs. Guo Lin (1906-1984). Guo Lin said, “Even if I tell you about it, you wouldn’t believe me. You’d better find a patient of mine to talk to.” The oncologist found quite a few of her patients in the Beijing district chi gong cancer class, spent four days talking with them, and saw the facts for himself

Doctors have taken two contrasting approaches to cancer. The first approach is to consider the cancer to be an isolated condition localized at one spot in the body and to attack it directly using chemicals, surgery, or radiation. The second approach, which is gaining more and more prominence today, is to consider the condition of the whole person as the environment for the cancer, and to strengthen the body’s resistance to cancer. This may come under the modem heading of psychoneuroimmunology (discussed in chapter 13) and relies on many factors, including exercise, diet, and mental imaging to combat the disease. Chi gong is part of this second approach.

The use of chi gong cancer treatment in China originated with Ms. Guo Lin, a Chinese traditional painter, mentioned above. In 1949, she was afflicted with uterine cancer and had it removed by surgery in Shanghai. The cancer recurred in 1960. This time it had metastasized to the bladder, and she had another operation in Beijing to remove part of the bladder that was cancerous. When she had another relapse, the doctors gave her six months to live. However, she did not give up hope, and in her struggle against cancer, she remembered that her grandfather, a Taoist priest, had taught her as a child to practice chi gong. She determinedly began to research and practice chi gong, hoping to recover her health in this way. After initial practice with no effect, she turned to the ancient chi gong texts willed to her by her grandfather and created her own exercise schedule. She practiced diligently for two hours every day, and in half a year her cancer subsided. She was strongly convinced of chi gong’s ability to cure diseases, and in 1970 started giving lessons in what she called New Chi Gong Therapy. According to Cyrus Lee, Master Guo’s therapy is not based on the external energy (wei chi) of others, but upon the inner energy (nei chi) of the patient (for these distinctions, review chapter 1, “Special Section on Chi”). Her therapy combines “active and passive exercises in three stages: relaxation (sung jing), concentration (yi lian), and breathing (tiao hsi).”2

By 1977 Master Guo had achieved spectacular results and proclaimed publicly that chi gong can cure cancer. Cancer victims from all over immediately streamed into Beijing to take part in the chi gong cancer therapy class she had organized. Each day three hundred to four hundred people studied chi gong techniques for cancer treatment with her. Until her death in 1984 she worked tirelessly, curing hundreds of cancer patients, while easing the pain and prolonging the lives of thousands more. Mrs. Wong Chung-siu, a student of Guo Lin’s currently living in Fremont, California, told Paul Dong that Guo Lin’s pinnacle of success came in 1982. Aided by nine assistants she had trained, Guo Lin held nine cancer classes of seventy students each, meeting three times a day. With her nine assistants to help her, she was able over the next two years to travel all over China to twenty provincial capitals to teach and lecture at the request of many local health care and medical departments, and she became a national celebrity before her death in 1984 (twenty years after her life had been given up by Western medicine).

Because Guo Lin had demonstrated that her chi gong techniques were able to cure cancer, people trained in other styles of chi gong were eager to see if they could achieve the same results. Among these other styles, quiet gong and movement gong also demonstrated the same ability to achieve cures or alleviation of cancer. Paul Dong judges from the Chinese literature that movement gong is more effective in curing cancer. The technique used by Guo Lin combines both movement chi gong and meditation chi gong (movement first and quiet gong afterward).

One type of movement gong is Flying Crane, which is quite popular in China. According to reports, it has cured many cancer patients. In a journal Qi Gong of the flying Crane, published in Beijing, an article “Fight Cancer with the True Qi”, written by Xie Hau,3 states that the Beijing Flying Crane Club invited eleven cancer victims to participate in an experiment. After three months of practicing chi gong, they showed varying degrees of improvement. Among them, Li Shan-cheng showed the most notable effects. Li, fifty-nine years old at the time, had cancer of the esophagus and was unable to eat; in fact, he couldn’t even swallow water. He was emaciated. Then he watched a report on TV about chi gong curing cancer and joined a Flying Crane therapy class. After practicing chi gong for ten days, he had a check-up and discovered that his tumor had become smaller, and he was able to eat again. With this encouragement, he practiced chi gong an hour at a time, four times a day. After three months, he had made a complete recovery and went back to work as usual. He credited chi gong with saving his life.

In Hebei province’s Tianjin University, the chi gong class for the fourth quarter of 1983 included fifteen cancer victims (the categories were cancer of the liver, the stomach, the mammary gland, and the rectum). After six months to a year of practicing chi gong, not one of them had died. Their conditions showed various levels of improvement, and all of the patients experienced the triple benefit of eating, sleeping, and feeling well. They were also firm in their conviction that “to exercise right is to survive.” The styles of chi gong that they practiced were Standing-On-Stake and meditation gong, which will be described in chapters 8 and 12 respectively.

All kinds of cases regarding the cure of cancer with different styles of chi gong are frequently reported in chi gong magazines. The conclusion may be that no matter what chi gong style is used, it is possible to cure cancer. The simple truth is that every style of chi gong adheres to three principles: (a) achieving a state of tranquility, (b) relaxation and release of tension, (c) commitment and development of willpower. And each of these principles is important in one’s fight against cancer. In addition, we think that the reason Guo Lin’s chi gong was especially effective is because she had her patients train in groups. Group practice is the best way to arouse interest and bring good cheer. Interest helps one concentrate on doing the chi gong exercises, and cheerfulness produces a beneficial effect on the organism. As the first step in curing cancer, Guo Lin had the patients come together as a group and swear an oath to resist cancer, for the purpose of increasing their fighting spirit. Willpower was applied as a healing technique. In a large group of patients (Guo Lin’s cancer therapy groups usually consisted of seventy people), there would be one or two of a more sensitive disposition, achieving the beneficial effects of chi gong earlier than the others. As soon as one or two patients had shown good results, the rest of the patients would be encouraged to have greater confidence, and as we know, a positive attitude plays a role in curing disease. Also, if people practice chi gong exercises alone and then fail to achieve results, they are more likely to become discouraged.

One reason for the negative impact of failure acknowledged in Western medicine is that the feeling of helplessness appears to suppress the immune system’s ability to resist tumor development.4 On the other hand, fostering positive images appears to strengthen immunological competence.5 Lawrence Leshan has pointed to psychological factors in cancer causation since the fifties.6 Specific methods to fight cancer successfully with visualization techniques were introduced in the U.S. by Carl Simonton, M.D., in the early seventies. 7 Thus there are reasons to think that a positive attitude improves and negative thoughts decrease the immune mechanism’s ability to defend the body.

Much, but not all of chi gong’s effect is based on entering a state of meditation. In meditation, there are no distractions, depressing thoughts, or worries. The body’s functions are able to return to normal by relaxation, which is the key to balancing the circulation of the chi and the blood. In Chinese traditional medical theory, stimulating the circulation of the chi and blood is the main healing method. Additionally, a sense of happiness is achieved in meditation, and that is a major wellspring of increased confidence and fighting spirit.

The several effects described above are important mechanisms for treating any disease. As the term psychoneuroimmunology implies, these mechanisms include both psychological and physiological elements. As we know, the psychological and the physiological aspects operate in interdependent ways. From the physiological point of view, the Shanghai Institute of Medical Science’s Institute for the Combined Use of Chinese and Western Medicine has conducted a study on the effects of chi gong and tai ji chuan on elderly people’s endocrine systems (the pituitary, thyroid, and sex glands). They invited forty-seven elderly people of the same age, sixty-six years old, to perform chi gong exercises regularly. After doing this for several weeks, the capabilities of their pituitary, thyroid, and sex glands were shown to have increased. This strengthening and stabilizing of the endocrine system can have a beneficial regulating effect on the vigor of the whole body’s metabolism.

This is not to suggest that we understand the extent of chi gong’s effects on cancer. We do know that practicing chi gong exercises influences many of the body’s mechanisms. For instance, it not only raises the capabilities of the endocrine system, it also has a regulating effect on cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). These two substances play a vital bioenergetic role in phosphorylation, which is the key to respiration and thus the oxygen provision for all of the body’s cells. As we will review below, oxygen prevents cancer growth. In addition, cyclic AMP is familiar as an intracellular signal transforming stimuli from outside the cell into a response by the cell, and therefore could play an important role in our immune system.

In a recent study, Wang Chong-xing and collaborators at the Shanghai Institute of Hypertension reported at a world conference on chi gong on improvement in the ratio of cAMP/cGMP within one year of chi gong practice.8 It is claimed that the concentration and physiological stability (expressed in a stable ratio) of these two enzyme messengers play major roles in the normal regulation and maintenance of health. It is assumed that cancer cells thrive when the blood cAMP content is low. Ding Shen and other investigators, reporting at the same world conference, have found that the practice of chi gong, among other beneficial effects, increases the cAMP content of the blood which may explain part of chi gong’s effect on cancer.

Another important factor in cancer growth is whether or not the body’s oxygen content is sufficient. Beijing’s Qi Gong and Cancer Research Unit has conducted many experiments on this aspect. When the body is deficient in oxygen, cancer cells grow; and when the body is rich in oxygen, cancer cells die. One explanation for the sense of serenity produced by entering a state of deep meditation through chi gong is the increase in the absorption of oxygen. In ancient China, Taoist priests chose to meditate underneath the pine tree because they had discovered that the pine exudes the greatest amount of oxygen.

The above points are possible explanations by modem science of several mechanisms by which chi gong cures cancer. From the point of view of Chinese traditional medicine, chi gong has the functions of activating the body’s vital forces (chi), strengthening the blood’s circulation, balancing the yin and the yang, stimulating the conductivity of the meridians and improving the psychological state. Chinese medical theory emphasizes that chi is the driving force of life. The body’s health is determined by the strength or weakness of its chi. As soon as the chi is weakened, the “blood is clogged,” the yin and yang lose their balance, and disease will result. Research by the Bei Dai He Chi Gong Clinic indicates that after doing a chi gong exercise for a certain period of time (we judge this to be approximately forty minutes), the body’s internal regional blood volume increases by 30 percent and the body temperature rises two to three degrees Celsius. For the Chinese, these facts demonstrate the way that chi gong acts to clear the meridians-unclog the blood-and moderate the chi and blood. In other words, when the chi and the blood are flowing freely, the body will maintain physiological balance (the balance of yin and yang), and diseases will disappear of themselves.

In recent years, scientists and medical specialists have been turning their attention to the immune system for the purpose of fighting disease. China took up this point more than two thousand years ago. As The Emperor’s Classic state in “Questions and Answers”: “Be imperturbable and the true chi will come to you; concentrate the inner spirit and well-being follows.” This signifies that if the body’s energy is at its full level, it will not sicken. Chi gong exercises bring out and mobilize the body’s latent strength, raise the body’s energy level, and activate the cells of the immune system, causing a feeling of well-being.

Many studies have demonstrated that people suffering from emotional damage, tension, a low level of energy, depression, and irritability have a markedly higher rate of cancer occurrence. Through the practice of chi gong, especially when reaching the level of the deep meditative state, a whole set of beneficial psychological and spiritual conditions emerge, including emotional well-being, spiritual happiness, stability of mood, and complete relaxation of the body. This directly inspires the patient’s confidence of defeating cancer, as well as benefiting the body’s dynamic balance, and as a consequence makes a positive contribution to the healing and comfort of the body.

Besides one’s own practice of chi gong, another method of treating cancer is through the use of a chi gong expert who can provide relief by transmitting external chi from his body to that of the patient, thereby purportedly killing cancer cells. Dr. Feng Li-da, vice-president, General Hospital of the Chinese Navy, Beijing, and professor of immunology, Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has done many experiments in this area. She reported that by transmitting external chi for one minute, a chi gong expert can destroy 90 percent of colon and dysentery bacilli, and in ten minutes 60 percent of a flu virus. In sixty minutes, the rate of destroyed uterine cancer cells is also around 60 percent, and that of destroyed gastric cancer cells 25 percent. A twenty-gram tumor on a mouse disappeared within a five-week period of external chi treatment. A few of the experiments referred to above were reported in the following press release of November 28,1983, by the New China (Xinhua) News Agency:

A meeting for the evaluation and demonstration of the action of chi gong on certain bacteria had recently been held, presided over by Feng, Li Da, deputy superintendent of the Navy General Hospital and director of the Immunology Research Division. Test tubes filled respectively with coliform bacillus and dysentery bacteria, golden and white staphylococcus, and virus were handed over one by one to a chi gong master, who held each of the tubes firmly in his hand for a minute to release external energy (chi) at it. A projector displayed the image of each experimental sample on a screen. Under an electronic microscope, the bacteria were shown to be expanding, cracking, and dissolving, being killed by chi gong. From the immunological standpoint, Feng has thus demonstrated that chi energy is an objective reality. Furthermore, she has confirmed that chi gong is effective to a certain degree in treating B-hepatitis. There is also encouraging preliminary evidence of the therapeutic effect of chi gong with respect to the treatment of guinea pigs suffering from ascites ( an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen) caused by cancer. Dr. Feng declared that in mainland China chi gong has now advanced from the prescientific phase to a new epoch in which modern methods are employed in its study. The study of chi gong has been conducive to the development of immunology and other sciences.

Another example: A Japanese cancer victim, Ansei Shonin, who had a tumor in the lower part of his head, deeply imbedded in his nasal cavity. Made a special trip from Japan to Beijing’s General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army to undergo external chi treatment. A chi gong expert performed twelve days of external chi treatment, and as a result Ansei Shonin’s tumor, as large as an egg, shrunk, and his pain was distinctly eased.

Why external chi works toward strengthening of the cells and the immune responses of the body in the case of healing a disease, and appears to kill or otherwise interrupt and reverse the growth of cells (or bacteria) in the case of cancer (or the influencing of bacterial cultures) is not known. To the best of our knowledge, it is due to the different intent of the qi gong master. This may be similar to visualization or imaging therapy, as applied in Western alternative medical approaches. As part of the therapy, the determination is made in advance whether the patient will visualize growth of healthy or destruction of cancerous cells in his or her own body.

In conclusion, then, cancer victims apparently can achieve effective treatment by practicing chi gong as shown by Master Guo. But one might suggest that if the patient is too weak or for other reasons unable to practice chi gong regularly and vigorously, external chi should be tried as a cure or used as a supplement to chi gong. Finally, as described in the previous chapter regarding practices in the Bei Da Hei Clinic, combinations of “internal” and “external” chi with dietetic therapy and Western medical science may all be attempted when looking for a cure for cancer.

Source: http://www.healthyfoundations.com/guolin/guolin_article.html

We offer Qigong classes and Medical Qigong training & sessions here at Heart Center Therapy. Go to www.therisinglotus.com or click on “About US” tab above for more info.

Tai chi — a slow, meditative martial art — may be an effective alternative, a new study suggests.

Fibromyalgia patients who took tai chi classes twice a week for three months experienced less pain, stiffness, and fatigue than a control group that attended lifestyle education and stretching sessions, according to the study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Tai chi involves a series of slow, fluid movements that focus on balance and deep breathing.

Although it’s not clear from the study how exactly tai chi might improve fibromyalgia symptoms, both the physical activity and the meditative aspects are likely beneficial, says Chenchen Wang, M.D., the lead researcher and an associate professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, in Boston, Massachusetts.

“Some people need the physical improvement; some people need more mental improvement,” she says. “Tai chi can help with both.”

Health.com: How fibromyalgia is diagnosed

Previous research has shown that tai chi can help relieve the symptoms of arthritis and other pain conditions, but this study is the first controlled trial to examine its effectiveness as a treatment for fibromyalgia, which affects an estimated 10 million Americans.

The study included 66 fibromyalgia patients who were randomly assigned to take one-hour tai chi classes with an experienced teacher or one-hour classes that taught coping skills, pain-management techniques, and stretching.

Participants were also asked to practice tai chi or stretch on their own for 20 minutes each day, depending on which group they were in.

Health.com: 13 mistakes fibro patients make

After three months, Wang and her colleagues asked the patients to rate their pain symptoms, physical functioning, fatigue, and mood, all of which were combined on a single scale ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. (The patients completed the same survey before the study began.)

The average score among the tai chi patients dropped from 63 to 35, while the average for the control group dropped by just nine points, from 68 to 59. Three months after the sessions stopped, the scores had remained roughly the same, which suggests that the benefits of the tai chi were lasting, Wang says.

The results were encouraging, as existing fibromyalgia treatments — including medication, sleep therapy, and aerobic exercise — fail to help many patients. “We need another approach,” says Wang.

Health.com: Medical marijuana may help fibromyalgia pain

Robert Shmerling, M.D., an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and the chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, says that he often recommends alternative treatments, such as acupuncture and massage, to his fibromyalgia patients, although some of them are skeptical.

“I would certainly put tai chi on the list,” says Shmerling, who co-wrote an editorial that accompanies the study. “It’s difficult to take something that’s as safe as tai chi and show that it has this dramatic benefit and not be enthusiastic about it.”

The calming style of tai chi used in the study, known as Yang, may be especially effective for fibromyalgia patients, says Kim D. Jones, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing, in Portland.

“It works more on the parasympathetic nervous system, …the part of the nervous system that helps us feel calm and relaxed,” says Jones, who studies Yang-style tai chi and yoga in fibromyalgia but wasn’t involved in the study.

Health.com: 13 conditions that mimic fibromyalgia

Jones recommends that fibromyalgia patients find a well-trained instructor rather than trying tai chi on their own.

She points out that learning tai chi in a group may have its own therapeutic benefits, by boosting confidence, for instance.

Many community centers offer affordable tai chi classes, but experienced teachers can be expensive and hard to come by. However, if future studies support the benefits of tai chi, insurance companies might start to cover the practice, Shmerling says.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/18/fibromyalgia.tai.chi/index.html?hpt=T2

Article by Sheri Gilburth

Wild Lingzhi for the Immune System & Anti-tumor agent

Wild Lingzhi Mushroom (Genoderma Lucidum) has been used for treat health problems for more than 5000 years in Chinese Medicine. Many legends have said that this is a magic and/or spiritual herb that can save people’s lives. It is regularly used for health, wellness and long life. In the history of China, Lingzhi was considered a rare and arduous find. Back then it was not available for the “common people”, it was mostly designated for the Emperors and their families. Now it is available for everyone.

Wild Lingzhi is usually grown in highly elevated mountains and forests. They need to be in a specific environment and temperature. They also need certain water, minerals and natural nutrition. Lingzhi Mushroom can take up to several decades to grow, some may take hundreds of years to grow, and depending on the kind, some can even take thousands of years to grow. Like most fungus, Lingzhi grows on trees and logs and from the tree roots, is how they receive their nutrition. Mountain soil, surrounding plant life, sun, rain, and environment create the organic compound for Lingzhi to flourish. Lingzhi is best when grown under normal natural conditions, if they are grown in a “cultured or cultivated” setting, then Lingzhi loses its healing properties.

Scientific research has found that wild Lingzhi contains more than 300 kinds of polysaccharides & triterpenoids [ganoderic acids] which bind or block cancer cell development. They boost the oxygen levels in normal cells and induces the cellular ph to alkaline, which in-turn, prevent acidic cellular environments. So it is often administered as a treatment for any kind of cancer, with or without chemotherapy. Wild Lingzhi also functions to protect against liver viruses and prevent “liver injury”. Other benefits include the treatment of hepatitis, cirrhosis, the reduction of high levels of cholesterol and the regulation of sugar metabolism. The list goes on.

Currently, because of high demand, it is very difficult to find pure and naturally grown Lingzhi. So as a result, the farming industry started to “cultivate” lingzhi to supply the high demand. The problem with that is that the growers have to add chemicals to accelerate the growth and it is only taking about 3 to 6 months to grow Lingzhi in a green house under “un-natural” conditions. So be aware of cultivated/cultured Lingzhi and the companies that claim to have pure wild Lingzhi.

So how do you differentiate from wild and cultured Lingzhi? Well for starters; the color of wild Lingzhi is typically “dull” looking and has a rough texture or surface. Cultured Lingzhi have bright colors and have a soft surface. Consequently, the best way to distinguish between pure and cultured is to consume Lingzhi and to notice and feel the difference is by checking your overall health and energy level. Linghzhi can be taken as tea or capsules. Be sure to try it out!

Article by Dr. Jianshe Liu
www.yellowmountaingreentea.com

100% Pure, Wild Lingzhi Mushroom Capsules are available here at Heart Center Therapy. Contact us for more info