Alternative healing options have gained favor with the general public in the past decade. This is largely due to a greater awareness and understanding about what alternative healing is and what it can do.

The world wide web has a lot to with this change. Before the internet, most people are subject to negative stereotypes and misconceptions about natural healing. But now that alternative healing practitioners have gained an accessible and free avenue to explain their craft, more and more people can see how rational and reasonable alternative healing treatments are.

What are the alternative healing options that you can consider? The popular ones include meditation, kabbalah, ayurveda, homeopathy and herbal medication.

Lets take a closer look at each one.

Meditation is an art of mental discipline. It involves willing yourself into a deeper state of awareness of either yourself or the things around you. As a means of alternative healing, meditation believes in the link between mind and body. For as long as the mind can visualize something to be true, the body can adjust and follow.

Kabbalah is an alternative healing method for general wellness although it is much used for mental and emotional concerns. Kabbalah, like meditation, also believes in the power of the mind over a disease. It is based on the religion of Judaism and sees the person as part of a greater unity with creation.

Ayurveda is an Indian art of healing that aims to restore balance in an individuals body. It employs complimentary and alternative medicine to western healing techniques. Practitioners of ayurveda recommend moderation in most of our bodys functions. Its this moderation that would restore our bodys innate balance.

Homeopathy is another school of alternative healing that is gaining popularity. It is based on the principle that like cures like, and employs techniques wherein one gradually introduces agitators in a body to help manage existing symptoms.

And of course there is a plethora of alternative healing medications around that are not affiliated with specific schools of thought or healing style. Distilled from the wisdom of different cultures, as well as scientific research, herbal healing has been touted as a great alternative healing method for people looking for more organic ways to get well.

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Asthma affects 1 out of every 15 students. It effects so many parts of their existence, such as social activities, school work, and involvement in sports and recreational activities. Many people look for a natural cure for asthma rather than adding chemicals to their body. Keep in mind, though, that asthma treatment using natural remedies hinges on the specific trigger at the root of the attack.

There are a variety of triggers and processes that can lead to an asthma attack. Among the many triggers are mold, pets, chemicals, smoke, perfume, cleaning agents, food allergies, emotional stress, environmental allergens, changes in barometric pressure, cold temperatures, and pests like rats and cockroaches.

Most of the solutions to asthmatic attacks include medications, steroids and long term medical treatments. One immediate natural relief for asthma is to avoid the triggers such as avoiding pets, chemicals, environmental allergens and emotional stress. You can’t escape some triggers, such as pest and animal droppings, cold temperatures and fluctuations in barometric pressure.

Natural remedies, including stress reducers, can be used to manage other triggers like emotional stress. Other people turn to herbs and organic foods that have potential positive effects on the prevention of an attack.

Another treatment that provides immediate natural relief for asthma is to work toward prevention by improving the immune system and decreasing the constrictions of the bronchioles and alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs. Aerosolized hydrogen peroxide used in a humidifier improves the availability of oxygen that can be metabolized by the asthma patient.

Adding hydrogen peroxide to the humidifier has been shown to have a positive effect on increasing the amount of oxygen that is able to be used. Adding the hydrogen peroxide will vaporize the product but will also bleach out the wall and curtains near the vaporizer. With the consent of your doctor and appropriate methodology the hydrogen peroxide can be added to the machines that deliver your bronchodilator.

This method works to eliminate attacks and helps to enhance your immune system, but it doesn’t get to the root causes of the disease. You should investigate various means of managing your emotional stress for fast and natural treament of stress induced asthma attacks. Try using Reiki, which is a technique used to reduce stress, help you relax, and provide healing not only to your body but to your spirit.

In English, the meaning of Reiki is usually translated as “life force energy”. When your life flow is reduced, your chances of getting sick and experiencing stress are higher. If Reiki is elevated we are happier, healthier and more in control. Reiki is a wonderful therapy that quickly and naturally relieves asthma symptoms, and also benefits your spirit, mind, body and emotions.

By paying attention to preventative measures and reducing stress levels, you can decrease the use of meds and enjoy natural relief for asthma symptoms.

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The newest anxiety and stress reliever on the market is Rhodiola Rosea which is a natural cure.

Rhodiola Rosea (aka “Golden Root”) is flora endemic to the tundras of Siberia. Eastern European and Asian cultures have used it for centuries to increase endurance, productivity, resistance to altitude sickness, and longevity and it has also been used to treat many conditions such as fatigue, depression, impotence, stomach illness, anemia, and disorders of the nervous system.

These are the first recorded medical uses of rodia riza. (thereafter referred to as Rhodiola Rosea) was constructed in the year 77 C. by Greek physician Dioscorides.E. contained within ‘De Materia Medica’. Official Russian medicine has accepted the inclusion of Rhodiola Rosea since 1969.

In spite of a lengthy past, Western Civilization has just recently realized the medical advantages of Rhodiola Rosea. Natural health practitioners have become aware of its effectiveness in combating anxiety and stress due to studies.

Rhodiola Rosea is also thought to be an adaptogen. What this stands to show is that it has a stabilizing effect on a person’s body without upsetting other functions. Its capacity for normalizing hormones has possibilities for efficacious depression and anxiety therapies.

Studies have shown that Rhodiola Rosea stimulates the neurotransmitters and serves to enhance their affect on the brain. Another benefit is that it includes the chance for the brain to produce serotonin that will also help the body get used to stress more easily.

The results of scientific studies on the effects of biological, chemical and physical stress identified adaptogens as effective agents that improve the body’s overall ability to handle stress.

In intense mental work, Rhodiola rosea was studied intensely to see if any side affects take place. (final exams for example). Rhodiola Rosea is good not only as a stress reliever, but can improve the quality of work you perform, as well as boosting memory and making you less tired.

Both physical and emotional sources of stress and anxiety respond to the effects of Rhodiola Rosea, according to tests. According to reports endorsed by the American Botanical Council, people using this substance reported improvements in their concentration, their outlook on life, and even their energy. A research study found that Rhodiola Rosea can increase one’s tolerance of stress while concurrently working to ease the physical effects of stress that can harm the brain or heart.

Detailed studies on the health benefits of Rhodiola Rosea are highlighted in this report.

The general dosage, that should be taken, is 200 to 600 milligrams per day. Generally, those properties considered to be active should strive to be a minimum 0.Eight percent salidroside; three percent rosavin.

It is necessary for shoppers to be aware that Rhodiola might be on the market as something else that does not have the same ingredients as Rhodiola Rosea, or not strong enough to be used as a treatment. Prior to treating the symptoms of depression and anxiety naturally, one should always speak to their doctor first.

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WE absolutely love the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ~ because it truly reflects the human spirit, and the deep inner desire we have to reach out and help others. A hallmark emotion of this show is “Delight” ~

* the grateful delight of the family, when they view their new home;
* the obvious delight of Ty and the design team, in sharing the home;
* the heart-warming delight of the builders and volunteers, who always claim they receive so much more than they give!

Delight is an intense emotion, and it truly opens the Consciousness to allow a free-flow of abundance and prosperity to come to you, in ways you can never even imagine!

As part of our Sunday service, we share a Prosperity Blessing during our offering time, in which we say together, “Divine Love, through me, blesses and multiplies all the I have, all that I give, and all that I receive.”

This is actually a perfect outline for understanding an Extreme Level of Delight. Most people tend to think about money when they say this blessing, but let’s “amp it up” into a description of our consciousness, and see where it take us!

Delight in all you have:

Of course, this tells us to be grateful for the things we have without begrudging what others have, or always wanting more.

But let’s consider a deeper meaning: don’t we all have things we don’t particularly feel grateful for? For example, things like illness, money problems, work issues, etc.? The real secret here is to live from a state of delight, even in the midst of these kinds of issues. Regardless of what we “have,” we are grateful! Not for but from! Living from that sense of delight in knowing we are one with God and all is well, we can recognize that any experience is simply “curriculum,” from which we can learn and become stronger.

Delight in all that you give:

This section of the blessing reminds us to delight in the things we give to others, but it means more than that. Become aware of other ways you give and notice if you are giving gratefully. We give through words; expressions; help; comfort; time. For example, we recently hosted some out of state friends. Ten of us celebrated their visit for a dinner, ranging from age 17 months to 89 years old! It was an incredible evening, because everyone gave their time, with pure delight, to come together as family and friends. What a joyful celebration we all had!

Give joyfully! We write “Gladly” on all our checks (right above the words “Pay to the order of”), and it helps us capture a sense of joy as we send our money out into the world. By allowing the emotion of gratitude to flow through us, we can send that joy out to others through our words and actions. Giving with delight enriches your prosperity, and the prosperity of all those whose lives you touch!

Delight in all that you receive:

Reflect back on a gift you gave to someone recently. Recall your excitement in choosing it (or making it), and how you felt as you wrapped it up and delivered it. Now, imagine that you get no acknowledgement at all. There’s nothing worse than giving something, and not feeling a sense of appreciation on the part of the one you gave it to. It breaks the energy of the giving and receiving cycle.

Think about a compliment you received, that you denied and threw back at the giver! Think about offers for help, that you have glibly refused. When you do not receive with delight, you cut off the cycle of giving and receiving, and you damn up the prosperity flow into your life.

Experience shows that receiving with delight is the toughest challenge of all - particularly when we find ourselves in a place of need, where we have to take help from others. But if we can just remember that in receiving with delight, we are actually helping those who are giving - and we are keeping that Giving/Receiving Principle alive and active in our lives!

Charles Fillmore said, “It has been found by experience that a person increases his blessings by being grateful for what he has. Gratitude even on the mental plane is a great magnet. When gratitude is expressed from the spiritual standpoint, it is powerfully augmented.”

When we are living from a Spiritual Consciousness of Delight - delighting in all that we have, all that we give, and all that we receive - we will discover that everything we ever need flows to us as we become one with Divine Abundance.

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With Halloween so close, our thoughts have turned to the topic of goblins! And that made us think about the goblins in our Consciousness - those negative error thoughts that separate us from the Truth of who we are. We want to send those goblins on the run! But, we want to do it the right way, or we will just wind up creating more problems for ourselves.

This is where Google comes into play. Whenever we really need to research something, we turn to Google!

As an aside, did you know that Google is a play on the word “GOOGOL” which refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google coined the word to illustrate their mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web.

Google is our favorite search engine ~ but even with Google, you can only discover so much. Just imagine the infinite amount of Divine Ideas and Guidance we have at our disposal when we Google God!

Just for kicks, we did Google God, and landed 510,000,000 hits in just .09 seconds! And believe me, those hits were all over the place, from God’s homepage, to the official God FAQ (which we don’t recommend), to God’s Yellow Pages! But that is a drop in the bucket compared to what we get when we really Google God - through Meditation and Prayer. Instead of sitting at the computer, try sitting in the Silence, quieting your mind, and becoming open to receive the Divine abundance of ideas and guidance that are readily available.

And here’s the neat part. Once we identify our goblins, then Google God through mediation and prayer, we can live in a state of constant giggles! We can experience the pure delight of knowing that we are never alone, and nothing has any power over us. We can say with gusto: My consciousness is greater than any goblin my mind can imagine!

Research has now proven that complex humor (riddles, puns, funny stories) not only strengthens our immune system, it actually can improve memory and recalibrate our intuition! We can also approach problems with more flexibility, opening the channels to creative Divine ideas. We call it the Giggle State of Consciousness.

When we live in the Giggle State of Consciousness, we operate from a state of pure joy and gratitude. Here’s a great quote we discovered about gratitude, by Melody Beatty:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Did you know that there is an actual meditation practice called Centered Silliness? Because the physical act of laughter is one of the few actions that involves the body, emotions, and soul, it helps us transcend physical and mental stresses. Research even proves that it will improve the immune system.

You can practice 3 stages to mindful laughter, each taking 5-20 minutes:

* Stretching like a cat and breathing deeply. Stretch the muscles in your face by yawning and making lots of funny faces.

* Pure laughter. Fall on the floor if you want, and keep laughing as long as you can. You may need to force it at first, but we encourage you to give it a try. Just laugh out loud!

Here are some funny stories to get you laughing:

We loved this announcement from a church bulletin: “Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person(s) you want remembered.”

Or this: Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door. (That’ll really help build that esteem!)

And how about this slogan: The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last week: “I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours.”?

A woman went to the Post Office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards. “What Denomination?” asked the clerk. “Oh, good heavens! Have we come to this?” responded the woman. “Just give me 50 Baptist and 50 Catholic ones.”

* And the final step: Sit in silence with your eyes closed, and become aware of your breath.

We believe Jesus had a wonderful sense of humor, and understood the power of joy. He used hyperbole, paradox, and exaggeration to make a point. In John 15:11, He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full.”

Lowell Fillmore (Charles & Myrtle’s son) said, in his book, The Prayer Way to Health, Wealth, & Happiness: “Unity believes that when joy is put back into religion, there will be more religion in the world.” A friend of Lowell’s said that when they were young children, living at Unity Farm, young Lowell would take off his shoes and socks, and run barefoot in the winter snow-just out of exhilaration, out of the joy of being alive!

We’d like to end this week’s article with a poem we enjoy. But be aware: we added an additional verse to share a Unity perspective!

Sit on the Lid and Laugh (by Bertha Adams Backus)

Build for yourself a strong box
Fashion each part with care;
When it’s strong as your hand can make it
Put all your “goblins” there.
Hide there all thought of your failures,
Every real or imagined gaffe;
Lock all your heartaches within it
Then sit on the lid and laugh.

Tell no one else its contents
Never its secrets share,
When you’ve dropped in your care and worry
Keep them forever there;
Hide them from sight so completely
That the world will never dream half
Fasten the strong box securely
Then sit on the lid and laugh!

(Our added verse):

You have within you this strongbox
At Headquarters you’ll find it’s true -
Go there to empty your worries
Your problems, your fears - heartaches, too.
The goblins that seem to consume you
The burdens that tear you in half -
Can be Googled away in this strongbox ~
And you can sit on the lid and laugh!

So when the goblins come out to scare you away from your Divinity, just Google God by spending time in the Silence, with the assurance that you can live in a constant state of Divine Giggles and Joy, knowing that wherever you are, God is - and all is well!

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