The Summer 2008 issue of Positive Life Magazine is now available from all good Health Stores, Holistic Centres and Healing Practicioners.
“Love is the only medicine that can heal the wounds of the world.”, says Amma, known to many as the ‘Hugging Saint’. Speaking to a journalist while holding an elderly lady in her arms, she continues, “There are two kinds of poverty in this world. One is financial, the other is due to a lack of love. This second kind is more basic. Love is what sustains life, it nourishes the entire being.”
Offering this nourishment without exception to everyone in the form of a simple hug, Amma seems to have tapped into a deep, essential human need. Wherever she goes, people queue up in their thousands to receive her embrace.
Knowing Amma for over a decade and having witnessed her countless acts of love and compassion, it is difficult to hold back my admiration. To simply watch Amma greet every person for hours and hours on end with the same unconditional love can be a powerful experience.
While it might be difficult for the mind to grasp why she is doing this – hugging people, day after day, year after year, an estimated 27 million in the past 3 decades – something deep in the heart spontaneously responds. A shell breaks open, frequently resulting in unexpected tears. “It is as if many people have forgotten an old song”, Amma says, “and I try to help them remember it: the song of love, the language of the heart.”
While hugging is the trademark that made Amma famous around the globe, there is more to this tiny, unassuming woman with the radiant smile. In recent years she emerged as one of the greatest humanitarians of our time, spearheading an ever-expanding charitable network, probably the biggest ever initiated by a single woman.
Accredited ‘Special Consultative Status’ by the United Nations, her mission helps millions of people in need, regardless of religion or social class. Apart from deploying massive disaster relief efforts, Amma has – amongst countless other projects – founded hospitals and clinics, pension schemes, schools and colleges, adult training centres, and even built entire villages for those most in need.
She spreads her message through the example of her own life, rather than through words, and the utter devotion with which she lives that example is inspiring people of all walks of life to join hands in the service of humanity.
At her 50th birthday celebration in 2003, the President of India, together with other politicians, business leaders and religious leaders of all faiths joined in a prayer for world peace and pledged to support her endeavours.
To many, to be in Amma’s presence is simply to experience the best that life has to offer.
Amma visits Dublin from Monday 10th – Tuesday 11th November 2008.
(please check www.ammaireland.org closer to the time to confirm dates)
National Show Centre, Swords Road, Cloghran, Co. Dublin (1km from Airport).
Open from 10 am until late.
Info: help@ammaireland.org or ring Mary on 01-6276060 (between 6-9pm)
Admission and personally meeting Amma is free.
THE NATURAL HEALTH SHOW WITH ATTITUDE!
Have you any questions about your health and well-being? Would you like to regain energy, to improve your outlook and live longer? Interested in tips about solving digestion problems? Want to know how to improve your child’s brain function? Feeling “down” and looking for self-help ways to climb out of the pit?
You will find the answers to these questions and so much more at the Rude Health Show in the RDS on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of September. Visitors to the Show will have the chance to enjoy an even wider range of exhibits than ever before, with over 200 stands, cooking demos and talks galore, all in the Main Hall of the RDS from 11am to 6pm each day.
The organisers of Rude Health, the Irish Association of Health Stores, passionately believe in every person’s right to know what is available in the natural healthcare world to safeguard and maintain their health and that of their family.
Just look at the line-up of speakers. On Saturday we open the speakers’ line-up with a practical talk on how good nutrition can help us cope with stress. Then we welcome back Dr. Marilyn Glenville to tell us about “Natural Alternatives to HRT and Prevention of Menopause”, and later in the day about how to rid ourselves of the dreaded “Fat around the Middle”. On Sunday she focuses on natural ways to overcome infertility. Dr. Alex Richardson speaks on Saturday and Sunday about the importance of essential fats for mental health – last year she almost missed her plane as she was bombarded with questions by her audience!
Professor Jane Plant deals with stress, anxiety and depression on Saturday, and on Sunday she speaks as a survivor of cancer. On both days our own Bernadette Bohan, who has also survived repeated episodes of cancer, tells us how she coped and how simple changes have enabled her to achieve better health than ever.
Have you watched RTE’s “How long will you Live “? If so you’ll know what a treat is in store when Dr. Mark Hamilton speaks on that topic on Saturday. Also well known from RTE is Karen Ward of the Health Squad. On Saturday Karen has two talks: the first on her own titled “Don’t Change a Lot, Change a Little”, the second with her husband John Cantwell, a riveting and unique interactive talk on shamanism in the modern world.
Our – and your! – all-time favourite, Jan de Vries, will give two talks on Sunday, one about viruses, allergies and the immune system and the second focusing on “Your health”, and there will also be a chance for a short consultation with Jan on the A. Vogel stand. Also on Sunday, world famous author and lecturer Patrick Holford will speak twice, sponsored by the Natural Medicine Company. His first talk will focus on weight loss and energy gain, the second on the all-too-common problem of food allergies. Plus an on-going programme of food-demos and talks on safe hair colours, Ayurvedic food and remedies, advice on men’s health, digestion problems, aromatherapy and much more.
You’ll have a choice of 18 talks each day, all free once you enter the Show. You could have a real problem deciding which talks to attend, so ask at your local health store for the Rude Health programme ahead of time to enable you to plan your visit and get maximum value.
Superb value! All this and over 200 stands for just €10. And even better, if you go to your local health store after 15th August you can pick up a voucher for 50% off, giving you entrance at just €5. Free entry pensioners & for under-12s.
Can you afford not to put Rude Health at the RDS in your diary for Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September, from 11am to 6pm? In the meantime for updates on talks and the full lecture programme visit www.rudehealth.ie
Reiki is one of the fastest growing methods of complementary healing and stress reduction in the world and many Irish people are choosing to learn Reiki for themselves.
The many reported benefits of Reiki include a reducing of stress, an increase in energy levels and a boosting of the immune system.
Hospitals, nursing homes, health spas and an increasing number of work places are now offering Reiki. This gentle healing art re-energises the mind, body and emotions by focusing energy back to the areas where we need it the most.
The two ways to experience Reiki are to learn how to use Reiki on yourself by attending a Reiki workshop or by visiting a Reiki practitioner for a Reiki treatment.
Many studies have been done in prestigious hospitals in the USA and Canada that highlight the benefits of Reiki. The Columbian Presbyterian Hospital in New York has used Reiki practitioners in their operating room while patients have undergone heart surgery.
Speakers at the Irish National Reiki Conference, organised by Reiki Federation Ireland in 2007, included Deirdre Ruane, clinical nurse specialist in complementary therapies at St. Francis Hospice Raheny. She carried out a study of the perceived benefits of Reiki amongst patients who had never received complementary therapies before. The feedback was encouraging. They said it was very relaxing, it gave them more energy and there was a strong feel good factor.
Quantum physics goes a long way to explain energy healing practices such as Reiki.
At an atomic level, everything that exists in the universe vibrates energy. The normal biological frequencies of the human body are around 250Hz (cycles per second.) When tests were carried out on people who used healing energies such as Reiki, it was found that body frequency registered in a more beneficial band between 400 Hz and 800Hz.
Reiki Federation Ireland is a national organisation promoting high standards of Reiki practice and training.
If you would like to find a Reiki practitioner in your area or if you are interested in joining Reiki Federation Ireland visit: www.reikifederationireland.com or contact the RFI membership secretary at 087 981 9366.
by Dr. Alan Ruth, CEO of the IHTA
Working to protect the specialist health products sector.
The Irish Health Trade Association (IHTA) represents the interests of manufacturers, importers and distributors of specialist health products. These products include vitamin and mineral supplements, herbal medicines, homeopathic medicines, flower remedies, natural body care products and health foods.
The IHTA is a member of the European Health Product Manufacturers’ Association (EHPM) and works closely with the EHPM to protect and nurture the industry’s interests across Europe. It also works closely with the Irish Association of Health Stores (IAHS) and the UK Health Food Manufacturers’ Association (HFMA).
Recent times have presented a number of obstacles to the specialist health products sector. Three of the greatest obstacles are:
EU legislative and regulatory developments
Widespread distorted, negative reporting in the media
A lack of acceptance by the allopathic (conventional) medical community for the use of such products in health care
Three of the legislative obstacles are: the Food Supplements Directive, the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, and the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive.
The Food Supplements Directive (FSD) aims to harmonise laws relating to food supplements for the purpose of facilitating free trade of food supplements within the EU, while also protecting consumer health. In the near future, it will be amended to limit both maximum and minimum daily dosages of vitamins and minerals in food supplement products across the EU.
It is possible that the ‘maximum permitted levels’ of vitamins and minerals will be set so low that they will be less than the levels currently available from popular higher potency supplements. The FSD will eventually also be applied to supplements containing other groups of nutrients. The IHTA and other trade associations are working hard to help ensure the continued availability of safe, beneficial higher potency supplements.
The Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation (NHCR) applies to foods (and food supplements). It aims to harmonise nutrition and health claims made on labels and in advertising throughout the EU. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently evaluating claims and when the approved list is published, companies will be required to alter their current claims to those that use an approved claim for a specific generic ingredient.
No product specific claims will be allowed unless they have been approved. The NHCR has the potential to cripple small and medium sized enterprises because product-specific claims applications are excessively onerous and require evidence from randomised clinical trials (RCTs). RCTs are prohibitively costly to carry out and lack relevance for foods or food ingredients with many years of safe use.
The Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD) relates to traditional herbal products, substances and preparations. In some EU Member States, there is a high risk that many botanicals that may rightfully be considered as botanicals under the EU food supplement regime may be categorized as ‘herbal medicinal products’.
Under the THMPD, products are subject to pharmaceutical stability testing and significant compliance costs apply. This will place a huge financial burden on small and medium sized enterprises. It will also make the cost of products that have complied, too expensive for some consumers, thereby limiting their right to choose with regard to decisions about their own healthcare.
If you would like more information about the IHTA, please contact Phil Costigan at the IHTA Secretariat: Ph: +353 1 2860377 E-mail: info@ihta.org
by Dr. Denis J. Prone, Parapsychologist and Researcher
A recent survey in the United States indicated that more than 50% of people have had psychic experiences – and that is just counting those people who would readily admit having such an experience to a stranger! The most common form of psychic experience is the precognitive dream, where the dreamer has a dream of unusual clarity. The dreamer remembers the dream and realises, either at the time or later, that it is foretelling an event that is about to happen in the future.
Another common use of one’s psychic abilities is Remote Viewing defined as “the ability to perceive, through a projection of consciousness, objects, both animate and inanimate, people, and events distant in time and space”. This process was widely used by Western Intelligence during the “Cold War”, the extent of which recently became public due to the declassification of secret files from that era.
In the US, military intelligence became aware that the Soviet Union was using psychics to spy on US military bases. The Soviet Union had for some years accepted psychic phenomena and for a number of years had actively recruited and trained psychics. During the 1970’s the CIA, Air Force, and Army Intelligence contracted with Science Research Institute (SRI) in Palo Alto California, to develop a programme that would use psychics to identify specific activities and events in the Soviet Union using Remote Viewing.
SRI already had an active programme underway in the field of Remote Viewing and had recruited some of the top psychics of the day. They had remarkable success with their new contract. One of their psychics, Pat Price, an ex-police commissioner, correctly identified the contents and activities inside and outside a Soviet weapons laboratory in Siberia, having been given only the geographic co-ordinates of the site. The information that he provided was so accurate that it led to a formal congressional investigation to determine if there had been a breach of national security!
Jose Silva, the founder of the Silva Method, discovered early in his research, back in the 1940s, that psychic ability was not something confined to a few gifted people. He discovered, and later proved scientifically, that psychic ability is a natural talent we all have and it can be developed, just like any other skill, with the right training. The Silva Method Programme, which is the foundation for the other courses that he developed, facilitates the development of this natural talent through a series of exercises using dynamic meditation and visualisation. By the end of the programme, participants have developed their Remote Viewing capability – that is they are able to perceive information about animate and inanimate objects at a distance in time and space. SRI later used similar exercises to those taught in the Silva Method Programme to train psychics.
One of the best applications of this ability to perceive information at a distance is called Remote Influencing or Distant Healing. Here the psychic focuses on a “case” – normally a person who is experiencing health challenges – and having identified the issue in question, sends healing energy to the person concerned, seeing them in perfect health. The scientific community has extensively researched the field of Distant Healing over the past 30 years. The overall conclusion? It works!
Jose Silva, who himself was a gifted healer, researched the field of psychic and distant healing for more that 40 years. The culmination of his research is the Silva UltraMind ESP Programme, which focuses on developing your ESP abilities, influencing healing in others at a distance, and getting guidance from “Higher Intelligence” to help define your purpose and direction in Life.
Dr. Denis Prone and Dr. Alma D. Quinones-Prone co-teach the Silva Method Programme and the Silva UltraMind ESP Programme in Dublin and Cork. For details visit www.silvamethod.ie or call 086-329-9215.
by Patrick Bridgeman
So, what is the Alliance for a New Humanity? I asked many people this same question and got a different answer every time. Mary Callaghan, the leader of the Alliance in Ireland, says that it is like a multi-faceted diamond that reflects what’s going on in the people who look at it. We’re all a part of it, whether we’ve signed up for it or not, and its only when we’re together that we can experience it in its entirety, like Life.
On the surface it appears to me to be a global network of people from all regions of the world and all walks of life who are joined by a common vision; to strengthen and sustain an actively compassionate humanity. They do this by connecting individuals and groups from all over the world, communicating with a global audience, inspiring positive change and supporting the action required to bring about that change within our lifetime. Through their website, their newsletter and their Human Forums, they provide the space for real change to happen, for people to come together to make a difference, and to share their passion about creating a better world for all beings.
However, the Alliance is more than just the sum of its parts. I believe that at its essence the Alliance is that magical extra something that is created when a group of individuals come together for a single purpose. It’s the “extra” that’s needed to create change on a deeper level and a global scale. Another way of putting it is to say that the Alliance is not only the beating heart but also the Love that it feels.
At a recent publicity event in Dublin, Deepak Chopra, one of the founding members of the Alliance for a New Humanity, illustrated the nature of the Alliance in this way… As a caterpillar reaches the end of its life and its body starts to decay, various seemingly separate Imaginal Cells decide to group together and instead of dying, they form a new life form, a butterfly. Now, the various seemingly separate humans campaigning for positive change around the world are being brought together by the Alliance for a New Humanity to form just that, a new humanity.
Their mission is to connect people, who, through personal and social transformation, aim to build a just, peaceful, and sustainable world, reflecting the unity of all humanity. In fact, the basic tenet of the Alliance is a consciousness based on the inseparability of all life, i.e., that everything is connected and that therefore our well being is the well-being of everyone. So, why this mission now? Deepak feels that humanity is at a crossroads; where our future depends on how we deal with four trends, each enmeshed and interconnected with the others: do we choose war or non-violence, poverty or equity, environmental degradation or sustainability, discrimination or human rights? As always, the choice is ours.
So what can you do to help? A great place to start is anhglobal.org which is the official website for the Alliance for a New Humanity. There you can share your passion with others from around the globe, make a difference in whatever way you can and be the change you wish to see in the world. Simply adding your name as a supporter of the Alliance increases the power of that “magical extra something” which will one day transform the world we live in and bring about a New Humanity.