Category: Medicine

The Magic Of Tulsi

Posted on by Shelli Thompson

Magic of Tulsi

 The Magic of Holy Basil or Tulsi
(Ocimum Tenuifloum)

Ayurveda considers that all disease is derived from stress whether environmental, nutritional, job related or mental. Because we all suffer from stress in some form it is wise to have tools to counteract the stress that seems to creep into our daily lives.

What are the tools that help control stress we already know about? There are many things that we can control, like our diet. Organic, local, fresh produce is always best. It is important to remember that our body deals with toxins that are not within our control every day. We don’t want to add to toxins by eating foods containing anti-biotics, pesticides and other harmful chemicals.

How stressful are your thoughts? Do you find yourself worrying about things that may possibly never happen? There’s a difference between being prepared and worrying about a catastrophic event. We make ourselves sick with worry and that leads to other health related concerns. This is another area that we have control over, it may not seem like it at times because our mind can be pretty powerful. With training in meditation and some activity along with proper diet and herbs, you can get your “run away” mind under control.

How can the magic of Tulsi support our bodies?

We can turn our focus to herbs with properties that assist the areas we need help with. When it comes to stress it is important to support the systems of the body what are some of the things that we look for?

  • Adaptogens are great to include along with antioxidants to help rid the body of free radicals.
  • Anti-inflammitory because many stress related diseases will present at first with inflammation and then progress to a higher disease state.
  • Germicide, fungicide and natural anti-biotic to help the body fight off infections thus alleviating stress from illness.
  • Diuretic and detoxifier to cleanse the kidney and reduce uric acid in the blood.
  • Acetic acid to break down kidney stones
  • Analgesic property to help with pain.
  • Anti-carcinogenic to stop the progression of breast and oral cancers.
  • Decongestant to assist with allergies.

It may sound like we would give you an entire handful of herbs to address all of these areas. There is one herb that checks off all the boxes.

Tulsi or Holy Basil is like Magic

  1. Headaches: Helps with all sorts of headaches from sinusitis to migraine due to its decongestive and analgesic properties.
  2. Stress: Normalizes Cortizon in the body is an adaptogen (anti-stress), soothes nerves, regulates blood circulation, fights stress produced free radicals.
  3. Kidney Stones: Dissolves stones due to acetic acid, diuretic, detoxifier, reduces Uric acid in blood good for Gout, analgesic.
  4. Quit Smoking: Reduces urge to smoke due to stress. Chewing the leaves when urge arises reduces stress.
  5. Diabetes: Antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, helps beta cells in pancreas to regulate release of insulin, increases the sensitivity to insulin lowering the blood sugar levels, helps cells overcome oxidative stress.
  6. Protects Heart: Tulsi is shown to lower cholesterol, especially LD types, keeps blood pressure lower, Eugenol (anti-oxidant) helps keep free radicals from damaging heart tissue.
  7. Fever: Germicide and a fungicide as well as an anti-biotic so it helps relieve fevers from the common infection to more serious diseases.
  8. Respiratory: Anti-bacterial, Anti-fungal, anti-allergetic, fights infections, relieves congestion and cough it a good expectorant and is immunomodulatory (good for the immune system)
  9. Hair and skin: Last but not least because of it’s purifying properties it is good for reducing acne and pimples. The anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties assist in preventing break outs. It purifies the blood when the leaves are chewed raw and it reduces excess hair fall and itchy scalp.

Enjoy the magic of Tulsi in your diet

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Sustainable Solutions For Lifestyle Disorders

Posted on by Shelli Thompson

Join us for an evening of wellness series and find out ways to sustain your health in our world today.

 

Our Main topic will be Sustainable Solutions for Lifestyle Disorders and what we can do to live a happier and Healthier life.

To Find out More Click Here


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Practitioners Year Part 1

Posted on by Shelli Thompson

WHEW!

Naturally everyone can relate to feeling a bit behind right?  I have to say that’s a feeling that I am not used to at all.  I am a list maker a scheduler, you know the sort of person, everyone does.  Sometimes they make you sick with their organization……I admit it, I am one of these types.

I am that way in everything I do.  School is no exception, the exception to that seems to be this year.  Did I plan? Yes actually I did.  So how did it happen? How did I manage to get behind in the very first Month of school……Honestly!!

It’s all about learning something new and for me it is more than just a few things.  Number one is the new and very Awesome E-learning system we have in place this year, that I really didn’t explore as much as I thought I did.

Please refrain from laughing here……I logged onto the sight and found my class.  In addition to classes on Tuesday and Thursday night that are live, we have a number of videos to watch.  I could see the number of videos and it APPEARED to be 10 videos.  Appear is the optimum word here because there were 4 sections of videos so I didn’t have 10 videos to watch, I had 40.  YIKES!

Lesson number one: Fully Investigate anything new on the learning sight….Very Important.

I hope you are still not laughing because after this next statement you are going to think, “wow, how anal can someone be?” Honestly I had to work hard, and watch hours of video in a sitting to feel semi-caught up.  Here’s the deal, I have never worked from a position of being behind, due to my list-making and scheduling, I am absolutely positive I do NOT like it.

Lesson number two: I do NOT like being behind, I know because I just seen me do it.

Okay all humor aside, seriously I have found out what my mental strength is all about.  I could have cracked and quite frankly I may have done that last year when I found out the immensity of my mistake.  Instead I pulled my boots up by the boot straps and did what I needed to do to get the job done.

I have a new schedule now.  One that keeps the whip snapping and gets me closer to being where I want to be.  Is it on the calendar? YOU BET! Do I have a list of the things that I need to do to get it done? Right in front of My face at all times.

Am I kicking my own ASS over the mistake I made…..HELL NO!  Moving on.

So we continue on the journey of wellness in a world full of illness, with a group of individuals that are just as passionate about healing the world as I am.

I am truly blessed!

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Lower Cholesterol Naturally

Posted on by Shelli Thompson

 

Are you one of the 255 million people a year filling prescriptions to the tune of 19 billion dollars annually? This is just in the United States alone. Many do this instead of looking for ways to lower cholesterol naturally.

What do you know about the drugs you are currently taking? Are you aware of all the side effects? Some of them you can’t even feel.

I like to ask people, “What Do You Know About Pharmaceuticals?”

Let’s take a moment to take a look at statins for instance.  Over the age of 45 years 1 in 4 americans take statins. That’s 25% of the population, that’s incredible.  In fact it horrifies me that some doctors think this is a “miracle drug”.  They joke that they would like to see it injected into the water supply. The only problem I see is that statement is it’s NOT funny. We should find ways to

lower cholesterol naturally.

I was surprised to find out statins are routinely prescribed for people over 45.  Some of whom only have a slim chance of developing heart disease. I decided to educate myself on the side effects.  It concerns me because my parents take statins.

First I wanted to look at the risk reduction and I was surprised to find that taking statins only lowered the POSSIBILITY of having a heart attack by 25% to 30%.  The fact is that long term users are 50% more likely to develop diabetes.  Another reason to

lower cholesterol naturally.

What Are You Doing To You?

In my mind the pro’s do not out weigh the cons.  I decided to continue digging and this is what I found.

Statins caused these side affects

Short term memory loss
depression
mood swings
liver disfunction
kidney failure
cataracts
muscle myopathy…..Chronic muscle pain.

Continue reading “Lower Cholesterol Naturally” →

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Ayurveda, The Key To Health & Wellness

Posted on by Shelli Thompson
Lucky to enjoy Superb Health

All my life I had a family doctor that was our family doctor. He knew the entire family and our history. He retired about 10 years ago and then I got a true taste of what it’s like to have a doctor that really had no interest in me as a person.

I came to the ugly realization that my “new doctor” was in the “business” of being a physician.

Over the years it has astounded me the lack of caring I have experienced by this “doctor” and his staff.

I didn’t think very much about it until I had a minor medical emergency and my doctor accomplished two things in my visit with him.

1. To scare me to death needlessly with something he couldn’t be sure of.
2. To make me feel even more like a number than I was before and inefficiency with the staff that made me not totally trust what they were telling me.

This led me to a different doctor that I was referred to that was fantastic and it made me realize that I didn’t have to put up with my new doctor and it started me on a search to find a new physician.

My point here is that we need to take charge of our own health.
 
Continue reading “Ayurveda, The Key To Health & Wellness” →

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Impressive crowds at the Race for the Cure

Posted on by Shelli Thompson
Racing for the cure

We were so impressed by the crowds at this years Race for the Cure.

It was dark when I got up but I could see the sun coming up on the horizon and I knew it was going to be a beautiful day. Rain or shine we were on our way downtown Portland with 40,000 other people.

We put the harness and a race for the cure T shirt on our 100 pound Labrdoodle and headed to meet our team at the MAX tracks for our 7 AM train.

Lilee our Dog had never been on a Max train but she didn’t mind it at all, she likes people and seemed to have a pretty good time.

We got on the train at the end of the line, the farthest it goes from Portland. As we went along and made stops, more and more people continued to get on the train until the pup was just a little squished.

Finally the train stopped in downtown and we got off. The crowds were just as impressive off the train as on.

The Race for the Cure is always so much fun. Everyone there is celebrating life in general or in specific ways so the energy level is pretty intense.

I saw people meeting and hugging and crying, teams that were pretty “snazzed” up with silly costumes. beautiful balloons and other pets joining their masters on the walk. I saw a Cat and even a turtle in costume. (imagine that).

The crowds were overwhelming to say the least. When the race starts they actually seperate us up two main roads for about 6 or 7 blocks before both streets join, it is a complete sea of people where ever you look.

I watched the survivors come across the finish line and was totally amazed and inspired by what I saw. I saw women with only one breast or none. I saw survivors walking and in wheel chairs. I saw a survivor that was a Man. Then there were a few that didn’t look to be more than 20 years old. Everyone was happy and smiling. The support that was on the streets of Portland on Sunday September 20th 2009 was something that makes my heart swell with pride.

THEN I FOUND OUT WHY

PORTLAND HOLDS THE THIRD LARGEST RACE FOR THE CURE IN THE WORLD

reported by oregonian newspaper

We were honored to be a part of that celebration

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End of life care

Posted on by Shelli Thompson

End of Life Care, So what’s the big deal?

I live in a state where it is widely regarded that none of us are getting out of here alive. There are two things in this life you can be sure of. One, you were born. And two, you pass away.

We have experienced quite a bit of this in the past year. Not just some distant relatives. First it was our Step Dad. Then a month later my husbands only sister.

Just about a month ago it was our Mom (my Mother in law). There are all different ways of dieing. As in the case of our step Dad. He was fine one day. The next day went to the hospital at 9 AM and had passed away by 2:30 PM. He was 83 years old. The other two weren’t as fortunate. Cancer played it’s part.

It is very hard to see a loved one die of a terrible disease. When we talk about “end of life care” it really just refers to the special needs of the senior community. That “end of life” could last years.

We had an “end of life care” discussion with Mom several times. In her doctors office, a specialists office, when Hospice got involved we had the discussion several times.

It had to be addressed. If you are any type of reasonable person you realize that the end of life is inevitable.

The important part here is the word CARE. How does a person want to be cared for at the end of his or her life?

In Oregon 78% of the population has advanced directives. Meaning they have stated what they want and in the case they are not able to express those wishes then someone is named that understands and makes the decisions for them. We are forward thinking about the subject.

Honestly, thinking that we are going to face some type of “tribunal” or something when we get into our later years is laughable. However facing life and making decisions about how you want to die is a very important topic.

It could mean the difference between being on life support for years with no quality of life maybe depending on Medicaid, Or passing away peacefully at home in an environment that is not “clinical”.

Our Mom had choices to make about the level of care she would receive. From the “whole enchelada” to just comfort and pain relief. She only had one diseased lung. She understood that this was the end of her life but none of us knew how long we were referring to. Her Doctor was very caring and concerned when we spoke of her care. It was private and she made her choice be known and we honored it to the crossing of the T’s and dotting of the I’s.

The end of our life is PART of our life. It need not be unmentionable, life needs to be celebrated no matter what the stage.

Find out about Extending Longevity by clicking here

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