light box therapy for improved moods

Mental health professionals have used light-box therapy for decades to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which leads to a low mood in winter but eases its depressing grip when the days get longer. 

HANNAH WHITAKER

New research indicates that the same therapy may be effective for other types of depression, including treatment-resistant depression and even bipolar depression. (Indeed, one recent study found that among patients hospitalized for depression, those in rooms facing southeast, which received the most light, were discharged an average of 30 days earlier than those in rooms facing northwest.) 

Researchers believe that the therapy, which involves sitting near a light box during morning hours, resets a disordered circadian rhythm, resulting in an improved mood.

the promise of winter

Venus is now the archetypal energy that reigns in our belief system for the next 12 years. Evening Star Venus, who is the Great Goddess of Love, the Body and Wisdom, will be our guide. 

On December 21, the Sun enters Capricorn on the Winter Solstice. The Moon is in Scorpio, helping us release the past and the darkness so the Light of the World can be reborn. A Winter Solstice Ritual can be as simple as lighting a candle to bring back the Light.

There's a Capricorn Solar Eclipse late on Christmas night, at 5* Capricorn, visible in the Middle East. This solar eclipse is conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus. This will make for a joyous, interesting Christmas Day.

It's a great time to set your intentions for the New Year as you begin the 12 Days of Christmas. Cathy Pagano - Wisdom of Astrology

an illustrated ending to 2019

It's not all bad news. As 2019 draws to a close and we look forward to a new year and the start of a brand new decade, here are some great highlights to inspire us. Happy Holidays to all!

Mauro Gatti, Rokas Laurinavičius and Julija Nėjė at The Happy Broadcast. View more here.

A Navajo Thanksgiving Prayer

In the non-ordinary world of the shaman time is elastic, symbols carry power, shapes shift.

Navajo ceremonies are conducted, at least primarily, for the purpose of healing disease; and while designated medicine ceremonies, they are, in fact, ritualistic prayers.

Like many ancient people, Navajo Indians understand the mysterious healing power of graphic design and use it in an elaborate healing ritual. 

honoring the medicine

The artist, the medicine man, uses naturally colored grains of sand, and pour them by hand to create "places where the gods come and go" in the Navajo language. The graphic design is used as a visual communication device.

According to anthropologist Trudy Griffin-Pierce in her study of Navajo sand painting, the power of Navajo sand painting is in the merging of time and space into a place where the present and the mythic past coexist, Griffin-Pierce writes. The Navajo consider sand paintings to be:

“sacred, living entities” with the power to“compress time and space.” It is through the power of sand painting and the associated rituals that an individual can be transported to a place where the present and the mythic world are one, a place where supernatural assistance and healing can be found (Griffin-Pierce 1992, 98-99).

This is the final section of a lengthy shamanic prayer about when the spiritual being and the physical human are united. We offer this up for a hopeful Thanksgiving.

To my feet I have returned

To my limbs I have returned

To my body I have returned

To my mind I have returned

To the dust of my feet I have returned

To my saliva I have returned

To my hair I have returned

My feet are restored to me

My limbs are restored to me

My body is restored to me

My mind is restored to me

The dust of my feet is restored to me

My saliva is restored to me

My hair is restored to me

The world before me is restored in beauty

The world behind me is restored in beauty

The world below me is restored in beauty

The world above me is restored in beauty

All things around me are restored in beauty

My voice is restored in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty

sympathy, compassion, empathy

East West Women highly recommend this powerful tandem of wise women and their healing light.

Join us in growing this community.

In today’s world we do not know how to respond to global catastrophes as well as issues that come up with our friends and loved ones.

We often confuse pitying others with compassion. But in reality when we pity people, nature beings, or places we disempower them.

Hosts Sandra Ingerman & Renee Baribeau

Renee and Sandra both share powerful guidance on how we can feed the light and strength of those challenged to lift them up and stimulate their power to heal from their situation.

Together they address how we can become too empathetic taking on the pain of others. This does not help anyone especially ourselves.

Sandra will lead us in a journey to see those we love and care about in their divine light and strength.

Join us in this engaging and inspiring show! Follow us at Shamanstv.com.

Kundalini Summit - Nov 5 to 8

The Awaken Your Kundalini Summit is a 4-day event taking place from November 5 to 8 - online
and on the phone - a profound and experiential gathering for thousands of people who would like
to truly master our energy.

Kundalini is a divine frequency that’s powerful beyond measure, infinitely creative, and intimately
connected to our soul. 

In this life-enhancing summit, you’ll discover a large pool of wisdom and a wide range of powerful
techniques and practices to activate your Kundalini. . . .to clear collective fear and other “denser”
energies - transforming them into higher frequencies of love.

Some of today’s leading Kundalini experts will share practical yogic exercises to help you release
stuck patterns from your mind-body, elevate your frequency, and radiate this divine energy in
everything you do.

Tapping into this primal energy will help you be more present, more grounded, and more connected
to yourself and your dreams. . . .and manifesting will be much easier when you’re aligned with this
creative life force.

end medical & clinical tribalism

There seems to be a growing need to examine the basis of multidisciplinary teamwork. 

In real-world healthcare settings especially, clinicians often cluster in profession-based tribal silos - forming cliques and hierarchies, exhibiting stereotypical behavior or dogmatic beliefs.

Hay House Heal Summit

This all work against individual and personalized epigenetics, when a person chooses to reprogram innate or inherited biology for better health and disease prevention. 

Participate in this healing summit presented by Hay House and check out the unlimited number of options readily available to us today. 

May you unlock the most powerful healer within. Here's to better health for us all!

meditation medication

Studies now support the added benefits of meditation to our health and our lifespan.

One Nobel Prize-winner is finding the scientific in the spiritual

Just like the ends of a rope or string, the tip-like telomeres within our DNA begin to fray over time, especially under stress. 

Damaged telomeres are linked to many diseases of aging - such as diabetes, cancer, depression, anxiety, etc. Thankfully, telomere damage can be slowed down and even reversed. 

Recent findings equate it this way: If your genes are the piano keys, and your lifestyles choices are the pianist, then meditation may just be Mozart. 

We owe it to ourselves to create as much harmony and balance in our lives. In however way we can, no matter how challenged we are. 

OM shanti indeed. 

que sera, sera

As the iconic song goes, "whatever will be, will be." The four verses of the song progress through the life of the narrator - childhood, young adult, falling in love, parenthood. 

Each time asking, "What will I be?" and "What lies ahead?" The chorus repeats the answer: "What will be, will be." 

Transpersonal theory proposes that there are developmental stages beyond the adult ego - differentiating between be, being and becoming. 

Types and levels of purpose.

Be expresses identity in space and time. Being is the existence of a thing - the immaterial realm of pure information that is unchanged. Becoming is the essential nature of concrete material objects which are always changing.

Courage and strength come when there is so much to cry and complain about, yet we choose to appreciate life instead.  Blessings abound in every struggle faced, but it requires our willingness and desire to open our heart and mind to receive them.  

Things cannot be forced to happen.  It would be insane to try and control them. Surrender and let go - be open and allow. What will be will be if we stand aside and let it unfold for us - bloom into being. 

Loving life leads to trusting intuition, taking chances, losing and finding happiness, cherishing memories, and learning through experience.  It’s a life long journey to live consciously in the moment - enjoy life as it unfolds, whatever it holds.  

Whatever will be, will be.

mystical magical Carlos Santana

We don't need to be a flower power child of the 70s to love the music of Carlos Santana or the lovable icon himself.

His signature sound of fusing American rock and roll with smooth Latin rhythm has kept us on our toes and on the dance floor for the last five decades.

the man, the legend, the lines

Having lived through those times I am now a proud AARP member and card holder. Which means I get their magazine. Their summer music issue featured Carlos Santana on the cover.

The interview contains classic Santana gems that capture his charm and mythos.

“The universe will bring you an abundance of opportunities and possibilities. It’s really all about trusting that before you got there, when you were sleeping, the universe was conspiring to give you something to blow your mind. Would you be open to receive it?”

"You stay relevant by trusting you have something people need. You know, people need air; people need water; people need some serious rrrrrromance,” he says, rolling the “r” for emphasis. 

"Three things: your spirit, your soul and your heart. If you find those and you really find them, you’re going to realize that innocence. Those things don’t leave you, and you don’t misplace them or lose them. Those are the ingredients for you to have a glorious existence.” 

One of his favorite terms is naked awareness - the ability to see yourself fully and make changes away from the negative.

His advise to his younger self? “Strip yourself naked from anything that anyone taught you about anything. And only listen to the voice of your heart, the voice of your light.”

Advise we would all do well to follow as we trip through life. 

today's Google doodle | Ynes Mexia

I love that today's Google doodle celebrates the Mexican-American botanist Ynes Mexia.

Ynés Enriquetta Julietta Mexía was a Mexican-American botanist known for her collection of novel plant specimens from areas of Mexico and South America. 

She discovered a new genus of Asteraceae and was arguably the most accomplished plant collector of her time. Wikipedia