Archive | March, 2014

Happy Spring & All The Gifts She Brings

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Are You Ready for Spring?

Spring is here and everyone is busy getting their gardens ready for planting.  Windows are being opened to let the fresh air in.  Winter clothing is being put away and lighter ones brought out.*

Change is all around and all of life is feeling it.

The sounds and smells of Spring are distinctive.  The birds and land creatures are out and about frolicking and leaping with joy.

Spring is here and Life is being renewed once more.

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Spring and Fall are two major season changes that affect us greatly in many ways.

Preparations must be made for the coming season changes and our bodies are certainly a part of this yearly ritual.

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In the fall we changed our diet and way of life to accommodate the season changes.  And now again we do the same.

The heavier foods with more fats are being replaced with lighter and simpler meals.

Our bodies are needing some “gardening” preparations just like the land.

It is time for a Spring Cleansing Program to help us make this transition.

You might look around and are seeing more people having colds or flus and of course allergies.  You too might be experiencing more mucous than normal.

This is the body’s response to the season change.  It’s own house cleaning has begun.

So how can we help ourselves through this season change and hopefully minimize the symptoms?

Nature in Her perfection gives us just what we need when we need it!

Dandelions are all around.  So beautiful and bright sharing their joy She beckons us to partake of Her healing gifts.

Dandelions** are a wonderful natural liver cleanser and a lot more.

When you can, pick a leaf and chew on her.  Always pick leaves that are free of car fumes and chemicals of course.  And always give Her thanks for this gift.

You can add the flowers to your salads as well as the leaves.  Wild dandelion is a bit more bitter but that is just what we want for the extra Spring healing power.

You can use cultivated dandelion that is now available at many health foods all year long.  So lucky are we!

Make a bed of dandelion greens, baby kale, and spinach on your dinner plate and then put your food on top.  The heat of the food will lightly soften the greens and add nutrients to your meal.

As we move more into summer use this mix as the base for your salads.

There are many cleansing programs available right now and in the next newsletter I will talk about some of these.

But for today I want to keep this very simple.  With dandelions popping up all around it is a perfect time for us all to partake in Nature’s healing gift.

The best part is this gift is free and plentiful.

So grab a bowl and take a walk.  Remember to always give thanks for the plant gifts we take.

Join Life’s choir and sing your thanks as we are now breathing in Spring’s renewed life force.

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Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy

Got Lymph?

thelymphguy@gmail.com

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*As I am getting ready to send this we are having one of our spring/winter storms.  But the dandelions seem not to care as they keep just popping up all around.

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**Here is some technical information about dandelions you might enjoy!  You can read the complete article here.

All the above curative functions, and more, have been attributed to one plant known to everyone, Taraxacum officinale, which means the “Official Remedy for Disorders.” We call it the common dandelion. It is so well respected, in fact, that it appears in the U.S. National Formulatory, and in the Pharmacopeias of Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, and the Soviet Union. It is one of the top 6 herbs in the Chinese herbal medicine chest.

According to the USDA Bulletin #8, “Composition of Foods” (Haytowitz and Matthews 1984), dandelions rank in the top 4 green vegetables in overall nutritional value. Minnich, in “Gardening for Better Nutrition” ranks them, out of all vegetables, including grains, seeds and greens, as tied for 9th best. According to these data, dandelions are nature’s richest green vegetable source of beta-carotene, from which Vitamin A is created, and the third richest source of Vitamin A of all foods, after cod-liver oil and beef liver! They also are particularly rich in fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and the B vitamins, thiamine and riboflavin, and are a good source of protein

Healing may really be peace,
A peace that comes to rest in the body,
that is a reflection of the
“Peace that passeth understanding”.
We see it come to the body much as peace is
Allowed to come to Earth:
A nation here and a nation there.
When we find real peace in the Earth,
We may see a state of health
Having come to all bodies.
Edgar Cayce
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A simple & fun way to improve your health!

Did you know you could give yourself a wonderful Lymphatic Massage right at home?

And as often as you want with a minimal cost to you!

It is so easy and you are all ready doing an aspect of it and doing it a several times a week anyways!

This is so easy and feels so good.

What you will need:
A brush for dry skin brushing
A pair of exfoliating gloves
A pure & natural soap
Coconut Oil
A bathtub or shower
Start with a dry skin brushing of your whole body.  This begins to remove dead and flaky skin cells as well as stimulating the lymph and circulatory systems.

Begin your shower or bath as you normally would.

At some point put on your exfoliating gloves. They are available at most health food stores or online.  I use Earth Therapeutics Exfoliating Gloves available for around $5.

I like to add some Coconut Oil Soap to the gloves.  I use unscented NutriBiotic Pure Coconut Oil Soap I get from Amazon.

Now For Some Fun!

I like using the gloves because my hands and fingers are involved and I can work the more delicate areas such as the arm pit nodes, groin lymph nodes and surrounding areas, breasts, abdomen area, head, throat, etc.

Some of these areas are hard work with a loofa.  Also the gloves allow you to feel your body better as well as have more control of the treatment.

Once you have your gloves on add some soap and you are ready to begin.

The general rule is to do what feels good to you.  It is important to be gentle especially those tender areas such as the throat, breast, groin area, and abdomen.

Try out different strokes such as long movements up and down the limbs and then across the muscle groups.  Try circular motions for the abdomen and breasts.  Apply gentle massage strokes around the jaw and throat.

Do not forget your hands and feet!

The important thing is to remember that gentle and easy is better than rough and deep.

Lymphatic Massage does not need to be deep to be effective.

The massage movement stimulates deeper inner body movement!

When you have massaged as much of your body as you can reach you can take off the gloves.  If you have a back scrubber this makes getting to the back areas much easier.

Finish your bath or shower as you normally would.

Pat yourself dry and then rub coconut oil all over.  You do not need much to be effective!

Coconut oil is such a healthy addition to our lives.

Internally it does so much good.  We will be talking about using coconut oil and its benefits internally in an upcoming newsletter.

Externally it is a wonderful oil.  It helps to reduce winkles and well as replacing oils to the skin cells to help you look younger and feel and look more radiant.

Adding this practice to your health regime is going to help you feel so much more alive and rejuvenated.

Works on cellulite
Helps to keep the lymph flowing
Will help to unblock lymph nodes
Moves toxins for release from the body
Excellent for arthritis and other joint pains
Soothes muscle aches
Beautifies the skin
Improves muscle tone
Excellent for circulation
Calms the nervous system
And it just feels great!

Your body is going to thank you over and over again.

Here is where you find more detailed information on Lymphatic Massage.

I want to thank my business partner and friend Gardenia Gardener for bringing this wonderful practice to my attention so that I too can share it with you.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy

Got Lymph?

thelymphguy@gmail.com

“Pain is the hammer of the gods to break
A dead resistance in the mortal’s heart,
His slow inertia as of living stone.
If the heart were not forced to want and weep,
His soul would have lain down content, at ease,
And never thought to exceed the human start
And never learned to climb towards the Sun.”
Sri Aurobindo’s SAVITRI
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Some simple & easy tips to improve your health.

Most people living in our modern world are having digestive difficulties.

And of course this makes perfect sense living with the stress that is all around and eating foods that are usually deficient in nutrition while we are in a hurry to keep up.

So what can we do?

There are of course digestive aids that can be of great help.

But here are a couple very simple things you can do to improve your overall digestion.
Drink 8oz. of water 15min. before each meal
Eat only the highest quality foods
Learn about food combining
Sit and relax while eating
Drink Your Food & Eat Your Drink
Avoid drinking anything while eating
Take some digestive time after the meal
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Drinking 8oz. of water 15min. before a meal gets the stomach juices ready for food to come.

Some foods are digested in the mouth (starches) with chewing while others in the stomach (proteins) and still other foods (fruits) pass right through to the intestines.

So if you eat melon that wants to go right to the intestines but is held up in the stomach while proteins are being digested then that melon will throw off the digestive system. You may then experience bloating, gas, and other symptoms.

The Stomach has no teeth!  A shocker I know!

So if we do not chew thoroughly the stomach has to work harder to break down the food particles (if it can) before even being able to digest and absorb the nutrients.  Also the parotid gland in the jaw is what mixes digestive juices with the saliva to begin the digestive process.

When we drink with our meals we are diluting the digestive juices and if it is a cool beverage we are putting out the digestive fires that we are relying on for digestion.

Peppermint tea is extremely beneficial to the stomach and digestion.  It is excellent to drink before bed to ease any stomachaches or bloating and to help relax the nervous system.  It is also an alkaline drink and contains no caffeine.

Relaxing for a few moments after eating just makes good sense!

Chewing on parsley leaves after a meal is wonderful for both digestion and our breath.

Obviously we are only skimming the surface here.  There are so many factors that affect digestion.  But these are basic tips to integrate to improve digestion and get more out of your food and life.   And before spending money on digestive aids these simple practices will make a difference.  If you are taking digestive aids for support then you would want to support the supplements with good eating habits.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy

Got Lymph?

thelymphguy@gmail.com

On any journey we take there are preparations to be made; supplies to be collected, maps are needed, skilled guides to lead us.

I speak a lot about how this health process is an adventure.
That the journey is the goal!
And after all without our bodies this journey here is over!

Sometimes the most wonderful adventures are the ones that take us off the common road traveled and we find ourselves somewhere we never knew existed.

What if the bodies “dis-eases” are leading us on this adventure to a new destination, a new consciousness,
a new life!

Welcome to the first Lymph Guy Newsletter!

What does being healthy mean to you?
How do you relate to your dis-eases?
How do you relate to your body?
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Healing journeys can be difficult ones to travel!

We have become so distant from our bodies that getting back to ourselves is not always so easy.

For some it is also a very lonely path to travel.

I hope you will find these newsletters to be a friend and a comfort for you.
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One simple and easy tip to improve your health.

Drink Plenty Of Water!

Did you know that 95% of us do not drink enough water each day?

Our bodies are nearly 90% water at birth, 70% at adulthood, and 50% in our senior years.
Our bodies can survive for days without food but not so without water.
A 5% drop in body fluids can equal a 25 -30% drop in energy.

Water is essential to Life!

So grab your water bottle and keep it close.

Start with a goal of 2 liters a day.  Depending on the season and your personal needs this amount can vary between 2-5 liters per day.

You will be doing so much good for your body, mental state, digestion, elimination, lymph support, and….Yes!  Even your creative self will “flow” easier.

Together Our Hands Are Joined To Heal One Another…

Alexander Gardener
The Lymph Guy

Got Lymph?

thelymphguy@gmail.com