Fearing Your Kidneys?

Kidneys should be cleanse and toned daily. In Traditional Chinese, this very vital organ is believed to determine your energy level, your sexual stamina and your lifespan.

Its daily functions include filtering your bodily fluids of waste created from your body’s many processes, regulating your mineral levels and maintaining body PH levels.

Symptoms that may be a result of poor functioning kidneys includes;

1. Low energy, easily fatigued
2. Edema and high blood pressure from excess water in the blood
3. Kidney stones and sore, burning feet caused by high acid levels and from dehydration
4. Lower back pain
5. Chills
6. Balding
7. Ear problems
8. Indecisiveness and unclear, scattered thinking
9. Excess fear

Daily care of Kidneys

Winter and Fall are challenging times for the kidney. To keep them functioning well, eat Kidney friendly foods like cooked root vegetables and grains. Drink herbal teas with herbs like ursa uva.

Kidney friendly habits include;

• Keeping the body, especially the lower parts, warm.
• Making sure you get enough rest regularly.
• Minimizing the consumption of red meat, excess salt and refined carbohydrates like white sugar, flour and potatoes.

To detoxify and tonify your kidneys that are under stress;

1. Get a customized kidney formula from your Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor, Ayurvedic doctor, Naturopath or herbalist. See the pure + simple website for some practitioners, we have had good experiences with.
2. Get a prepared formula from your supplements store like Kidney formula or on line from Banyan and Kidney Fornula
3. Manually detox your kidneys by massaging them with Chi Nei Tsang. You can learn how to do it with lessons from Dorothy Ramien……… Or get a series of Chi Nei Tsang from her.
4. Rest!!!!!
5. Keep warm!

Is Your Liver Making You Angry?

Most of us know that the liver is one of our body’s main filters. But it is much more than that.

Mantak Chi in “Chi Nei Tsang, Ci Massage for Vital Organs” better explains what the liver does for us.

“The liver store large quantities of blood, minerals and vitamins. It prepares carbohydrates by breaking them down into more simple sugars. It is incharge of protein and amino acid production… It also produces bile salts, which are distributed by the gallbladderinto the small intestines to aborb fats from food consumed. It produces wood chi as well”

He also helps us become aware of how the affects our appearance and behavior in the following from the same book,

“If liver chi and blood are health, balanced and abundant, then the nails will be health, vision clear and nerves calm, and sinews and tendons will have sufficient energy.

The positive quality of the emotion in wood is kindness tempered with intelligence. A person with this quality tends to be coolheaded, discreet, relaxed, clearheaded, creative, progressive, constructive, conciliatory and willing to work with others.

The negative qualities of wood phase’s emotions are anger, violence and making big plans without knowing what you e doing. A person with these qualities tends to be opportunistic, short tempered, ar hotheaded, loud, tight, pressured, rough, obsessed, stubborn, pedantic, formalistic, competitive, and antagonistic.”

A weak or over loaded liver can affect the function of the reproductive organs and cause infertitlity and impotence.

An over stressed liver affects Kidney function as anger can cause fear

A struggling liver can be detected when there is yellow in the whites of the eyes. Dark circles around the eyes. Vision can become blurry.

Another symptom of a toxic liver is a pronounced vertical wrinkle on the right side of the area between your eye brows.

Skin tone can be yellowy, orange.

Sore stiff tendons with chronic pain in the neck shoulder area can be another clue to the state of your liver. Massaging the nape can relieve headache pain.

Daily care of the liver includes eating green and bitter foods like bitter melon, dark greens, and dandelion greens and roots.

The gallbladder likes regular meals at consistent times to prevent clogging of the liver ducts with gall stones, which are hardened bile.

You assist the function of your liver by massaging the area below your right rib cage. Soreness or hardness in this area will indicate the need to do Chi Nei Tsang here daily.

You can supplement the daily care of your liver with herbs like Banyan Liver Formula. Find it at http://www.banyanbotanicals.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1181

If you have neglected you liver longterm and you have many of the above symptoms try the Liver Gallbladder Flush by Hulde Clark. Find it at http://www.drclark.net/en/cleanses_clean-ups/liver_cleanses/advanced_livere_cleanse.php

Detoxify Yourself

Detoxification is spring cleaning for our body. It focuses on cleansing our organs.

Many feel there is no need to do it. That may be true for those of us who eat impeccably well and according to our body type as well as get enough rest, our bodies will detoxify nightly as we sleep.

But for the rest of us, detoxification is important to help us maintain optimal performance of our bodies and decreases the abilities of antigens to start disease.

How do we know we need to detox?

When organs are too toxic to operate properly they will offload the toxins into the bloodstream. Impure blood will cause skin to manifest undesirable and sometimes irritating conditions like acne and rashes. When the toxin laden blood nourishes our muscles it causes the muscles to ache.

Detoxification is recommended when you suffer from the following symptoms; acne, rashes, chronic muscle soreness, muscle weakness, congestion, mind fog, irritation, lack of concentration, headaches, decreased sex drive, menstrual problems, infertility and dehydration.

How do we start ?

The first thing you need to do is to take inventory of your lifestyle habits and the symptoms you are experiencing. These symptoms are clues to the condition of your organs and why you need to detoxify.

If we are well rested regular detoxification happens nightly while we sleep. Detoxification requires much energy so before you start a detox program, rate your energy level. If you are tired or sleep deprived then you need to rest up first. Otherwise you will not have a successful detox.

No – Just because you bought the program and complete it, it does not automatically mean your organs are cleared. And don’t blame the detox program if you do not feel the detox was successful. So, no short cuts. REST.

Take inventory of what symptoms you have and where they are. Chronic shore shoulders and neck indicate the Liver sluggishness. Lower back pain and weak limbs may be cause by an overworked Kidney. Acne along the jaw line can suggest a congested colon. Rashes, acne or redness in the cheeks can imply respiratory weakness.

You can also enlist the help of a alternative health therapist like a naturopath..

Start with a colon cleanse. There are many ways to clean your colon. Natural remedies like Genestra Herbal bulk with Genestra Replete are favorites of mine. You can also go for a series of colonics. Regular colonics may be the solution to chronic constipation. Massage your stomach so that your bowels will evacuate more easily.

Then it’s time to cleanse the kidneys. There are many great herbal preparations like Banyan's Kidney Formula. If you want a customized formula go to an herbalist. My favourite herbalist is Roger at Thunas , Find out more at Thuna’s and roger at http://bit.ly/l3bKWv

You can give your kidneys a rest by not eating red meat and other fatty foods for a period of time as you consume cleansing juices like watermelon juice.

You can also use Chi Nei Tsang, a stomach massage that works directly on your organs. You can massage yourself daily. It will not only detox organs but if you do it at night you will sleep better. If you do it in the morning it will facilitate a complete bowel movement. Learn more by going to http://www.chineitsang.com/cnti/Treatments.html

Then it is the liver's turn. Again Banyan is a good source. The Liver Formula is based on traditional Ayurvedic formulas and a these formulas are followed by the best herbal remedy companies in the world. You can try the Liver Gallbladder Flush by Hulda Clark. For her cleanse go to http://www.drclark.net/en/cleanses_clean-ups/liver_cleanses/liver_cleanse.php

Again Chi Nei Tsang is a good option for detoxification and is a great complement with another method of detoxification. Daily treatments will not only keep your organs healthy but also encourage better sleep patterns.

I am currently teaching some clients and staff on how to massage their stomachs with the Tummy Tool. . Staff will be trained to show the tummy massage when we introduce Chi Nei Tsang in a facial this September.

To make the tummy massage easy and fun I have bought the handcrafted Tummy Tool from one of Master Gilles Marin’s students and Chi Nei Tsang Practitioner. I will tell you more about Andrew later too. Right now there is barely enough for the clients and staff that really need them.

Don’t wait for the Tummy Tool to detoxify and stay well!

Are you still a “sweet sweet good good girl”

In What the Body Remembers http://www.shaunasinghbaldwin.com/ReviewsWTBR.html by Indo-Canadian author, Shauna Singh Baldwin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shauna_Singh_Baldwin, a “sweet sweet good good girl” is what young girls are taught to strive for so they can become brides.

Are you guilty of perpetuating the “sweet sweet good good girl” persona in the women you care about?

This delightful book objectively delves into the complexities of Indian society in the 1930’s and 40’s.

This book is an engaging way to learn about a critical time in the formation of India and Pakistan, the fluctuating relationship of India’s 3 main religions from a woman’s perspective when women were still second class.

The body does not just remember the violence and humiliation of race and religion but also precarious fortune of females, who were mere possessions, valued for their agreeableness, usefulness and beauty.

But this is not a heroine’s story with men as the villains. Sardarji, a forty year old man, who marries a sixteen year old, Roop while still married to his first wife, Satya, is not simply caricatured as an insensitive brute. Heis a sophisticated kind man trying to fulfill his basic human desires as well as being the hope of a better world to come. Roop and/or Satya, women of different temperaments and backgrounds, are clearly neither victims or heroines.

The book also shows us how little things have really changed as politics and religions still divide us; even though the differences among us are really from a common source.

And while there is much change in the political and public perception of women, we still strive for standardized beauty but now with the help of science as in plastic surgery, injections and laser technology.

So instead of increase our wisdom and creating an authentic personalized beauty through achievement and awareness, we use our time, money and energy and even risk our health to satisfy the age old female desire to be “beautiful” in the male perspective.

And if we do not choose to be a standardized beauty, many of us still feel we need to be a male idealized partner that is useful with a pleasant personality, be a “sweet sweet good good girl”. As we become mothers many of us find our daughters have easily embrace this too. Much of which is not our doing.

While this urge to prepare ourselves to remain in a past role when most of us have never experienced being second class citizens, is disconcerting – as a Fifty almost Sixty year old - I find this karmic memory proof of reincarnation and therefore all the self improvement we strive for is beneficial in all of our lifetimes :)

Professional Hairstyling for the Natural Woman

Are you like me and want natural and organic hair care?

Right now with the cold weather, my hair is really not helping me look like a "proper" mature woman. Since I prefer comfort before glamour - I am suffering from "Hat Head" .

Add dull graying hair and you have someone in dire need of haircare products.

But it's not so easy for those of us who want NATURAL haircare products beyond shampoo and conditioner.. There are few good styling products that give us a professional polished look as the chemical laden ones do.

To keep my dead straight hair under control, I was a dedicated user of John Masters Sweet Orange + Silk Protein Styling Gel http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1065&category_id=385&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27

But his reformulated "new improved" version was unsuitable for my determined strong willed hair.

I found with my extensive search that NATURAL, I mean truly natural, and PROFESSIONAL are an oxymoron when it comes to hair styling products so I was back with John Masters.

But my coarse hair needed so much of the Bourbon Vanilla + Tangerine Texturizer http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=219&category_id=385&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27 that it was sticky to touch.

My last resort in the line was the Hair Pomade http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=533&category_id=385&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27.
Again my hair needed so much product to be managed that even if I was okay with the slick look, my fringe ("bangs" to Gen X and Y) still fell over my eyes. Cool for the twenty somethings-- annoying to us fifty somethings.

I know that my staff who are uncompromisingly discriminating about their skincare are secretly using haircare products that have unwanted chemicals like phthalates to keep their hair looking sleek. And if I could tolerate the scent of these convenient products, I may have given up and joined their ranks.

So what can we LOHAS'ers do to maintain our health and the health of the planet?

I decided mix up my own "custom" product. I softened the effect of the John Masters Sweet Orange + Silk Protein Styling Gel http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=1065&category_id=385&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27 with his Bourbon Vanilla + Tangerine Texturizer http://www.pureandsimple.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=219&category_id=385&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=27 .

Eureka! I now have a styling product that gives me a neat professional look without the an unattractive feel.

So I encourage you to not compromise and be creative too.

Gilles Marin :

A great teacher is a treasure. And Master Gilles is a great and humble teacher.

In my evangelistic manner I tried to share my new experience with Chi Nei Tsang and the Way of the Tao to my 27 year old daughter. I felt her "Too Alternative " shield go up.

How do you communicate information that can transform a life for the better when you just barely comprehend the principle of chi as energy encapsulated with information? and have an innately rambling communications style?

My chance encounter with Gilles began with very practical goal of increasing the effectiveness of stomach massage we were giving clients in the Lymphomania Facial. Yes, stomach massage in a facial, but I am rambling.

I got that and I got much more. I learned about the real source of health. Gilles teaches us to not “fix” clients. Real healing comes from awareness and a change in attitude. So with each illness there is the opportunity of life improvement.

At first, the words “Way of the Tao” sounded both quaint and cliché so I had some resistent to his teaching . But Gilles patiently explained the energy information connection with the physical world we live in and finally the connection of mind body spirit became more than a great concept.

Gilles magically helped us who are not scientifically or mathematically inclined understand the intersection of Einstein’s law of relativity and the Way of the Tao.

Learning is not all mental. Classes are dominated with practice of Chi Kung, meditations that helped us increase our health and to increase our hands abilities to heal and with practice of Chi NeiTsang the touched and massaged of abdominal organs for health and detoxification.


Working too much in the mental realm can take us from the present moment so during class Gilles reminds us to feel the earth and ground before each Chi Kung practice.

The 6 days of classes were as much about our own healing as it was about us learning to heal. as he taught us how to sleep better, increase our Chi, energize our Chakras and of course Chi Nei Tsang theory and practice.

Since my time in San Francisco was limited, I supplemented my studies with treatments from both Gilles and Cynthia to better understand both sides of the treatments.

I come home a much better person/therapist/teacher. This is because ;

• I spend time to do my practice.
• I have improved digestion.
• I am more loving towards those I love and myself.

If you cannot visit him – I recommend you buy his books or CD’s at http://www.chineitsang.com/cnti/Books_and_Media.html

I have his CD’s to help me continue with my Chi Kung practices.

You can also get the following books based on his lessons from Amazon.ca

1. Healing from Within with Chi Nei Tsang http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Within-Chi-Nei-Tsang/dp/1556433093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295796347&sr=1-1
2. Five Elements six Conditions : A Taoist Approach to emotional, Psychological and Internal Alchemy http://www.amazon.com/Five-Elements-Six-Conditions-Psychology/dp/1556435932/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295796347&sr=1-3

The Sun is the best medicine

Forget about Prozac and get your serotonin straight from the sun.

There are Chi Kung Practices that can improve your improve your moods and your sleep experience.

Sunning Chi Kung is basically going outside and facing up directly towards the sun and allow your eyes to feel its warmth and light.. All you need is 3 minutes and 3 times a day. I get my 2 for 1 by doing Bone Breathing.

Oops – I know we are all suppose to be hiding from the sun with hats, sunglasses and SPF due to fear of sun damage leading to skin cancer.

Both beliefs can be true. Remember that “it depends”.

Master Gilles Marin explains that we sunburn when we have an acidic body ph. We all know Acid PH is not good for our health. I for one have been drinking gallons of water with chlorophyll and have the greenish tinged teeth to prove it. I alos have been avoiding acidic foods. But all to no avail. My PH tests with PH paper always have me in the acid range and my skin usually burn before those many shade lighter (with less melanin for sun protection).

He also discourages the use of sunglasses which fools our body into believing it is dark out and therefore does not prepare to protect skin with increased melanin production to prevent burning. According to him sunglasses are a potential skin cancer trigger.

Most people who are acidic in nature or have sensitive skin and have light sensitive eyes. My sunning practice has reduced my eyes’ light sensitivity so I no longer need to wear sunglasses.

The sun increases our ability to produce serotonin which makes our moods more positive and lessens depression. It also reduces Body Acidic PH. It also gives us better sleep as the serotonin turns to Melatonin at night.

For those who do not easily fall asleep; no computer work or TV watching 1 hour before bedtime.

To practice this Chi Kung with the teachings and guidance of Master Gilles Marin; get the Sunning Chi Kung CD at http://www.chineitsang.com/cnti/Sunning.html