I've moved!

Please visit my new blog at CarolRobin.com

Back to blogging...

It's been a long time since I've written a post. I think I've been too busy living my life to take the time to pause and write about it. My "Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness" teleseminar series completed its fall series in December. I jumped right into completing my new guided imagery meditations, "Possibilities for Your Day," a set of morning and evening meditations that create an energetic container for your day.

It's something I've wanted to create for a long time. In our busy lives, with electric lighting and 24/7 access to everything we have lost our connection to sunrise and sunset, lost the sense of a real container that frames our work lives, personal lives, and our time for rest and turning inward.

To me, containers are sacred vessels that give necessary form. It becomes so easy to just keep moving from one thing to the next without that delineation...now I am beginning my work, now I am completing it, now I am feeding myself, now I am resting...

How often do you eat a meal without doing something else at the same time? Watching TV, reading your mail, driving your car... somewhere in this world of time-saving devices, we have lost our boundaries.

The first track of this new work is called “Opening to Your Day,” and is a 15 minute morning meditation to ground and center yourself and move into your busy life with a sense of intentionality and peacefulness.

I dedicate it to a lovely woman who lived down the road from me years ago, she was in her early 90’s and had grown up somewhere in the mountains in Europe. I used to see her early on a spring morning when I was walking my dog. She would be walking barefoot on the lawn in her bathrobe, and cheerfully told me she was “dew walking.” Where she grew up, they believed that the morning dew had healing and invigorating properties, and that you if you took the time to walk in it before you started your day, you would have a beautiful and healthy day!

For those of us who cannot dew walk each morning, and for the months when it is just too cold (!) a few minutes of meditation can go a long way toward creating a day of peace and possibility.

I never thought to ask her how she ended her day, what ritual she followed to turn toward rest… but I love the idea of an evening ritual, a time to find peace with all the events, challenges, all the stuff of the day. A time to look back over the day with gratitude and compassion, and put it to rest so that you can truly REST!

“Completing Your Day” is that evening guided journey inward, to the place of clarity, gratitude, acceptance and peace that lies deep within your center. I dedicate it to my beautiful dog Chiaro, an Italian mastiff who has the most grounding energy of anyone I’ve ever known, and has taught me more about real relaxation and peacefulness than any other teacher.

I really loved this project, and loved working with the remarkable composer and musician Gus Mancini for the first time. Gus likes to immerse himself in the ‘vibe’ of the work and let the music intuitively flow, so I created and recorded the narration for the first meditation, "Opening to Your Day," and then Gus tuned into the energy of it and channeled his musical genius to create a live, spontaneous soundtrack. Then we did the second cut, "Completing Your Day" and he created another beautiful soundtrack that flows from the first, but with a slower, end of the day feel. I am looking forward to creating many more pieces with him. You can find any of my guided imagery meditation CDs and mp3’s at www.GuidedCDs.com. I'd love to hear how you create the container for your day...

The flu, fear and reality

By popular demand, I am reprinting my recent email:

Our teleseminar series, “Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness” is dedicated to empowering you to create your own path to health. To this end, I am writing to you today to empower you with some information about taking care of yourself and your family’s health this winter, and to dis-empower some of the myths and lies that are flying around in this climate of fear about the sw ine flu and seasonal flu.

As a Clinical Nutritionist and Chiropractor, I have a lot of clients with concerns about the flu, and even more about the flu vaccines. Here is what I share with my clients. You are welcome to pass this along to your friends and family. Dr. Frank Lipman, MD, our most recent speaker in the series has graciously allowed me to reprint information from his article (see below) on the swine flu vaccine.

The flu is certainy an unpleasant illness, but it is largely preventable and rarely fatal. The truth of the popular statistic that 36,000 people die from influenza each year is actually that around 35,000 of those deaths are from pneumonia, usually secondary bacterial pneumonia. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola’s excellent Special Swine flu Update available at www.mercola.com: “…A separate study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics for seasonal influenza seasons between 1979 and 2002 reveals that the range of annual influenza deaths were between 257 and 3,006, for an average of 1,348 influenza deaths per year.1 Again, nowhere near the 36,000 mortality mark that has been etched into stone by those who are advocating annual flu shots. Although the loss of even a single life is tragic, I don't think anyone would look at these numbers and say that a mortality rate of less than 1,350 is cause to label influenza a "deadly disease" that requires mandatory influenza vaccination...

...As of October 11, 2009 the World Health Organization reported that, worldwide, there have been more than 399,232 laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1, and over 4,735 deaths. Folks, that is 4,735 deaths in the ENTIRE world, not just the US! … Most all of these deaths occurred in immunocompromised individuals.”

PREVENTION IS BEST. People with healthy immune systems rarely have problems dealing with seasonal viruses. If your immune system is compromised, there are still things you can do to protect yourself.

1- REMEMBER THAT FEAR IS MORE CONTAGIOUS AND DEADLY THAN ANY VIRUS. Listen to your body and bathe it in love, safety and happiness. Visualize health and balance in your immune system and your entire body. Be fearless. Listen to our speakers and other wise teachers for inspiration and guidance and above all, honor your intuition and your inner wisdom.

2- MINIMIZE EXPOSURE TO VIRUSES. Stay away from people who are visibly sick. Don’t use other people’s pens, phones, and don’t shake hands! Wash your hands with soap and water after handling money (very germy stuff!) shopping carts, doorknobs, public bathrooms, etc.

3- DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES, NOSE OR MOUTH if your hands are not clean! These viruses get into your system through eyes, nose and mouth.

4- DON’T LET THE VIRUS TAKE HOLD IN YOUR SYSTEM. It takes 2-3 days for the viruse to propagate in your system. Daily cleansing of your nose with a Neti pot, Lavage or other nasal douche system cleans viruses out of your nasal passages before they can dig in and multiply. Gargling daily with warm salt water and drinking lots of hot teas clears them out of your throat. Tears contain immune cells.

5- SUPPORT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM -eat a healthy, whole foods diet; eat plenty of protein, get lots of antioxidants from colorful vegetables and fruits, avoid sugar and excessive caffeine -drink at least 8 glasses of water a day -take a good multivitamin and extra Vitamin C, Zinc, A, D and fish oils -get plenty of sleep; your immune system restores itself during deep sleep (for help, try my CD “Restful Sleep, Healing Sleep”) -take immune supporting supplements such as olive leaf, echinacea, garlic, cordyceps, astragulus, colostrum, probiotics and monolaurin

6- OPTIMIZE YOUR VITAMIN D LEVELS. Have your 25-OH Vit. D levels tested, optimal levels are now recommended to be 50-70ng/ml. Many doctors will tell you you are fine if your level is above 30. This is not high enough according to the most up to date research. Most people need a minimum of 2000-4000 I.U. of Vitamin D3 per day just to maintain their levels. To raise your Vitamin D levels, if you cannot get it from regular sun exposure without sunscreen, (which those of us far from the equator cannot during winter months) you may need a much higher intake.

7- MANAGE YOUR STRESS. Breathing exercises, meditation, relaxation, imagery, fun and love support your immune function. Listen to your body!

ACT QUICKLY AT THE FIRST SIGN OF ILLNESS

-Consider homeopathic Oscillococcinum. ?If you feel like you are coming down with the flu, or if you are exposed to someone with the flu directly, you can take one dose twice a day for two-three days. You can also consider one half to one vial once or twice a week throughout the winter as a preventative measure. ?

-Consider natural antimicrobial and immune supporting supplements (olive leaf, garlic, oregano oil, grapefruit seed extract, colostrum, monolaurin, probiotics)

-Increase your Vitamin C, A, Zinc and water

-Explore herbal or homeopathic cold and flu remedies. Homeopathic remedies work best when taken at the first sign of illness, and taken frequently in the beginning.

-Fever is the body’s way of increasing immune system activity. Unless you have a high fever, let your body work naturally whenever possible.

-Colds and flus are caused by viruses, not bacteria. Antibiotics only kill bacteria and therefore do nothing for a viral infection. Avoid antibiotics unless your doctor has determined that you have developed a secondary bacterial infection. The unnecessary use of antibiotics weakens your system and makes you more susceptible to further illnesses.

THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE VALUE OF FLU VACCINES. Each year’s vaccine is developed based on a projection of what virus will be circulating that year. Viruses mutate very rapidly, so many years, the virus has changed by the time the vaccine is made, and the vaccine is useless. There are potential dangers in being repeatedly injected with the mercury and aluminum compounds that may be used in the vaccines, and some studies have looked at possible links between repeated vaccinations and increased incidence of Alzhei mer’s. A recent review of studies showed that the flu vaccines are NOT effective in preventing the flu or "influenza-like illness" or pneumonia in the elderly population. (Efficacy and Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines in Elderly People: A Systematic Review. The Lancet, October 1, 2005.)

The recommendation that everyone get a yearly flu shot benefits the drug companies that make the vaccines, not necessarily the people who get them.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Lipman’s article on the swine flu vaccine. For the full article, go to www.DrFrankLipman.com:

“Summer is over and the question I am being asked most frequently in my practice is, “what do I do about Swine flu?” My patients are wondering whether or not they should get vaccinated and the simple answer I give most of the time is ..NO!

From what you may have read, you might think that the swine flu vaccine is the answer to swine flu. Unfortunately this is not true and until we know that the vaccine is safe, I cannot in good conscience recommend it to most of my patients.?? From the outset, let me say, I am not anti all vaccinations, rather I am pro vaccine safety and freedom of choice. ? This is why am I not recommending the swine flu vaccine

1. At this stage, for the most part the swine flu seems benign. Over a million people in the US have already come down with swine flu, many of them without even knowing that they had it. The vast majority of people who get the swine flu recover after a week or so of high fever, aches, and respiratory distress. It's not pleasant, but except in rare circumstances, it is not fatal. Most people who’ve been infected by swine flu think so little of it, they believe they just had a really bad cold or a regular flu. So unless the swine flu evolves to a much more virulent form, there's no need for mass vaccination

2. We don’t know if the vaccine will be effective. Vaccines are only useful against the specific viral strain that was available at the time of their manufacture. But influenza viruses mutate quickly, and as the WHO has already said, the real concern with H1N1 swine flu is that it will combine with seasonal flu in the Fall, creating a new strain that will of course be immune to all available vaccines

3. We don’t know if the vaccine is safe. The FDA has authorized an expedited approval process for the swine flu vaccine but we don’t know yet if it is safe. … Since it's never been used before and they have not had time to conduct any sufficient human testing, by getting vaccinated you are being a human guinea pig.

4. Vaccine manufacturers have been insulated from liability by the government. The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has granted legal immunity not only to the makers of the 2 drugs being used to treat swine flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, but also to the swine flu vaccine makers, for damages due to their use against swine flu. By effectively manipulating the legal system, the Pharmaceutical Industry through their powerful lobbyists have acquired almost complete and total insulation from any liability for their vaccines and adjuvants, which are additives added to generate a stronger immune response. It is believed that it is these adjuvants which often cause the problems. The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu was in 1976. Thousands filed claims for side effects such as paralysis caused by the vaccine and a number of people died. I am sure that the researchers know more now than they did last time and no one can say for certain that bad things will happen again or that you wi ll suffer dire consequences if you get vaccinated. But this time you have no legal recourse even though this vaccine involves new factors, which makes it therefore experimental and unpredictable.?By shielding the manufacturers from any responsibility for any harm caused, the pharmaceutical firms have no financial incentive to make the safest product. In fact, they have a negative incentive to test it for safety, because if they are aware of problems, then they could potentially be held liable for willful misconduct.” For the full article from Dr. Lipman’s newsletter, go to www.DrFrankLipman.com For more information, the National Vaccine Information Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to giving health vaccine information and preventing vaccine injuries and deaths. www.nvic.org

Yours in Health and Peace,

Carol

Medical Disclaimer: Any information you obtain during the "Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness" TeleSeminar Series or on this website or in our email communications is not intended and should not be construed as medical advice and is for the sole purpose of providing information derived from the experience of our speakers. Diet, exercise or other lifestyle changes should be made only after consulting with your own intuition, common sense, and with a knowledgeable healthcare practitioner when necessary. "Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness" ?is a production of Dr. Carol Robin and Guided CDs Inc. ?P.O. Box 67?West Shokan, NY 12494? 1-800-657-8119?Teleseminar@GuidedCDs.com © 2009 Guided CDs Inc.

Self-Esteem: do I deserve to be happy?

We started with what is happiness, but then I thought it was important to go back a step. Understanding our self-esteem and how it has been compromised or damaged through our lives helps us clearly see what blocks us from our full potential, our full joy. Am I worthy of health, healing and happiness; do I deserve to be happy?

It is fascinating to look back at the messages we got, what we internalized, and especially the stories we have told ourselves and made into our creed. Humans take "what happens" and make stories about what it means. It's what we do, in our search for meaning, and we all do it very well! But then we are stuck with living out of a story made be a 5 year old or 3 year old or even a teenager!

There are many ways to find these old stories and clear and heal them. I love the way Joe Rubino guides people through this process, I find it simple and clear and empowering. If you think old stories and messages are holding you back from the health and happiness you deserve, or if you question whether you even deserve them, look more deeply into your self esteem. You can find new possibilities, new freedom in this healing process.

More on Happiness

I've been away at a nutrition conference focusing on digestion and healing the gastrointestinal tract. Some very interesting parallels to life and happiness...

Being happy for no reason makes me think of the metaphor of the sun. The sun is always shining, though when clouds pass in front of it, we tend to feel that it is gone. When the earth rotates, and blocks it's light, we feel we are in the dark. I think this concept of happiness is about the deep knowing, the trust that the sun is always shining, maybe we can't see it right now, maybe it's shining on the other side of the world, but it is shining. And that's enough 'reason' to be happy.

As for digestion, it's a process of taking in (food, nutrients, toxins) and determining what is beneficial, what to take in to our selves and make a part of our cells, our tissues. And what is not healthy for us, what to release, or detoxify or transform. So it is with our environment. What are the influences, the people, the situations that are nurturing and nourishing to us, what do we need to let go of or transform. What supports and feeds our happiness, what pulls us away from that inner state of peace.

Marci Shimoff on Happiness

Marci Shimoff is the opening speaker Tuesday when the fall series begins. Her book "Happy for No Reason" is a beautifully crafted piece of work; insightful, empowering and full of simple tools to shift your perspective on life and happiness. Marci and I spoke about our mutual philosophy that there is no one right way, no one perfect path to happiness, health or anything else! We share a belief in the uniqueness of each person, and the importance of finding the path that is right for you.

We bring all these different teachers and practitioners together in this series in the hopes that each of you will find someone or something that resonates, that gives you that "yes, I can do that, that feels right to me" feeling. In her book, she offers a multitude of tools and ideas with the same intent. I hope you enjoy our conversation, and find at least one thing that says "YES!" in your heart. Check back here after Tuesday for more thoughts, and feel free to share your feedback and ideas as well.

Profound Paths teleseminar series

Profound Paths to Health, Healing and Happiness, the free teleseminar series that I co-produce and host is starting up again on Tuesday, Sept. 15th at 7pm EST. Hard to believe it's only one week away! It's been a very busy time getting it all set up, but so worth it. I am really excited about the speakers this season, so many of whom have been very important in my life and my work and my own personal growth. It is such a privilege and honor to get to talk with them about the amazing work they do. I do love my work!

Rather than cluttering your inbox with lots of emails, I'm going to write more detail here each week about the calls. I welcome your feedback, responses and questions. If you are not registered yet for the series, just go to www.GuidedCDs.com/seminar to sign up.