Last week the article was about priorities, busyness and stress. This past weekend I went to the yearly Canadian Federation of Aromatherapists meeting. The first portion of the meeting was the business portion: President's report, finances, past accomplishments and future vision. A necessary function of keeping a fellowship running. The second portion of our gathering focused on our speakers. Two speakers actually - the first was the Director of the Alternative Healing Association of Toronto and the second was an Herbalist, Marcia Dixon. I am going to share some of the talk of the first speaker, Tariq Sattaur. I hope I can do justice to his enlightening talk on hypnosis. Let me start by saying that my knowledge of hypnosis was minimal and also filled with judgement. That changed after about ten minutes into the talk. It was a long talk so I will share snippets: Hypnosis is focus. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot make a person do something they don't want to do. Hypnosis works with the subconscious part of the brain through slow integration of new habits, with creates a better chance of success. Experience puts knowledge into focus. You can only change yourself if you fully accept yourself. Take note of this one! "The subconscious mind cannot think in the negative". For example, if you are trying to lose weight and you see a cupcake you want to eat and tell yourself "I am NOT going to eat that cupcake, what happens? Almost always you end up eating the cupcake. If you are wanting to change a habit, it takes 16 seconds to form a new neural pathway. It takes 21 days to solidify that pathway. Now to the "Stressed" part: Tariq showed a slide of a network of brain cells: 1 slide showed normal cells and the other slide had stressed cells. The difference was remarkable. The stressed cell looked old, crinkled, whereas the normal cell looked full, almost like an oak tree. When you are stressed, the connections in the brain are reduced, the big picture is reduced. Now, Tariq took us through a form of hynosis, and this surprised me the most: Meditation! Think about it, Meditation, or prayer, or whatever you wish to call this, allows the critical mind to rest as you enter the subconscious by focusing on something. If you have ever been to a Yoga class where the teacher takes you through a Shavasen, that is a form of meditation, or hypnosis. At the end of our meditation we felt refreshed, awake and focused!

If only all of life's lessons were so glaringly obvious. This past week has been one challenge after another, mostly with family. Every day something else happened to make me worry, go to bed stressed and wondering how I could fix each issue. The problem was, none were my own "problems", but of those who were close to me. Life is very busy these days, so there was little time to consider options. Then one day I was listening to a CD which spoke of time management and priorities (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven Covey). One of his quotes is: "Between stimulus and response is choice".What an amazing way to look at your challenges! In other words, how we respond to a situation is our choice; get frustrated, depressed or - step back and get clarity. Of course, the third option was the most productive and the one I followed. And sure enough, it worked. How does this tie in with Aromatherapy? When giving a massage (and also receiving one), you enter another world. Stillness, clarity, being in the moment are words that come to mind. Don't get me wrong - this doesn't happen all the time. But when you are prepared and centred, it just flows and it is as though you step into another world. You take the time to smell, to be aware of your surroundings, to be sensitive to the person you are helping. We are all too busy these days. We think we are being productive, but not always. Sometimes being busy is just a way to sidestep issues that need to be addressed. It is beneficial to take some time to reflect, to ask where you are going Where you want to be in 5, 10 years. What you want to achieve. Remember, time is something you can never get back. Make the most of yours.

Good Morning. It has been some time since I posted here, mostly trying to decide how to continue. Life takes exciting twists sometimes and trying to figure out where you are going is an ongoing journey. Many, many years ago I read a Native American poem that not only touched me be helped direct my life. I can't remember the whole poem, but it basically said to use only the ground your feet step on, be respectful of nature -we are in a symbiotic relationship, and think positively of people until they give you a reason to think otherwise. Living in California helped. Californians are "out there". Back in the day, when the rest of America was still eating steak and potatoes, we were living off tofu, sprouts, rubbing elbows with the Rashneeshees. There was a saying going around - "join the army and see the world, - join us and see the universe!" It's also when I discovered herbs, essential oils, massages and meditation. This is not to say you have to be an "Alternative Lifestyle" promoter to use Essential Oils and such, but what I am trying to say is, that as human beings we are so much more than muscles, skin and organs. Yet when we try to heal ourselves we usually address the symptoms, and not the cause. No matter what your belief system, we have electrical fields around our bodies, there are trigger points. This has been scientifically proven. What you think, how you respond to situations, has an affect on your body. I firmly believe a lot of what manifests in your physical body is a result of what comes out of your mind, emotions and your ethereal or spiritual body. So, this is the direction I intend to go. To combine all of the above to make a whole. There will be a post once a week, at the beginning, and I hope you will join me.