How do we find hope within chaos? In the past few months, it feels like the world has gone crazy. Between world conflicts, threatening pandemics, and untimely deaths, it can be a challenge to see the possibility of hope. Yet, hope and possibility is what we must find, especially those who are at this moment outside the lines of fire, in places where our health is safe, and our own personal freedom is currently not challenged.

Standing in the middle of a warzone, I could not imagine being able to think thoughts of peace. Sadly, with ongoing media bombardment, I imagine it is hard for many in places which are safe to also think thoughts of peace, but we must.

In 1974, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his students conducted a study to prove what he had predicted in 1960: that only 1% of the population practicing Transcendental Meditation could cause a shift in the larger population.

“The finding was that when 1% of a community practiced the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program, the crime...

I have been using quite a few therapies to help heal my torn meniscus. I have been taking high doses of Collagen Support Nutrients, vitamin C, Glucosamine, Antioxidants, and the Chinese formula Ox Bone Pearls. However, in addition, I have been using a sound-based therapy with some pretty fantastic results! 
Dr. Stacie and Dr. Tucker Ford at First Choice Chiropractic in Northville have been doing once-weekly treatments on my knee, using their MyACT machine. The principle is to irritate the injured tissues just enough that the body continues to respond in a magnified way….bringing blood, immune modulators, and anti-inflammatory mediators to the injury site to facilitate stronger healing.  In the three weeks I have been receiving treatment, I have had greater mobility, less pain, more stability, and steadily reduced need for crutches or a cane!  The amazing thing about MyACT is it can be used quite effectively with long-standing pain from old injuries (even years old) to reduce pain or ev...

It takes time to heal, sometimes days, other times weeks, and in some cases years.  We don’t as a general rule, allow for this time.  Maybe it is because our lives are so fast-paced, or because we feel we can’t or maybe because we have been trained to expect immediate everything.  No matter why, the truth is, we have adopted a philosophy of healing which just doesn’t allow for time.

I can attest to the need for time.  About a month ago, I fell, tore my meniscus, maybe other ligaments too. Initially, I walked on it, was back at work the next morning, out with the family, driving the car…essentially acting like it was a little thing that would resolve its self quickly.  After a few days, and lots of swelling, I understood I had done more than twist it a little.

It took me about four weeks to relax into the awareness of just how much time it will take to heal my knee.  In that time, I went through lots of varying emotions from contentment, to pain, to fear (a big one), and with the enco...

I prescribe the use of castor oil to almost everyone. As a core Naturopathic therapeutic, Castor Oil Packs are a beneficial and essential part of every healing process. Yet, few have heard of this remedy except for anecdotal memories of grandmothers having them eat a spoonful...something I have done and agree is awful!

Castor oil has fantastic healing properties, and a long history of use. Here are just a few of its effects:

I recently read a blog post extolling the benefits of eating fish, despite concerns of mercury toxicity. The blogger claimed the risk to be minimal to most people, except for maybe pregnant women and extremely young children. He indicated benefits from eating fish far outweighed risks of toxicity which could result, and recommended everyone eat fish 2-3 times per week for the ultimate benefit 

Toxicity aside, the blog post left me wondering only one thing: How in the world can we still assume there to be enough fish in the sea for every man woman and child to consume it multiple times per week?

Beyond what can happen to our bodies, we cannot, we must not make our health choices in opposition to what supports and nourishes us.  For too long, we have put our needs for “nutrition” and “food” ahead of huge warnings about the ability of the world oceans to support our increasing consumption.  Mercury or not, if we fish the oceans until they die, we too will perish  Most recent estimates o...

There is a disconnect in our lives strongly fueled by our inability to just do nothing. Americans in particular have a seemingly never-ending obsession with always doing something. Which wouldn't be so bad if being constantly busy made us healthier happier people....but it doesn't and because of that we have a big problem.

On Average Americans Spend:

• 3.5 hours per day on social media
• 4 hours per day watching TV
• 8.8 hours per day working

Meanwhile:

• 13% of the overall population is on antidepressants

• Only 1 in 3 Americans report being happy

Looking at the numbers, we have a significant problem on our hands, we have a population who on average is spending over 16 hours per day combined at work, watching TV, and on social media which is obviously not a recipe for happiness. Yet, activities like meditation, which have been shown to dramatically change our outlook, health, and quality of life is so infrequent, there isn't even a number to quantify who is doing it regular...

I have had one of those weeks to remind me just how powerful the healing power of real medicines can be, and how natural medicine has a place in urgent care conditions because if applied correctly, it can act with speed, and with minimal side effects. Furthermore, with the right resources, every household can have the opportunity to help their loved ones heal quickly.

Tuesday morning, just as I was beginning to see patients, my husband called with a strange sound in his voice, relaying that he was experiencing strange pain, in waves, strong enough to take his breath away and send him to the ground. Rushing home, I deduced he was passing a kidney stone.

He was in absolute agony, unable to get comfortable, being absolutely tortured. Going to my books, I found a homeopathic remedy to fit his symptoms perfectly...nux vomica and gave him the first dose a 30c. Although it produced a change, I then changed potency to a 30x, gave three doses about 5 minutes apart and he suddenly fell asleep....

How we parent our children is dramatically reflected in what we feed them. Filling our kids with fast food, Doritos, coke, ice cream, and cookies is not good parenting.  Many will disagree, I know, but consider the end goal of being a good parent:

• To raise compassionate, aware individuals who can live lives of purpose and responsibility
• To nurture clear minds who can think for themselves and sort good from bad
• To foster a conscious awareness of community, and the interconnected relationship between all people and all things

Conventional foods, aka (those grown with conventional pesticides, in large scale commercial farms, which rely on many poisons and lab-made products to produce “foods” which ultimately cause the death of birds, bees, insects, and soil microorganisms as well as cause damage to local water, air and soil) do not support the above tenants of good parenting.

It is impossible to teach lessons of compassion, strong communities, clear thinking, and social responsib...

Heart disease always seems to come out of nowhere. More often than not, that affected thought they were in rather good health until they exhibit problems significant enough to warrant medical attention. The difficult thing about heart disease is, it can present in those who never move their bodies AND those who exercise all the time. In fact, some types of heart pathology are more apt to present in those who are in “amazing” cardiovascular conditions such as marathon runners and those who do sustained cardio for long periods of time.

That being said, there are a few common lifestyle blunders which dramatically contribute to heart disease and are often mistaken for healthy choices. Avoiding these three will help ensure the longevity of your heart and prevent emergency trips to the hospital.

1. Cooking with or eating vegetable oils: Vegetable oils were a rather non-existant entity within the world diet until about 1920-1930. The first vegetable oils were byproducts of large agriculture.
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I dream of a world where women would never utter, lest engage in the D-word.  That’s right, I said it, the most dirty, destructive, despicable word in the language of life…..Diet.  This simple word, so wrought with implied sacrifice and hopeful yet unattainable outcomes.  This word embodies hours of counting, judging, and evaluating food, calories, ingredients, and portion sizes creating pain and immeasurable emotional toil, setting up lifetimes worth of sadness and self-imposed inequality. 

The truth is this word affects women and men differently.  For men, dieting is largely simple, cutting calories, increasing movement and the end result is weight loss.  But for women, this process initiates a biochemical shift of unimagined proportions, which cannot produce what it is intended to nor can it’s metabolic and psychological damage be undone without significant work. The lowered calories often slow the metabolism, the foods chosen are lacking in nutrients and fat which hinders hormonal...