Sydney Make-Up Artist Emiko
Sydney is a stunning harbour city, so it’s not surprising that many women dream of enjoying a magnificent wedding in this town, therefore they need a Sydney make up artist who helps them become a stunning feature on the Sydneyscape in the process …
For a budding bride, a quality Sydney make up artist is a must – someone who is fast, sharp, and aware of the individual subtleties of a woman’s skin.
Emiko is one of the most well-regarded Sydney Make up Artists, she has been in the beauty industry over fifteen years both in Japan and mostly in Australia.
When it’s time for the finesse, the photos say it all. Emiko has a unique ability to assist a bride in feeling confident, centred, graceful and beautiful.
She works extensively for many Asian brides and bridal parties, from Chinese wedding ceremony to Japanese weddings, Korean ceremonies and bridal parties.
She gets a lot of enquiries thanks to a very positive endorsement in a Vogue forum which has stood the test of time.
To enquire about booking Emiko for your wedding day, contact her directly via her website: www.weddingmakeupartistsydney.com.au
Why Choose Emiko – some Testimonials:
Emiko is a total professional who I would recommend to any bride who wants to be certain she’s going to get a look which not only looks fantastic, but stays fantastic from dawn to the final waltz. I’ve recommended her to all my friends and she has got rave reviews from all of them. – Jenn, Pymble.
There’s a mobile makeup artist (MUA) in Sydney who is highly skilled with Chinese complexion and features, particularly single eyelids. Her name is Emiko – well worth going with for your wedding day as I did. – Yan-Yan, Hurstville.
I finally found my hairstylist and make up artist who I felt confident was able to create the look I wanted on the day. This was after going for 3 trials and spending over $400 in total. After trying different MUA/hairstylists, my conclusion was that it’s better to have two separate persons doing hair and make up. People who claim they do both rarely excel in both. They will be extremely good at either hair or makeup and less so in the other one. Also having two different persons is more time-efficient on that day. However to my amazement there was one woman who got both right for me – Lesley, Parramatta.
There is another lady my friend had for her bridal makeup – Her name is Emiko and she is japanese. My friend recommends her totally. – Jane, Chatswood.
Madonna
MADONNA INTERVIEW
by Gareth Gorman
So Madonna’s gone and made a video which features her decked out in combats, straddling tanks, while George W Bush is lighting cigars with hand grenades. Then she withdraws it herself due to the inappropriateness of it all. Yet again Madonna has come up with a scheme more devious than a fox with honours in Cunning at Cambridge. And that’s because she’s been doing it all of her public life.
It’s that life of the c-word (celebrity) that Madonna is kicking against on the title track from her forthcoming American Life album. She does so in a breathtakingly bizarre rap that proceeds to list nannies, assistants and others employed as her yes-people. Morrissey has previously described it as ‘Fame, Fame / Fatal Fame’. Bowie & Lennon felt it was ‘hard to swallow / and put(s) you where things are hollow’. These guys may have known a thing or two about a thing or two, but no one can be better placed than the former Ms Ciccone, who craved fame way before the current ‘we’ll do anything, anytime’ small-time celebs crawled out of wherever in the last five years.
“Fame can be very disruptive,” claims the now Mrs Guy Ritchie. “It can be like a drug. It gives you the feeling that you’re happy, it gives you the feeling of self-importance, it gives you the feeling of fulfilment… but it can distract you from what is really important.
“A lot of people think that being a star is about getting your picture taken all the time, having everyone worship and adore you, getting the best table at the best restaurants and never having to wait in line. Studs galore always knocking at your door, being rich, rich, rich, having it all…and you know what? They’re absolutely right! [But] It’s hard for [people] to think of me as a person made of flesh and blood with feelings and fears and joys and frustrations like anyone else. The public has a hard time thinking of any celebrity as human. We become larger than life and are no longer attributed with human characteristics.”
It’s this dismissal of fame and the wisdom of a self-analytical 40-something that map out American Life, and nowhere is it so exquisitely expressed than on ‘Easy Ride’. What I want is to find my place / breathe the air and feel the sun on my children’s face. She’s become a mum. “All I hope is that I will be happy in my personal life with my friends, my family and the person I’m in love with. That’s the most important thing.”
Yet, you can always rely on Madonna to stir it up when she’s got something due – except maybe a baby. When she released ‘Like A Prayer’, the video of the title song featured her snogging a Negro Christ. Sure enough, Middle America reacted against this imagery, with it’s burning crosses and stigmata, and Madonna’s ad for Pepsi soon made its way to the never to be shown again bin. Of course, this is hardly an isolated incident. The release of ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ put her knee-deep in the hoopla thanks to the perennial topicality of its subject matter – a young pregnant girl wanting to keep her baby. As for Madonna’s acting career, it’s probably only the notoriety that gets her any box office. Remember Shanghai Surprise, made with then husband Sean Penn, and to which George Harrison had to fly out to ease rumours? Of course, the film was a total dud, just like Body Of Evidence and the sunk-without-a-trace 2002 effort directed by Guy. One of her rare film successes was the adaptation of Evita via Andrew Lloyd Webber (another person who knows to leech onto a good thing.) This and Desperately Seeking Susan amount to the only acting roles the public have accepted her in. There’s reason for this. In DSS, she’s basically playing herself, and no doubt also felt an affinity with Eva Peron.
“People were frightened of the power [Evita] had and undermined her accomplishments by calling her a whore. I can certainly relate to that. People intimidated by me feel the need to denigrate me. In this day and age, women are not rewarded for strength and determination. It turns into ‘control freak’ and ‘bitch’.
“I was never an icon and I was also never a woman who acted in a political way. Of course, I fought against male domination, against a world ruled by men, but I never wanted to change the world and turn male domination into female domination. What I did I did for myself, to free myself. I never really planned to be an idol for millions of women all over the planet and I never saw men in general as the enemy. The enemies were people who tried to suppress me, oppressors in general.”There was further clarification of the point.
“There are many people who think she [Evita Peron] was a saint, and there are other people who think she was Satan herself – and I can certainly identify with that,” she remarked to a VH1 interviewer in 1997. Of course, even this role came with plenty of controversy. Beside the general critical consensus beforehand that she couldn’t command the gravitas the role required, the people of Argentina almost revolted against the idea of Madonna playing their beloved first, once and future lady.
Madonna Sexual Assault
For the rather lame Erotica album which featured a limp cover of Peggy Lee’s ‘Fever’, there was plenty of fuss kicked up over her Sex book, released at the same time. The laudable fantasy book was also laughable in quality. Pages fell out, the price was extortionate, and Vanilla Ice was one of her photo layout partners. Her excuses for such heinous behaviour?
“I was really turning my nose up at the whole idea that women aren’t allowed to be sexual and erotic and provocative and intelligent at the same time.” (VH1 interview, 1998). But all this is the same as it ever was. Back in the days of her first album she appeared on American Bandstand. Dick Clarke asked her what she hoped to achieve. Madonna replied: “I want to rule the world.” And she’s gone about it with the zest of a power-crazed dictator. Titillation, calculated provocation and the ability to press buttons, to shock if she wants to, and to stay the right side of the line are the qualities that have pushed her to monolithic status.
“I know that I’m not the best singer, and I know that I’m not the best dancer, but I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in pushing people’s buttons, in being provocative, in being political.”She admitted her harnessing of shock tactics to Carrie Fisher during a Rolling Stone interview way back in 1991.
“I just sort of naturally say things to shock, not necessarily to offend. It’s like pulling the tablecloth off the table to disarm everybody.”These are not the machinations of your ordinary-Jo musician. This is a publicity-obsessed, media-addicted, power-driven, talent-loaded music mogul. If tabloids hadn’t existed you can bet Madonna would have invented them to spread her good news for modern woman and man.She crept up on us in the middle of the 80s – the decade of self-obsessiveness and (if Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas are to believed) greed. Madonna went on to parade her success like a Prada skin.
Bigger than a Planet
In 1992, Madonna confirmed then underlined not only her superstardom, but her business-sense, with a seven-year, $60 million deal with Time Warner. Under the pact, she became head of her own label, Maverick. Maverick has since gone on to massive success thanks to signings like Alanis Morissette and the Prodigy. As record company boss, Madonna now makes more from each Morissette album than she does from her own.But it’s her image and media manipulation that prove the most telling aspect of her bigger-than-a-planet persona. Masturbatory acts and religious iconography are littered along the way. It’s no accident that she first made herself known as the male-fantasy driven Virgin Slut. Yet she also managed to do it in a way that empowered women and therefore earned respect from those quarters as well. You were never in doubt that Madonna was in control.Just prior to beginning work with Mirwais once again (her collaborator for Music and American Life) Madonna caused sensation by appearing on the London stage in playwright David Williamson’s Up For Grabs. Madonna played an art dealer who would do virtually anything to make a sale. The storyline was spiced up by a lesbian kissing scene, a rather large sex aid, and some simulated masturbation. Like Evita and Desperately Seeking Susan, this seemed no stretch for her acting abilities or the public’s associations.
Madonna is admired, despised and feared because she’s a woman powerfully successful as an entertainer and an impresario, working and walking with more kahunas than the male in his natural domain. Madonna has never defined the times with her music in the way that, say, The Beatles did. She’s never been as amazing as Prince was before he lost his name and his plot. But she can spot a trend and go with it, adapting it to her shape and selling far more units than the collaborators she chooses (Mirwais, William Orbit). She may not be radical, nor revolutionary, but as a piece of cleverly marketed packaging she’s the full deal.As an arch media manipulator, Madonna has no peer. “I do think that I’ve been enlightened – and I truly feel that it’s my responsibility to share what I know with other people.”
Long may she reign.
Madonna’s new album American Life is out now through Warner Records.
Help, I spilt Coffee on my Mac Laptop and other Apple Mac Disasters
What do you do when your Apple Macintosh computer suffers a terrifying disaster or fault? The answer is to call a Mac technician. Previous Windows/PC enthusiast JEANETTE MORGAN (recently converted to Macs) speaks to Stuart Snow from Mac Manager a company which offers fast, quality fixes for Mac owners across the Sydney metropolitan area …
As Macs get more advanced, what would you say to the average technophobe? Are they gonna simply get left behind, or is there hope?
There are always resources available to help you catch up. For example we offer one-on-one tuition and training on what you want to learn, but there are also books on Mac OS X, and the iLife programs such as iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. The best thing for a technophobe to do is to at least get used to using something. The first good steps are internet & email. Once you get familiar with these, then look at branching out into another interest. If you’re interesting in photography, then starting learning iPhoto. This will then cultivate an interest in something else you can do with your Mac, which will help develop confidence in computers, which will then in turn help you conquer other areas of your Mac.
Macs for Pros and Consumers
Macs have typically been designer’s machines. But what other types of career professionals are adopting Macs?
The highest percentage of business users on Macs are still designers, as they appreciate products that are functional, sexy and powerful, but we get all types of professions using Macs these days….. except for accountants for some reason! Some of the professionals we deal with and the sorts of programs they use are: video editors using Final Cut Pro, teachers that use educational software for children, architects using VectorWorks to design a new resort, a plastic surgeon that helps clients see how a procedure will look after reconstructive surgery using his laptop and Photoshop, public speakers and presenters that make awesome presentations in Keynote, and musicians that use anything from GarageBand to Logic and Cubase to develop their creations.
For years there’s been this view around that if you have a Mac you can’t get viruses – is this still true?
That’s not quite true. The correct answer is that you’re very unlikely to encounter a Mac virus, but there are a few that exist, literally only a few. And they are relatively harmless, especially in comparison to the stories you hear from the Windows world. For example I encountered a Mac virus a couple of years ago that deleted everything out of a customer’s inbox…… of course the email program they were using was Microsoft Entourage.
Another customer received a call from a customer of theirs reporting that they had just received a virus via email from them. It turns out that my customer had received a file (a Microsoft Word file) from someone else, which contained a Windows virus, which of course doesn’t effect the Mac, and they unwittingly forwarded this infected file on to someone else. No damage was done to my customer’s Mac, but because they were unaware that this file they got from someone else contained a virus, they had no reason to consider it a threat to anyone else. There may come a day where it will be important to have anti-virus software on your Mac, but that day is not today.
What about companies who use a variety of Macs and PCs, eg a magazine publishing house which may have writers on PCs and designers on Macs – can you help them? And what sort of problems might they need solved?
Yes absolutely, many medium to large companies use both Macs and PCs these days, so I’m quite used to liaising with PC support techs to accomplish a task. The main problems that they may encounter is getting all machines, regardless of platform, to talk properly with each other. It’s not as hard as it used to be a few years ago, but it does take both Mac and Windows technicians working together.
Have some companies whole-heartedly switched from Windows to Mac that you’ve had dealings with?
Many. Usually there are some teething problems for the first few weeks, which I help them through, but afterwards they are extremely happy with the change, and often recommend other business associates to make the switch as well.
Do some companies switch the other way from Macs to Windows?
It’s rare, but yes. Often this happens because the boss (or decision maker) has been ill-advised, usually by a biased PC technician / salesperson that knows nothing about Macs, and convinces them to switch to Windows. In many cases, the company switches back to Mac (at another expense) after experiencing the hardships associated with Windows that they never had when they previously had a Mac-based system.
Can you explain a little bit about running Windows on Mac? Who would typically require this?
People that have switched from Windows often have a couple of programs that must continue to use, perhaps because they don’t want to recreate their datafile in the Mac-equivalent program, they don’t want the expense of re-buying the Mac version, or they just aren’t quite ready to let go of the Windows system yet.
There are a few different ways that Windows can be loaded onto your Mac; Boot Camp, which comes with every Mac as of about 2 years ago, and allows you to start up your Mac as either the Mac OS X system or Windows system; Parallels Desktop, a program (purchase required) that allows you to run both the Mac AND Windows operating systems simultaneously; and CrossOver, a different kind of program (purchase required) that enables you to run certain commonly-used Windows programs on your Mac, without the need to run (or even have) Windows at all.
If someone was to use their Mac purely for pleasure/leisure, what difficulty might they encounter that they would call you for? If you recall when I first got a Mac and then used your service, it was because after owning my new iMac for just 2 days, I downloaded my Sony Handycam’s entire load of videos I’d been filming of my 3-year-old son, and this batch of home movies totally overloaded my brand new Mac. What can you tell us about the current amount of memory on an iMac? Should people invest in an extra hard drive pretty early on, especially if using video/iMovie? And if so, which brand of hard drive should they get, and where from?
I remember that. The reason this occurred was because when you imported your video footage, you selected the option to import at HD quality, which takes up about 5 times more space than standard definition. This is usually a waste of time and hard drive space as when you burn it to DVD, it scales it down to standard definition anyway. So unless you own a blu-ray burner, or specifically need the footage at the highest possible quality for some reason, you’re always best to import as standard definition, otherwise your hard drive will fill up very quickly.
If a prospective Mac buyer wants to do a lot with movies, and had I known this was the case with you, I would’ve suggested to simply order a custom made iMac with a larger hard drive. You can option an iMac with up to 2TB of internal storage, which is far more than the 250GB your iMac originally came with. However if you have already purchased your Mac, you can always buy an external hard drive for additional storage. They vary in price greatly depending on brand, quality, size, and connectivity (USB / Firewire / Wireless), but if you want to use it for video footage, I recommend getting a Firewire 800 hard drive, if your Mac supports it of course, otherwise Firewire 400 will do. As for brands, I find that Western Digital and Seagate offer good quality drives.
Are there some things that you can’t fix, or won’t touch?
Unfortunately, major hardware repairs such as a MacBook with a damaged screen, or a 3 year old Mac that won’t power on, aren’t worth repairing. Usually the cost of the part plus the labour involved far outweigh the market value of the machine, making it uneconomical to repair. So unless it’s a relatively inexpensive part that has failed, such as memory or the hard drive, we wouldn’t usually accept a booking….. as the outcome will usually be that the machine isn’t worth repairing, and the cost the customer has spent to get us out there to determine that has been a waste. Often just a couple of minutes over the phone is enough to make that determination. Also, doing major hardware repairs in someone’s home or office isn’t wise for safety reasons, as the machine would need to be taken completely apart. For this reason, we also don’t offer warranty repairs. The best thing to do in those cases is for the customer to contact their local Apple centre, and arrange to take it to their workshop.
What would you say are your most important skills in the Mac technician role?
You need to have a detailed knowledge on the Mac operating system, what models of Apple hardware have been released, what works with what, what doesn’t, quirks that certain systems may have and how to resolve them. Because there is so much to know, and so many things that can go wrong with the infinite number of combinations of Macs, operating systems, programs and devices that one can have, having a vast long-term knowledge is a must. Often problems that I encounter from time time I haven’t come across for years.
What’s a typical profile of one of your clients? What sort of business? Are they usually repeat clients? And what would you typically be required by them to do over a 2-3 year period?
It ranges enormously from an elderly lady wanting to know how to keep in touch with her grandchildren living in London via email or Skype, to an organisation wanting to manage Terabytes of data across multiple user platforms between several interstate locations. I’d say about 50% of our clients are home users, the other 50% are small to medium businesses. Generally large businesses have their own full-time support staff, so aside from sales and upgrades, they don’t require our support services, as they have their own people to handle that.
You mention you offer tuition in establishing video conferencing – what sort of advance preparation should companies and groups organise before you came to see them, eg should they set themselves up on Skype? And if they have old Macs which don’t have inbuilt microphones or cameras, can they buy that equipment from you?
There’s nothing they need to do before-hand really. I can supply the software (which is free), saving them from downloading it, help them with setting up an account, showing them how to start video chat or audio only conversations, sharing their screen so the other party can actually see the file / image you’re trying to describe to them, how to prevent unauthorised people from contacting you, etc. Apple computers have had in-built cameras for several years now, so chances are everyone already has one. Just a little tidbit, if you don’t have a camera, most video cameras and digital still cameras can be used as a webcam.
A lot of Mac users use Safari for surfing the internet, so which is better in your view? Safari or Firefox? And why?
It’s personal preference really. I prefer Safari, as I find it a clean, fast, easy-to-use browser that is well supported by web sites around the world, but I know that Firefox works well on a few web sites that don’t work so well on Safari. My advice is to have both installed on your Mac, choose the one you like and use it, and if you encounter a web site that doesn’t work so well in the browser you’re using, try the other one and chances are it’ll work ok for you.
If someone’s intending to build a website themselves, what essential tools do you recommend to get themselves started? Eg use Joomla? Should they use Dreamweaver or is there a better way to go?
Joomla is good for companies that want to have a web site with lots of content that they need to update or change regularly quickly and easily, and aren’t too concerned about the look and feel of it. Although you can customise Joomla quite a bit, you’re quite limited in how far you can go. Aside from that it’s an outstanding (and free) product. Dreamweaver is what we use for web design. You can create virtually anything your mind can conceive, along with accompanied products such as Photoshop and Flash in some cases, but it also creates the most compatible, fastest loading, cleanest code possible in my opinion. It’s a very powerful tool, and therefore has a steep learning curve, so I don’t normally recommend this to customers unless they intend to become a web designer themselves, or at least use it quite regularly.
What can people expect from you?
Our aim is to provide the best quality service we can in a timely fashion. And because of our low overheads, we are able to provide prices well below the industry average.
Where Do You Get This Help?
You can find Mac Technician Managervia their website www.macmanager.com.au or call 1300 650 126 or 0407 026 037.
A Travel Business You Can Run From Home
Luxe Travel Business is a home based business model that bridges the balance between life / work and in that exact order. Wanda Szychowska is a veteran in the travel industry and is in the lucky position of being her own boss and working when she wants, and now the fun part, WHERE she wants with Luxe Travel. This amazing new opportunity really makes her freeeeee (no spelling type there) to enjoy the travel industy at her own leisure…
“After 20 years of working in the Corporate Travel arena in the Airline, Hospitality and Marketing industries I decided I wanted to spend more time with my kids, work part time in my own hours and so I started researching online home based business ideas.
I wanted to find a business where I could work my own hours from home (or anywhere in the world), in an industry I have a passion for and make a real difference to my lifestyle. I have a few hours each day and wanted to make a better life for myself and my family.
What was important was to find a turnkey home based business system, one that I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel and spend hours writing ads, marketing scripts, creating banners & lead generation pages etc. I also wanted to make sure I had support and ongoing training to help me achieve my financial & lifestyle goals.
Loving the Travel Industry and being married to a General Manager in Hotels, we are constantly moving and travel frequently, so I was looking for a business that allowed me to work from anywhere in the world, especially as an expat in another country.
The company I decided to start with is Resorts 360, a unique home based business opportunity in the $8 Trillion travel industry. Resorts360’s core product is an exclusive online Global Travel Club for members only, offering wholesale rates in 4, 5 and 6 star Hotels, Resorts, Cruises, Car Rental, Tours, Day Trips, Theme Parks etc just to name a few.
Before joining you have the ability to ‘Take A Tour’ where a customer service member takes you on a tour of the product, so that you can physically see the product and its unique ‘live’ booking engine.
To help assist yo u and support your business, Resorts360 hold a myriad of online support 24/7 from training webinars on network marketing to advertising on facebook to communicating effectively. The company also holds live weekly webinar presentations with guest host, Roger Rutter the founder and a commercial airline captain.
If you are looking for a credible company, Resorts360 has a Top500inc rating in the US and is the leader in its category. If that is not enough, there is also a 5 day money back guarantee, no questions asked, if it’s not right for you! Unheard of in this industry. They stand by their product and back it 100%.
A few success stories in the home based business and travel industry:
Testimonials Gloria S, Qld Australia
This business has enabled me to enjoy a total lifestyle change by working from home doing something that I love. Travel has always been a passion since I was a young girl and experienced my first taste of international travel. To be able to earn an executive income, while working part time from home – or anywhere I choose to travel – is a dream come true. It’s so liberating being able to work the hours that suit me and have plenty of time to enjoy other activities, something I was never able to do when I ran my stressful consultancy business for 25 years. Instead of working until I retire so that I can find the time to travel, I’m building a retirement income all while having plenty of time to travel right now, and doing it at unheard of prices. I love this company, it’s helping to change a lot of people’s lives!
Rachael, Brisbane, Australia
I had a look at the business and found that it ticked all the boxes for me – and I had a lot of boxes! I found it was very flexible so I could do it when I wanted, it was very cheap to set up, had an extremely high commission structure, had an amazing product that was packed with value and would save people a LOT of money, it had full training and support, and the business looked like it would be a lot of fun – but most importantly it provided me with an unlimited earning potential, and so the “sky was the limit “ with how much money I could earn here – which was a definite plus for me.
To find out more about Luxe Travel
please see www.luxtravelbusiness.com
or call Wanda directly on 0405 526 056
The Cradle of the French Language made easy for English-speakers
ROGER DAWES found a little spot of France which wasn’t forever English, but recently made so …
We’re 45km south of the city of Tours, in the Central region (in an area known also as ‘Indre et Loire’ and ‘Touraine’, not to mention ‘Garden of France’, ‘Loire Valley’ and ‘Valley of Kings’). Our nearest town is Ste Maure de Touraine, and our village Nouatre is on the banks of the River Vienne. La Ferme du Temple is 100 metres from the bridge over the river connecting Nouatre and Marcilly.
Your Accommodation – spacious and private, easy living Our Maison de Maitre (Master’s House) was built in 1830, and has been lovingly modernised whilst preserving its character.
The main house is for exclusive use of our guests, comprising a private salon and dining room, and just two large (+-30 sq.m.) luxury en suite bedrooms, each sleeping 2 people, with the possibility of a child’s bed in each if required.
More Space
For your enjoyment, 8 000 sq.metres (2 acres) of garden, lake and meadow are adjacent to the house. Our outdoor living patio offers shade and shelter, as does the fishing barn next to the lake. On rare damp days, a wine tasting session in the cellar bar is an option. Or you may choose to sit in the shade of the old walnut tree by the stream and listen to the nightingale, by night or by day.
Interesting to explore are the barns and stables, and the other meadows with their stream that runs alongside, a further 16 000 sq.m. of leisure space with ponies, chickens and Violette the goat.
Food and Drink
Meals can be taken privately or ‘en famille’ with your hosts. For those special occasions we will be pleased to serve you a plated ‘haute cuisine’ dinner.
Breakfast
Continental breakfast is included, served in the dining room or al fresco outside.
You can also decide to walk 100 metres into the centre of the village to see Estelle the Boulanger, choose your own croissants, pastries and bread, and picnic at the table alongside the River Vienne.
With, if you wish, ham, cheese and other delicacies from Stella the proprietor of the General Store opposite the Boulanger; and buy your magazines from the newsagents. Or consume the goodies with a coffee from the bar on the corner, or the second bar next to the Mairie.
Translations provided for this easy entry into the French lifestyle!
Lunch
We can organise a lunch for you to eat in or take with you on your travels.
Dinner
Dinner can be provided on request, and served in or out of doors. Barbeques are a pleasure – cook your own meat or fish if you wish
Drinks
We operate an honesty bar, in the dining room and in the wine cellar.
Sporting Activities – easy entertainment
At home we have darts and badminton, and room to practice your golf. Within 600 metres there are canoes, table tennis, a beach with river paddling, a children’s playground, fishing, country walks (hiking trail GR48 passes our gate)….
Within 3km there is horse riding and a river swimming beach, water skiing.
Sights to See
In addition to our extensive grounds, the village and river are on our doorstep, providing a pleasant stroll. The village has 2 bars, a boulanger, butcher, general store, newsagent, 2 hairdressers…
Village life is important in our area. We host a sculpture garden as part of the Nouatre village fete in August, and help out with the Triathlon at the end of June, which includes a swim in the River Vienne, which is less than 100 metres from our gate. Nearby villages hold fetes with different themes: Duck and Melon; Country Fair; Cheese; Boating; and many more, often with flea markets.
The Triathlon is a comparatively recent (26 year) tradition in a village with a long history involving prehistoric megaliths, Romans, Knights Templar and Crusaders, Moors, the Renaissance and two world wars. Our ruined chateau in the village dates from 11th century, and the church from 1435 (a frieze from the 15th century depicting the life of St Reverend is an amazing feature).
Within a short drive we have well over 100 castles, chateaux and gardens, we have yet to visit all of them! Visit www.chateaux-france.com to check them out. But there are some that we like so much that we have visited them several times – Leonardo da Vinci’s Clos Luce www.vinci-closluce.com, Villandry’s magnificent medieval gardens www.chateauvillandry.com the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ castle of Usse….so never short of things to do and places to go to.
Touring Made Easy
Don’t fancy driving? Let us take you on a tour in our spacious 4×4. We can accompany you to the attractions of your choice, visiting with you if required (translation services and anecdotes included!)
Your Hosts Roger and Joan Dawes…
Roger and Joan Dawes have lived in the UK, South Africa and France, working in the fields of telecommunications and fashion respectively. They are now proprietors of La Ferme du Temple, where they love to share their interests in history, art, cooking, gardens, travel, wildlife and more.
Fly-in is easy
Ryanair has regular flights from the UK Stansted Airport at very competitive rates HYPERLINK “http://www.ryanair.com” www.ryanair.com
Train is easy too
The TGV fast train from Paris takes just 58 minutes. Direct trains also from Charles de Gaulle CDG airport. There are 2 stations in Tours, Tours Centre and St Pierre des Corps. The TGV connects to Eurostar for cross channel tunnel links to London, and to many other European destinations
Meet and Greet – easy, no hassle
We are happy to meet your scheduled flight or train
By Road – open uncrowded autoroutes are easy
Excellent motorways exist from Paris, or from the Channel ports (missing Paris on the A28), bringing you within 10km of your destination.
Directions from Tours
Take the A10 motorway direction Bordeaux.
Take exit 27 Ste Maure de Touraine
In summary, turn left at 4 roundabouts:
At the first roundabout take the 3rd exit
At the second roundabout take the 3rd exit
At the third roundabout take the 3rd exit
At the fourth roundabout take the 2nd exit
At the fifth roundabout, enter La Ferme du Temple!
Car hire – easy, no problem
If you would like to hire a car, there are agencies for Avis and Hertz at the airport and station (pre-booking necessary). Alternatively if you don’t fancy leaping into the traffic immediately, we have a local agency so can meet you, settle you in your suite, and organise your car pick up at your leisure (time to find the controls, adjust the mirrors, follow us home….).
Stay in touch – you can email us via roger.dawes@sfr.fr or keep in touch with us via www.twitter.com/loirevalleyeasy
Positive Steps towards Changing Your Life
ROB BORG reveals that a healthy self image stems first of all from authenticity … from there, logical progression is possible …
Being yourself – authentically
Do you remember the last time someone asked how you were, yet they didn’t listen for the answer? Or when you heard someone bragging a little too long over the famous people they know?
We all know people like this – to the extreme we might even go to lengths to avoid them. One reason is that we suspect they are not authentic.
Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, there can be times when we are inauthentic too. Instead of listening to our own truth though, we continue – sometimes in the hope that we will be accepted by someone, or some group. It may be our colleagues, our parents, our peers.
Why do we do this? Is it really that beneficial, to have conditional acceptance from people who we are afraid won’t like us for who we actually are? Why do we give other people what we think they want?
Authenticity, or being ourselves, is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and the world. Every single person has something unique and valuable to offer. All it needs to start is by simply being true to yourself – something every one of us is able to do.
The more authentic we are, the more we grow in self awareness, the more we achieve what we are meant to achieve. Just like a seed planted in spring, our inner peace has a chance to thrive.
Creating a Healthy Self Image
Deep down, what do you really feel about yourself, and who you are? What do you see when you look in the mirror? Are you proud of who you are or only of the things you’ve done? Perhaps you don’t like what you see at all. You may be saying here, ‘Wait a second Rob – what exactly is a healthy self image anyway? Surely it’s getting into dangerous territory, thinking you’re better than you are?’
But a healthy self image has nothing to do with judging yourself. In fact, it’s the opposite. Accepting yourself where you are, just as you are now, is the basis of a healthy self image. By using that basis to allow yourself to become aware of what needs changing, it gently brings you into a position where you can readily take action.
Exercise: Write a description of yourself, including any opinions you may have never shared with others. Go and do this now before moving to the next part of this article.
Now that you have written your description, read it again, as though it were written by someone else, about someone you have not yet met.
Ask yourself: Would I like this person I have read about? What do you think the author thinks of this person?
Do your answers reveal anything about yourself and your self image? Is it balanced and healthy or is there conflict? What actions do you need to take to improve your self image?
Dealing with Rejection
Being rejected is never pleasant. But there are actions we can take to ensure the situation teaches us what we need to learn, and attitudes we can learn to help us in any situation. Here are a few suggestions.
Avoid Taking It Personally
A lot of the time, the rejection isn’t about you.
If you didn’t get a promotion, it could be that the person who got it had slightly different experience or skills.
If someone doesn’t talk to you at a party, perhaps they are just shy.
Be prepared to consider the possibility that it’s not about you. Regardless whether it is or isn’t about you …
Learn From Your Mistakes
Ask yourself: What could I have done differently? What do I know now that I didn’t know then?
Learning is the fastest way not to commit the same mistakes again. This helps you to …
Know Yourself
To learn from your mistakes you need to be honest with yourself. Be open with someone you trust. Explore how you honestly feel. You may come to realise that the situation you were in wasn’t the best choice after all, and you are now free to explore what is.
Once you have a new awareness about yourself, it’s time for…
Action
Keep going! Get out there and welcome the new opportunities coming your way. Put those new lessons into action, test them out.
Dealing with Setbacks
What do you do when something doesn’t turn out like you expect?
Perhaps initially you shrug something off as bad luck. But what happens when a setback occurs again and again? Are you tempted to give up? Or do you struggle on?
Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.
Perhaps it’s time for a change of tactic.
Step Back and Look at the Problem
Are you too closely involved with your problem to see the solutions? Take a break, talk to someone appropriate, or even look at it as though it were someone else’s problem. A change in perspective may be all you need to keep moving.
Evaluate Where You are At
What do you have? What do you want? Define both the problem and the goal. The problem may be smaller than you first thought, and once defined, a solution is much easier to come by.
Evaluate the Intangible
What are your beliefs and attitudes about your issue? What are the consequences of these beliefs and attitudes? How useful are they to your situation?
Get Expert Help
Sometimes you need an outsider’s expertise. They may be able to guide you in your decisions on where you need to go next, make suggestions you had never thought of, and give that bit of encouragement you need.
Decisions
We have been given a wonderful opportunity called life, but how many of us are truly making the most of this awesome gift?
It all comes down decisions and the decisions we make.
Making a decision can sometimes be one of the most difficult things.
Making the right decision at that most crucial moment can be the difference between winning and losing, joy and disappointment, or success and failure.
The key lesson is to understand how we make a decision in the first place.
Rob Borg is a Sydney-based life coach, business coach, NLP mentor and public speaker.
How we make decisions will in turn allow us to seize the opportunity and achieve the best possible outcome for ourselves.
Looking for a Career at the Bar? Train with the Very Best Law Schools
Lawyers love best law schools as they give the direction where law training is headed. Being alumni of a prestigious law school is every lawyer’s dream and plays a large role in getting employed…
Over 33,000 global academics offer law among other disciplines. Being a lawyer from a prestigious university gives you a head start to handle some of the high-value cases such VW scandal legal cases, product recall cases among many others. There are also several law school rankings based on facilities, employment index and their contribution to the international law fraternity. Here are ten of the leading law schools in the world according to QS World University Ranking by Subject 2015.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Harvard University, USA leads the park. President Obama is one of its alumni and has been the head of its prestigious student-run law journal. The institution was founded in 1636, 140 years before the USA got independence and was named after its first benefactor, John Harvard of Charlestown.
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
In the second place is the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. It is also one of the oldest universities in the world offering a wide range of disciplines besides law. It has produced a long list of leaders, scientists, and philosophers. It celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2009.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY
In the third place is the Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Oxford prides itself as the oldest University in the English-speaking world having been in existence for over nine centuries.
YALE UNIVERSITY
Yale University comes fourth in the list. Located in New Haven United States, the University was started in 1701 in Connecticut before moving to its present location in 1716. The school of law was started in 1843.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY/
New York University closes the list of the five best Law schools. The university was opened in 1845 by the secretary of the treasury called Albert Gallatin. It was to offer education to all regardless of their nationality, religion, and economic background.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
On the sixth position is Stanford University. The university is younger than all of the above universities. It prides itself with multidisciplinary teaching and a research centre. It has over 65 departments.
LSE
The 1895 London School of Economics and Political Science takes the seventh position. LSE is a center of excellence in social sciences in several areas and one of the leading UK universities.
AUM
The Australia University of Melbourne is in the eighth position. The university has been in existence for the last 150 years offering over 300 study areas.
UCB
The ninth position goes to the University of California Berkeley. The university has a large number of notable scientists and Nobel Laureates and a center for research.
UOC
The last in the top ten is the University of Columbia. The university is known for its distinctive learning environment and scholarly work. It has also created academic relationships with many regions around the world.
It’s not easy being a lawyer and many of them suffer depression, or a heightened sense of grandeur. But it’s one of Western culture’s top professions. We wish you luck if you choose law as a career.
A Career in Kinesiology & Aromatherapy
Brian Knight had great success in the corporate world, building up a trucking empire from scratch. But in the end his soul wasn’t satisfied – so he made a big shift – downsizing into becoming a kinesiology practitioner – which he did for 13 years. But intense demand for his talents led to his patients telling him he needed to either clone himself – or teach someone else so they could book in for sessions more easily and regularly. So he spent two years setting up the Health Arts College, which he remains co-director of seven years later. JEANETTE MORGAN does a Q&A with him about forging a career in kinesiology courses …
What did you do before kinesiology?
I’m a city kid but a country kid at heart. As a kid I spent every waking moment in the country, all over Victoria and farming areas. I had a love of cooking, my mother and grandmother were both very good cooks and Dad’s pretty good at bashing a few things up too. So I finished my schooling and got an apprenticeship in cooking – and worked for a long time at the Hotel Windsor – they have high tea in the afternoons and all that sort of stuff. Then I managed a hotel or two, so my background is hospitality and customer service.
My instructors at college put me up for a scholarship to go to Germany and Switzerland for 18 months cooking in hotels and travelling around Europe, then when I came back, I was still pretty young, about 21 or 22 and got engaged and my wife Claire and I started having daughters. Then my brother had one truck and he suggested that rather than working late hours in hotels which affects your family life, why not work in the trucking business which was 7am to 4pm Monday to Friday. So I chucked in the cooking and did that.
I built the business up while he was away for 18 months so that there was enough for two of us. When he came back we built it into a transport empire and ended up with 13 trucks. But it wasn’t really doing it for me – after 10 years I needed a change so started learning kinesiology courses while doing swimming teaching to earn a crust.
Because I needed to study anatomy and physiology I did that and did remedial massage at the same time, then did my diploma of aromatherapy.
What motivated you to get involved in kinesiology courses?
The business that I had built up ultimately wasn’t mine and didn’t express my own talents, so I wasn’t feeling spiritually satisfied – whereas this field is something which does express my true passions.
In the end I was 13 years with clients at home – basically doing kinesiology courses and massage – and I was booked up for 3 or 4 months ahead – and clients were getting upset – they were saying “you’ve got to make a clone” – and I said I wish I could, and they said “well train someone else so we can go to them”. So that’s where the idea spawned that I’ll teach people – so I investigated training – because I wanted to things that are serious, I never wanted to do fluffy shit, so I dove into it deep and started an RTO (Registered Training Organisation). It’s been seven years. The first two years were setting things up, and the last five years have been training people.
The first students you ever trained, are they still involved in kinesiology?
Yep – I actually had a breakfast with a few of them not last weekend but the one before. We sat down and had brunch and chatted about the pioneering times (laughs).
Do you personally still have patients that you treat or has the teaching and administration of the college taken over your life?
I still treat people three days a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – but there’s only a small number – I mostly refer people on – to be really blunt it’s only the ones that I’ve been getting along with really well that I’ve kept on and am willing to assist. I used to see 7 or 8 people a day five days a week, but now I might see five maximum in a day. Still 15 people a week …
Kinesiology must be a hard thing to explain to people – how do you describe it when people look at you blankly and say “what the hell is that?”.
Kinesiology is about bringing your life into balance – that’s all it is. What a kinesiologist does is helps you to identify what’s out of balance and how to bring those things back into balance. And we use the muscles of the body, the nutrition, what you think, what you feel and the energetics all together to help all of those things come back into balance.
Is kinesiology a diagnostic tool? Or is it something that also has a healing component?
We don’t call it diagnostic, we say it’s a “verification tool”. So it verifies what’s in or out of balance. The art is in all the strategies we can offer to help people come into balance. There is an art in being able to push on arms, and that’s ok we can do that, but that’s just the verification tool – but then we apply better nutrition, or better ways of thinking about or feeling things, or to feel things that you don’t want to feel in ways that you can cope with – that’s much more the individual complexity of it. Like I said to a guy this morning, “have you gone to a doctor before – yes, have
you gone to a physio yes, have you had massage – yes … well kinesiology is nothing like that” (laughs). It has components of that but it’s not that.
What are the pre-requisites for doing the course?
Absolutely nothing really. Other than a commitment to learn. That’s really all we’re talking about. But they have to have an interest about things that are healthy, about things that are natural, about wanting a better quality of life. If they’re somebody who eats McDonalds every day, they’re not really wanting to find out, then they’d be pushing it uphill a little bit.
Can students do the courses part-time, or stop if they have to and then come back to them? Is it quite flexible to do the course?
It’s very flexible. The way our courses are set up are so that people can have a full-time job Monday to Friday 9 to 5 – and still be able to do even up to two qualifications. Roughly half of the course is common between them all. Most of it is evenings or weekends. So if you’re doing kinesiology for example, everything’s on the weekend basically. Not every weekend,
but every second weekend at least you’d be doing some training – then then you’ve got to fit your own study in-between. Over about a 10 month period.
What’s the typical length of a course if you are doing it part or full-time?
Ten months for a Certificate Four – and 2 years – or 20 months over two years to do a Diploma. Certificate Four is the first half of the Diploma.
As far as being accredited goes, what does it mean? Eg, what is a “Certificate IV in Kinesiology”? Can you explain what Certificate 4 means to the layperson?
It’s a technical term, it’s a level of training within the education industry within Australia. So basically what it is is in vocational educational and training there’s Certificates 1, 2, 3 and 4. And then a Diploma and then an Advanced Diploma. Now some VETS can do degrees – but it’s up their …….. now Certificate 4 is about mid-level, it means you can “work under supervision”. Most kinesiologists work on their own so it’s a bit loose ….. it’s like getting a degree or Masters,
it’s the same sort of thing – up to the same standard. People who go to TAFE etc know what a Certificate 4 is and they know what a Diploma means.
What’s a typical scenario once someone has graduated – what do they then go and do?
They set themselves up in practice. We have a student clinic and it helps the students to get a direct experience of what providing kinesiology is – and what being in practice is.
With the current economic situation being very tough for a lot of people, and the discretionary spend such as on health being one of the first things to suffer, how possible is it to still forge a career in natural therapies? Is this industry being adversely affected, and yet is there still a way through for people?
There’s absolutely still a way through for people. There’s actually a lot more interest in the natural therapy industry than there was before the global financial crisis. There’s a lot of people that are looking for another way, another lifestyle, and so you’ve got a lot of different ranges of people: people that have been in a long-term job, for example, that now don’t have a job – they’re looking at re-skilling. And maybe what they were doing they felt they were tired of anyway. You’ve got other people who still have a job but they’re either looking to supplement their income, or to move into
something else because they have realised their current work may no longer be stable – and then you’ve got the third lot who want to have a seachange – they just want to do something different and are doing it for very exciting reasons – because they’re developing skills that they can take anywhere around the world.
Whether it’s kinesiology, massage, aromatherapy or any complementary medicine, they’re looking at acquiring a skill that is transportable. It’s not like many careers – for example if you’re an accountant here you can’t just go and be an accountant in England – you still have to do a bridging course. Or if you go to somewhere from here as a doctor or nurse you still have to do a bridging. Complementary therapies have universal appeal – you can go and do massage on a ship, a cruise liner, or at hotel resorts or clinics around the world. And Australian qualifications are held in absolute high regard – for example, kinesiology in Australia – they use the standards in Australia for Ireland, Canada, they’re looked at it for America – there are other countries that are adopting our standards because of the quality of them.
Is it more likely in the current climate that graduates will get work overseas rather than
in the local economy?
This is the thing – this has happened probably over the last ten years – the landscape changed – previously people might have been doing workshops that were … good … trainings, but they didn’t necessarily create great therapists who also had a background of how to operate a business. That has changed dramatically in the last decade. Now the training has an industry standard, it has an ability to move into that area with finesse. The people who trained before don’t have that knowledge, they might have years of experience – but they have years of where they were at – they’ve not progressed. The new type of therapist is trained to improve their standards and work with different sports codes and sports people – and they go into a much broader range of areas now. It could be working in hospitals or nursing homes – or they’re seeking out multi-modality therapy clinics. And those clinics only want qualified people – and the ultimate test is this: that all the health funds that allow you to claim for complementary therapies are now asking for only practitioners with approved training programs. So someone who has learnt it 20 years ago doesn’t have a shoe-in.
This lure that health funds have, of getting free or low-cost complementary therapies as part of their packages, I imagine that’s had a very positive effect on your industry?
Absolutely a positive effect. About two months ago I had a call from a lady who had trained decades ago and she said “I need to get a providor number so I can work with the health insurance companies”.And I said sorry I don’t do those. She said I need to get qualified. So I said you have to study for the qualification. And she said “but I’ve been doing it twenty years”. I said “why do you want this” and she said “because I’m losing all my customers, they’re all going to the people who have provider numbers”. So the public are still having massages and kinesiology, but they’re getting a lot more selective. So the ones who are trained well and have a qualification, they now are being sought
after because they’re the selective few. And the ones that don’t have it are missing out unless they upgrade themselves.
So the short answer to your question is that there’s actually more work around now because for anyone who’s well trained and has a full qualification, they are being sought after.
So did that woman who rang you, did she decide to study?
No – because it was all too hard. It was too hard to do the qualification. She felt that she’d done a couple
of weekend workshops and should be handed a qualification – where people do two years of training!
What can people expect to pay for a course, eg a year’s course?
A year will give them a certificate 4 level – which is the first half of a diploma. So they can finish as a certificate 4 – they have lots of knowledge but they don’t have a lot of advantages – they can’t get a providor number at a cert 4 level – doesn’t mean they can’t be a good practitioner, but they’re a more attractive candidate to a customer, employer or health fund if they have the diploma – and they have these privileges as far as provider status. So people can stage it – they can do a certificate 4 and then take a bit of a break and then come back and finish the diploma. Or they can get a number of qualifications at the same time – we’ve got people who are doing a certificate for kinesiology and a certificate for massage at the same time because it’s not double the amount of work, it’s only 1.5 times the amount because the common units for kinesiology and massage are all the same. A diploma of kinesiology costs $6000 per year so for two years it’s $12,000.
What does the future hold for the Health Arts College?
Basically it’s about being able to offer more good quality training so there are more good quality practitioners out in the community. Our commitment is to provide professional practitioners – wherever that takes us. If people like what we do then it will be going into different states of Australia and then other countries for sure.
I noticed on your website you have a page about the Health Arts College operating in Hong Kong – what’s that about? What’s the appeal of Hong Kong? Is it because it’s a relatively close place where English is spoken?
Yeah and also too it has that Eastern philosophy, the strong Chinese history of alternative or holistic medicine, so it’s an interesting market looking at being able to supply good quality education even into China and the rest of Asia.
Are you looking for people in those areas to find you and work in with you?
Absolutely open to that. We’ve already done discussions with the Singapore government a couple
of years ago. They were very favourable – we just need someone on the ground.
For more information on The Health Arts College, feel free to call Brian via 1300 658 326 (cost of a local call outside Melbourne) or in Melbourne call (03) 9898 0243. Or email him via brianknight@thacollege.com … also well worth browsing their website which has stacks of information on the courses they run: www.thacollege.com
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Lending a Healing Hand on the Land
Yarra Valley kinesiologist LARA GOODGER writes about how kinesiology has found a place helping the survivors of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires overcome post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) …
It continues to be an honour and a privilege for me to work with the Victorian bushfire-affected communities of Marysville, Healesville, Yarra Glen, Kinglake and the surrounding districts supporting them in their recovery as they rebuild their lives since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
This has been made possible due to my involvement with the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project (YVPP). I’ve been part of YVPP since 2011 as one of their kinesiologists and I can say without a doubt it has been one of the most rewarding times in my professional life. YVPP was launched in March 2009 as a local community initiative by a fellow kinesiologist in the Yarra Valley. From there, a volunteer group of health professionals formed to work with bushfire-affected people of the 2009 Victorian bushfires. And so the project was born out of the inspiration and principle of locals helping locals.
YVPP offers clinical services in a range of natural health care therapies. It’s also worked in the local primary schools engaging children in support programs to help them in their recovery. Before YVPP, providing complementary and allied health care with an integrative approach had not really been considered in the world of disaster response and trauma recovery. At the project I work alongside fellow kinesiologists, massage therapists, yoga teachers, reflexologists, hypnotherapists, case workers, grief and trauma counsellors and psychologists who specialise in the field of crisis and disaster management. We’re a close bunch and collectively we’re proud of the work we do together.
The Victorian bushfire-affected communities have faced incredible challenges during the past three years. Some people have completed repairs and rebuilding and some are only just starting. For many, financial recovery is a long way off and a lot of people just simply have not recreated a routine, settled lifestyle. Naturally, people are still under stress and some are moving into another phase of deep exhaustion. As you can imagine, all sorts of health problems can follow extended periods of stress; emotional fatigue, and physical symptoms.
The Yarra Valley Practitioners Project has helped over 1700 individuals and the community feedback about our support has been very positive. A lot of people are experiencing great benefits from YVPP’s integrative approach to the trauma recovery process.
A Testimonial
Every week at the Yarra Valley Practitioners Project clinics I continue to see people achieve remarkable health results. Here’s a testimonial from one of our attendees who wanted to share a little of her story of recovery:
“Without the YVPP and its dedicated professionals I have no doubt that I would not be here, today, writing this testimony. I am resolute in my belief that I’m so close to “hog tying” this thing called PTSD. Financially it’s difficult to afford my appointments and I yearn for a culture that embraces a wellness model of health versus illness focused, where value is placed on complementary medicine and a population being well and productive versus more invasive and often more expensive modalities.
“My first experience with kinesiology was from a guest lecturer in the early 1980’s during nursing training. I was fortunate to train in a 5 year bachelorette program that centered around a global village/wellness model of health. It wasn’t until the aftermath of the firestorms that engulfed parts of regional Victoria in 2009 that I had a personal experience with kinesiology via the Yarra Valley Practitioner Project.
“Using the metaphor, “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” was my body’s response to the incident and ensuing three months my, then five year old, twin sons and I were displaced. With over 20 years of nursing experience in three countries – specialising in unique and high stress areas, I am trained and seasoned in regards to dealing with stress. Stressful matters in my personal life, trauma of the fires, paperwork that followed, displacement, nominal sleep for months, changes in finances, making sure my sons were supported appropriately etc took its toll. I was alone with no family to rely on and vulnerable. It was difficult to accept that I could now add “Post Traumatic Stress” to my list of talents and abilities. The straw had broke the camel’s back and I cracked.
“Recovery is possible with PTSD and the wonderful team at the YVPP have supported me in that process. The key was finding the right practitioner who could work within my belief system. It was a team approach. With each appointment, Lara’s safe, even and compassionate demeanour allowed me to drop my guard and open myself to focus on the task at hand- getting well.
Becoming balanced within my body system and learning its communication and messages enabled me to put in the difficult work within myself and accomplish other tasks between appointments which I could not have done otherwise. This did more for me than any pill. I’m now five months without medication. Without kinesiology, it wouldn’t have been possible.”
– a Yarra Valley Practitioners Project Client & Healesville Resident.
About Kinesiology
In my view, the best way to find out about kinesiology is to discover it for yourself and book in for a few sessions. I find kinesiology to be one of the fastest growing, truly holistic natural health care therapies around today. For those that haven’t used kinesiology yet to improve their health, let me spend a moment with you and explain how it works.
Muscle testing is the essential tool upon which kinesiology relies. A handy piece of human wiring that uses the body’s own bio-feedback system to identify imbalances and their underlying causes which block the body’s natural innate healing processes. In turn, the muscle testing techniques are used to also determine what the body requires in order to do what it is designed to do naturally – heal and self-regulate itself for optimum health and well being.
Kinesiology has a big advantage in helping people due to its ability to access the subconscious mind of the client and therefore it provides both the practitioner and the client accurate and precise information about the location of any physical and emotional stress. I feel kinesiology provides a level of body and emotional self-awareness for the client quite unlike any other therapy and I think that’s some of the reasons why it’s helped so many people from the bushfire affected communities.
And so work continues into 2012 here at the project. For many people in the bushfire affected communities, recovery continues to be a work in progress. It certainly takes time and working through what has happened. Demand for wholistic health care services at YVPP continues and for as long as the community experiences the benefits from our support, I know myself and many other practitioners will be there for them.
About Lara Goodger
Lara Goodger is a kinesiologist based in Victoria. In addition to running her successful private practice in Warburton in the Yarra Valley, Lara works with kinesiologists and many other natural therapists, helping them with business advice and how to better manage the financial administration side of their practices.
Lara’s commitment to the expansion of kinesiology in the community often takes her throughout Melbourne and to regional townships of Victoria where she attends expos and events running workshops about self-care using kinesiology. She engages in mentorship programs supporting kinesiology students and continues to expand her qualifications regularly and attends seminars and further training in kinesiology and other natural streams of health to further enrich her practice.
Got any feedback for Lara to do with any of the topics discussed here in this article? Want to find out more about kinesiology? Do you think kinesiology may be able to help you with some health concerns you have?
Contact Lara via the following.
Mob: 0437 188 050
laragoodger@bigpond.com
http://www.kinesiology.com.au/Warburton.htm http://www.facebook.com/lara.goodger
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Killing In The Name Of …
To exterminate, or not to exterminate? For many governments of our so-called enlightened age, the answer is: have technology, use it. JOHN HARTIGAN goes on the warpath against state-sanctioned killing in all its forms …
What is our attitude to killing?
Do we justify killing by claiming the victims deserve to die? Are we indifferent or plain hypocrites who sanction one form of killing but not others? What is it that determines our attitude to taking life?
Throughout history we humans have demonstrated a propensity for taking life in ghastly forms and numbers. In this, our so-called enlightened age, countries legislate death penalties by hanging, shooting, lethal injection, electrocution or by gassing. In former years more exotic forms of execution were popular:
- Strangulation.
- Boiling.
- Burning. Very popular with religious zealots.
- Crucifixion. Common in Roman times.
- Death by a thousand cuts. Ancient China.
- Decapitation. France and Japan.
- Disembowelment. African tribal custom.
- Drawing and Quartering. Europe, particularly Merry England.
- Exsanguination. Draining the blood. Pagan sacrificial method, notably South America.
- Iron maiden. Common form of execution in Ancient Greece.
- Keelhauling. Very popular with the British Navy.
- Stoning. Biblical favourite.
- There are many more to numerous to mention.
In Amnesty International’s annual report on judicial executions, 25 countries in 2004 executed 3,797 people. Nine out of ten of those took place in the Peoples Republic of China. American political activists claim a much higher figure than Amnesty International:
“Every year China has nearly 10,000 death penalty cases that result in immediate execution. That is five times more than all death penalty cases from other nations combined.”
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, quote on their website the following figures for the twelve countries with highest ratio of death penalties:
COUNTRY / EXECUTIONS / EXECUTIONS PER 100 MILLION RESIDENTS
- Peoples Republic of China / 3,400+ / 260
- Iran / 159+ / 230
- Vietnam / 64+ / 77
- USA / 59 / 20
- Saudi Arabia / 33+ / 130
- Pakistan / 15+ / 9.4
- Kuwait / 9+ / 400
- Bangladesh / 7+ / 5
- Egypt / 6+ / 7.9
- Singapore / 6+ / 140
- Yemen / 6+ / 30
- Belarus / 5+ / 48
Most countries use capital punishment to punish crimes of murder; treason or war related crimes. However, in many Asian countries capital punishment is employed as a weapon against drug-related crimes.
The arguments for and against the death penalty have raged for centuries; and while 89 countries have abolished the death penalty, and of those in 42 countries the death penalty is banned under their constitution. Nevertheless 74 countries still retain the death penalty.
One of the conditions of entry in the European Community is the abolition of the death penalty. The first country to permanently ban capital punishment was the then Independent country of Tuscany where capital punishment was outlawed in 1786. In the year 2000 Tuscany introduced an annual holiday to celebrate the event.
While the international public’s attitude to death defies logic, nothing is more hypocritical than sovereign governments’ attitude to killing.
Mass Scale Killing
In the last century over one hundred million lives have been lost in war; most of them civilians. This figure hasn’t caused many sleepless nights among the general public. Except for those involved in war, the majority of people accept casualties as part of life. Indifference closes their eyes.
Surprisingly those same indifferent people flock to donate money to victims of natural disasters. What is it about these two different fomenters of death that create either a paralysis of conscience or sincere pathos? Death is death whatever the cause. Is it that people ignore responsibility for the casualties of war, but with natural disasters over which they have little control, they can at least do something to neutralise the suffering?
Do these same people reconcile their logic in calling for the death penalty for violent murderers, terrorists and brutal dictators? It suggests people believe in death as the penalty for man-made misdeeds, but deaths by natural disasters are something their collective conscience won’t let them shun.
During the second Gulf War the casualties from the American-led ‘Shock and Awe’ terror campaign cost thousands of Iraqi lives; again most of them civilians. Who really were the culprits, the men who dropped the bombs, pulled the triggers, or the men who gave the orders?
Leaders of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ (Many of whom have abolished capital punishment in their won countries) claim it was a just war, suggesting killing can be just when it’s orchestrated by the powerful, but never for the entrepreneur.
It has now been conceded by the rich and powerful in and out of America that the prime cause of the war was not a threat from Iraq, but oil. Experts claim American oil wells are drying up, and will be totally dry in the next twenty years.
At a recent Petroleum Symposium in Australia numerous speakers from the industry shared their concerns, claiming that a world oil shortage is imminent. A time span of three years was the forecast figure by when oil supplies begin to run out. And for Australians, petrol prices will have risen to over AUD$4 a litre.
So if Iraq was not a threat, was the invasion a form of state-sanctioned capital punishment? If so who is guilty for those deaths, the military or the politicians? What about those who profited from the war? Are they also guilty, not only for the death and destruction but for the blood money made from the misery? Should those people who promoted the war for commercial reasons be tried as war criminals?
What about the public conscience? Prior to the war in Iraq the country underwent a ten-year trade embargo. During that time it has been estimated that 4000 children a month died due to insufficient medical supplies and food shortages.
Throughout this period a quiescent publics’ only murmur was against capital punishment. > Their arguments ranged from: “it is an assault on human rights; it denies the opportunity of redemption, police and the courts are fallible, the death penalty dehumanises the execution and can cause trauma, and it creates in the public mind that life is not sacrosanct.
The world sees relatively few public demonstrations against collective crimes against humanity, and when they do occur they peter out when the pressures on people’s own lives take over. Is that because it’s deemed expedient to safeguard the West’s rich extravagant standard of living? Similarly in Zimbabwe, there have been little or no demonstrations against that country’s tyrannical rulers. Should we conclude that the infidelity of reason is made impotent by prejudice?
When It’s Ok For Some
Contrasting with the public’s indifference to what’s happened in Iraq and elsewhere. in Australia there have been sorrowful outcries against the death penalty imposed on convicted criminals for drug trafficking in both Indonesia and Singapore. The Australian Prime Minister and other political figures have made their whirlwind trips with pleas to the governments of both countries imploring them to clemency. Media headlines decry the inhumanity of the death penalty. The result has been that the crime, drug smuggling, has been swamped by a plethora of righteous indignation. Yet many of these same people demand the death penalty for terrorists, Saddam Hussein and others of similar ilk. The only conclusion we can reach is that death is ok if governments, for profit, trade or to protect their economy, sanction it. And death is okayed by the public provided they’re not asked to participate. And so we all wallow in the collective guilt of betrayal and confusion. Yes, death’s fine, you just have to find a selfish profitable reason to carry it out.
John Hartigan is a Perth-based writer. He welcomes your correspondence on the above topic, or any others of social / humanitarian disposition. Email him via: jhartigan@reachnet.com.au
State-Sanctioned Killing: from the Death Penalty to illegal invasions: by John Hartigan
Fresh Juicing For Health
SIMONE BOULANGERIE explores the world of juicing, fresh juicers, juicing machines and the health benefits of drinking juice …
“… many fruit juices contain potassium which helps balance sodium in the diet and lowers blood pressure …”
Fresh Juicers Facts #1: Water Water Everywhere
Fruits and vegetables provide a substance which is absolutely essential for good health – water. More than 65% of the cells in the human body are made of water, and in some tissues, for example the brain, the cells can be made up of as much as 80% water. Water is absolutely essential for good health, yet most people don’t consume enough water each day. Plus, many of the fluids we do drink: coffee, tea, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages and artificially-flavoured drinks contain substances that require extra water for your body to eliminate. Fruit and vegie juices are free of these unneeded substances and are full of pure, clean water.
Fresh Juicers Facts #2: Juicing Sets the Good Stuff Free
Since juicing removes the indigestible fibre, nutrients are available to the body in much larger quantities than if the piece of fruit or vegetable was eaten whole. Because many of the nutrients are trapped in the fibre, when you eat a raw carrot, you’re only able to assimilate about 1% of the available beta carotene. When a carrot is juiced, removing the fibre, nearly 100% of the beta carotene can be assimilated.
Fresh Juicers Facts #3: Give Us This Day
The problem is that most of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables to reap the benefits they offer. For example, although the American National Cancer Institute recommends five servings of vegetables and three of fruits each day, the truth is this: The average American eats only one-and-a-half servings of vegetables and, on average, no fruit on any given day….more to follow …
Health Benefits of Fresh Juicers
Eating fruits and vegetables helps keep you healthy and protects against disease, but it’s not always easy to consume as much produce as experts advise. Fortunately, juices can be a convenient way to squeeze in extra servings. Six ounces — just 3/4 cup of juice — counts as one serving of a fruit or vegetable.
” Fruit and vegetable juices are excellent natural sources of vitamins and minerals and, in moderation, can be part of a healthy diet,” says Barry W. Ritz, PhD, a nutritional immunology researcher at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. “Compounds found in fruit and vegetable juices appear to have widespread positive effects on health.”
And the variety of juices available today helps expand our palates, too. Besides longtime favorites such as orange, grape, and apple juice, “now we have exotic juices made from things like pomegranate or blueberry or lychee,” Ritz says. But does juice provide the same nutritional benefits as the whole food from which it is extracted? Does it matter whether juice is fresh squeezed, bottled or canned, frozen, made from concentrate, or found in a juice cocktail or drink?
What are the nutritional benefits of fresh juicers?
Juice provides many – but not all – of the benefits you’d obtain from eating whole fruit or vegetables. Nutrients in fruit juices vary, depending on what was in the fruit before it was pressed and what, if anything, has been added to the juice.
Many fruit juices contain potassium, which helps balance sodium in the diet and lowers blood pressure. Vitamin C in some fruit juices helps heal cuts and bruises, prevents infection, and aids in the absorption of iron (helping our bodies use the iron we get from foods), and vitamin A benefits eye and skin health. Carbohydrates from natural sugars in 100 percent juice provide energy, and the water content in juice helps meet fluid requirements. Fruits and vegetables have beneficial antioxidants (nutrients such as polyphenols, quercetin, anthocyanins) — thousands have been identified so far — and 100 percent juices contain an array of these compounds, which aren’t listed in the Nutrition Facts panel of the product.
On the other hand, a key loss in processing fruit to juice is fiber, which, in addition to controlling cholesterol levels and aiding digestion, also helps slow consumption and increases satiety. “It takes longer to consume an apple than to drink the equivalent amount of apple juice,” Ritz explains. You miss out on certain antioxidants, too, says University of Arkansas food scientist Luke Howard, PhD. When fruit is pressed to extract juice, some antioxidants are left behind when fruit skins and seeds are removed. Also, vegetable juices may be high in sodium due to added salt, which is sometimes used as a preservative and flavor enhancer; look for versions with less sodium.
Why does juice have more calories than fruit?
” The increase in calories is due to the increased percentage of sugar as a proportion of the juice,” Ritz says. “Even if you have 100 percent juice with no added sugar, by removing fiber and all the different components of the fruit that do not make it into the juice, you’re left with a higher concentration of sugar.” More sugar means more calories. One serving (1/2 cup) of grapes contains 31 calories — a fraction of the 116 calories found in a serving (6 ounces) of grape juice. What’s more, the average individual juice bottle size is 16 ounces. One 16-ounce bottle yields 2.6 servings and 308 calories total.
What is the difference between “100 percent juice” and “juice drink” or “juice cocktail”?
The difference is determined by the amount of juice the drink contains. Only 100 percent juice can be labeled “juice.” (Mixed juices can be labeled “100 percent juice” if each of the juices added to the mixture is, itself, a 100 percent juice, Howard says.) Anything less than 100 percent juice must be labeled under another name. Juice “drink,” “beverage,” “cocktail,” “punch,” “blend,” and “sparkler” products might contain as little as 10 percent or as much as 99 percent juice. The rest is water or added sweeteners. Check the label to find out how much juice such products contain. The ingredients must be listed on the label in order of volume. The lower a juice appears on the ingredients list, the less there is of it in the drink.
What does “from concentrate” mean and how does it affect the juice’s nutrient profile?
Juice made from concentrate is the same as the original juice. The only thing missing is most of the water. Extracting water reduces juice volume and weight, making it easier to ship, Howard says. When water is added back to the concentrate, the product is labeled “reconstituted” or “made from concentrate” and has the same nutrition profile as the original juice. “As long as there has been no change in the juice other than water being removed and put back in, the label can identify the beverage as ‘100 percent juice from concentrate,'” says Jennifer Seymour, PhD, an epidemiologist in the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Why is apple, pear, or grape juice often the first ingredient in juices that aren’t apple, pear, or grape?
Naturally sweet juices such as apple, pear, and grape help make especially tart or acidic juices more palatable. “It’s a way of adding sugar without having to put ‘sweetened with added sugar’ or other sweeteners on the label,” says Adam Drewnowski, PhD, director of the Center for Public Health and Nutrition at the University of Washington in Seattle. For example, unadulterated cranberry juice is extremely tart and must be sweetened. What makes it tart? Antioxidants. “They are, almost without exception, bitter, acrid, or astringent,” Drewnowski says. “The more antioxidants you have in a product, the more bitter it is going to be.” The reason: Antioxidants are meant to protect the plant by making it taste bad to predators.
Does fresh-squeezed juice offer any nutritional advantages?
If you’re fresh-squeezing juice at home or buying in-store fresh-squeezed juice, it may offer a slight nutritional edge, says Sue Taylor, MS, RD, director of nutrition communications for the Juice Products Association based in Washington, D.C. But, she adds, in the big picture any differences would not be significant when juice is consumed as part of a well-balanced diet.
Are fortified juices helpful?
Fruit juice is sometimes enhanced with nutrients intended to provide health benefits because juice is convenient, has good flavor, and is inherently associated with good health, Ritz says. Juices may be fortified with extra vitamins (such as vitamin C), minerals (such as calcium), cholesterol-lowering sterols, and, increasingly, omega-3 fatty acids. Such juices may be a good idea if they’re fortified with nutrients you don’t obtain enough of in your normal diet. “For people who are lactose-intolerant, calcium-fortified orange juice can be an important source of calcium,” Seymour says.
Could fresh juicers protect against specific diseases?
“Historically, fruit and vegetable juices have been tied to a number of specific health claims,” Ritz says. “For example, consider the long-standing association between cranberry juice and urinary tract health. Although data is limited, daily consumption of cranberry juice does appear to help prevent recurrent urinary tract infections in some women.” Studies also suggest that pomegranate juice may help lower total cholesterol and reduce systolic blood pressure.
Must I give up juice if I’m taking a prescription medication to lower my cholesterol?
“Grapefruit juice can interfere with the metabolism of a number of prescription drugs, including certain cholesterol-lowering statins, antidepressants, and even Viagra,” Ritz says. Grapefruit contains a natural substance that inhibits the liver’s ability to metabolize (break down so the body can utilize) certain drugs. That can result in increased levels of the drug in the body, and with that increase, an elevated risk of harmful side effects.
Also, cranberry juice may interfere with warfarin (Coumadin), a blood-thinning medication. Talk to your physician or pharmacist about the potential for interactions between any medication you’re taking and the juices you drink.
There are a number of suppliers where you can get the Compact Fresh Juicer for a special introductory price of $299 inc gst (RRP$399).
The Compact Juicer
Compact juicer will juice just about anything including wheatgrass. It will grind coffee beans, make nut butters, homous, pesto, salsa, dressings, dips, baby food, pasta and frozen desserts. It has a completely separate mincing attachment that will professionally mince meat, chicken and fish as well as a sausage-making nozzle …
ADELE INNES reviews the compact juicer …
It’s widely considered that the ins and outs of juicing machines are not topics for polite conversation. Nor might you expect that anyone you know, who you might normally discuss such topics as the opposite sex, politics, money, the financial crisis or one’s own crazy business project’s crisis, to be a silent harbinger of knowledge about the health benefits of juicing, and the implications of choosing a slow speed juicer over those loud boorish machines that occupy juice bars, cafes or the cheaper shelves of department stores.
So when I invited my old mate Lewis Hiley over to come and help me explore the Compact Juicer, I was quickly surprised by the abundance of insight he shared.
A good friend of his had been diagnosed with colonic cancer – and this friend’s first response was to purchase a juicing machine. But not just any, Lewis recounted, but a cold-press juicer, which, he added, ensures that the “living enzymes” in the fruit and vegetables are not destroyed by the juice-making process.
Lewis told of how his friend went on a disciplined live enzyme juicing regime and within a few months, the cancer was gone. This preliminary tale required no prompting on my part.
Lewis continued that since then he’d done a lot of research into the various juicing machines on the Australian market, comparing them for value, price, size, quality and functional attributes. At the time of his coming over, he still hadn’t decided on what to go for – whether to strike out for a juicer at around $750, or to see what his other options might be – so he was pretty curious about the Compact Juicer, which offers the same methods as its competitors but is available for just $269.
We got stuck into the juicing by starting with a combination of carrots, oranges, celery, ginger and apples. Fantastically easy to set up and to operate, it was very easy to push the juice in and the machine was very quiet, we both remarked.
Strangely enough, the fruit processing totally fascinated my young son, who could not take his eyes off the machine. Since the juicing section can be viewed through the clear plastic, it fascinates young eyes, and in fact ever since this night of juice extravaganza, my young son asks every day if we can do more juicing. He loves it and loves being involved. And indeed he loves the juice that comes out – even when it contains carrot and beetroot!
There are plenty of things worth knowing about the health benefits of juicing, from the costs involved in relation to buying a packaged juice or picking up a freshly squeezed one from your local juice bar, to an article by Dr Sandra Cabot, she of the Liver Cleansing Diet, who in fact has since released another book titled Raw Juices Will Save Your Life.
Speaking of livers, dear Lewis could not have found himself a more suitable Saturday night activity considering his Friday night had involved the consumption of at least 20 cocktails at some high-end fashionista party. There was a boat cruise around Sydney Harbour, a limousine, and a hangover to rival any he’d ever had – the man had never been happier to roll up at a wholesome tee-totalling Saturday evening juicing session.
We live in carcinogenic times, certainly only compounded by the current economic crisis. So if a little bit of anti-cancer juicing can brighten your week, and it only happens to set you back $269, a $500 saving on many of the other juicers on the Australian market, then the Compact Juicer gets my vote as a very entertaining kitchen appliance that’s good for you too.
There are a number of suppliers where you can get the Compact Juicer for a special introductory price of $299 inc gst (RRP$399).
Adele Innes is a Sydney-based writer specialising in natural health,
email her via: reviews@freshmag.com.au
Irish Food
Although there is a wide choice of foods in modern Ireland, there are distinct and unique Irish foods. Irish food is a direct reflection of the temperate climate of Ireland, it’s known for the quality and freshness of its ingredients. LOU LAPSO showcases the core ingredients of Irish food …
Delicious Irish Food
Bread
Bread is an important part of Irish culture even before potato became staple. Soda bread is a popular yeast-free bread, made from baking soda instead of yeast, whole-wheat flour and buttermilk, its a national dish of Ireland. Barmbrack is a sweet bread, typically made with the yeast skimmed from the top of beer and contain raisins. Blaa are white, doughy rolls, usually best at lunch time. Many other types of bread and cakes can also be found in Irish bakeries.
Potato
Introduced into Ireland in the late 1500s, the potato quickly became one of the main staples of the Irish diet. Today, potatoes continue to play a significant role in Irish cuisine and they are served in different forms. Colcannon is a mixture of mashed potatoes, kale or cabbage, and seasonings. Champ is a mixture of mashed potatoes and scallions. Boxty is a kind of potato pancake. Potato scone is similar to biscuits or muffins.
Cheese
Irish farmhouse cheeses are individual and unique to each producer. Each cheese has its own distinct character. Ireland makes about fifty types of homemade farmhouse cheeses. Today, Irish cheese is renowned throughout the world for the quality, and distinctive flavor of its cheeses.
Vegetable
With a temperate climate, root vegetables that can be planted in mild weather and keep long periods of time, would always be on the top of the list for Irish food. Cabbage, curly kale, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and onions are commonly seen in traditional Irish food.
Fruits
A wide variety of delicious fruits are grown in Ireland ranging from grapes, apples, strawberries and blackberries to gooseberries, loganberries and raspberries, black currant and rhubarb.
Meat
The most common meats frequently eaten at Irish meals are beef, chicken, goose, lamb and pork. Pork tops the list of Irish food, mutton or lamb is also popular. Dublin Coddle is one unique Irish dish made from pork sausage, back bacon, potatoes and onions. Irish reared lamb is used in many recipes from roast leg of lamb to Irish stew. Beef is the traditional Sunday roast.
Fish and Seafood
Since Ireland is surrounded by sea with rivers and lakes, seafood such as salmon, trout, scallops, lobster, mussels, lobster, oysters and cod naturally play an important part in Irish cooking. They are easily caught and prepared locally and enjoyed throughout Ireland.
Soups and stews
Since early times in Ireland, broths, soups and stews have been a mainstay of the Irish diet. Common ingredients in Irish soups are potatoes and other vegetable, seafood and a variety of meats. Irish stew has been recognized as the national dish for at least two centuries and is usually made with lamb or mutton, potatoes and onions.
Looking for Irish food and even gift hampers in Australia? Taste Ireland stock a wide range of Irish treats & while based in Sydney they can deliver to Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra & regional areas. To find out more click their Facebook page: Taste Ireland
Investigative Interviewing Techniques
Move over investigative interviewing techniques, you’re old-school. Now it’s all about information gathering, and there’s a stack of training that goes with it. We meet ex-police-detective Oscar Persichitti who trains people in these skills, and he tells us more …
Oscar Persichitti was a police officer with the Western Australia Police for over 18 years, having left the service at the rank of detective sergeant. He spent the majority of his service as a detective investigating serious crime at various detectives’ offices and in specialist areas including the fraud squad, armed robbery squad and organised crime squad.
Having reached the rank of detective sergeant, he was later appointed senior trainer at detective training school at the Joondalup Police Academy.
Oscar represented WA Police at the 2nd International Conference on Investigative Interviewing 2006, at the University Of Portsmouth, U.K. He’s been invited to speak at numerous seminars including a professional development seminar for Australian and New Zealand parliamentary staff at Parliament House, Perth and later at the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance Fraud conference.
Oscar I’d never heard about this until I found your website, so can you please explain – what is Investigation Training?
Investigation training is intended for employees conducting investigations and compliance work. It provides participants with the knowledge and skills required to conduct effective and efficient investigations, capable of withstanding scrutiny from external authorities.
Conducting investigations is a process. If you get the process right, the size and the type of the investigation becomes irrelevant. The role of an investigator is to identify, collect, collate and analyse information in order to determine the cause of an incident. The investigation may focus on root causes in order to prevent future occurrences, involve breaches of legislation or disciplinary regulations.
Regardless of the type of investigation being conducted, an investigator must be aware of his or her legal responsibilities and ensure it is fair and just to all concerned. It is therefore imperative that it complies with the appropriate legislative requirements, including criminal and civil jurisdictions. For example, it is important to remember that an incident investigation can be referred to Coroner’s Court who will then publicly assess the competency of that investigator and his/her organisation.
Organisations often have their own response to non-compliance matters and therefore effective and efficient investigations will provide organisations a capacity to monitor and enforce non-compliance by:
- Cautioning or writing warning letters
- Compliance enforcement orders
- Monetary fines
- Civil action or disciplinary actions
- Criminal prosecution
Our courses are designed to enable participants to;
- Identify the nature of any inquiry or incident
- Identify any breaches or non compliance
- Identify cause
- Identify and gather evidentiary proofs to substantiate any breach
- Recommend any further action
- Report on investigation results
Who uses investigative interviewing training?
Compliance staff, HR Professionals when investigating disciplinary matters, OHS personnel when investigating incidents or near misses, all regulatory bodies who enforce compliance to legislative acts and regulations including – Customs, Fisheries, ASIC, etc.
Was this knowledge developed overseas as a formal training method?
Not investigation training per se, however Investigative Interviewing did come out of the UK.
The interviewing of witnesses and suspects is one of the most important aspects of any investigation as on most occasions the successful outcome hinges largely on the information obtained from witnesses and the suspects themselves.
In the early 1990s, the United Kingdom (UK) came under intense scrutiny in the way that police officers were conducting interviews. As a result, a Steering Party co-ordinated by the Home Office (UK), conducted research to gauge why police conducted interviews so poorly.
Research conducted by Professor Baldwin found that:
- Police received no formal training in this science
- Poor Planning
- Lack of understanding of their role and the role of the eyewitness
- Poor knowledge of the relevant law
- A general lack of enthusiasm/care for their work
Following the outcomes of this research, a National (UK) interviewing training package, (called “Investigative interviewing”) commenced in 1993 with its theoretical structure is now adopted world-wide, including policing jurisdictions within Australia.
Investigative Interviewing has taken over as the preferred way of interviewing victims, witnesses and suspects. The concept is based on an “information gathering” approach as opposed to an “interrogation” style of interviewing. It also uses the theory of how the human cognitive process works to assist with information retrieval.
At what point did you realise that you wanted to step into delivering this knowledge independently?
Having spent the majority of my working life in operations – on the frontline – I decided to give training a go. I found it most enjoyable and very rewarding. It became my passion and I decided to challenge myself – venture into the world of corporate Australia in the training field. From scratch!
I started off delivering conflict resolution – another speciality of mine – where I draw on my many conversations with people from all walks of life – and continued to train in Investigations and Interviewing. Then the GFC struck … I held on tight – built relationships – made my presentations entertaining and valuable – with my partnerships offered accredited training … and here I am today, building one success story after another – hopefully anyway!
Why are investigative techniques becoming more important to businesses and government?
Businesses and government agencies are becoming more accountable for their people and other resources. Occupational Health & Safety is attached to key indicators with most businesses and are very accountable to the OHS Regulatory bodies, which means incidents need to be investigated and are often reviewed by external agencies like the Coroner’s Office.
What’s a typical duration of training that people undertake to be qualified in investigation techniques?
Investigation Techniques Course – 2 days. This two day course is intended for employees conducting investigations and compliance work. It will provide participants with the knowledge and skills required to conduct effective and efficient investigations, capable of withstanding scrutiny from external authorities. The course specifically covers: Investigation planning, evidence gathering and interviewing. Course content is of the highest standard and presented by lecturers who know what they’re talking about.
On completion, participants can continue their learning by completing a Certificate IV of Government (Investigation) or the Certificate III of Investigative Services. These course durations will depend on experience of participants. The courses offer a good mix of face-to-face training, distance learning and opportunities for recognition of prior learning (RPL). All participants are offered assistance by an experienced coach in order to successfully meet all competency standards.
To find out more about investigative interviewing techniques with Oscar’s click on www.abovebeyondtraining.com.au
Oscar also holds the following qualifications: Graduate Certificate in Security Management (Edith Cowan University), Advanced Diploma of Business Management, Advanced Diploma of Public Safety (Police Investigation), Diploma of Occupational Health and Safety, Diploma of Project Management, Diploma of Criminal Investigation, and Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Imperial Hotel
A relaxed Paddington pub is one of Sydney’s greatest pleasures, and none is more relaxed and welcoming than The Imperial Hotel on Oxford St.
Now renovated and revitalised, it’s a cosy escape from Sydney’s inner-urban pressures, with stress-free parking, a light and airy off-the-street bar, a young, friendly crowd and hidden nooks of old-world style for intimate conversation.
After sinking some of their fine ales, or quaffing a couple of glasses of Devil’s Lair vino, you’re enticed to the deep-cushioned comfort of their many chesterfield lounges. There’s always a good crowd, and late afternoon on the weekends the place takes on a more lively atmosphere, with the odd group of footy fans fresh from a game at the nearby Sydney Football Stadium.
Atmosphere – many pubs aspire to it, but the Imperial seems to have hit on a mixture of mood and style that helps generate the real stuff. A crew of dedicated staff and friendly regulars keeps the place hopping.
The in-house bistro, Daniels, serves excellent Thai food at very reasonable prices. You can dine in the bistro itself, quiet and secluded from the main pub, or have your dishes delivered to wherever in the pub you and your mates have decided to squat.
The Imperial’s late night bottle shop boasts an impressive range of quality wines, and is open until midnight most nights of the week.
Upstairs is the Imperial’s hidden secret: its Function Room. Gaining in popularity for parties and celebrations from birthdays to bar-mitzvahs, its the old-world style of the main pub taken a step further, with plenty of room to host a decent-sized do.
Right at the top of the hill as you come up Oxford St from the city, its a grand old Victorian pub on the corner. You can’t miss it. And you’d be mad to.
Imperial Hotel, 252 Oxford St, Paddington (cnr Underwood St). For functions information, phone Jason on (02) 9331 2023.
Styling Up for Sydney
Sydney style coach / Image Consultants Sydney RAMONA BORG writes about her specialist interest and how it helps women to not only look good superficially, but to feel great on the inside …
Growing up about an hour’s drive north of the Fashion Capital Milan, fashion has always been my passion. At an early age I decided to become a style coach because I wanted to give the tools I have learned to other people to help underconfident people feel better about themselves.
I’ve noticed that women, after giving birth to their children, they let themselves go in the way they dress. It’s like they forget about themselves. Being a mum myself I always want to feel good about myself. If you are happy, confident and feeling great, your children will shine with you! Doesn’t matter the budget you can very easily look and feel great with just a little bit of time and enthusiasm!
Practicalities Create Habits
These days life is so hectic that is easy to forget about our soul, about our self.
Image consultants Sydney coaching program is designed to help you to connect within yourself again and to teach you that you are more than just an image in the mirror. You will gain your inner confidence and self esteem straight away.
Image consultants Sydney coaching is great because is the unique combination between a personal stylist and a life coach. I will give you to set goals in 4 main areas of your appearance, and together we will achieve them. As a Style Coach I am helping my clients to be the best they can be every day and also to feel good about themselves inside and out.
Giving Back some Self-Love
I can assist you by discovering your personal style, your body shape, your gorgeous colours with a colour consultation. I help my clients to go through the experience of wardrobe de-cluttering and the exciting task of shopping. I can teach you how to shop according to your body shape and budget.
I’m proud to have written an ebook and I have titled it: “Your Guide to Gorgeous, 7 secrets to unleash the beauty in you from the Inside Out!”
It’s a great start for women who want to take the first step to look good and feel great.
Image Consultants Sydney
In my programs I will teach how to shop according your body shape, gorgeous colour and budget.
I operate mainly in the Sydney Hills District, however arrangements for other cities are also possible.
Well Chosen Items
As Coco Chanel once said: “True elegance consists not in having a closet bursting with clothes, but rather in having a few well-chosen numbers in which one feels totally at ease”.
I strongly believe that every woman is unique and worth it. Everyone has the right to feel great in their own skin and in the way they look.
Be Gorgeous every day!
It’s Easy to Make it Happen
For any enquiries you can contact Ramona on
0432 42 44 15 or check out
Studying Hypnosis For a Career
We talked to hypnotherapist ALEX CATERJIAN, owner of the Hypnosis Training Courses Sydney – Counselling & Hypnosis Institute of Australia, about the value of hypnosis and working in it as a career …
Hypnosis Training Courses Sydney
As a clinician, I encounter presentations that vary significantly.
I’ve been in private practice in the Sydney CBD for a number of years, and have also worked in the suburbs for quite a while, and have seen people with conditions ranging from mild to severe, from anxiety to personality disorders, grief, and relationship difficulties. The most common issues these days are difficulties relating to financial circumstances, resulting in adjustment difficulties; trauma related events whether by natural disasters, childhood experiences, motor-vehicular events, or work-related problems; chronic and transient pain; and particularly in the Sydney CBD, stress and anger management issues.
It’s important to note that regardless of the condition, there are no ‘easy’ or ‘simple ones’; each problem / presentation has its own complications often making it a tremendous effort to manage.
You’ve recently launched your own hypnosis training college, what can you recommend about a career in hypnosis?
Our hypnosis training courses in Sydney were established to address some of the deficiencies in the industry.
These are mainly the quality of training in the psychotherapy aspect of hypnosis training experiences.
The work is very rewarding and satisfying.
Having clients not return, because they’re no longer impaired by their problems, is one of the most rewarding experiences you could feel!
In order for this to happen though, it is important to undertake training which develops strong counselling skills, because invariably, the client’s problems are not the ones they initially present with.
So a career in hypnosis requires an understanding of counselling, and how to treat the client – if you can’t treat them without hypnosis, then you can’t treat them with hypnosis!
Are there good job opportunities in the field? What kind of jobs could there be?
The helping profession is a stable employment industry. There are industry reports stating that over the next 5 years there will be an influx of people seeking various therapies. The good thing about getting started now, is that you get to contribute to this growing profession, and make your mark.
The industry is so varied that you could use hypnosis to help people as an adjunctive therapy –that is, as part of another treatment program, or as part of a ‘process’ – such as a coach, medical practitioner, dentist, counsellor, nurse, wellness officer, holistic practitioner, or alternative health practitioner.
Unfortunately, the popular media places hypnosis in the realm of entertainment – ‘stage hypnosis’. Australian representative associations for hypnotherapists, and indeed professional organisations for nurses, doctors, dentists, psychologists, have rightly so declared this use to be unethical, and not to mention deceptive. So a career in hypnosis essentially means helping others, rather than turning parlor tricks!
Who are the most inspiring hypnotherapists, that are worth going out and buying their books?
The most inspiring hypnotherapists that have shaped my understanding of hypnosis and hypnotherapy are Dr Michael Yapko – a clinical psychologist and the foremost expert in the industry, and the father of Ericksonian hypnosis, Dr Milton Erickson.
Working in the Sydney CBD around Macquarie Street do you have a favorite spot for coffee?
One of the best little coffee I’ve come across is the ‘Hole in the Wall’ – a must for anyone on Macquarie Street.
To find out more about Hypnosis Training Courses in Sydney of course just click that phase on Google.
Painting the Walls Red
RUSSELL EVANS talks about an HR technology that was cutting edge back in the 1950s yet is still relevant today …
Back in the mid 1950s, a production manager at a large footware manufacturing plant in the western suburbs of Sydney met with the newly appointed Industrial Relations office to complain about the amount of time factory workers were spending away from the production line.
As it turned out, many of the factory workers were mothers and grandmothers from European backgrounds who would sneak off to the toilets in small groups and share photos of their kids and grandkids. This was impacting production levels as well as the quality of the finished product.
Jumping straight into action, the IR officer reflected back to a story he had heard from a WWII article about the impact of certain colours on people. Armed with the notion that the colour red creates claustrophobia, he snuck into the factory over the weekend and painted the walls of the ladies toilets a brilliant shade of red.
wITH HR technology Within 30 minutes of the workers arriving at the factory on the following Monday, the place erupted in furore with what we now deem as “Employee Engagement” flying out the window.
Dragged up to see the MD, a wise old American who had just about seen it all, the IR officer was thinking his days were numbered. However, rather than marching him out the door, the MD asked the IR officer if he’d sat down with the workers to understand why they were spending time away from the production line. With his tail between his legs, the IR officer hastily convened a meeting with 7 of the more senior female workers & as instructed by the MD, asked a few questions and listened intensely to the responses.
After 20 minutes of discussion, it became apparent to the IR officer that the female staff had a strong need to socialise with their colleagues to talk about the most important aspects of their lives, namely, their families. Secondly, they had an equally strong need to be doing something they could talk to their grandkids about with a sense of pride..in other words, they needed a sense of purpose & significance.
Upon sharing this feedback with the MD, the IR officer put in place an extended weekly Friday morning tea to provide an opportunity for plenty of social interaction. To address the need for significance, the IR office put up pictures of famous Australian tennis players who wore shoes made by the factory. During the next Friday morning tea, the MD spoke to the staff, telling them the purpose of their jobs was to help build the future Wimbledon champions.
Within weeks, production levels were at an all time high. Whilst this true story is about an event that took place over 50 years ago, the core principles of developing an employer value proposition and instilling staff with a strong sense of purpose have always been immensely important to achieving a highly engaged workforce….and let’s face it, it’s sure beats painting the walls red.
Russell Evans is director of Zemu Consulting, a HR technology company based in Sydney. Check out their website www.zemu.com.au or follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zemuconsulting
HPV Vaccination & Cervical Screenings in Sydney
Sexual health doctor EMMA BOULTON writes about HPV Vaccination, HPV and the options available to lower the risk of catching it, and managing it if infected …
What is HPV?
HPV stands for human papillomavirus. HPV is a very common sexually transmitted infection with four out of five people having HPV at some point in their lives. HPV can infect both women and men. HPV is spread through skin to skin contact including genital skin contact and enters the body through tiny breaks in the skin.
HPV usually causes no symptoms and is usually spread without the person even knowing it. Whilst the HPV virus like other viruses usually goes away by itself some women get persistent infection and these women are at risk of developing cervical cancer.
There are over 200 types of cervical cancer and about 40 of these affect the genital tract. Some HPV types can cause cervical cancer and some HPV types can cause genital warts. HPV types are considered either ‘low risk’ or ‘high risk’. Low risk cause genital warts and high risk can cause cervical cancer.
Condoms offer some but not total protection from HPV, as not all of the genital skin is covered. Condoms do offer protection from unwanted pregnancy and other STIs.
What is the HPV vaccination?
The vaccine, called Gardasil®, protects against HPV types 6,11,16,18. Another vaccine called Cervarix® was protects against HPV types 16 and 18. The vaccination is given as 3 injections over 6 months.
The vaccine does not contain any live virus and can’t cause cancer or any other diseases. The vaccine is made of a protein that looks like the outside of the real virus.
When you have the vaccine, your body makes antibodies which it uses to fight the real virus if you’re ever exposed to it.
Do I still need to have Pap smears?
If you have completed the course of HPV vaccination either before or after you were first sexually active you still need to have pap smears.
Abnormal Pap tests can occur even if you’ve had the cervical cancer vaccine. This is either because:
- The vaccine was given after you had already been exposed to HPV through sexual activity with a person who had HPV.
- It was caused by an HPV type that the vaccine does not protect you against. The vaccine protects you against the HPV types 16 and 18 which cause 70% of cervical cancers. That means 30% of cervical cancer is cause by other types.
Abnormal Pap tests cannot be caused by the vaccine.
Is there treatment for HPV?
There is currently no treatment available for HPV. In most cases your own immune system will clear (get rid of) the HPV.
Most people will not know they have HPV unless they have a Pap smear that detects abnormal cells on the cervix caused by HPV because it does not cause symptoms or if they get genital warts.
Genital warts are caused by low risk types of HPV which do not cause cervical cancer and can be treated by your doctor or at a sexual health clinic.
Emma Boulton is a Sydney sexual health doctor and co-director of Gynaecare Health Clinic in Artarmon on Sydney’s lower north shore. For more info check out www.choicessexualhealth.com
A Magazine with Soul
Celebrating 100 issues in the chair, NOVA Magazine editor Margaret Evans answers our questions about her motivations towards a life in holistic media …
What motivated you to become a journalist in the first place?
At secondary school I nurtured a dream of becoming a newspaper reporter because I suppose even back then, I needed to communicate. I loved the thought of meeting interesting people and being able to convey their thoughts to the world – the glamour certainly appealed! Little did I realise that I’d start off writing the Ombudsman column, but at least it wasn’t the TV schedule! I can take some pride in thinking back to the piece I wrote to gain my cadetship with West Australian Newspapers – it was critical of tin mining in the town of Greenbushes in South-West Western Australia that had a huge impact on the landscape and it was very passionate as I recall in that youthful, but very honest, way.
Was there a defining circumstance which motivated you to become involved with NOVA Magazine?
NOVA magazine came to me at a very opportune time. I thought so at the time and it’s even clearer now, more than eight years later. I had a successful business as a consultant writer and marketing advisor, but I’d reached a stage after seven of so years of desperately needing to do something with more depth. Just the thought of another ministerial speech or business newsletter was enough to leave me speechless.
And then my wonderful husband Ray told me he’d found the perfect antidote – and it was NOVA Magazine. It was a very different journal back in those days, published only in Western Australia and much more new-agey than now. But I was drawn to the wisdom and knowledge of many of the writers, people like astrologist Daniel Sowelu, naturopath Jeremy Hill and dreams columnist Jenny Albertson, and felt I could find a home here.
It immediately appealed to me as something already significant – even then it had a strong following in Perth – that had an important message to bring to a much wider public. So that’s been our journey since then – to spread our wings to reach as many readers as possible and we now do that in two separate editions that reach all over Australia in the print version and online to an international audience.
Just after publishing our first issue as a couple in July 2001, I realised the healing power of NOVA magazone at first hand. My mother was struck by a sudden illness that left her critically ill for several weeks, but every day I found I could draw strength and compassion from those around me and the words in the magazine itself. And when 9/11 occurred at much the same time, it became my lifeline, just as I know it helps a great many people face up to their own individual challenges every month. It has an extraordinary healing grace and the word people most frequently use to describe their feeling about NOVA is “love”.
As well as being a journalist, you have a teaching background. What field were you teaching in, and do you feel that your interest in the passing on of knowledge is reflected in the articles you choose for NOVA?
Yes, I’ve had two periods as an English teacher, separated by many years and life experience. I first went teaching after finishing my Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Australia but frankly, I was terrible because my heart wasn’t in it. And that’s when I was lucky enough to find my way into journalism.
But I went back to teaching almost 20 years later when my son was small and I wanted a job that had more family-friendly hours than daily newspaper journalism tends to offer people. And then I loved it! I taught English again and English as a Second Language to students from South-East Asia, mainly Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Many of these kids were very homesick so I became a sort of mentor to them as well as helping them meet the very demanding challenge of gaining university entrance in a language that wasn’t their own. It was extremely hard work and I’ve always admired teachers for the uncomplaining way they go about such a demanding and responsible job.
My husband was also a secondary teacher and administrator for most of his career, so between us we’ve brought a strong interest in the welfare of young people into NOVA magazine. A couple of years ago, we introduced an Our Kids column to develop an understanding of the pressures young people are facing – and those pressures are enormous – and to explore alternatives to what’s conventionally seen as success in the education system. I suppose we follow very closely the Steiner approach that honours the individual child, rather than making them all fit ” the round hole”. It just doesn’t work because everyone is different.
NOVA stands almost alone in its refusal to run paid advertorial articles about products, choosing instead to run articles about ideas, experiences, beliefs and discoveries. Why was this decision made and do you think the readers notice the difference between NOVA and other publications?
That’s a very perceptive question so thank you! Sadly, I think it’s true that as a society we’ve sold out to advertorial in all forms of media, from magazines through to all those blatant “infomercial” programs on both free to air and pay TV. It’s such a pervasive influence it’s almost as if as a society we’ve given up the ghost in trying to combat it.
I don’t pretend for a minute that we’re perfect because the commercial pressures are always there. But we do try really hard to make our editorial stand apart from the advertising space to preserve the integrity of an independent viewpoint.
That’s the standard I inherited at NOVA in 2001 and I suppose my own background in journalism and working at one stage as the deputy editor of a regional daily newspaper, has reinforced that stance.
Frankly, I think it makes everything so much easier because people respect boundaries. And, yes, people do understand the whole concept of advertorial and are keenly aware that they are being “sold to” rather than reading a legitimate article. I think the pervasiveness of advertorial and infotainment is very damaging because it’s making us all so cynical. And that attitude just perpetuates more of the same.
We’ve learned from our readership surveys and just the fact that the magazine is so popular every month that people desperately want something to read! And they also want to be challenged and that’s something else that probably surprises a lot of people.
NOVA has many longstanding contributors who are highly qualified and experienced in a wide range of fields including acupuncture, naturopathy, veterinary science, nutrition, Jungian and primal therapy, yoga and astrology. How do you find your contributors and why do you think so many of them have such loyalty to NOVA?
The strength of NOVA is the great community of holistic knowledge and spiritual wisdom it represents. Every month we have 20 or so contributors and many of these wonderful people were there to greet me when I arrived. Daniel Sowelu who’s been called “the astrologer’s astrologer” was a foundation writer who was “found” by NOVA’s first editor Sui Oakland, who I think was really a very visionary woman. So Daniel has been with us for 16 years and other long standing contributors include Jeremy Hill and Jenny Albertson whom I’ve already mentioned, as well as music writer Phil Bennett and our film critic Mary O’Donovan.
Others who joined up about the same time as me include our fabulous wholefood writer Jude Blereau, Adrian Glamorgan who brings with him that Quaker passion for the environment and peace, Dr Clare Middle, a highly qualified veterinarian but who chooses to practise in a holistic way, and Dr Charmaine Saunders who manages to offer very grounded advice on relationships.
And we have plenty of recent arrivals too – people like Olivier Lejus who’s an acupuncturist in Sydney specialising in Ayurveda and TCM, holistic naturopath Chandrika Gibson who writes our Yoga and Holistic Healing columns, Eric Harrison, a very well known meditation teacher, and Jeremy Ball, a Buddhist who lives his passion for a more peaceful, interconnected world. And not forgetting the powerful contributions of Dr Peter Dingle, a nutritional and environmental toxicologist who is equally passionate about urging us all to take greater responsibility for our own health.
There are many others I can’t mention here. But what they all have in common is a commitment to holistic healing, regardless of their speciality. And that’s what makes them very special – they only put up with crazy monthly deadlines because they believe in what they are doing and the importance of a holistic approach to healing the world’s ills.
And I regard many of our writers as personal friends who are very important to me and it’s always nice to reconnect every month.
New people join us all the time, but I think what distinguishes them all is a generous heart.
Of the countries you’ve visited since becoming NOVA editor, has any particular country struck you as being more holistic, or more spiritual, than other places?
India, India and India! The spirit of India imbues NOVA and gives us what I hope is a very authentic yogic approach in all sorts of ways.
In fact, it was a six week trip we took as a family to Southern India at the turn of the millennium that changed my outlook in many ways and I think prepared the ground for both my husband and me to come to NOVA. And so many people say the same thing- India changes you forever. We took our son Luke out of high school in order to make the trip and I think he looks back on that time in places like Kerala, Goa, Bangalore, Mysore and Mumbai as a special experience. Even if he did have an upset stomach on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve!
You can’t fail to be moved by the confronting poverty you see especially in the big cities where people sleep on the bitumen of the Apollo Bunder just 200 metres or so from the absolute luxury of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
But we were also struck by the good humour of Indians, how a woman walking by in the dusty street with a load of rocks for road building perched in a basket on her head will give you a warm smile and a head waggle!
I’ve been back more recently in late 2008 to the Brahma Kumaris Peace of Mind retreat in Mt Abu in Rajasthan. And although that was beautiful and peaceful, the frantic pace of life now in India is changing the country in profound ways. But that age-old wisdom of India will still be there, I’m sure of that.
Asia has always drawn us as a couple and another country whose spirituality moved us deeply was Sri Lanka. This was in December 2005 and early January 2006, a year after the Boxing Day tsunami and before the insurgency became very serious.
The predominant Sinhalese population are Buddhist, practising the Theravada form which calls for true devotion. Our driver Ananda, for instance, would stop every morning to offer a brief puja at a roadside shrine, something we found humbling. I clearly remember the day he inched our car around two dogs sleeping in the shade to fit into the small parking area outside a restaurant. They remained unperturbed as I squeezed my way out of the back door and tiptoed past them so as not to disturb their rest. What a beautiful approach to life!
Obviously, the conflict with the minority Tamil Hindu population who live mostly in the high country and the north east of the tiny island has been an ongoing grief for the whole country. We can only hope the peace that has now been achieved can be maintained and the Tamil people successfully integrated into the island’s structure.
Sri Lanka and its gentle people, because Buddhism does instil that quality, touched my heart. It is unbelievably beautiful and we plan to return very soon.
We often hear that Australia isn’t a spiritual country, yet NOVA magazine carries many articles of a spiritual nature. So are we spiritual or not?
Yes we hear that all that matters to us is sun, surf and sand – and the occasional shrimp on the barbie! And that’s the message we get through the mainstream media. But we’re a much more complex country than that and I feel many Australians are really quite spiritual- and that trend, if anything, is increasing.
It’s not that we’re dashing off to church, but the Dalai Lama is certainly drawing more and more people to his form of compassionate Buddhism. But our magazine shows us there is so much interest in a huge range of spiritual pursuits and some very impressive people guiding us all in Vedic philosophy, Buddhism, the Oneness movement, and so on. I believe there is a tremendous sense of optimism about the dawning of a Golden Age or, as others call it, an Age of Transformation and that starts with each of us as an individual seeking to raise our own level of consciousness. That’s an intensely spiritual and uplifting journey.
Since being involved in NOVA the magazine has gone from being a Perth-only publication to launching an East edition in 2002, plus developing the Nova Online Directory. Are there any relaxation strategies or things you do to maintain balance/equilibrium in the face of publishing two magazines every month?
I try, above all, to maintain a reasonable level of calm in my day, even at deadline time! It doesn’t always work but people have been struck by how tranquil our office seems.
I’m a firm believer in Ayurveda – I really think we can learn something from how Indian people have been living their lives for the past 5000 years! So I start my day in a measured way – I’ve gone back to early morning meditation after lapsing for some time but I find that very energising, then I have a healthy breakfast with my family and, because I’m lucky to live very close to our Perth office, I walk to work.
I find music is the perfect soother – I love classical music in particular and all sorts of other world music and always have music playing at my desk. Anything but aggravating talk back radio which I avoid like the plague!
I suppose I’ve always been interested in an Eastern approach, so at various times Tai Chi and Yoga have been on my relaxation schedule and I’m looking to take up Tai Chai again because it is a perfect exercise, as well as being a flowing meditation. Something else I have planned for 2010 is to renew my interest in Japanese calligraphy. I studied Japanese language many years ago but had to give it up for work commitments then- a familiar story for us all. The thing I enjoyed most was writing the kanji script and now I want to do that in a more formal way.
And perhaps most importantly, I love cooking. My first ever cookbook was a wholefood cookbook and that’s been an ongoing love affair, one my family have enjoyed as well.
NOVA magazine is known and respected for its choice to cover issues, ideas and therapies years before they become “accepted” enough to be covered in the mainstream media. What are some examples of these groundbreaking articles which come to mind?
As a consciously alternative publication we do take a very different view on many subjects, from the conventional, pharmaceutical-based medical approach to what’s considered a successful education for our children.
I think many of our health articles and columns over the years have been highly original and here I’d highlight the work of Dr Peter Dingle PhD, a nutritional and environmental toxicologist and Associate Professor in Health and the Environment at Perth’s Murdoch University. His series in late 2009 questioning the value of statin drugs for lowering cholesterol and the whole idea of a “magic bullet” approach to medicine has made a big impact, along with his other work on the need for more sunshine to raise levels of Vitamin D. Both of these are quite revolutionary ideas and go against the prevailing medical wisdom.
We’ve also been a long way ahead of the “too clean for our own good” hypothesis that’s now widely accepted as being involved in conditions like asthma, and have maintained a strong and consistent support for a natural wholefood diet as the basis of good health, again years before this was generally accepted.
I’m also proud of the work we have done on the issue of GE cropping which has been a personal area of interest for me – we have carried several features in recent years highlighting the dangers of this pervasive intrusion into our nation’s food crops, and ultimately our entire global food chain.
We’ve carried a monthly environment column for several years and our writer, Adrian Glamorgan, has been very vocal in encouraging us all to take personal responsibility for minimising the effect of climate change, a message of increasing importance.
And finally, I’d single out Nabila Cowasjee, a psychologist, teacher and mother for her excellent features over many months on the need to take a holistic approach to our children’s education, rather than force them to fit the mould. Again, I believe this awareness is only now spilling over into the mainstream.
At a time when many magazines and even large newspapers are looking at the possibility of going online only and discontinuing their hard copy print issues, is NOVA magazine planning to continue providing both options to its readers and advertisers?
Indeed we are. While we are happy to provide readers in more remote areas with an online edition of the magazine, and I believe we were the first in our industry to do so, it will only ever be additional to the print magazine.
We’re very confident of the future of print media where it successfully serves the needs of its readers. NOVA magazine has always concentrated on quality, both in our selection of articles and how we present them, and that focus has been very well received by both our readers and advertisers. Many of our pieces need some time to sit and reflect on them – and that’s much easier to do with a magazine in your hands. We’re told that all the time.
At the same time, we’ll be exploring the great strength of the Internet to reach new people – for example, we have recently launched the Nova Magazine website in New Zealand to take our message to our cousins across the Tasman. We have so much in common with New Zealanders and we’d love to share our ideas and experiences with them.
I think it’s vital for a publication to be flexible and innovative – and I think NOVA Magazine has shown that in recent years. But most of all it needs to be sure of its identity. And I have a whole and rapidly growing community of holistically minded people reinforcing that for me all the time!
NOVA magazine has three online presences: the NOVA Magazine website, the page-turnable “virtual copy” of the magazine, and the NOVA Online Directory. Check them out today. To advertise call Michelle Garcia (East Coast Display) on (02) 9692 8099 or Anne Stewart (West Coast) on (08) 9328 9377.
Is hoarding a form of mental illness?
Many of us hang on to things and memorabilia from the past, but if our homes become overwhelmed with clutter that it becomes detrimental to our health and safety it becomes hoarding. Is hoarding a form of mental illness? LOU LAPSO will try to help you better understand hoarding…
What is hoarding?
Hoarding is a pattern of behavior that is characterized by excessive accumulation and inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of things that have little or no value leading to clutter that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment.
Hoarding and collecting are different. Collectors look for specific items, such as stamps or toys, and organize or display them. Hoarders save random items and store them haphazardly.
Is hoarding a form of mental illness?
Hoarding was previously considered a subtype or symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or obsessive compulsive personality disorder. Hoarding was first defined as a mental disorder in the 5th edition of the – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013 published by American Psychiatric Association
Hoarding is not limited to age, although it is generally found in older individuals. Hoarders will not, freely give up their possessions, however unimportant they are, or how unsafe and unsanitary their environment has become. Without professional help, even if a rubbish removal crew comes in and clean the house, the hoarder will just start to accumulate again until the problem reaches the same level of impending disaster.
Symptoms of hoarding disorder
Not every hoarder will display all the following signs or symptoms that affect emotions, thoughts and behavior. A person who shows several of them should be cause for concern.
- Excessive saving of things that are not significant
- Excessive attachment to possessions
- Inability to discard items
- Difficulty permitting others to touch or move accumulated items
- Extreme clutter blocking doorways, windows and hallways
- Moving items or trash without ever discarding anything
- Organizational difficulty
- Distractibility
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Indecision or trouble making decisions
- Difficulty managing daily tasks
- Limited or poor socialization skills
If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of hoarding disorder, contact your doctor or mental health professional.
Treatments of Hoarding Disorder
There are two main types of treatment that help people with hoarding disorder live safer and more enjoyable lives: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy – CBT is more than just talk therapy. Therapist often visits the hoarder’s home and helps them to think more clearly about their possessions and help them make decisions. They also learn to improve skills such as organization, decision-making, and relaxation.
Medications – Antidepressant medications (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been shown in research studies to effect improvement in some compulsive hoarders.
If You Are a Hoarder
If you have grown accustomed to stashing things away over the years, to the point where you can’t stand the clutter. Do not beat yourself up over for hoarding, but get help to learn more effective ways of managing your situation. Look up on the internet and read up on hoarding. Experts recommend that you practice doing something every day for at least 10 minutes to help clean up your clutter – regardless of how you feel. Gradually increase that time to a half hour or more. Eventually, you’ll be able to see that you are making progress.
Don’t give up. Seek the help you need, both to organize your home and help gain the skills you need to live a healthier lifestyle. Even if you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, it’s never too late to start the process to change your life.
What to Do about Your Loved One’s Hoarding
There’s no point in arguing over how self-destructive the hoarding behavior is. The best recommendation is to get out of the argument. Engage the person in a discussion about what they would like to see done in their home, what kind of changes they would be willing to or like to make.
If they say they want to clean up the clutter, but refuse to do so, inquire about their long-term goals. Ask them but don’t tell. Strive for gradual change. Professional counseling may be the most effective way in order to sustain the motivation to change and get at the root cause of hoarding.
Hoarding Cleanup Companies and Rubbish Removal
Mountains of clutter may require more effort than the hoarder and his or her family to handle. Just looking at the immense mess is enough to depress most people. There is help in the form of hoarding cleanup companies and rubbish removal like Doyle Bros in Fairfield East, NSW. Once your home is cleaned up it will be safer and healthier for you and much easier to have friends and family ove
Help For Herpes Sufferers
It’s that time of the year again! No, not Christmas, or New Year, or Summer, but yes all three can be factors in a festive season when extra partying can lead to an increase in the risk of getting a herpes infection. Sexual health doctor CATH INSLEY writes …
Herpes is the group of symptoms caused by the herpes simplex virus. It is incredibly variable in its expression with some individuals experiencing extreme symptoms which occur frequently and have physical and psychological morbidity. Many people however have been exposed to the virus and have few or no symptoms , and are oblivious that they even have herpes.
These extremes are in part explained by the type 1 and type 2 viruses. Type 1 traditionally causing cold sores around the mouth and type 2 causing genital cold sores. However with the increase in the practice of oral sex , type 1 and 2 can be found on both genital and mouth areas.
Type 1 tends to be milder, less frequent and ‘burns out’ quickly with potentially no recurrences. Type 2 tends to be more severe with a tendency to recur and manifest in more troublesome symptoms.
Mild symptoms can be an itch or tingling, and more severe symptoms causing flu like symptoms, fatigue, and neurological pain. Painful lesions; lumps, blisters and ulcers in the genital and perioral area have a high level of suspicion for herpes, especially if they are episodic. Primary infection (the first time the virus manifests) is usually the worst episode and in some cases can lead to time off work, hospitalisation (to control pain, secondary infection and urinary retention) and significant illness. Over time the severity tends to decrease with shorter outbreaks and lesser frequency. However these are just general patterns and for an individual their experience is the only experience.
Some people tend to get frequent and severe outbreaks warranting daily medication to avoid the negative effects on daily life. Others are unaware that they carry the virus and are infectious to others ( silent viral shedders). This huge variety in experience leads to problems in tracking and contact tracing.
Those in relationships cannot assume that their partner has been unfaithful as the virus can be latent for long periods of time and have only short periods where the virus can infect others. However primary infection within a long monogamous relationship will often create doubts and questions that cannot be answered.
However at the same time immunity and general health, and other fissures and lesions can greatly affect the chance of an individual being infected by contact with a carrier. Rougher sexual intercourse, co morbidities , other infections , can increase the chance of infection.
Screening and testing for herpes is difficult on those who do not have symptoms as the tests cannot demonstrate infectivity, latency, or prognosis as these vary from person to person. Probably 20% of the sexually active adult population have antibodies to HSV, but many of these do not know as they have no, or very mild symptoms.
Condoms can protect to some extent, but they do not cover the whole of the genital area. Antivirals are very effective but expensive (can be obtained on an authority script with a laboratory diagnosis in Australia), and can be used continuously, episodically (with symptoms or during sexually active times to reduce infectivity), or just with the primary outbreak.
If you have symptoms you should see your local doctor or sexual health physician who will help unravel the clinical picture. However the available medical science may not be adequate to answer questions of who, when, how long, and how infectious am I. Herpes does not shorten your life expectancy or affect fertility or sexual function but diagnosis of herpes can unearth more psychological and emotional morbidity than the physical manifestation.
Cath Insley is a Sydney sexual health doctor and co-director of Gynaecare Health Clinic in Artarmon on Sydney’s lower north shore. For more info check out www.choicessexualhealth.com
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Life in the Heart Lane
Holistic healer, psychotherapist and author, ROBERT KIRBY explores the benefits of spiritual healing workshops living in congruence with the energy of the human heart…
“When I stand before thee at day’s end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing.” – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian Poet.
Spiritual Healing Workshops
When we begin to live in truth, our hearts look inward to our essential knowing. Indecision drops away. Miester Eckhart, a medieval mystic said “when a person no longer centres on the outer world and turns inward to their own heart, there they become aware of a living light”. Our spirits are then no longer satisfied with this contact; it presses on even further into the vortex (whirlpool) and primary source in which the spirit has its origin.
The connection is to your eternal soul. It is a light that is always on and awaits us – even in our darkest moment. This is the beginning when the union of your inner and outer becomes solid. It?s reflected in your personality. It’s the same with healing. If your process is not integrated into your personality – then the same issues will resurface under stress or crisis. Accordingly, the personality is the most accurate barometer of our evolution.
The light in your soul grows little by little in increments that you can handle. Your personality can then assimilate these increases in your capacity to love. First to love yourself with humility – not arrogance or pride. Secondly, love of all creatures and thirdly love of the creator. You cannot possess one without the other. The attainment of this progressive light within your soul is undeniable. Others cannot help but notice the transformation beaming through your personality. Your eyes become alive with presence and compassion. The soul goes on a journey into purification (return to origin) and you become fired up as the spark of your soul emerges. The human aura and chakra system also transfigures. It simply mirrors your freedom from pain, trauma and emotional and spiritual toxicity. Your aura frequently includes an etheric double, a powerful replication of precisely how your field surrounds your body. The stronger the purification (correction to the Godhead) the more visible you appear to the observer. Therefore, spiritual healing workshops will exude your authentic self; integrity, truth, passion for life, trust of self, respect for others and the just treatment of all creatures.
This gradual increase in the frequency of your vibration (energy system) modifies what you attract from the web of life or divine matrix. Your frequency adjusts to your higher vibration in both energy and consciousness. The quality of life changes. The law of attraction reflects this in your outer world or reality. These refined experiences and events come through you not to you.
Port of Entry
These manifestations constitute the longing of every soul. To be bathed in divine light, live in truth and know oneself deeply is achieved only by some people. Is the cost too high? Where does one begin? You don’t want to be a saint do you? What about fun and exploration of the dark side? What blocks the masses from entry to the light? Of course there exist many paths to God. People have become discouraged by religion, meditation, medication and therapy.
Some of the most common roadblocks are negative beliefs; lack of faith, lack of self-trust, lack of humility, lack of energy flow and defensive behaviour (reactive personality). To deal with all of these issues simultaneously is no easy task.
One consideration is to begin or continue exploring your body. The body is the laboratory of life because it is enveloped by your eternal soul (aura). The psychospiritual and psychosomatic elements are all woven together by your energy system and can be integrated with your personality. This approach leaves nothing to chance on your journey into wholeness.
The best place to begin in to mobilise your body and energy field through exercises like yoga, pilates, martial arts, bioenergetic exercises and body-mind exercise classes. Embodiment is the immediate shift obtained from these exercise that changes your reality.
The main causes of a lack of inner life are blocks to the flow of your body to the heart. Chronic muscular contractions hold the experiences of pain caused by trauma, abuse, neglect, rejection and criticism. These unresolved experiences have tumultuous consequences. It blocks us from living in the present moment, distorts our reality (beliefs) and reactions; stimulates negative thinking and self destructive behaviour. Master healers believe these energy blocks or defences are in place to protect the heart from more pain. Although the intention is noble, the actual result is that the heart does not get to heal, transform old beliefs or inspire the courage needed to love and create from your passionate will. The holding of pain at the cellular (body) level also generates rage that emerges from the unconscious. This dynamic described by John A Sarno MD, is known as T.M.S. and generates chronic pain or physical illnesses that generally does not respond to normal medical treatment. It’s your fear of the unconscious rage and its subsequent suppression that causes a withdrawal of blood from a specific area of the body.
Accordingly, in order to heal psychosomatic illness and psychological and spiritual crisis, the transformation of the character structure is a truly worthy undertaking. Old beliefs begin to drop away and your positive intention (or will) creates new beliefs and values that are congruent with the truth of your soul’s journey.
What is Character Structure?
Character structure theory was developed by Wilhelm Reich, MD in response to his own clinical research and that of his teacher, Sigmund Freud, MD. Its composition was originally based on childhood mind-body dynamics needed in order to survive in the world. Later, Reich observed a bioelectric energy field that appeared to flow or stream effortlessly in healthy people. In neurotic or sick people this flow is impeded by chronic muscular tensions described earlier and sexual dysfunction.
Reich’s theory has been corroborated by modern scientists, Candice Pert and Valerie Hunt. Neuropeptides communicate between the body-mind and energy system. When your body-wide psychosomatic network is out of balance, pathology is fuelled and illness prevails. The unhealthy symptoms of the character structure can be transformed into healthy ones. The character structure is therefore never eliminated but instead purified and integrated.
We have access to our beautiful and dynamic qualities at all times. When our energy is streaming our spiritual evolution accelerates. When your unhealthy structure is dominant, the energy blocks contract our capacity to love and create. Most people recognise themselves in specific unhealthy categories and also beautiful qualities category. Your character structure, according to Reich, is in place by the 4th birthday and tends to be reinforced thereafter. The good news is that they are neither permanent nor represent your heartfelt divine expression.
Reich’s theories have been further developed by two psychiatrists, Alexandra Lowen, MD (Language of the Body) and John Pierrakos, MD (Core Energetics) who brought characterology into group process. Most people have at least two categories of character structure that dominate their personality. They typically feel relieved when the diagnosis of their early family life helps them to understand lifelong painful behaviour patterns. It also gives them hope that there is a way out of suffering (contraction) moving and flowing towards a passionate life (expansion).
Moving On
Many people get caught in a rut where they feel they have tried everything and still feel stuck. Life does not flow so they feel thwarted. There are very specific things that you can do for yourself to facilitate moving on:
- Set intentions in writing about what your wanting to shift. Be specific.
- Mobilise your energy to charge your system with energy (or discharge). Hiking, rock climbing, home DVDs on Yoga, pilates or Body-Mind Exercise. Stretch every day and breathe deeply to open energy and consciousness.
- Meditate/pray about letting go and letting be at least 10 minutes per day. Read 1 hour per day as many books as you can on personal development, healing, recovery and spiritual evolution.
- Eliminate smoking, drugs, coffee, alcohol and junk food until you feel much better. Do a detox (from books in the Library). A toxic liver will not release anger and resentment.
- Keep a journal. Put the cause of all your problems inside yourself. Take your power back. Observe those people whom you cannot forgive from the past or present . Those are the people you have hurt. You have projected your rage onto them. Forgive yourself for blaming that person, giving your power to that person and remaining entangled with that person. Give yourself permission to move on. Thank that person for the lessons learned and move on.
Ask your family and closest friends to support your recovery.
Individual and Group Support
If you choose to hire a highly trained healer or therapist to support you, choose wisely. More than 50% of your healing and spiritual development is based on this subjective relationship. It should be a dynamic, fluid and loving exchange. The rest is the objective skills employed by your spiritual healing workshops facilitator and your own determination to become whole. This is exciting because you have lots to do with the outcome. Trust yourself, keep your intention clear and have faith in the process. The following elements could be included:
- Discuss the amount of trauma you have sustained in-utero, birth, childhood, adolescence and adulthood. What would be your healer’s plan to release this material from your body-mind and energy system?
- What areas of overcharged and undercharged energy does your mind-body hold? Will you be guided through a process to release your energy bocks to facilitate the streaming of your life force?
- If you have chronic illness or exhaustion, will the psychosomatic (mind-body) component be addressed in your healing?
- If you have chronic depression or anxiety will your unresolved anger (rage) be discharged in a healthy manner?
- Will a psychodynamic assessment be employed to analyse how your childhood pain inhibits your present time fulfilment?
- Will you be given an opportunity to embrace your own darkness (shadow material) and claim your life and creativity?
Character Analysis: Will your character structure be assessed along with an energetic body reading?
Not all practitioners possess the background to address these issues. Do your own research. Be sure your core issues will be appropriately addressed in your sacred evolutionary process.
Robert Kirby is a Sydney-based author, psychotherapist and energetics therapist.
Healthy Gifts Ideas
JEANETTE MORGAN looks at a healthy gift ideas for the more health-inclined person, whether for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, mothers day or fathers day …
“… In these health-conscious and eco-aware times, the old days of giving Dad a bottle of vodka or crate of beer for his birthday or Fathers Day are over. If you love your parents and want them to stick around for as long as possible, then it’s your honour to look after them not just externally but internally too. Get them on the spirulina, get them on the fish oils, and get them juicing fresh fruit and vegetables and even, if you’re looking to treat them at a luxury level, get them into an infrared sauna …”
What’s a Healthy Gift?
A healthy gift is not just something that will appeal to a health freak, or mild health fanatic, or something which is appropriate for someone who has a health challenge or health crisis, it’s also a gift of love and caring which can give a person a much-needed boost, get them out of a rut, even change their life.
When’s the best time to give a healthy gift?
The best time to give a healthy gift is when someone is already healthy – when they are into natural health as a way of life – and you’re reaffirming their interest in staying on top of things, inviting them in a sense to administer their own preventative medicine – and living the best life possible.
When’s the WORST time to give a healthy gift?
The worst time is when someone has been diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening illness, eg cancer. The gift has come along late in the piece as a response to their grave condition, and they may still be in shock, deep fear or grief. It’s a shame that the gift didn’t appear before as part of a prevention strategy. However, as much as this is the worst time to give such a gift, it is the best of the worst – necessary to give it more than ever.
What’s the best kind of healthy gift?
If they don’t have it, a juicing machine is a perfect gift. It can make a big difference to their life. It’s ideal for mum or dad, or brother or sister, or a husband or wife.
The Best Time to Give
Not just a birthday or at Christmas, if you want your gift to really stand out, it’s best made out of the blue, as a gift showing how much you care. With juicers for instance, it’s best also to set it up for them and then have some fresh fruits and vegetables with you, and make the first few batches of juice for them. This will get them into the flow of how it operates. If you don’t do this, it’s quite possible that next time you see them, the beautiful juicer present you gave will be in their cupboard or pantry, completely un-used.
Healthy gift ideas as available
on the To Health By Choice website:
Shower them with Gifts: The Vitashower
Contains an in-built vitamin which dechlorinates the water, attaches easily to any shower head – improves the condition of skin and the texture of hair.
Healthstart Far Infrared Home Saunas
Come in a range of sizes. If you don’t know much about the benefits of infra red technology then well worth exploring how health-giving a sauna can be.
The Auto-Sprouter
Sprouts have the greatest nutrition activity of any raw food. This is because sprouts are still in the process of growing and at a very chimerical early stage of their life.
The Ion70 Air Purifier – Great Gift for Mothers Day
My mum rang the other day, holidaying in Denmark, Western Australia, and complaining she was reacting to the pollution in the main street! From all of 4 cars!! Yet many more people are becoming hyper-sensitive, asthmatic & allergic like her.
The Elanra Air Ionisers
A range of medical ionisers which produce thousands of small biologically ingestible ions. Australian-made, these ionizers won silver at the Swiss inventors conference.
Therapeutic Magnetic Bracelets
Look good feel great – be fashionable and energetically fit. The finest quality in Australia, made from Finnish stainless steel and Japanese Black Magnets.
The Hydros Water Distiller
Distillation has been shown to remove heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides, particles and other harmful compounds including fluoride. Great funky design & gives us back the perfect water we are meant to drink.
To Give or Not to Give – a Healthy Gift?
It’s 2011 folks and we human beings are meant to be getting just a little bit spiritually evolved.
It may not mean that high roller types will stop giving their spoilt daughter a convertible for her 21st birthday. The capitalistic vice of rampant materialism will not die out entirely despite the economic downturn. Yet the holistic message is getting through – we’re not just what we eat, but what we breathe, absorb and believe.
Ushering in a New Era of Gift-Giving?
One of the greatest impediments to giving a gift which has life-affirming properties is the cheeseball factor. A voucher for an hour-long shiatsu massage is a pretty easy thing to give – still, despite the rise of the metrosexual, a more difficult gift for men to give to men – but woman-to-woman that one’s a cinch. However should the giving of healthy presents just be confined to that? It’s time to make an art-form out of giving with the deepest care – unashamedly.
Beyond Juicing – A Versatile All-purpose Kitchen Appliance
Where the Compact Juicer works for men is not just because they’re a gym junkie or health fanatic – it’s where they’re into their cooking, especially if they’re interested in progressive “gourmus hominus” cuisine. Like making their family or friends some gluten-free sausages, or proudly announcing that they minced their own mince. The male home cook is a prime target for such a gift. Likewise it’s in the enthusiastic gourmet universe of the kitchen that the Compact Juicer gift transcends gender bias. You can give it to a female or male of any age if they’re into home cheffery because it works excellently (and simply) making noodles or pastas, mincing meat, creating meat patties or vegetarian or vegan patties, making nut butters (we recommend stunning people by producing a macadamia butter), making frozen fruit desserts, sorbet or even dips, dressings, sauces and salsas. Barbecue fans will love the genius of being able to make their own sausages – which again blends back into the blokey dimension.
Other healthy gift ideas: a therapeutic massage; a bottle of organic wine; essential oils; aromatherapy products; quality natural soaps with a certain home-made look about them but which smell divine; a weekend in a day spa; a week long detox retreat (you’re definitely conveying a message there); soy chocolate is okay at Christmas or Easter, or organic chocolate also; sessions with a fitness coach. Another option is genuinely certified organic shampoos and conditioners and skincare creams. Very hard to find but read the labels! For those whose tastes and wallets extend to the extremes of the up-market realm, then how about giving your kid / spouse / mistress an eco-friendly car – that is if you haven’t already gone for the very sophisticated infra-red sauna for the home described above.
Healthy Gift Ideas that you Can’t Give: a big tub of spirulina powder or tablets (where’s the romance, healthy though such a product is); a pack of vitamins especially not horny goat weed; natural hair restorer; a membership at Jenny Craig or other weight loss centres (unless this person has specifically requested this); a weekend at a new age healing workshop that promises to bore its attendees senseless (or in a lot of cases, no-one but them attends and they have to spend the weekend meditating and listening to esoteric concepts alone) – the only worse example of this is a workshop eg rebirthing where most of the attendees spend the weekend offloading their emotional baggage bawling their eyes out so that by the Sunday afternoon the workshop space becomes a cacophany of weeping neurotic willows.
Another one is non-aluminium or organic deodorants – fantastic products but conveying quite the wrong message.
Also check them out for Far Infra Red Saunas: www.tohealth.com.au
Julian MacEvoy is a Perth-based writer specialising in natural health, email him via: reviews@freshmag.com.au
More Quotes on Infrared Saunas:
“An infrared sauna is a sauna that heats a person or people using heaters that emit far infrared radiant heat. They are different to a normal sauna in that they do not use steam to heat the air. Rather, they use infrared radiation to directly heat the person. The infrared waves penetrate into the body, raising the body temperature. This causes sweating which in turns eliminates wastes from the body. The infrared heat penetrates deep into pores and cleans out dirt and debris, as well as clearing the organs of toxins, and strengthening the immune system.”
“… I stumbled across a Cedar Wood website which had articles entirely set up to SEO-optimise such spelling versions as “saunen”, “souna”, “saunna”, “suana”. Each article had its own page, and was surprisingly ok written – the objects of such pages is entirely to get the mis-spelling searcher to land on their page. Life’s pretty good if you can sell a sauna to someone who spells it “souna”.”
How Mould Can Contribute to Sick Building Syndrome and How You Can Get Rid of It
BOB KNUCKEY writes about the health hazards of mould …
Mould is just one form of fungi that comprises around one quarter of the biomass of the planet and are the most frequently occurring airborne micro-organisms in both indoor and outdoor environments.
Mould is actually used in many beneficial ways including in bread making, brewing and making medicines and drugs. Mould is necessary for the earth to function, cleaning up our rubbish and waste. Yet it can also cause significant damage to buildings, such as the structural decay of timber as well as creating health problems for us.
Normally, our everyday exposure to airborne mould in the outdoor air presents little or no risk to our health. However, the airborne mould in the artificial environments of our buildings and dwellings have an altered composition, which can create an environment (often called sick building syndrome or SBS) with the potential to greatly affect human health.
The health effects of mould exposure
Human exposure to airborne mould spores can result in a variety of adverse health effects. Reactions to exposure include:
- Allergic and irritant responses
- Infectious disease such as histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, and aspergillosis
- A variety of respiratory diseases including asthma, allergic rhinitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and bronchial hyperactivity
- Acute toxicoses
- SBS symptoms
- Cancer from exposure to mycotoxins
- Immune suppression
- Pulmonary oedema and even death
Fungal allergens have been identified as the major allergen source associated with the development of childhood asthma. However it should be noted that exposure to fungi does not always cause allergy, as allergy only develops in a sensitised individual.
There is also persuasive evidence that exposure to fungi at work is responsible for many cases of illness. Mycotoxins, unlike fungal allergens, cause a wide range of chronic systemic effects in humans and will elicit toxic responses from virtually all individuals who are exposed. Exposure to mycotoxins in the indoor air is almost exclusively through either inhalation of spores containing the toxins or gaseous forms released during metabolism. These toxins attach the bronchial and lung tissues, which are particularly sensitive to chemical assault, and the mucosa lining exhibits strong responses to fungal immune-active agents.
Unpleasant odours, such as the characteristic mouldy smell in damp basements is the result of vapour pressure known as a Volatile Organic Compound (VOC). The vapour pressure (off-gassing) from plants including mould is biological. Man-made VOCs are found in materials containing formaldehyde, especially paints, coatings and solvents, as well as cleaning products and refrigerants based on fossil fuels etc. Whilst VOCs are typically not acutely toxic, exposure to fungi and it’s off-gassing in contaminated buildings can have the same chronic effects such as headaches, dizziness, and eye and mucous membrane irritation.
What are the symptoms?
- Respiratory problems wheezing, asthma, emphysema, difficulty in breathing, shortness of breath.
- Central nervous system problems constant headaches, memory problems, inability to concentrate, mood changes
- Nasal and sinus irritation leading to frequent colds, sinus headaches
Nose and throat irritation, runny nose, dry hacking cough, sneezing - Watery and red eyes
- Skin irritation (dermatitis)
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Nausea/Diarrhoea
- Chronic fatigue
- Fever
Who should be concerned?
- Exposure to fungal spores has been identified as having statistically significant risk factors for respiratory health in children. The fungal material is often small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs when inhaled.
- Occupants of any building with a history of mouldy smells, dampness or lack of sunlight and ventilation.
- Mould Remediation Workers in a building that has been subject to water ingress for a period of time particularly Grade 5 Buildings where there is little obvious evidence of mould damage. If any of the symptoms listed appear to be related to time spent in the building then they should be duly noted and recorded.
Research
Epidemiological studies and reviews of the literature have found an emerging relationship between ‘home-dampness’ and respiratory symptoms and allergies, particularly in children. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms for these associations.
In the UK a study of 16.8 million houses estimated that 18% of houses (2.8 million) had mould growth or damage to decorations and furnishings caused by dampness. Humid air-conditioned buildings with design, operation and maintenance problems are also often contaminated with fungal growth.
The Australian Institute of Architects has reported that up to 40% of Australian houses have dampness problems. Fungal problems associated with occupant complaints are also well known and documented and are often cited as contributing to sick building syndrome (SBS) complaints.
What can we do to protect our health for the adverse effects of mould?
First of all, we should make one thing clear, you haven’t got this problem because your home is dirty. We’ve found that two of the prime causes of mould growth and musty smells is lack of ventilation and insufficient sunlight.
Two sure fire ways of fixing your problem for good are:
- Remove your entire roof and allow sunshine to stream in, and
- Remove all your walls and allow your home to be FULLY ventilated
Of course both these methods are impractical and impossible, but hey!, you can pull back curtains and blinds and open windows and doors to allow as much sunshine and fresh air into your home as possible.
Sometimes though it’s impossible to achieve good ventilation and air flow or to get sunshine and light into all rooms of your home.
The surest means of maintaining correct humidity levels and good air quality in your home is to have a suitable domestic dehumidifier. This is a free standing appliance which literally removes moisture from the air and can be set at a pre-determined humidity level to operate only when necessary.
In this way you will also be protecting your furniture and fittings (bedding, curtains, lounges etc) as well as household items like books, cupboards, electronic equipment etc. and anywhere else that moisture tends to settle.
If there is mould growth in your home, you must clean off the mould and fix the moisture source problem. If you clean up the mould, but don’t fix the moisture problem then, most likely, the mould problem will recur.
If mould is present, spores will be found floating through the air and in house dust. Do not brush off visible mould. Wipe with a damp cloth. Diluted vinegar is a effective natural cleaner which will also help to kill the mould spores. Another excellent cleaner is Aqua Magic a truly ‘green’ environmentally responsible multi-purpose cleaner.
Mould spores will not proliferate readily if moisture is not present. Indoor mould growth is not natural and should be prevented.
To improve the air quality in and around your home, seek further information about Dehumidifiers, Sub-floor ventilators and Roof ventilators check out www.moisturecure.com.au
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