The Existential Quest Begins: I was born into a time of great fear, an unrelenting news stream of wars, famine, epidemics, terrorism, economic doom, and the threat of nuclear holocaust. I yearned for certainty and world peace. My spiritual quest began at the age of five when I discovered yoga. Yoga allowed me to question my own identity and experience of reality. Whilst my friends were playing “doctors and nurses,” I practiced detachment. I read about how the “material world” could never make me happy and that, if I were to jump off the Wheel of Life and Death...

“You’re too sick to have chronic Lyme” “Once you have Lyme, you can’t get it again” “You didn’t get the bulls-eye so you’re all set” “You been treated so any residual symptoms will fade in time” “You’ve been listening to that quackery group too much, you need to stay away from them”   These are just a few things that people have been told recently by medical providers here in Maine. As an advocate who’s been sharing updated research with medical providers, hosting public events and educational forums for over four years, it’s frustrating to hear the things that...

Pregnant women experience a multitude of physical changes as their bodies prepare for birth. Some changes are exquisite – others, not so much. Safe to say, you can put varicose veins in that latter category. Varicose veins are a symptom of venous disease, or the impairment of blood flow back towards the heart. This impairment occurs when healthy vein valves become damaged and the backward flow of blood “pools” in the legs or feet. Symptoms may present as discomfort, fatigue, or heaviness in the leg, as well as varicose veins and other skin changes. Over time, the increased pressure...

You begin as a little seedling, pure and sweet, going along happily in your Delta brain wave state until, Boom; you get scared or shocked by an event and your little body automatically goes into the Fight, Flight or Freeze response. It’s supposed to. It’s the way you’re wired. Fight, Flight or Freeze is your body’s alarm system built in to alert you to danger by sending the stress hormone, cortisol, racing through your body. The blood immediately drains out of your brain’s frontal lobe and into your extremities enabling you to stand and fight or run to safety....

For any person who has suffered prolonged or severe digestive complaints, with or without a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), understanding how to get back to wellness can feel confusing and daunting. But in your journey towards better health, you may be missing one very important question that could make all the difference: Can stress management and rebalancing the gut microbiota improve IBS symptoms? This three-part article series will help answer that question, shed some light on a complicated disorder and provide knowledge, guidance and hope to those suffering from IBS. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) has been defined...

Here in Maine, even though and probably because, we have more than five thousand lakes, ponds and streams, we all love a great swimming pool for about 8 short weeks every year. Somewhere between mud season and the ever too quick to arrive, but glorious fall, we bask in the sun beside and cool off in our pools. For all of this, we must maintain its chemistry, remove the persistent leaves and worry over it, year-round! This includes looking at its cement perimeter and green, bouncy looking cover stretched over the pool, hiding that reflective quality of the rippling...

I remember it was a cool October day when I went outside to do yardwork with my husband. I remember dressing in layers and not having to deal with mosquitos. I remember that I stood in the yard along the woods line while my husband threw brush and other debris out into the yard for me to put into the wagon to be disposed of. And I remember that, at the end of the day, less than 12 hours later, I had an engorged tick attached to my side and I remember that my life was forever changed. That...

How do you let go of distractions and focus on what’s most important to you? The key is to spend time away from them. The pull towards the distraction holds much less power when you’re not always engaged with it. In my work as a mindfulness coach, I help show people how you can stay focused on your goals by paying less attention to those things that don’t serve you. This frees up your attention for what matters in life. Distractions can come in many forms (TV, phone, substances, etc.), but the one thing they have in common is...

Let me begin by giving you some context for the following excerpt. It is my belief that we are all leaders. How you choose to express your leadership is completely up to you. You may opt to contain your leadership to leading yourself. That is where leadership begins after all. You may be a leader in your household, in your church community, at work, in business, in volunteering, etc. I don’t want you to get too tripped up over the word leader if that’s not how you have seen yourself previously. When I refer to you as a leader...

Essential living in Maine begins by protecting our air, food and water quality. All three basic human needs are equally important. Water touches the food we eat and the air we breathe so drinking water health is the “Maine” topic of this article. The statewide population of households utilizing private well water, not regulated by state or local municipalities, stands at 56.7%. This means nearly 6 out of every 10 Maine homeowners are accountable for their own well water quality management. We Mainer’s enjoy many natural wonders that attract so many visitors to Vacationland, however there are some important...

I talk about menstrual cycles all the time—every day, multiple times a day. I talk about menstrual cycles so often and in such detail that I forget it’s not “normal” to do so. When we do talk about menstruation in our culture, it’s typically to lament the PMS, the pain, or the messy inconvenience of it all. What we don’t talk about is what is actually happening in our body every month, or the way our cycles can provide a striking window into the status of our overall health. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, the details of a...

Mindfulness has gained a ton of momentum in recent years. I think it is safe to say it is HOT, HOT, HOT!! Nearly everywhere we turn these days, mindfulness is there. If you are in the check-out line at the grocery store there are at least 2 or more magazines with articles about mindfulness. More and more celebrities, athletes, and news programs are referring to the benefits of mindfulness, oftentimes, meditation specifically. It is true that mindfulness can bring many benefits to your emotional and physical health, as well as to the relationships in your life. Overall, mindfulness is...

I talk about menstrual cycles all the time—every day, multiple times a day. I talk about menstrual cycles so often and in such detail that I forget it’s not “normal” to do so. When we do talk about menstruation in our culture, it’s typically to lament the PMS, the pain, or the messy inconvenience of it all. What we don’t talk about is what is actually happening in our body every month, or the way our cycles can provide a striking window into the status of our overall health. As a practitioner of Chinese medicine, the details of a...

I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after my first son was born. It began in the middle of the night when I woke up to feed my baby and couldn’t move forward off the bed or get back into bed. I was stuck and in pain. The second time it happened I went to the emergency room and they gave me morphine, told me to rest and said I had pulled a muscle. I didn’t get better. I couldn’t walk, sleep or rest and my pain was constant and my ability to move was limited. I saw a...