If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don't mean heavy with fat ...

I mean heavy with heavy metals -- like mercury!

Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.

There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome --which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.  read more »

hey do not love that do not show their love."

William Shakespeare

As the month of love begins and Valentine's Day approaches, I've been giving a lot of thought to love. (It's hard to avoid thinking about it when stores' shelves are stocked with all things red and pink and heart-shaped!) It's complex, fascinating term that can many so many things to so many people. It brings people the greatest joy and the deepest pain. It's hard to describe but undeniable when you experience it. It's something that can bring the biggest smile to your face or create a puddle of tears in your pillow. Love is pretty amazing. And, for that reason, I'm going to be celebrating a month of love here at Positively Present. For the month of February, I'm going to be writing all about love -- and not just romantic love, either. I'm going to be writing, as I always do, about life, but this month I'm going to be incorporating a whole lot of love into those posts.  read more »

I am not a yoga person, which is why I need yoga. Too bad my best efforts to exercise my willpower long enough to attend a yoga class have culminated in trips to the bodega (formerly trips to the bar) to reward myself on my way home, undoing my efforts and then some. Yoga does not come naturally to me. I am not flexible, I cannot relax regardless of how many deep breaths I enlist to sooth me, nor do I feel at one with the concept of spandex yoga attire at the moment.

I have always aspired to be a yoga person, but since my new year's resolution was to stop doing things that I hate to do because I believe they will pay off one day, I had finally crossed yoga off of my to-do list.  read more »

By now, your New Year's resolutions made in the euphoria of the first days of the decade will have shaken out. The new "exercise routine", "diet regime", "watch less TV", "limit time on the internet", and "stop smoking" resolutions may have already fallen by the wayside. The ones that count will keep holding.

We are still in January. What is it that you would really like to improve or change in your life? What would you like to see change in our world? And how would you like to be part of that change? How will you be inspiring yourself this year?  read more »

The dream is a little hidden door
in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul....
-- C. G. Jung

We live in a world in which we are saturated by so much information, but how much of this information nourishes our soul or reveals the real meaning of our life? In a world of so many choices how can we know what is right for our true self? When we are asleep and are no longer caught in the chatter of the mind, dreams can speak to us about the mystery of our soul and its journey in life. They can guide through life's maze and reconnect us with our divine purpose. And yet in order to understand the meaning of their messages, we have to reclaim this ancient language of images and symbols.  read more »

We first heard the saying practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty, many years ago when we were at Findhorn, the renowned spiritual community in Scotland. It always struck us as being the most obvious thing to do, that practicing kindness and beauty should be a natural expression of who we are.

Although wonderful in its intention, recently there appears to be some confusion about it, particularly the practice random acts of kindness part. This misunderstanding seems to arise from the idea that the receiver might not appreciate the kindness, that it might even make them apprehensive or distrustful. Sadly, this speaks more about the suspicious world we live in than about the nature of kindness. It is a shame that this maybe the case, but if so then what is needed are more acts of kindness and done by more of us, not less.  read more »

Just like dressing for success puts our best foot forward, dreaming for success can help us achieve our biggest goals this year.

Last year I shared 10 great tips for having big winter dreams. But more important than having big dreams is knowing how to work with all the dreams we have. Here's how to make every dream count, no matter how small.

1. Remember your dreams and write them down. Even if you only remember a word or name, color or feeling, write it down. Dream recall increases the more we practice it.

2. Go for what makes you happy in dreams. Some traditions insist that to be happy in waking life you must pursue pleasure in your dreams. Being successful in 2010 means being bold, so start by doing what you want in dreams even if it's something you would never do in waking life. It's just a dream--go for it!  read more »

The last 10 years seems to me to have been a long decade. I know that time is supposed to 'speed up' as we get older, but the "Millennium" celebrations, Y2K and all the hype about the 21st century seems like ancient history. A decade ago, we still weren't at war in two countries, 9/11 hadn't happened, George Bush was still promising a bipartisan administration, climate change was still a bit of an arcane scientific debate for most of us, New Orleans was still having a non-stop party and Google was a minor start-up. YouTube didn't exist at the turn of the century, eBay and Amazon were still babies, and the real estate bubble was just beginning. Steve Jobs had recently returned to Apple after spending 13 years with NeXT, the iPod and iTunes were concept just beginning to be developed and the iPhone wasn't even in sight.  read more »

Spirit Recovery was born out of a a desire to create a non-denominational program for the growing numbers of people who are seeking to recover and increase their spiritual consciousness. We designed our programs so people can reclaim their authentic state as spiritual beings — like becoming children again, loving life completely and fully, while maintaining the wisdom of our adult experience. Living an authentic life.  read more »

In the previous blog, I explored the first energy center and healing the cultural wounds that have bound us to negative beliefs about sexual pleasure. This blog is about the second energy center and the healing of relational wounding from our families of origin. Great sex is not simply a matter of all the parts working properly and having fun with a willing partner. There are important components that make erotic encounters really flowing at all levels: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

As our consciousness increases we also become more aware of the quality of the connection with our partner at any given moment, and if there is a sense of disconnect it will be evident. In long term, committed relationships, a sense of distance is a common experience; it happens on occasion to anyone. Sometimes we feel very connected to our partner and sometimes distant, but if this feeling of disconnect persists, there is work to be done to rebuild the trust which is the foundation for exploring Conscious Loving, or Level II of sexuality.  read more »

Is it now time for President Obama to heed advice from past presidents and other wise beings, advice to guide this history-making president as he goes forward.

For instance, with all the criticisms being shouted out against him, Obama might find some solace if he paid attention to Abraham Lincoln's words: If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.  read more »

I once proposed to my husband that we choose 'Devotion' with a big 'D'. I meant that we would be completely devoted to each other 100 percent. Let me define that a little further. That would look like we idolized each other. We would see each other as God and Goddess and there wouldn't be any 'if, and or buts' about it. Period.

One of the ways I defined it meant that we could make 'loving, critical assessments' of the other. You got it - criticisms - and the other would lovingly take it for what it was - a guru-like practice that the criticized one needed to hear and subscribe to. Yeah, right. I was quite naive. That was a long time ago; we've been married for 30 years!  read more »

Lucas Jackson/Reuters: The world is growing smaller. And larger. See our list of the world's 10 fattest countries below. Here, a man walks past the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Aug. 17, 2009It's a big world, after all. We're talking to you, American Samoa. Kiribati, too.

CHICAGO — If you tend to pack on a few pounds over the holidays, blame it on globalization. As the world has grown smaller, we’ve all grown larger — alarmingly so. In countries around the world, waistlines are expanding so rapidly that health experts recently coined a term for the epidemic: globesity.

The common fat-o-meter among nations is body mass index (BMI), a calculation based on a person’s height and weight. The World Health Organization defines “overweight” as an individual with a BMI of 25 or more and “obese” as someone with a BMI of 30 or higher. (To see how you weigh in, use this calculator by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.)  read more »

Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages CorporationInstead of getting your energy from food, work or other people, spiritual author Deepak Chopra suggests finding infinite energy from the spirit that lives within you.
Where do you get your energy? Until you know the answer, your sources of energy will be limited. Food can only supply so many calories, and quite often, if those calories come from fat or sugar, there is actually a falling off or dulling of energy. If your energy comes from being with people, you won't be energized when you are alone. If your energy comes from working, it will last much longer and be more renewable but eventually bring fatigue.  read more »

I've been hooked on Netflix streaming for the past few weeks. It's served me as a useful post-book revision wind down, but not so useful in granting a good night's sleep. I've plowed through loads of my queue and started exploring indie documentaries. My latest obsession is the BBC special, The Atheism Tapes.

"Six renowned intellectuals debate whether God exists in these fascinating interviews with playwright and atheist Jonathan Miller. Highlights include playwright Arthur Miller discussing the anti-Semitism he's faced and his disbelief in God. Other participants are biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion; theologian Denys Turner; physicist Steven Weinberg; and philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn." - from Netflix  read more »

I admit it – I’ve watched The Secret and read Lynn Grabhorn’s self help book Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting. Both discuss how intentions & thoughts are just another form of energy and how positive and negative energy (or a positive or negative way of thinking) is the major contributor to whether we achieve success or failure in our lives. Can this be true? If it was as simple as just changing the way we think, wouldn’t we all be healthy, happy and rich?  read more »

A cool girl that comes to the yoga studio had been buried in a gigantic book for a few weeks right up until class time. It was one of those books that you knew had to suck you in because it's a commitment just to lug the thing around. I asked her what it was and she started to describe a fascinating story about a man that had escaped from prison, fled to Bombay and lived in a slum where he provided medical aid to the residents. She said she had never been to India but the author's use of language took her there. Interesting. Next thing I know she finished the book and passed it off to me. Oh no! This book has almost a thousand pages, what if I start it and I hate it? I'll feel bad reporting back. I felt like I had made a huge commitment accepting her gift, but I had some travel coming up and it would be something to do on all the flights. It had a place in my life now.  read more »

How I Beat My Stress & Anxiety Through A Little Known Meditation Technique!






If you are looking for a way to meditate that anyone can easily master and benefit from, then I am happy that you have found my page. I was in the same boat as you. I had heard about the benefits that could be achieved through meditation but I felt confused with all the different types of meditation.

I just wanted to find a simple way that would reduce my awful stress levels and make me feel happier and more like myself again. My story will help you avoid the costly mistakes and save you lots of time. I hope you enjoy it!  read more »

TEDMED 2009: The Future Of Mind-Body Medicine

This morning's session at TEDMED 2009 was a great moment for HuffPost Living. First up was HuffPost Living's Medical Editor, Dr. Dean Ornish, who also approved all the food served at the conference. Ornish, while standing on stage holding his beautiful baby girl, spoke about intimacy and how those who are lonely, depressed, or isolated are more likely to get sicker. "Anything that promotes connection is healthy," he said. He focused his talk around the fact that we're beginning to rediscover ancient spiritual truths and how it relates to our health and well being.  read more »

Love & Detachment.

We often hold negative associations with the concept of detachment. "She seemed so detached," we overhear someone say with a pained look on his face. We may perceive someone who is detached as uncaring, irresponsible, unloving, or any number of other things. We are made to believe that attachment is what brings happiness. We often confuse love and attachment.  read more »