A Message from Bernadette Wulf

March is one of my favorite months. The winds are wild. The rains are torrential. Leaves and flowers are bursting out everywhere. Nature feels alive and vital. How about you?

I have to say, eating my proteins in the morning (as recommended in the Pro-Vita! book I reviewed last month) has taken some getting used to, but I do feel much more energized and less likely to munch on snack foods throughout the day. Salads and sprouted seeds may seem like a weird way to start your morning, but it sure feels good!

Spring is the traditional time for cleansing, or detoxing the liver. Many of the wild plants (often called weeds) that pop up at this time of year are excellent for this, i.e. dandelion, milk thistle, chicory, stinging nettle. Again, it may seem "weird" to pull stuff out of your lawn and put it in your salad, but as my subtitle for this month implies, March is the time to "march to the beat of a different drum."

Forget about what your neighbors think and enjoy being a little bit unusual. After all, the average person isn't all that healthy -- or happy. Viva la difference!

To Your Health!
Bernadette Wulf

Visit My Website Heal It All.com

Love Your Liver

The liver has been called the most important organ in the body. We depend on our liver to filter blood, regulate, synthesize, store, and secrete many important proteins and nutrients, and to purify, transform, and clear out toxic or unneeded substances. A special feature of the liver is its ability to regenerate, but this capacity can be exceeded by repeated or extensive damage.

There are many good liver cleanse formulas on the market. Look for one containing milk thistle, the source of silymarin which not only cleanses the liver, but also helps repair damage. Just follow the directions on the package. I particularly like the Planetary Formula "Bupleurum Liver Cleanse," containing Bupleurum Root - 248 mg, Dandelion Root Extract - 116 mg, and Milk Thistle Seed Extract yielding 24 mg Silymarin. Bupleurum is a Chinese herb which is very cleansing to the liver, and is also used to treat PMS.

One great side effect of detoxing the liver, is weight loss, which can also help lower blood pressure and relieve heart problems. Healing the liver will improve your health on all levels. You will feel more energetic. Your immune system will function better. Your hormones will be more balanced. In short, you will be able to LIVE better, and that's why it's called the live-r.

Here are two more ways you can give your liver a cleanse. An easy way and a complicated way (if you really need a thorough and fast cleanse.) The easy way was given to us by Edgar Cayce. I do it once or twice a year.
(Instructions adapted from http://www.ehow.com/how_12675_apple-cleansing-fast.html)
STEP 1: Eat lightly the day prior to starting.
STEP 2: For three full days eat nothing but raw organic apples, red or yellow -- as many as you want. Drink plenty of water or apple juice as well.
STEP 3: Take two to four tablespoons of olive oil on the evening of the third day, or the morning of the fourth day. (Four Tbs. seems to work better than two. I blend it with apple juice so it's not so disgusting!)
STEP 4: Begin breaking the fast on the fourth day by drinking orange juice in the morning and eating a light meal of fruits and vegetables in the afternoon. By dinner you should be ready to add some light grains to your diet.

Tips & Warnings
* Recommended apple varieties include Jonathon, Jenneting, Black Arkansas, Oregon Red, Sheepnose, Delicious and Arkansas Russet. Make sure the apples you buy are organically grown.
* You may also drink coffee, but do not add milk or cream.
* Pregnant women and children should not fast.
* If you have diabetes, heart disease, ulcerative colitis, or epilepsy; if you are under 18 or underweight; of if you are on medication; use extra caution when fasting.
* This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

The reason this works is partly because you withhold all fats for three days. Then when you drink the olive oil, it stimulates the liver and gallbladder to flush out stones and toxins.

For the complicated way, click the link below.

What Is Reiki and How Does It Work?

Way out on the fringes of alternative healing is the energy modality known as Reiki, which basically means Universal Life-Force Energy. While Reiki Masters have proliferated (at least in California) over the past decade, Reiki is still a mystery to the average person, if they have even heard of it at all.

I have been practicing Reiki for nearly twenty years, and I continue to use it frequently, mostly on myself. It feels relaxing, soothing, and healing, especially when combined with Jin Shin Jyutsu (another energy modality similar to acupressure). Though I am a Reiki Master, and I'm very familiar with Reiki, it is difficult to explain exactly what it is. I know what it feels like, but even that is different for different people. To me it feels like a pulsing of energy, often warm. or even hot. Sometimes it feels like tingling.

When I received my first degree Reiki activation, I felt a definite and dramatic flow of energy through my hands, and also my feet, which is not unusual though some people only feel it in the hands. An activation is a precise ceremony in which the Reiki Master passes Reiki to the receiver. There are three levels of attunement, the third being the Master level.

I really can't say how the activation ceremony starts the flow of energy through the receiver's hands and feet. I only know that I definitely experienced it, and continue to experience it every time I "tell" the Reiki to start flowing. When I have used Reiki on other people they have had responses varying from feeling nothing at all, to "Wow! That was amazing." Often, clients become so relaxed that they fall asleep and don't even remember getting the treatment.

Here's what I think is happening. If a person's energy level is low, they will feel uplifted and energized by Reiki. If they are already feeling good, Reiki may not make much difference. Reiki flows through the practitioner to the client and the client can accept or reject it. If accepted, Reiki moves to the cells and stimulates them to return to their natural, healthy state. Reiki is like a reminder of the ideal energy vibration of the cells, and the cells respond to it by matching the vibration. Sometimes the results appear to be nothing short of miraculous! My brother even claimed that Reiki healed his West Nile Virus!

I've used Reiki on animals many times. Some of them love it. Others won't tolerate it at all. I don't know why. Often the results are amazing. I once had a baby goat on death's door. After I gave it Reiki for about an hour, the veterinarian couldn't believe the improvement. I also remember rushing my canary to the vet. after he was attacked by a cat, while my daughter held him between her hands sending him Reiki as we drove. I didn't think he would survive, but he was back to normal in a few days and he lived many more years. We had an excellent vet., but I think the Reiki also played a big part. Plants also respond well to Reiki, and you can send it from a distance. How's that for marching to a different drum?

Smooth Your Wrinkles with EFT

Here's another way-out idea. EFT for eliminating wrinkles! What the heck, it's worth a try.

Have you been wondering exactly what EFT is? It stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, and it is a procedure for clearing energy blocks related to trauma, negative beliefs, and painful emotions. The theory is that these negative emotional states cause disruptions in the energy flows of the body. The energy meridians have been used for healing in Chinese medicine for thousands of years and are well documented. What is relatively new -- quite new, actually -- is the use of meridian therapies in psychotherapy.

It has been found that tapping on the energy meridians while focused on a negative emotion or phobia can often clear the problem quickly and permanently. It's another one of those strange modalities that works, even though we don't really know why. The success rate is over 85%, and better for some practitioners.

The EFT motto is "try it on everything," so somebody got the idea of trying it on wrinkles. It seems to work! Click on the link below to read the case study. (And check out the other pages on emofree.com. It's loaded with information.

To read more about EFT visit http://www.healitall.com/eft.html

EFT for wrinkles!

Healthy Showers

Most people get their water from municipal water systems that are treated with toxic chemicals such as chlorine, and more recently chloramine. While necessary to kill pathogens, these chemicals can pose a serious health risk. Many people are aware of this and they drink filtered or bottled water. Unfortunately, they are forgetting about their daily exposure to the same contaminants in shower and bath water!

I recently read about a woman who collapsed after taking a shower in San Francisco, where they have recently started adding chloramine to tap water in place of chlorine, so it seems that chloramine may be even worse than chlorine, which is bad enough:

* Chlorine bonds to skin and hair leading to dryness, itching, flaking and premature skin aging.

* Chlorine gas, chlorine by-products such as Trihalomethanes (THM's), chloroform and many synthetic chemicals become vaporized in hot shower water, creating a concentration of toxic gases. You inhale these gases in the shower, which may pose a long-term health risk.

* Chlorine and most other chemicals can be absorbed by the skin. These chemicals enter the body even without ingestion from drinking water. It is possible to absorb more chlorine and synthetic chemicals through your skin during a shower than by drinking unfiltered tap water!

But don't worry. There's an easy solution. A good shower filter will remove most of the chemicals from your water. And for bath lovers, if you click on the link below you will also find bath tablets made from Vitamin C that neutralize 100% of the chlorine and chloramines in your bath water. Awesome!