 |
  |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
Universally
Bound
It started with a gypsy on the Venice Beach boardwalk in 1993. It has become an energetic phenomenon, making its way from this continent to Europe and Australia. It's called The Reconnection, and the foremost conduit for this new form of energy work, and the man who trademarked its name, is Dr. Eric Pearl, a former chiropractor from Los Angeles. "The reconnective frequencies — it's much more than frequencies — it's hard to find words that actually communicate what this is. It's more than healing. We're talking about healing and evolution," says Pearl. I spoke with him by phone while he was teaching a Reconnection seminar in Dallas, Tex. "I can tell you what the researchers are positing … they're new frequencies. It's new and it's old. It's old because it's from the universe, but it's new because it has never been on Earth. These are greater energy frequencies than ever before." While heading his chiropractic practice in L.A. in the '90s, Pearl was given an unremarkable card reading by the Venice Beach gypsy. She offered to perform a healing on him at the cost of $333 that would change his life forever. He says he didn't even consider it. But at the gypsy's prompting, Pearl did read chapter 3.1.7 of The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch, a 1973 spiritual scientific textbook penned by J.J. Hurtak, apparently with the help of two higher, superluminal beings. Intrigued by what he learned, he went back to the gypsy and received the $333 healing that would, in fact, change everything for him and blossom into what is today — The Reconnection. After the healing, Pearl felt different, as did the patients he worked with. They began to sense other people in the room as he worked on them. They said they felt his hands before he touched them; they told Pearl they were seeing beautiful colors and hearing unrecognizable tones; they saw angels, some of them; they even began to heal their friends and family. Before Pearl knew it, people were coming from all over to see him. Pearl now practices and teaches The Reconnection full-time. He has authored a book, The Reconnection: Heal Others, Heal Yourself, has appeared on national television, and has taught The Reconnection to upwards of 7,000 people around the world. His energetic work has intrigued scientists at top universities and medical centers, namely the University of Arizona and Cedars Sinai. His clients attest to healings from serious diseases like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, severe scoliosis, cerebral palsy and even cancer — not to mention experiencing major life changes.
Getting Connected Interestingly, the transfer of reconnective energy from practitioner to client does not involve touch at all. In a session, a practitioner's hands can be inches or feet away from a client's body at any time. "Accessing it [the energy] involves listening with your hands, becoming aware of a certain sensation in your hands. It's listening with a different sense," says Pearl. According to Pearl, there are two different ways reconnective energy is used — in a Reconnective Healing, or The Reconnection itself. A healing is done in a single session, and should always be performed before The Reconnection. The Reconnection takes place over two sessions, with one or two days between them at most. "A healing allows healing energy, light and information to come to you in an unstructured form," says Pearl. "It's a relatively free form. You can increase registers — the body's involuntary physical responses to the reconnective healing frequencies — play with it." The Reconnection is supposed to have even further-reaching effects than a healing, and meridians are the keys. In traditional Chinese medicine, meridians are pathways on the body along which qi — life force — circulates to supply the body's energy and nourishment. Acupuncturists, Shiatsu masseuses and other healers use the meridians in their work, as well. "Meridians were once more effective than they are now, because they used to correspond with ley lines, like gridlines, that encircle the planet and extend into the universe," says Pearl. "Ley lines encircle the globe. They form vortexes where the lines meet, in places like Machu Picchu and Sedona." At one point in our evolution, says Pearl, we became disconnected from these ley lines, and we began to evolve at a slower rate than when we were connected. But in The Reconnection the practitioner brings in this new energy, via what are called axiatonal lines, that serve to connect us to the ley lines and their universal gridwork once again.
Magic Number If anything, Pearl wants people to recognize that anyone can do this work. "I realized this gift would be accessible to people who came into contact with it … we are moving into a new level of experience as human beings," he says. "Someday this will become second nature to us." Yet The Reconnection doesn't come cheap. While it is up to the practitioner to set the price of a healing, generally in the $50 to $100 range, Pearl asks that $333 always be charged for The Reconnection. According to Pearl, the woman who taught his gypsy "channeled information and it vibrated with 333." When I remarked that $333 is expensive, Pearl told me, "If you make it $3.33, many people will only allow themselves to get $3.33 of healing. There are certain things in life that have a certain value … when people recognize that value, they create the money."
Hands On My own introduction to The Reconnection was with Elizabeth Midwinter, a licensed Eugene Reconnection Healing practitioner who Pearl had trained. She says, "The reconnective energy is a vibration, or an energy, or a frequency that comes through my hands. It's a very angelic energy, and it's a healing energy. I think it connects us with our higher self and with our souls for healing. And it's a wonderful experience."
Midwinter, who offered to perform both a reconnective healing, as well as The Reconnection, explained, "When you have a healing, which I'll do on you today, you are surrounded with the energy … I work on your chakras, and I like to get it to the point where they pulse in my hand … After about 20 minutes into the session, I just follow it. I'm there. I just try and be the clearest channel that I can be for the energy to come through me." Midwinter continued, "So the first day of The Reconnection you're opening up these lines. It's as if a beam of light is coming through my hand, and I'm going along, tracing these lines on your body and your face. And then the second day you are redoing the lines, and then you seal the person off. And it's good for a lifetime." This first healing session started out simply enough: I lay on the table, closed my eyes, and tried to keep myself as open as I could to what might happen. Almost immediately the atmosphere in the room changed. Energetically, it was as though some sort of light show I could feel with my eyes closed was playing around my body. I left the session feeling as though I was floating in a balmy sea somewhere, and blew the rest of my day sitting in the sun. Advice: If you decide to try either form of this energy work, schedule nothing physically or intellectually strenuous afterward. You might as well pop a prescription painkiller and try to do your taxes. My second session — the first of The Reconnection — was very similar to the healing, but the energy surrounding my body was much more intense. It was like Midwinter had turned the energy knob to "high." The third day, when I was sealed, was just as intense as the second. I felt very cocooned. In fact, I felt reconnected. Midwinter can be reached at 485-5282. Renee Sherman, a licensed practitioner who now lives in Washington, still frequents Eugene and performs The Reconnection here. She can be reached at (866) 333-4458 (the threes are deliberate). Also practicing in Eugene is Barbara Joy Weston, who can be reached at 689-2145. Names of any other licensed area practitioners, as well as more information about The Reconnection itself can be found at Pearl's website, www.thereconnection.com Eric Pearl will be in Portland teaching a seminar Sept. 5 , 6, and 7; and in Seattle Sept. 12, 13, and 14. More seminar information is available at (800) 569-1002.
EVERYDAY
VITALITY Does it sometimes feel like "everyone else" is blissed out on Pilates and the Atkins diet? Does it seem like you struggle alone with the call of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream or Tim's Cascade Potato Chips? Trying to figure out how to find time to do everything you have to do, and fit in eight glasses of water a day (as well as 80 trips to the loo)? You are not alone. You are not the only one who hates to diet. You are not the only one who wrestles with trying to fit healthful eating and sensible exercise into the schedule. You are not the only one trying to make good, healthy choices. EW interviewed a handful of everyday Eugeneans about their diet and exercise habits, trying to get a sense of how people maintain (or chip away at) everyday vitality. We asked about their health and fitness philosophies (VALUE); about the things they struggle with most (VEXATION); about the things they loved to do best to stay in shape (VIM & VIGOR); about the one thing they do every day to take care of themselves (VIRTUE); about their weaknesses (VICE); and about whether they'd recently made any successful, healthy lifestyle changes (VICTORY). Here's what they told us …
Cindy
Lehmann, 50 VALUE: "Being healthy is something you have to work at all the time." VEXATION: "As you get older, you have to work harder and harder to maintain physical fitness — and you can't eat the way you used to." VIM & VIGOR: "Treadmill and weights, hiking, skiing." VIRTUE: "I eat well — lots of fruits and vegetables and protein. And I'm not a dessert eater." VICE: "Potato chips." VICTORY: "Getting potato chips out of the house and eating more fruits and vegetables."
Wendy
Beck, 32 VALUE: "I don't think diets make sense. A balanced diet — not fad diets — along with exercise is a healthy balance." VEXATION: "I'd like to be more toned, with better muscle definition, but I get kind of bored with weights and strength training." VIM & VIGOR: "I enjoy running, speed walking and hiking." VIRTUE/VICTORY: "I quit smoking a year ago, August 25." VICE: "I'm addicted to coffee, and I have no plans to give it up."
Heather
Hansen, 29 VALUE: Diet is a four-letter word — a bad one! VEXATION: "For exercise, things to do [gym memberships, exercise classes] can be expensive. For diet, I don't always recognize when I'm eating for hunger, and when I'm eating out of stress or boredom." VIM & VIGOR: "I love to go dancing." VIRTUE: "I drink a ton of water every day." VICE: "Salty food — especially Velveeta Shells & Cheese." VICTORY: "Two years ago, I injured my knee — tore my ACL playing football. I'm just now getting back into exercise, mainly walking. It's taken forever, but it's good to be moving more."
Chris
Rohaley, 29 VALUE: "Exercise is way more important than diet." VEXATION: "My choco-holism." VIM & VIGOR: "I like to do anything active, but I really love a good gym workout." VIRTUE: "I work out every other day — not matter what. Three hours at Gold's Gym — two hours of lifting, one hour of cardio." VICE: "Cookies." VICTORY: "I've discovered that vitamins and supplements have improved my workouts — I have more energy, stamina and endurance since adding these [to the regimen]."
Ron
Vickery, 40 VALUE: "I don't believe in extremes. Everything in moderation, right? Isn't that the whole deal? You can't change whole parts of diets — the Atkins diet? Sure, you can lose 40 pounds quick, but it's fake, not real loss. The weight will come right back unless you make realistic, common sense changes in diet and exercise." VEXATION: "I know what I need to do, what I need to eat to be where I want to be for climbing. For me, exercise is no problem. Staying motivated on the diet end is where I get caught." VIM & VIGOR: "Climbing and hiking." VIRTUE: "Eating well." VICE: "Ice cream." VICTORY: "I've effectively changed the way I eat. Used to be too much fat, eating late at night, skipping breakfast. With the help of my wife [Debbie Lomax] I'm eating more sensibly."
Aaron
Femrite, 25 VALUE: "To be really physically fit, you have to keep the stress levels down. True physical fitness is about feeling good, eating the right food and doing things to stay in shape." VEXATION: "I need to improve the quality of the food I eat. But it can be expensive to buy good food, and it can take a lot of time to cook something right. After working all day, I just need to get full, and it's easier to grab a burger." VIM & VIGOR: "I like to ride my bike on the bike trails and swim in nearby lakes. I also try to do some kind of stretching and calisthenics in the evenings — push-ups, sit-ups — just something to get the heart rate up." VIRTUE: "I drink lots of water." VICE: "Fast food." VICTORY: "I really try to do a little exercise everyday, and I've also concentrated on lowering my stress levels — if something is stressing me out during the work day, I've learned to try and set it aside for when I have time to really think it through, instead of letting it distract me while I'm worrying about car flow at work. Stress seriously affects my diet, and just being aware really helps."
Sue
Thompson, 46 VALUE: "Health and fitness need to be fun." VEXATION: "My laziness." VIRTUE: "I take a nap every day." VICE: "Anything with butter and salt." VICTORY: "This last year I started gardening — it's just good for me."
BREAKFAST
OF CHAMPIONS "Bagel with margarine, and coffee." "A Taco Bell Seven-Layer Burrito and
a Dr. Pepper." "Dannon yogurt smoothie and hot chocolate." "Peanut butter and jelly on toast, with
water." "A cookie and water." "Oatmeal with raisins, honey and a little
Smart Butter, and coffee and a glass of water." "Half a leftover blueberry muffin and
coffee." "Huevos rancheros and water." "Bowl of Rice Krispies." "A scrambled egg sandwich my wife made
for me, a glass of milk and an Almond Joy." "A chicken burrito and soda water." "Potatoes, cheese and tomatoes, with
coffee." "No breakfast. Just tea." "Coffee." "Cup of coffee." "Coffee. But you should have asked me
yesterday — I had berries and peaches and lots of fresh fruit
…" "Coffee. I don't care to eat early. But
sometimes I do like ginger ale in the morning." "Nothing — I've never been a breakfast
person." "No breakfast." "Nothing. I looked at a cinnamon roll,
but I just wasn't hungry." "Oatmeal. And a cigarette. Oh, and coffee." And the champion of breakfasts … "A banana; a tub of yogurt; three cookies;
a small bottle of orange juice. Ah, and this sandwich."
Hot
Yoga for Hot Mamas
I walked into my first Bikram yoga class feeling fairly confident. I'd been doing yoga for years and had continued to exercise normally through my first 18 weeks of pregnancy. Fortunately, I hadn't yet done much reading on the subject. Only after the class did I learn that the room is generally heated to 105 degrees and it is normal to feel nausea, dizziness, and disorientation during the poses. After two poses, sweat began to bead up on my forehead. Even though the room was, thank god, only heated to between 98 and 100 degrees, I could hear my midwife saying, "Be careful. Pregnant women are more sensitive to heat." Yeah, no kidding. What had I gotten myself into? "Hot yoga," as it is sometimes called, is a series of 26 asanas designed to warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons by balancing, and creating pressure at the same time. During the poses, the blood supply to arteries and veins is cut off, creating pressure. When the pose is released the blood rushes through the veins and arteries, flushing them out — like a tourniquet release. At nine-months pregnant, Lisa Starr swears that Bikram is what has kept her healthy and happy throughout her pregnancy. "Bikram has been the best thing I've done for my pregnancy. It keeps me fit, it keeps me sane and feeling good mentally, it keeps me in tune with my body through my breathwork, and it's helping loosen up my hips." That should prove helpful when Starr's baby arrives in early September. I tried thinking of all these positives during the class I attended. But all I could concentrate on was the pain in my legs during triangle pose and the sweat running down my back and pooling at my waistband. I watched as sweat dripped off the arms of the woman in front of me and onto her mat. A girl in the front row was down. Before long, the girl beside me also decided to lie down for a minute. Bikram yoga isn't for everyone. Obstetrician Dr. Jan Stafl says he wouldn't recommend Bikram yoga for pregnant women. "The concern is elevated body temperature, which is why we tell pregnant women not to sit in hot tubs that are more than 103 degrees," he says. Dr. Paul Qualtere-Burcher, also an obstetrician, agrees. "Bikram is the only type of yoga that I would not recommend for pregnant women," he says. "The fluid fluctuation that comes with the excessive heat is not a good idea in pregnancy. Dehydration can cause contractions and other problems." Of course, pregnant women need to be particularly careful during any form of exercise. Definitely check with your midwife or doctor before attending a class. Some instructors recommend using a thermometer if you're pregnant to make sure your body temperature doesn't rise too quickly. Most instructors suggest that if you have been practicing Bikram yoga just prior to your pregnancy, then you may continue with other forms of yoga through the third month and then begin Bikram with modified poses. Bikram Yoga instructor Amy Hopkins points out the similarity between Bikram and labor. During the poses the body contracts, then returns to relaxation pose. It prepares pregnant women to handle pain and discomfort through breathing and helps them to relax more readily when the pain subsides. "It also helps with all the side effects of pregnancy," says Hopkins. "Varicose veins, digestive problems, and backaches." Starr, who felt her baby move for the first time in class, is quick to point out the mental benefits as well. "Yoga keeps me relaxed. If I'm relaxed, then my baby is relaxed, too." But, as with any type of yoga, some poses are not recommended for pregnant women. While the Bikram yoga class in Eugene is not a pregnancy class, the instructors are happy to provide alternate poses if they know you're pregnant. For instance, while the rest of the class was doing cobra pose, Starr arched into a partial bridge with rounded belly high in the air. By the end of the class, I lay in relaxation pose and was surprised to realize that I felt good. Sweaty, but good. My body felt cleansed and peaceful. Outside, the class said a friendly goodbye. Almost everyone wished Lisa good luck and speculated on whether she would make it to the next class. Her doctor says her baby is in position and ready to deliver. It's true that any type of yoga is a lot like labor. Pregnancy is about taking care of ourselves and finding growth from within. Our bodies grow, but so do our expectations of what our bodies can do. Jennifer Snelling, expecting her first child, is a free-lance writer in Eugene. For more information on Bikram yoga classes, contact Darlene Muller or Amy Hopkins at 349-YOGA.
Health
Hits Straight Flush If you're feeling constipated, bloated, gassy, or just generally unhealthy, colonic hydrotherapy might do you well. "The benefits are really innumberable," says Tara Alder of the Alder Brooke Healing Arts Center. During a session, Alder uses an inflow tube to control a trickle of warm, purified water that flushes the colon, loosening matter and allowing it to exit the body via an outflow tube. "I've seen pounds of old fecal matter within an hour session," says Alder. While benefits are purportedly far-reaching — relief from allergies, anxiety, indigestion, obesity — colonics are not for everyone. Alder will not treat anyone undergoing radiation treatment for cancer, recovering from bowel surgery, or suffering acute ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Alder can be reached at 683-7894. Also practicing colonic hydrotherapy in Eugene is Laura Taylor at Sunrise Colonics (484-6224.) For more information, visit www.i-act.org — Celene Carillo Childhood Obesity: An Herbalist's Perspective Statistics show half of all Americans are clinically obese or overweight. Perhaps more surprisingly, the same goes for a quarter of all American children. Heather Nic an Fhleisdeir, local health consultant and herbalist with Mrs. Thompson's Herbs, says, "Addressing a childhood weight issue needs a delicate touch to avoid possible future obsession regarding weight." Fhleisdeir counsels good regular play and exercise, as well as a diet of whole foods free of additives, preservatives and hormones. Food refinement and additives can wreak havoc with body chemistry, especially early on with children. To help decrease fat deposits and levels of fat in blood, as well as assisting a healthy metabolism, Fhleisdeir suggests this herbal formula, safe for anyone older than six months: Mix 1 cup rosehips, 1/2 a cup fennel seeds and 1/2 a cup of dandelion root (organic ingredients are best here) in a quart jar. Cover with boiling water and steep overnight. Strain and refrigerate. Liquid can be reheated or served cold. — Bobbie Willis Over Eating New to the video/DVD counter at Star Gate Books is the info-mentary Eating. Narrator Michael Anderson realized all of his family members were dying from complications related to a "healthy" diet, and decided to look at how eating, or rather overeating animal proteins, is killing Americans today. With the ever-growing popularity of programs like the Atkins diet, seeing what commercially produced animal fat and protein does inside of you is a true eye-opener. For more information, contact Alan Stein at Star Gate Books: 342-8348. — Bobbie Willis
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
