Sustenance! What is that?
Vitamins and minerals are important to prevent disease and retard aging.
Many, many books have been written about which vitamins and minerals we should all be taking. An early draft of my book “A Healer’s Handbook” had much information included in the chapters. I was uncomfortable with the information and removed it. It took months/years to assemble the information and get it in the manuscript. It took only a few minutes to delete it. I’ve never regretted that move.
Years later, the book is now out…without the information. I’m still happy with that decision.
That being said, I’m now going to share information about some nutritional supplements with you. This information is based on my own research, what I’ve learned over many years. I’m offering my professional opinion here. You may not, probably will not, agree with any or all I present. That’s okay. The whole subject is very controversial.
The controversy is based on differing opinions between science-based and belief-based groups. These 2 groups of people see supplements in different ways. Belief based people see supplements as natural products which:
promote health
overcome dietary deficiencies
are preferable to FDA products.
Science-based groups see supplements as being:
of questionable value
and of questionable safety.
I could continue on about this conflict for another 10,000 words…but I’m not.
There are many, many supplements out there. The questions to ask yourself are 2:
Which of these products should I take and how often?
I recommend that, whatever you choose, make sure the products come from reputable companies whose products are routinely tested by independent laboratories for purity. You want to be able to purchase a vitamin, mineral, or other supplement, composed of chemicals which are listed on the label.
You want your supplements to be manufactured by companies which have independent laboratories buy their vitamins or supplements off the shelf, test them in their own facilities, and publish the results.
There are many, many books out there recommending vitamins, minerals, etc. The authors of these books will list the products and then tell you how much and when to take them. I won’t duplicate this information. What I’m doing is telling you what I use, and why I use it. Nobody is paying me to recommend these products to you. I’m not selling them, either.
These are simply the best products I can find.
The first product is one that I feel virtually everyone should be taking.
Wiley’s Finest Wild Alaskan Fish Oil is an Omega-3 Oil. It’s processed from Alaskan Pollack grown in a well managed fishery. The fish is turned into oil and purified, then bottled and shipped out. This Omega 3 Oil is 100% American made.
If you can’t find Wiley’s Finest Wild Alaskan Fish Oil in a store near you, contact Village Apothecary, Woodstock, NY, 12498 and they’ll ship it to you.
I’m really sold on Omega 3 oils. If you are only going to take one thing…make it Wiley’s Finest Wild Alaskan Fish Oil.
Everyone recommends multivitamins. A multivitamin is a basic in our culture now. Like all the other health care professionals, nutritionists, etc. I recommend that we all, at least, take multivitamins.
I take multivitamins every day with lunch.
The multivitamin I take is manufactured in Boulder, Colorado by Nutriplex, a woman-owned, organic company. All Nutriplex products offer whole food nutrition with superior quality and nutritional standards. All Nutriplex products are formulated from evidence-based research.
The name of the Nutriplex multivitamin is Whole Food.
I take 3 Nutriplex products daily:
BFood
Whole Food
Promin.
Whole Food is the multivitamin that everyone recommends. .
BFood is a formula offering B-vitamin nutrition.
I take other nutritional products as well, but these are the basic ones I take. I rely on these products to do the job they need to do.
I hope you feel the same way about the supplements you take.
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My book “A Healer’s Handbook” can be found on Amazon.
Thurman Greco
Sleep for a Healthy Lifestyle
As a reflexology practitioner, it’s important that you stay as healthy as possible. When you take care of your body, you inspire your client partners to take care of theirs.
Many conditions lurk unnoticed for years to develop in the body before they are recognized for what they are: diseases that, in the early stages, are seen as fatigue, headaches, insomnia.
But, whatever these conditions are called, they are actually ongoing health issues that no one has solved. Often, we just ignore these problems.
“I just need to learn to live with this……” is a remark I hear often. The problem is common, persistent, chronic.
Now is the time to see these issues for what they are and take steps to deal with them before they become full blown, serious, illnesses. Look at yourself:
Do you look healthy?
Do you feel healthy?
Do you have enough energy for all the things you want to do each day?
Do you sleep well?
Do you have digestive issues?
Do you feel toxic?
Make 2017 the year you turn your life around.
Begin by learning to get enough sleep.
The first step in a healthy sleep is having a healthy sleeping environment.
Do you or your sleep partner snore? This can rob you of hours and hours of sleep, necessary to good health. People don’t realize it but snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea, a serious medical condition which contributes to Alzheimer’s. So, today, begin to address the snoring.
Snoring is not always expensive to treat. So, make your first step to a healthy year, a trip to a physician to address any and all snoring and sleep issues.
The second thing to do is declutter the sleep space. Move the home office into another room. Move the TV out. The bedroom is for sleeping and sex. Everything else goes in another part of your home or apartment.
About an hour before you are ready to go to bed, begin to calm yourself down. Prepare your body to sleep.
Taking sleeping pills is not the answer.
Instead, don’t watch television or play video games immediately before sleep. Attend fewer evening meetings.
Is your bed comfortable? Do you have enough blankets? How about the pillows?
What is your most comfortable sleep position? Do you sleep better on your stomach or are you a sleeper who prefers to be face up? Do your bed, bedding, and pillows encourage a healthy sleep every night?
Finally, schedule sufficient hours to sleep. You need at least eight hours of sleep in order to get the optimum energy and rejuvenation out of your body the next day.
One thing you can do to improve your sleep situation is to receive a reflexology session weekly. People universally claim that regular reflexology encourages better sleep. So, while you are offering reflexology sessions to your client partners to encourage their improved sleep, schedule reflexology sessions for yourself. At least, that way, you’ll know exactly how wonderful a reflexology encouraged sleep really feels.
Make it a habit to offer self-reiki therapy to encourage sleep. Teach reiki therapy to your client partners so they can give themselves sessions as they go to bed at night.
One of the secrets to a healthy body is sufficient sleep on a continued basis. Share this secret with your client partners!
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Thanks!
Thurman Greco
A Healthy Heart
A healthy heart and circulatory system are necessary to feel and express emotions positively. When you work the circulatory system, you distribute love and healing. This improves your client’s sense of self worth and balances blood flow. When your client’s sense of self worth improves and when the emotions are expressed positively, life improves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
When I begin to address my client partner’s heart health, the first place I go is to the fourth chakra. This means that I work the heart chakra on the reflex points on my client partner’s feet.
I also include an essential oil in the reflexology session when I work the heart and circulatory system. I may choose lavender. If my client partner needs grounding, I’ll reach for geranium. You may have other oils in your tool box which will attract you.
If my client is overweight or underweight or if the skin color is not too good, I’ll offer a list of healing foods that are important for heart/circulatory issues. If I think it’s a good idea, I’ll recommend a visit to a nutritionist.
Heart health issues often take years to show themselves in the body. Lifestyle habits contribute. Heart health issues involve the whole body – the physical, mental, spiritual, emotional layers. Spiritually, heart issues reflect long standing wounds, rejection, and self-criticism.
If I have time, I’ll include a guided meditation in the session. Guided meditations are always good for fourth chakra issues. My favorite fourth chakra guided meditation invites my client partner to go beyond the curtain to a past life because heart health baggage is often past life.
This can be a little challenging if your client partner doesn’t believe in past life issues. When that happens, go to the time right after birth. Some past life issues are still open for you and your client partner in infancy.
Thank you for reading this article.
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“A Healers Handbook” is now available as an ebook on Amazon and on Nook. The
Paper version is on the way!
In the near future I’ll share a guided heart healthy meditation with you and I’ll discuss lifestyle issues affecting heart health.
Thurman Greco
Arthritis in the Feet
THE ISSUE – Arthritis in the feet definitely addresses problems we experience as we move forward in life. Arthritis also focuses on a personality living with judgmental attitudes. Control is an issue.
PHYSICAL CAUSES – There are many, many different types of arthritis. Common risk factors include:
old age
overweight
ill-fitting shoes
traumatic injury
If your client partner wants to deal with this affliction and to know his/her specific causes, s/he needs to see a rheumatologist for a diagnosis. This is important. A diagnosis always gives the client partner more power over the health issue. Until a person has a name for the disease, it is more difficult to overcome the problems.
You also need a diagnosis because there are many different kinds of arthritis and you will treat the issue differently based on which type your client partner suffers with.
SPIRITUAL ASPECTS – Where the arthritis attacks the foot reveals much about the involved Chakras. For example, the first chakra would be affected with arthritis in the heel.
If it is in the right foot – your client partner is dealing with past issues. The left foot focuses on the present.
HEALING – The reflexology your regular sessions offer cannot be overestimated. Combine them with Reiki therapy and encourage your client partner to add a few extra reflexology spa sessions.
A person suffering with arthritis needs nurturing so that releasing the past becomes easier. Forgiving is essential with arthritis, especially arthritis in the feet.
Nurturing offered by your reflexology sessions allows your client partner to appreciate the positive things which life offers. Nurturing reflexology sessions will also help your client partner worry less about perceived limitations. This will definitely lighten the load.
In addition to your reflexology and Reiki sessions, you may want to include an occasional guided meditation focusing on changing direction in life with ease.
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Thurman Greco
Thank you Sangi for the beautiful art work.
Reflexology to Boost Your Client Partner’s Heart Health
A staple Spa Treatment in your “tool kit” is the heart health session because both life quality and quantity depend on a strong and healthy heart for oxygen and nutrients.
Heart disease looms large in health issues. Heart disease is one of the five biggest killers in our nation. And, it doesn’t spring up overnight. Instead, it lurks silently in the background for years, decades, before it strikes.
Your client partners will understand how important a Reflexology Heart Health Spa Treatment is. I recommend regularly scheduled Heart Health Spa Treatments in conjunction with exercise. Think of this session as a monthly exercise booster.
This Spa Treatment is also good as a special throughout February. It can also be used as part of the bride’s spa day activity on her wedding day.
As always, have the healing space specially prepared with this session. Have an essential oil selected. Recommended essential oils for a Heart Health Spa Treatment include:
peppermint
rosemary
tangerine
thyme
ylang ylang
If your client partner is not happy with one of these oils, choose something compatible with his/her personality. Whichever oil you choose will guide you to the music, the decor.
Have your music selection playing when s/he arrives for the appointment.
Begin this session with a soothing foot bath if you possibly can. Soak your client partner’s feet in warm essential oil enhanced water for a few minutes before you begin to offer reflexology.
After your client partner spends a few minutes in a relaxing and soothing foot bath, have him/her move to your healing table or chair where you anoint him/her with your selected essential oil and wrap both feet in warmed towels.
Move to your client’s head and bring in Reiki therapy as you offer three holds to the head.
Now move down to your client partner’s feet where you offer five minutes of warm ups on the first foot. Using a good lotion which is scented with the chosen essential oil can be important here.
After offering the warm ups, offer five minutes of general reflexology. Your client partner is now ready to receive the Heart Healthy Reflexology Spa Session.
Work the following reflexes on the first foot for twenty minutes in the following order.
1. Work the Solar Plexus and the Liver
2. Work the brain reflex.
3. Work the lung reflexes.
4. Work the heart reflex.
5. Work the adrenal glands.
6. Return to the solar plexus and liver again.
After working these reflex points for twenty minutes on the first foot, offer five more minutes of general reflexology on this foot and finish up with five minutes of warm downs.
Now, move to the second food and repeat the process. This means you’ll offer five minutes of warm ups, five minutes of general reflexology and twenty minutes working the reflex points on the second foot.
You’ll be working the
solar plexus and liver
brain reflexes
lung reflexes
heart reflexes
adrenal glands
solar plexus and liver
Finally, offer five minutes of general reflexology and then five minutes of warm down.
When this is completed, offer your client partner ten minutes of Reiki therapy on the feet. Now…seal the Reiki therapy part of the session.
Let your client rest for a moment while you get a bottle of water for him/her.
Spend a few minutes with your client partner while s/he drinks the water and returns to “now”.
Thank you for reading this blog/book.
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Thanks again for your patience while I finish the editing part of the book.
Media was created by Jennette Nearhood.
Thurman Greco
The Seventh Chakra and Reflexology
The seventh Chakra reflex point is on the tips of the toes. This is where we find the hair, the brain, and the central nervous system.
Seventh Chakra issues include:
living in the present
selflessness
non-attachment
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT SEVENTH CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING:
How can I release cravings?
How can I open myself up to more intuitive thoughts?
How can I see the world as manifestation of the divine?
How can I manifest the divine?
What is my world like without the limitations of the body?
How can I become more aware of multi-dimensional reality?
What direction do I want my future to take?
How can I awaken my spiritual potential?
How can I achieve success in all parts of my life?
As a person seeks wholeness and enlightenment, the Chakras build on one another to allow the flow of universal energy. Blockages in 1 or more of the Chakras make this flow difficult to impossible. A seventh Chakra issue is the (in)ability to be non-attached.
When non-attachment cannot happen, the person gets stuck in a belief system which may not work. Then, that person finds him/herself putting a lot of energy into justifying the dysfunctional system. The lesson is to learn to move on to thoughts and beliefs which work. This allows universal consciousness to grow and mature.
Symptoms of an unbalanced seventh Chakra include
chronic migraine headaches
drug abuse
spiritual extremism
denying the body some of its basic needs
compulsive behavior
rigid beliefs.
A balanced seventh Chakra combines all the senses as they work to create a connection to the infinite.
Reflexology for the Spirit sessions offer homeostasis which is the balance of all body systems. This is extremely important for the spiritual growth experienced in the seventh Chakra.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras.
Meditation helps keep the seventh Chakra balanced. Regular meditation on the senses is important. It is also helpful to meditate on the different colors of the Chakras.
When you work with your client partner’s seventh Chakra, you help him/her find enlightenment. A balanced seventh Chakra becomes a ladder to awareness of divine consciousness.
Thank you for reading this blog/book. I am now accepting reflexology students. Please email reflexologyforthespirit@gmail.com for information. Thanks.
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Thurman Greco
The Sixth Chakra and Reflexology
The sixth Chakra reflex point is located on the lower parts of the toe pads. This is where the pituitary gland, eyes, and ears are located.
Sixth Chakra issues include
insight/denial
intuition
illusion/delusion
trust
visualization
psychic abilities
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT SIXTH CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING.
Am I able to see the bigger picture?
Can I see when my ego is in charge?
How can my life be better?
Can I make this happen?
Can I set aside time for self-reflection?
Do I know myself?
Am I blocking my creative ideas?
Are those around me blocking my creative thoughts?
Am I holding onto emotions which I should be releasing?
Am I gaining insight into myself?
Am I working to increase intuition?
Does my heart agree with my mind?
Am I working to make life better?
Can I see the “bigger picture”?
Am I able to encourage intuitive dreams?
Am I able to encourage and manifest realities from visions?
Tuning into the conscious and subconscious mind is a sixth Chakra issue. There is a balance which needs to be achieved. At one end of the line, we have a person whose mind functions on the rational level only. When this happens, the person has difficulty visualizing things mentally and subtle communication is difficult to understand. This person also has trouble seeing opportunities offered by dreams or intuitive thoughts. The other end of the line is a person who lives in a fantasy and may be delusional. When the sixth Chakra is is healthy, the person is able to balance the rational and the intuitive.
A balanced sixth Chakra is in tune with our senses as well as both the conscious and subconscious mind. The sixth Chakra is then able to regulate the energy channels of the other Chakras.
As with the other Chakras, Reflexology for the Spirit Sessions offer homeostasis which balance all of the body systems.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras. People with 6th Chakra issues respond positively to distant healing Reiki therapy sessions.
To help balance your sixth Chakra, take time to meditate on the ocean. As you do this, you will be able to calm an overactive mind. This encourages
peace
perception
understanding
concentration.
It will also encourage insight. As people gain insight into themselves, they invite spiritual growth and development.
It’s easy to tell how centered the 6th Chakra is by observing a person’s eyes and ears. Sight and hearing issues are related to 6th Chakra imbalances. Other issues related to 6th Chakra imbalances include
insomnia and other sleep problems
frequent nightmares
feelings of despair
depression
When you work with your client partner’s 6th Chakra, you offer the opporunity to help him/her clear out past issues and problems to make way for the new life which is waiting.
Thank you for reading this blog. I am now accepting new reflexology students. Please email reflexologyforthespirit@gmail.com for information.
The posts in this blog are being published less frequently for the next few weeks as I work to finish the reflexology book. This book is a resource guide for reflexologists.
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Thurman Greco
The Fifth Chakra and Reflexology
The fifth Chakra reflex point is located on the necks of the toes on both feet. This is where the throat, thyroid, neck, mouth, jaw, ears, teeth, and gums are located.
Fifth Chakra issues include:
listening
communication
truth
self expression
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO LEARN ABOUT FIFTH CHAKRA ISSUES WITHOUT QUESTIONING:
Am I afraid to express my opinions?
Do I ever lie about issues?
Am I unable to express my creative potential?
Do I never let others express themselves?
Do I ever voice my opinions?
Do I hide my creative potential?
Am I afraid to step into my power?
Do I lack self confidence?
Am I afraid to fail?
Do I use my voice to hurt others?
Do I use my voice to help others?
Can I keep a promise?
Do I express myself honestly?
Do I gossip?
Do I get a lot of sore throats?
Am I sometimes unable to speak?
Do I cough a lot?
Do I have gum and teeth problems?
Am I psychic?
Communication is the focus of the fifth Chakra. Focusing on the fifth Chakra develops listening on different levels.
The fifth Chakra is located on the pathway between the heart (the fourth Chakra) and the mind (the seventh Chakra). The throat Chakra develops issues when a person can accept a truth or concept in the fourth Chakra (heart) but not in the seventh Chakra (mind).
I saw a lot of this happening after the tragedy of 9-11. Many of my client partners began to suffer with throat Chakra problems.
With a balanced fifth Chakra, we are able to listen in subtle ways that we were unaware of before. We can then become more aware of energetic surroundings. We are aware of the harmonic vibrations around us.
As with the other Chakras, Reflexology for the Spirit sessions offer homeostasis,, which is the balance of all body systems.
Reiki therapy sessions balance the Chakras This is important when working the fifth Chakra.
Cleanses remove emotional, mental, and physical toxins. As toxins leave the body, space is made for subtle communication to take place. Intuitive communication becomes easier.
Meditation can facilitate a balanced throat Chakra – especially if you can meditate in silence. So much of our lives are bombarded with sounds. Give yourself a few moments when you focus inward. Give yourself a few minutes without bombarding sound. Try to set aside a few minutes when you do not talk, listen to voices, or mix with people.
On another meditation, take yourself out to the edge of the edge of the heavens.
It’s easy to tell how centered the fifth Chakra is by observing a person’s neck. Is the person in pain?
If your neck is uncomfortable, rotate your head slowly in different directions.
When you work with your client partner’s fifth Chakra, you offer him/her the opportunity to find inner peace through deep listening. The fifth Chakra is based on vibrations. Helping your client partner become aware of these sounds can offer dramatic change to his/her life. This is how the answer to the age old question is found: “What is my truth?”
Thank you for reading this blog/book. I am now accepting reflexology students. Please email: reflexologyforthespirit@gmail.com for information. Thanks!
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Thurman Greco
In a Perfect World…
We would all be disease free
Our brains would stay sharp
We would all experience good energy levels
Physical fitness would be very common
Everyone would feel young.
But, we don’t live in a perfect world. The question is this: How can we be disease-free physically fit, have sharp brains, experience less stress, feel young?
One way is to honor our immune system. It is our immune system which keeps us healthy, disease free, physically fit, mentally sharp.
People visit reflexologists regularly as they strive to prevent as much disease as possible. And, they are correct to do this. As reflexologists, we work to facilitate homeostasis – bring balance.
Focusing on the immune system is important, not only for the diseases we think about: colds, flu, etc., but for many other diseases we consider to be lifestyle or aging diseases:
MS
thyroid disease
colitis
rheumatoid arthritis
diabetes.
When the immune system is out of balance, it can become overactive. An overactive immune system participates in the aging process as it encourages autoimmune diseases.
As a Reflexology for the Spirit practitioner, you are important to the health maintenance of your client partners. Your client partners will be healthier when their immune systems function at peak levels. An immune system functions at its peak when it successfully fights off viruses, bacteria, parasites.
Encourage your clients to contribute to a healthy immune system. As a reflexologist, you offer sessions and you also work to ground your client partners so they can do everything they need to do to keep themselves healthy:
breathe properly and therapeutically
eat a diet which is healthy for the individual
sleep sufficiently
exercise
smell the flowers
This is really what Marge d’Urso meant when she emphasized that reflexologists work with the whole client partner as we offer homeostasis.
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I hope you found this helpful. Please leave your comments below and check out the other posts.
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Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
Other blogs by Thurman Greco:
photograph by Jennette Nearhood
The Spirituality of our Breasts
Breasts are very complex spiritual body parts. They aren’t complex because of their place on the body or because of what they do. They’re complex because of the ways we relate to a woman’s breast in our society.
Breasts have 2 primary jobs:
They are sexually attractive body parts.
They nurture the newborn baby.
Our culture has interesting attitudes about human breasts:
It’s all right for women to spend thousands of dollars to enhance the breasts…even though to do so means that breastfeeding one’s baby may possibly not happen because of the surgery.
It is all right for women to expose breasts in low cut dresses and bikinis.
It is not all right for a woman to feed her baby in any but a private space…even if both she and the baby are covered.
THE MESSAGE HERE IS THAT THE SEXUAL ROLE BREASTS GENERATE IS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BUT THE NURTURING ROLE IS NOT. This message creates worry and apprehension in women. Women feel victimized, on some level, by society’s attitudes about breasts.
BREAST CANCER IS VERY COMMON AMONG WOMEN. Breast cancer is believed by many to be caused by hormones, chemicals, environmental toxins. All of those things may be true. But, it is also true that women often overextend themselves day after day for years. In short, women in our culture are depleting their spiritual tanks with no chance of refilling them anytime soon.
IT’S HARD TO NOURISH ONESELF AND OTHERS WHEN THE SPIRITUAL TANKS ARE DRY. When this happens over an extended period, something has to give. Often, that something is breast cancer.
In supporting the spirituality of your breasts, work to overcome the disconnection you feel from your own needs. Honor your fatigue. Address any feelings you have with victimhood.
Offer Reiki therapy to your breasts with the intention to heal and regenerate your body to maximum health and well being.
Focus on ways to nourish yourself so you can fill your spiritual tanks.
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Artwork created by Jennette Nearhood
Peace and food for all.
Thurman Greco
