TSM Episode 31: Journey with Plants & Plant Medicine

Welcome to next episode of Triggers and Spiritual Medicine with Laura Bonetzky-Joseph, your host, with our amazing guest, Leah Drew.

In today’s episode we dive into plant medicines, but it is more than that. We embark on a transformative journey with a focus on holistic healing.

Together, we’ll delve into the powerful realm of plant-based healing, exploring its profound impact on our well-being. Leah shares her journey into wellness, healing, and transformation beyond just plants.

Stay tuned as Leah also shares 3 tips to get you started today.

About Leah,

Leah is a trauma-informed Mind|Body healing guide, women’s empowerment coach, and host of the Mindful Evolution Podcast. Her mission is to empower others with the awareness & tools needed to optimally support their physical, mental & emotional health & healing. Her goal is to help people heal from the past, be more grounded in the present moment, own their power, and create the life they dream of while making a bigger impact on the world around them.

She help others turn their wounds into wisdom and pain into power so they can catalyze their healing & growth, enhance their relationships, step into their fullest self expression, and reclaim their quality of life.

Social Links: https://blinq.me/pZUi2v3uK3F9Yb7eGQep

Website: www.LeahD

The Mindful Evolution Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindful-evolution-podcast/id1700364363

Resources: Building awareness around the toxic patters & limiting beliefs holding you back from healing, growing & expanding as you journey forwards. Awareness Seeker Workshop: https://www.leahdrew.com/awareness-seeker-workshop Plant medicines: – https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/11/health/psilocybin-brain-changes-life-itself-wellness-scn/index.html – https://maps.org/our-research/

Trauma: – It Didn’t Start With You:https://a.co/d/16aOGi6 – The Body Keeps The Score: https://a.co/d/16aOGi6 MBSR techniques: https://www.dcu.ie/sites/default/files/students/mindfulness_based_stress_reduction_handbook.pdf

BellyFit® With Tracy Durso

Join us for a uniquely feminine spiritual fitness class to awaken your inner goddess with a fusion of fitness, belly dance, mindfulness and yoga. Expect a short grounding meditation, 30 mins of sacred feminine dance to activate the chakras, and 20 minutes of strength work and restorative stretching on the yoga mat.

Feel strong, sexy, and soulful!

All levels welcome.

Gym shoes recommended. Please bring a yoga mat if you have one.

See what others are saying about this class:

“This was my first class and I loved it. I felt so feminine and lucky to be in my body and bring out the goddess in me.” – Marianne

“Not only is Tracy an amazing instructor, but also an amazing female role model. I look forward to class each week and it provides me energy, motivation, and the positivity to manage the week ahead.” – Michelle

“My job requires me to spend a lot of time standing and I always thought I wouldn’t have the energy for an evening class but the Bellyfit class was a revelation to me. After just one class I felt more energized and happy, Bellyfit is a perfect combination of dancing and stretching that helped relax my tight muscles.” – Kirsten

REGISTER HERE

About your facilitator:

A certified holistic health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and a chakra healing practitioner through The Reiki Group Academy, Tracy Durso helps women listen to their bodies, release negative energy, and find the balance they need to keep moving forward with grace. A Bellyfit® and Bellyfit Flow™ instructor with a focus on embodiment, she is also creator of Empower Dance, a cardio dance fitness program that features popular music with uplifting lyrics about self-love and inner strength.

Testimonial With Dr. Adrienne McClain – Shifting Beliefs, Healing Trauma Roots, Dragon Magic

Unsure if working with Laura is right for you?

This recording was NOT planned as you can see in the video. Dr. Adrienne McClain offered to share in the raw what she experienced after 2 sessions working with Laura as she found them to be quite powerful.

In this brief 6-minute video, she shares:

  • Her experience working with Laura.
  • What she didn’t anticipate would happen.
  • What shifted that landed her a job offer and new clients.
  • Why to work with Laura.
  • What separates Laura’s work from others.
  • Why others should work with her.

To learn more about Laura’s work, social justice work, podcast and more scroll through this website or visit: https://linktr.ee/HealingWithSpirit

 

Harness & Master The Secrets To Your POWER in 2022

Learn the mechanics of HOW and transform your life in this 3 part interactive experiential virtual workshop series


If you clicked on a link and you are reading this, there is a reason. Thank you and thank yourself too (you will be glad you did).

Let’s uncover what’s blocking you from BE-ing in your full power, and harness it with simple easy to learn time tested exercises backed by a facilitator with immense personal & professional experience of almost 20 years.

Heal old stories & trauma (personal, generational, karmic & past life) stealing your joy, purpose, and life. Learn HOW to turn triggers into super powers.

This is a three part interactive experiential virtual workshop series NOT a lecture series that is designed to help you make breakthroughs you have been seeking but maybe never considered THIS as a possibility.

This event is NOT pre-recorded. This event is a LIVE interactive experiential virtual event on Zoom.

We will dive deep in the operating systems of our subconscious minds to reveal what needs upgrading or purging preventing us from BE-ing in the fullness of our power..

This program comes at a time where the craziness of the world perpetuates more divide and harm knowingly or unknowingly avoiding the key root issues.

Are you ready to change and up level yourself?

Join me and learn how to harness & master these three super powers.

We chose these dates with the 1st New Moon of 2022 on January 2, 2022 at the start of our course and the 1st Full Moon of 2022 is on January 17, 2022 at the completion of our course.

This is a GREAT course to kick off the new year with 2 POWERFUL moon cycles to start the year off strong and the timing can not be more perfect with this moon cycle.

This course also makes a GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT to ask for or give as a gift to someone you love this holiday season.


Who This Program Is For:

This program is anyone called to it for whatever reason and/or for those

  • seeking deep guidance, direction and breakthroughs through a series of experientials.
  • who feel like they are doing everything right, but not matter what they “do”, they can’t seem to make the breakthroughs they are seeking. They want to understand what is missing and make a change.
  • for those who want to improve outcomes, results, and manifestations.
  • who want to break cycles, but don’t know how because everything else they tried has not worked or worked effectively enough.
  • who are struggling with triggered responses

Part 1: The POWER of the Word

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

7-9pm (NY-EST)

 (1st New Moon of 2022 on January 2, 2022)

Words have energy do they not?

If you are saying to yourself right now, “yeah yeah yeah. I have heard this. I do this work. I have done affirmations and mantras.” I want to challenge you. Let’s uncover what is unseen buried in the subconscious mind through a series of experientials.

Words have spiritual power is also what makes gaslighting so effective to create harm, but why haven’t we mastered the power of the word to empower us? Learn what is missing and how to harness this simple power to breakthrough imaginary walls and empower our very BEing.

We will use some very simple Japanese concepts rooted in Shinto teachings. There is a reason why Japan did NOT have a written language until Buddhist was imported in 4th century.


Part 2: The POWER of the Pause

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

7-9pm (NY-EST)

The RBG Superpower
This is the most widely known concept, but the most misunderstood. Shift the power of the word and shift the energy driving it by learning not just to pause, but learn how to master the pause.

Bring clarity into the problem and identify HOW you can move towards an effective solution.

Learn what is missing and how to harness this simple power. THIS was the power that Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) mastered that enabled her to win five our of six supreme court cases. Are you ready?


Part 3: The POWER of Processing

Tuesday, January 18th

7-9pm (NY-EST)

(1st Full Moon of 2022 is January 17th)

Feel. Understand. Let Go.
How many times have you heard “just let go and move on” Well if we knew HOW to do this effectively, we would, right?

Emotions are energy in motion.  This is a step I witness most folks wanting to avoid, escape from, or numb ourselves from.  Learn why this is a crucial step that is needed and why processing our junk effectively matters.

By Learning HOW to effectively process our “stuff”, we gain clarity. We gain understanding. We make sense of things. We deal with our “stuff” in a healthier way so it is NOT running like a toxic operating system running in the background of our minds sabotaging our efforts.

How we process starts with our own tool box.

Join us an learn HOW.

Are you ready?


About Your Facilitator:

Laura Joseph is New England native located just south of Boston. She goes by the pronouns she/her. She is a seasoned multi-generational healer, speaker, intuitive, holistic health practitioner, educator, truth seeker, social justice junkie, trauma survivor, trauma recovery specialist, seer, & earth based medicine woman.

Laura is currently working on getting certified in addictions counseling and is learning every day through various teachers on the topics of privilege, anti-racism, diversity, inclusion and decolonizing the mindset.

What started out as trying to learn how to fix the broken me after succession of various form of abuse Laura endured culminated by domestic violence, let to her career practicing spiritually based integrative holistic health enrichment since 2006.

This program is born out of the accumulation of teachings, personal growth, healing & recovery and her professional experience helping thousands of others in their path.


What is NEXT?

Investment: Special Limited Time Offering $199 (Savings of $50)

Patreon Member? Get up to 40% off. Click here to learn how to become a member today

To Register go to Eventbrite here.

Limited scholarships available. To qualify, please write a one page paper as why you need the scholarship, your commitment to self development, Why you feel this workshop could help you and what you hope to gain, and attach any supporting documentation or reference. Click here to inquire

Not sure if you are ready?

Timing bad?

Want to do this NEXT time?

Stay in the loop and click here.

 

Holistic & Spiritual Therapies Threatened in USA & MA


AND What You Can Do About It.


*** If you provide or receive benefit from alternative, holistic, or spiritual based therapies and/or practices, this is a MUST read. ***


There are currently THREE pending legislations in Massachusetts that could have an impact in your rights of access to holistic and spiritual based therapies.

Two of the bills are potentially harmful and the third is a Safe Harbor bill to address the concerns  of legislators while protecting the rights of Americans to access as well as protect many sacred teachings that fall under religious practices without government interference.

Holistic and spiritual practitioners in the state of Massachusetts who do not otherwise fall under professional or national licensing requirement (like Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine and Massage therapy) have been under potential threat of being controlled by the state.

The practitioners from the National Health Freedom Action have been working to protect their right to professionally practice their respective modalities and there is a Massachusetts Chapter, Health Freedom Action Massachusetts (HFAMA).

According to the folks at this group, “Massachusetts previously introduced Safe Harbor Exemption legislation to protect the right to practice for, and the right of consumers to access, health care practitioners and healers who do not have conventional medical licenses such as herbalists, homeopaths, traditional naturopaths and many more.”

It was looking favorable last time we checked in early 2020. Unfortunately, like everything else, Covid slowed down the process of the Safe Harbor Bill going through.  View the Bill here  SD.1085/HD.1169


NEW Concerning Developments

Laura in Meditation

Since then, there have been interesting and concerning developments.

1) There is an (alleged) federally sponsored organization that is working toward creating a mandatory licensing for a variety of modalities, including shamanic practice. They have developed standards, certifications and applications that would force certain practitioners to become licensed under them. They plan to get this passed in 8 applicable states, beginning with Massachusetts.

2) At the state level in Massachusetts, there were bills filed on Wednesday, co-sponsored by the Attorney General that would require a variety of modalities (listed below), to be licensed and overseen by the state and/or individual towns. From what it looks to me, they are putting these “alternative healing therapies” into a similar category as massage therapy.

These are the categories that I am reading about in the Massachusetts bill that was filed on Wednesday, February 10, 2021:

  • Feldenkrais Method
  • the Trager Approach
  • Ayurvedic Therapies
  • Polarity or Polarity Therapy
  • Qi Gong
  • Body/Mind Centering
  • Reiki, levels II and above

Laura at the Ma State House to testify against the harmful bills & supporting the Safe Harbor Bill.

Here’s where I need your help:

This bill referenced in the Call to Action below, known as the Safe Harbor bill, would work to protect the rights of the practitioners listed. This would work in favor of these practitioners and allow them sovereignty over their healing art.

PLEASE SIGN HERE as this gets emailed directly to our legislators. It takes one minute.

Only Massachusetts residents can sign this.

You do NOT need to be a practitioner to sign. If you run a volunteer program or you have benefited in any way from these modalities, you are encouraged to sign.

Please share with clients or groups you work with who benefit from these therapies too.

** This is NOT a petition, it’s a direct email to legislators that can help us. **


What Else You Can Do NOW

Get Involved.

Protect YOUR rights and Access

Please do NOT expect someone else to do it FOR you. As we have witnessed in the last year, and if we learned nothing else from 2020, EVERYONE must rise and take action.

1) Read about the Safe Harbor Bill that is designed to protect you and your rights.

Key provisions of the Health Freedom Bill include:

    • Greater access to healing arts practitioners by the acknowledgment of its inherent benefits
    • Strengthened consumer protections to ensure public rights and safety
    • Enhanced practitioner safety underscoring the right to practice
    • Required disclosures relating to services and skills
    • Uniform informed consent mechanisms

2) Learn About the Health Freedom Action of Massachusetts (HFAMA).

HFAM “has worked to advance an initiative that balances consumer protections and public safety with the rights of those practicing healing arts.  With the recent passage of health care reform on the state and national levels, it is now more important than ever that consumers have the right to safely access healing arts.”

Become a member

Donate to support this expensive legislative process to protect our rights and the groups mission.

Volunteer

Submit a Testimony in support of Safe Harbor Bill. Click here.

Learn How To Get Involved. Click here.

Follow on Social Media for updates

3) Learn About the Parent Group: National Health Freedom Action and their work nationwide and in grassroots organizations in various states where legislation is pending.

The Mission: “To ensure that the people of this nation have access to the broad domain of healing and health care information and services, to ensure the right of practitioners of the healing arts to practice, and to educate the public, promote health and well-being, conduct surveys and research, and participate in legislative, regulatory, legal, or public policy-reform and lobbying to accomplish the goal of health freedom.”

In full disclosure, I am a paid member of this organization and of their chapter HFAMA.

Join their email list. Click here.

Follow on Social Media for updates

Click here for ACTION ALERTS

4) Know the other 2 bills presented for legislation that are potentially harmful especially towards vulnerable populations, interference with religious practices, discriminatory, and culturally targeted.

Right now, this one is currently filed as mentioned above https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/SD1068.

The other one is still pending as it is being re-written, but you can read about MA Bill 168 here prior to the pending re-drafting.

Laura (right) with Tadao Sensei, Representative of The Jikiden Reiki Institute, Koyto, Japan, and Iku from JRI in 2019 at an International Congress.

Please protect these sacred practices targeted.

Please develop a stronger back bone and self police unethical professionals to minimize harmful impacts to our communities.

Why Do I Care?

You can read about MY VIEWS as to WHY I support the Safe Harbor Bill and why I do NOT support the other 2 bills by clicking here.  You can scroll towards the bottom of the post for the MY VIEWS part of the post.

Here I speak as a survivor of rape and domestic abuse who was subsequently diagnosed with CPTSD taking decades to reclaim my life as well as someone with years doing advocacy work in Massachusetts for victims.

The two harmful bills would also have a significant harmful impact on those faced with end of life too and not to mention low income communities.

So YES, I am quite passionate about THIS.

I will update you all as new information comes to light.

Thank you for reading and supporting the sacred arts.

With appreciation,

Laura

 

2020 September New Moon Thinning Veils, Signs, & Processing It All


Wow … this September new moon was a doozy for this empath, Pisces, and intuitive. I thought I would share with you my experience yesterday. How I pause and my processes leading up to this morning. I call it the #cantmakethisshitup story with signs.

The story may be different than yours, but I am curious to know if you’re experiencing anything similar maybe with signs or polarity or processing.

The Morning of Signs Begins

So yesterday I planned on doing a virtual new moon ceremony in our sister Facebook group “Reiki & Spiritual Enrichment With Laura Healing With Spirit”, AND … it never happened.

I started my morning early with a multitude of signs starting with cardinal/finch feather then a juvenile turkey feather and followed by a mourning dove feather all before 7am.

Signs galore on the new moon of 9/17/20

Then around noon time, I took the puppy for a walk to find a $5 bill in the parking lot. Ok signs? feathers? One? Two? Three? Four signs in a few hours? Now I think, something must be up and it is more than just the new moon or is it?

The energies this week with the uncontrolled fires on the west coast mirroring the anger and rage within the hearts of folks in the US had the trauma survivor, empath, and intuitive in me amped up with stuff coming at me from all different directions despite my feet firmly planted on the ground.

When to Pause

The veils have been quite thin since the sun entered its new solar cycle 25 and mars went retrograde. I can feel it. With this new moon hailed by astrologers to be one potentially a productive one, I saw opportunity, desire, and need for space for this new moon ritual, but something was not aligning.

When things are NOT flowing as easily or effortlessly as I had hoped in this process, I see this equally as a sign.

I recognized the power in the pause.

So I stopped.

I paused.

I attempted to get myself in alignment to tap into the new moon as well as all the other crazy energies for vision and clarity and struggled a bit mostly because I wanted to go DEEP to ensure my egoic mind is NOT impeding.

However, there was lots of static creating lots of indecision.

Gracie the 12mo old mix breed pup

When this happens I usually need alone time out in nature to quiet the static and listen to the whispers of the divine. This was ANOTHER sign that I was NOT to go through this process in a LIVE video, but needed to sit and work through this alone.

So I took Gracie (the 12 month old puppy I am fostering & rehabbing.) outside to accomplish 2 things.

1) to attempt more off leash training

2) to get myself grounded, centered and connected to the natural world around me. I know that when I access this, I access one of my so called super powers for the wisdom, clarity, and answers I seek.

Then THIS happened yesterday while outside …

The 5th sign on the new moon on 9/17/20 – Turkey feather.

… the 5th #sign of the day with MORE turkey. This one is an adult. The other from yesterday morning that I posted was juvenile.

Initiating The Processing

So I instantly gravitate to the juvenile Turkey feather & the adult one & think: “Does this mean that mother & daughter will finally be united and the justice scales begin to repair a long overdue injustice?”

“Does this mean that after 13 years, there might be a positive outcome that I had thought at one point was lost in this lifetime?”

As a trauma survivor and as someone who has experienced first hand systemic injustice and oppression, where the systems in place that on the surface were to protect people like myself and my children FAILED miserably.

If I couldn’t trust people nor myself back then, then who or what do I trust do I trust NOW?

This is where I learned the power of the pause where we can access the clarity, wisdom, and spiritual guidance aka the whispers from the soul that go beyond our logical mind that at times may seem incomprehensible.

SO I did what I have been doing for a long time. I stop. Paused and I went up … into spirit, God, the Universe or whatever divinity calls to you.

Beginning early 2009, I began my relationship with the divine in a new way through signs. I recall the experience as if it were yesterday driving and seeing angels in the sky.

That particular story is too long to share, and I will share that experience with you another time. Let’s just say, it changed my whole trajectory

Receiving signs from the divine have taught me so much since then. The first lesson I got from that initial experience was “Stop, pause and listen for they will guide you”. This was the message I heard from that first time seeing my first sign.

A deep healing needed to happen. The kind I was blinded from seeing at the time due to the protective mother hypervigilance of fight/flee/freeze that resulted in complex post traumatic stress disorder or CPTSD. So I improved my skill sets. Addressed and healed the wounds and continue to do still today. I don’t believe we are ever done. We just get better at addressing and healing them is all.

So yesterday was one of those days. I stopped. I paused. I open the gates to the awareness beyond what my eyes can see, my ears can hear, and my body can sense.

Turkey Medicine

Turkey medicine has so much to offer and has been one of those message bearers that has been with me on/off through this journey.

Turkey are most known symbolically associated with abundance and reflect an energy of sharing.

Turkey has been showing up STRONG since right before I found out what happened with my family. I guess time will reveal itself these truths soon enough.

I’ve learned to NOT expect an absolute truth over the years, but more of a process like putting pieces to a larger puzzle together for a different picture than maybe originally thought.

Turkey is sometimes called the earth eagle with rooted connections to our great Mother, inner vision and the 12mo cycles and is one of the most adaptable birds.

It also reminds me of a very powerful PBS documentary I watched a few years ago called “My Life As A Turkey

And finally, some indigenous mythologies talk about how Turkey can fight off evil spirits. Hmmmmm I wonder if this is what I need to listen to. The sitting. Pausing. Allowing. Processing will reveal when it is time what is needed to be known.

This is not something we can force, but align with and allow the flow of the process to commence in a sacred partnership.

Eagle Medicine on 9/18/20 a Master 22 Number in Numerology post new moon

The Eagle & The Master 22 Number

This morning as I woke up writing about this experience, I lost track of time, and was late to our FB LIVE event.

What I discovered was today is a master 22 number in numerology with eagle as the spiritual medicine.

The 22 is one of three master numbers in numerology that is about uniting the spiritual world with the material world in a four year in numerology – a number holding true to its energy as a “work” year balancing the egoic mind with the spirit – in a ninth month on the sixth day.

How Does It All Tie In Together?

ALL SIGNS if read like a sentence that says to continue to build and work on the relationship with spirit side of you. That all those things that have been surfacing for you this year from either a past trauma, generational link, karmic tie, past life experience will be closing this chapter soon.

As the eagle showed us this morning, there are no obstacles, only opportunities. The eagle does not need to fly into the storm. It can fly above the storm.

As we move forward, we need to be in conscious partnership with spirit on equal footing as things continue to amp up.  The veils are thin right now which is giving us a prime opportunity to co-create with the divine.

These so called signs are an indication and invitation from spiritual world to embrace the courage that will help us choose the kind of freedom we are actually seeking.

I get it …. of coarse we do not have time, enough sleep or enough money …. we never will.  If the time is NOT now with the earth literally burning, the waters polluted, nature poisoned by humans, the masses of folks enraged … then when?

Remember turkey is the the earth eagle that helps us stay grounded in the material world reminding us of the abundance that is coming. The eagle can soar the skies while seeing the smallest detail with precision without losing track of the larger picture.

This new moon was a doozy, but with the pause and silencing the mind, I got a clearer direction and validation that the choices made so far were the correct ones.

Questions?

What signs are you seeing on your journey?

Are you able to pause and take it in these new moon energies?

Do you sit in a new moon ritual or ceremony?

Sign up for our Facebook group to share and unpack what is surfacing for you together as a group while gaining access to our FREE LIVE events for support, spiritual medicine & meditation 3x a week.

Please share your experience with me in the comments below.

I would love to know your experiences as well and be sure to join our Facebook group for extra support .

With appreciation,

Laura


 

COMING SOON:

Mini Master Classes:

  • Power of the Word
  • Power of the Pause
  • Power of Processing

The Rooted and Resilient Empath 8 week virtual course.

Bless Your Junk: 5 Ways To Compost The Shitola Into Magic 4 week virtual course.

Be sure you are on our email list for special insight. Click here

Complementary Alternative Medicine for Holistic Treatment Options for Addiction

As someone who has been practicing spiritually based integrative therapies since 2006, looking into using complimentary alternative medicine (CAM) for holistic treatment options as part of an addiction treatment program intrigues me. Personally, in my own recovery, not from addictions, but from complex post traumatic stress disorder or CPTSD, these therapies I credit for saving my life, reduced my need to be medicated and potentially reduced my risk for addictions.

In this post, I was hoping to learn more about how effective these therapies are in treatment for addiction, but have found limited scientific data.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)[1], approximately 23 million Americans require treatment for a substance use problem, but only 2.5 million people in the U.S. receive treatment which includes:

  • pharmacotherapy, including medications to treat addiction or related mental health conditions;
  • behavioral therapy, including well-known techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT),\
  • motivational enhancement therapy (MET),
  • and contingency management(CM);
  • or a combination of pharmacotherapy and behavioral therapy.

As we are learning to understand, due to the complexity of how addiction affects each person, there is not one single treatment right for everyone.

With that said, even the best treatments cannot guarantee complete remission of addiction and drug-seeking behaviors, which is why integrating CAM approaches as part of the treatment option might improve the recovery outcomes.


Types of CAM approaches are separated into two categories:

  • Natural products such as mineral, vitamins, herbals, Adaptogens like Ashwagandha and probiotics.
  • Mind and body therapies such as yoga, chiropractic, osteopathic, meditation, massage, acupuncture, Thai chi, expressive arts, reiki, Chinese medicine, Ayurveda medicine, homeopathy, naturopathic medicine and more.

CAM treatments can benefit addiction treatment in at least three ways[2]:

  • addiction prevention,
  • increasing treatment compliance,
  • and boosting treatment outcomes.

In the case of prevention, CAM interventions can be implemented to treat underlying conditions that commonly occur in association with addiction, such as mental illness and chronic pain. If these issues are addressed and managed early, addiction may never develop. For mental illness, there is good evidence to support that CAM strategies are effective in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety.[3]


The Benefits of Adaptogens

Adaptogens like Ashwagandha[4] root are natural substances that help the adrenal system regulate hormones and manage stress. Over recent years, I have seen how well Ashwagandha works for so many especially those with diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, addictions, and sleep issues that have astounded me and have had reports of some in recovery who have used this as part of their treatment effectively.

One of the attributes of ashwagandha is its ability to induce calmness and clarity by regulating neurotransmitters such as serotonin and the stress hormone cortisol.  Research has shown that consuming ashwagandha may “substantially” reduce chronic stress to help your body adapt to and alleviate the stomach-churning anxiety stress can cause. (Mercola)

Research indicates there’s a likelihood that ashwagandha may be useful for helping patients in opioid withdrawal as well as reducing or eliminating dependence on benzodiazapene drugs such as Xanax and Valium[5].


Equine Assisted Therapy

Statistics, data, and research is lacking in the field of complimentary alternative medicine. However, CAM approaches can be helpful by keeping the individual engaged and active in their course of addiction treatment.

One such technique is horse-assisted therapy (also known as equine-assisted therapy), an intervention that actively involves horses during the therapy process. Results show that people stayed in treatment for twice as many days and were much more likely to complete treatment than those in traditional programming.[6]


Mindfulness Based Approaches

According to NCCIH, mindfulness-based approaches have shown some success when applied to the treatment of substance abuse and addiction by improving distress tolerance.[7]

Available data suggest that mindfulness-based interventions may help significantly reduce the consumption of several substances including alcohol, cigarettes, opiates, and others compared to control groups; however, many studies have had small sample sizes, methodological problems, and a lack of consistently replicated findings.


Other types of CAM treatments studied with effectiveness include[8]:

  • Mindfulness meditation has been effective in reducing cigarette use and reducing cravings.
  • Mindfulness Based for Reduction in Pain: 2016 review also found that mindfulness-based interventions effectively reduce pain intensity, improve functional status, improve pain-related psychological consequences, and improve quality of life; they can also be used as adjunct therapy aimed at improving health-related quality of life in individuals with substance use disorders interested in self-management strategies.
  • Mindfulness Based For Reduction of Consumption:2014 systematic review of 24 studies found evidence suggesting that mindfulness-based interventions can reduce the consumption of several substances including alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, marijuana, cigarettes, and opiates to a significantly greater extent than wait list controls, non-specific educational support groups, and some specific control groups.
  • Hypnotherapy study in 2014 found that hypnotherapy patients were more likely than nicotine replacement therapy patients to be nonsmokers at 12 weeks and 26 weeks after hospitalization.
  • Yoga has been shown to reduce cravings and to ease withdrawal from nicotine, with stronger results in women.
  • Thai chi seems to enhance mindfulness and one’s ability to break the cycle of nicotine addiction.
  • Acupuncture has been studied with a number of addictions.Most notably, electric acupuncture has helped to reduce relapse rates for people addicted to opioids.

Several studies have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effects of mindful attention on the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex in smokers, the areas of the brain associated with cravings and self-control.

In a 2017 study of 23 participants who completed either mindfulness training or cognitive behavioral treatment for smoking cessation, the researchers found that stress reactivity in several brain regions including the amygdala and anterior/mid insula was related to reductions in smoking after treatment.[9] The findings suggest that reduction in stress reactivity may be one of the underlying mechanisms of mindfulness-based treatments.


The Benefits of Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tibetan Singing Bowls[10] have been used by Tibetan monks for centuries for healing and meditation purposes. These bowls create a range of sounds to restore the normal vibratory frequencies of diseased and out-of-harmony parts of the body, mind and soul.

A 2016 study examined the effects of sound meditation, specifically Tibetan singing bowl meditation, which “concluded that Tibetan singing bowl meditation may be a feasible low-cost low technology intervention for reducing feelings of tension, anxiety, and depression, and increasing spiritual well-being. This meditation type may be especially useful in decreasing tension in individuals who have not previously practiced this form of meditation.”[11]

Although the study results are brief, I find it promising.  I began using Tibetan singing bowls in my work in 2015 as something I felt drawn to do on an instinctual basis for my own healing. As someone who has a history of trauma resulting in CPTSD, I welcome this study.

I went through the traditional medicinal route and felt I was given a band-aid with a wound that continued to grow and fester with no relief in sight. So since 2005, I began looking into me. Who I am, and how can I heal especially when my very trust in humanity was so broken. I went up into the spiritual unknown to  build my trust in my spirituality.

“If we accept that sound is vibration and we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, then we understand that sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our bodies. One reason sound heals on a physical level is because it so deeply touches and transforms us on the emotional and spiritual planes. Sound can redress imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning and can play a positive role in the treatment of virtually any medical disorder.” — Dr. Mitchell Gaynor


Reiki For Addiction

Other potential viable options also include reiki.  Since traditional nonwestern forms of reiki (Jikiden Reiki[12]) has been prevalent in my own personal healing path as well as with those I have treated and/or taught who are in recovery, I looked into reiki research.  Jikiden Reiki® is the “direct teaching” of Reiki from Japan that is free from Western influence. The word Reiki itself means “soul energy”, which is the natural, vital healing force found in all life.

Jikiden Reiki® sessions focus on removing toxins from the body and guiding it towards wholeness. Jikiden Reiki is known for its effective treatment of acute and chronic conditions, as well as to address deep rooted beliefs, habits, traumas and addictions.  Reiki has been effective treatment option like alleviating pain, pre-op and post-op surgery recovery, anxiety, skin conditions and post-traumatic stress.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a quality study on the effectiveness of reiki for addiction, but found numerous individual accounts of addiction and recovery on how reiki helped their own recovery as evidence.

According to the Rehab Center which offers reiki therapy, states “alternative medicine, like Reiki therapy, for addiction has been successful for some individuals, but is likely only effective when it meets the unique needs and beliefs of the person”.[13]

Benefits include according to this site:

  • may help an individual with some aspects of recovery
  • boost energy
  • lower stress
  • reduce pain
  • help with symptoms of withdrawals
  • reduce agitation
  • promote relaxation,
  • may also help a person remain calm during the early and stressful stages of addiction treatment.

According to Sober Nation, if done within the few first days of detox, Reiki therapy may help make withdrawal symptoms more tolerable to endure. Secondly, people are better able to deal with stress of recovery and life in a healthier manner.[14]

Additionally, Reiki therapy for drug and alcohol addiction also helps those newly recovering deal with anger and resentments which are common triggers that can lead people back into active addiction. I have personally witnessed this aspect in my own practice when reiki is used effectively from a qualified practitioner. Reiki therapy also helps repair the physical and psychological damage that addiction causes and allows the individual to get back on a path towards a healthy lifestyle.[15]

I did find one recovery site that had concerns regarding reiki “detoxication” which can be explained simply from my experience.[16] Most Americans are trained in some form of  “westernized” reiki which is NOT the full scope of training as it was taught in Japan with many added “new age” concepts. When the traditional training is adhered to which takes decades to master, the so called “reiki detoxification” mentioned has been reduced by 90% with a 90% reduction of intensification from my own personal experience of doing THIS work since 2006.


Final Thoughts

Overall, there is a lack of evidence to support the use of many forms of CAM despite numerous individual claims of benefit. I can personally attest to this so-called phenomena.  For this reason, most of the sites I researched urged “caution” in initiating CAM treatments due to lack of safety.

This only makes me question is this due to the lack of research or money lobbied by big business, wall street and Big Pharma. I say this because known therapies such as meditation and yoga have repeatedly been shown to be effective and safe and have been effectively practiced as part of a spiritual based practice for thousands of years.

I also feel that how is it possible to quantify and make quantitative something that is spiritually based like yoga, reiki, Thai chi, or meditation just to name a few which can vary based on personal beliefs, spiritual beliefs, and experiences that at the end of the day are all personal.

This is not a one shoe fits all approach. It takes someone skilled at knowing their clients, their needs and belief systems to know which approach is best suited for them. It is part of what I consider the spiritual journey. These therapies are different from other forms of spiritually based therapies as they are free from religious indoctrination and dogma and tap into the something that links all spiritual beliefs that are our innate BE-ing.

Based on what my research is showing and from my own personal experiences, the results of implementing complimentary alternative medicine as part of a treatment plan can be very promising with much less serious if not deadly side effects seen in traditional medical approaches and can be used as part of a treatment program during ALL stages addiction treatment.

I am hoping you found this guide helpful. This is just the tip to what is possible and plausible.

I would LOVE to hear from you as to what you found most resourceful for you

With appreciation,

Laura

Spiritual Medium, Healer, Speaker, Writer, Metaphysician, Advocate, Holistic Health Practitioner, Facilitator, Trauma Specialist, Empowerment Specialist and Spiritual Badass.


For more information about classes, click here and our events calendar, click here.

To book a private session, click here.

SIGN UP FOR MONTHLY E-NEWS

Follow me on FacebookInstagramLinkedInYouTube.


Disclaimer

Please note that content on this website is intended for informational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional, not is it meant to diagnose or treat a health problem, symptom or disease. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, contact your health care provider promptly. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of something you have read on this website. Information provided on this website DOES NOT create a doctor-patient relationship between you and any doctor affiliated with our website.


RESOURCES:

[1] U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; (2014); https://www.samhsa.gov/;  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK385055/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK385055.pdf

[2] National Rehab Directory by American Addiction Centers; Complementary and Alternative Treatment for Drug Addiction; Eric Peterson; (November 4, 2019); https://www.rehabs.com/complementary-alternative-medicine-for-addiction/

a href=”#_ftnref3″ name=”_ftn3″>[3] National Rehab Directory by American Addiction Centers; Complementary and Alternative Treatment for Drug Addiction; Eric Peterson; (November 4, 2019); https://www.rehabs.com/complementary-alternative-medicine-for-addiction/

[4] Why Ashwagandha Root Could Be The Cure For The Western Epidemic of Stress Related Illness; Laura Joseph; November 2018; https://laurahealingwithspirit.com/why-ashwagandha-root-could-be-the-cure-for-the-western-epidemic-of-stress-related-illness/

[5] How the War on Drugs Has Caused More Harm Than Good; April 7, 2016; Dr. Mercola; https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/07/war-on-drugs-opioids.aspx

[6] Kern-Godal, A., Arnevik, E. A., Walderhaug, E., & Ravndal, E. (2015). Substance Use Disorder Treatment Retention and Completion: A Prospective Study of Horse-Assisted Therapy (HAT) for Young AdultsAddiction Science & Clinical Practice, 10, 21.; https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-015-0043-4

[7] National Institutes of Health; National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; Mind and Body Approaches for Substance Use Disorders; (April 2018); https://nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/Substance-Disorders<

[8] National Institutes of Health; National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; Mind and Body Approaches for Substance Use Disorders; (April 2018); https://nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/Substance-Disorders-science#hed5

[9] National Institutes of Health; National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; Mind and Body Approaches for Substance Use Disorders; (April 2018); https://nccih.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/Substance-Disorders-science#hed5

[10] Vibrational Healing/Tibetan Singing Bowls; Healing With Spirit; https://laurahealingwithspirit.com/services/meditation/vibrational-healing-tibetan-singing-bowls/

[11] Medical Study of the Effects of Singing Bowl Sound Meditation on Mood, Tension, and Well-Being; Healing With Spirit; November 18, 2016; https://laurahealingwithspirit.com/medical-study-of-the-effects-of-singing-bowl-sound-meditation-on-mood-tension-and-well-being/

[12] Jikiden Reiki Services; Healing With Spirit; https://laurahealingwithspirit.com/services/reiki/jikiden-reiki-services/

[13] Addiction Campuses; Reiki Therapy For Addiction; Medically reviewed by Isaac Alexis, M.D., AAMA, AMP-BC; (January 24, 2019); https://www.rehabcenter.net/reiki-therapy-for-addiction/

[14]Behavioral Health Innovators; Sober Nation; Holistic Therapy Spotlight: Reiki Therapy for Addiction; Tim Powers; (3/24/2016); https://sobernation.com/holistic-therapy-spotlight-reiki-therapy-for-addiction/

[15] Behavioral Health Innovators; Sober Nation; Holistic Therapy Spotlight: Reiki Therapy for Addiction; Tim Powers; (3/24/2016); https://sobernation.com/holistic-therapy-spotlight-reiki-therapy-for-addiction/

[16] Axis Recovery; Reiki Detox Therapy; https://axisresidentialtreatment.com/drug-detox/reiki-therapy/

Public Hearing: Why MA Bill S. 168 Matters to ALL MA Residents


In this post:

  • A synopsis of MA Bill S 168
  • Why This Matters
  • My Views on WHY I oppose
  • Public Hearing Information
  • Issues list
  • Addresses for Legislators
  • References

A Synopsis of MA Bill S 168

A hearing date, OCTOBER 28TH, has been announced for Mass bill S 168
“An Act Regulating Bodyworks” under the guise of preventing sex trafficking.

Who will be joining me at the public hearing on Monday, October 28th in Boston, MA? This is not just about reiki. This bill affects:

  • yoga
  • meditation centers
  • Buddhist centers
  • martial arts
  • thai chi
  • psychic mediums
  • spiritual centers
  • wellness professionals
  • reiki
  • reflexology
  • professional caregivers
  • indigenous shamanic healing
  • death doulas
  • hospice volunteers
  • vulnerable populations – homeless, those face with addictions, senior citizens, low income, victims of rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, terminally ill, immigrant populations dependent on THEIR own cultural practices.
  • basically ANYONE who does ANYTHING that alters chi using word or touch. That is the entire population!

S.168 Summary:

S.168 is a bill that has been filed in the Massachusetts legislature by Senator Montigny under the guise of a solution to end human trafficking.  

The bill, if passed, would require professional licensure for more than 200 alternative and complementary holistic modalities, and offers no direct route to licensure.  

There is NO grandfather clause for seasoned well established practitioners in any of these modalities

In addition, S.168 would dramatically reduce healthcare options for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Considering that I have personally witnessed healing in people where our broken healthcare failed except driving up immense healthcare costs to those individuals including myself into the $100,000’s and creating a culture of addiction.

The bill redefines holistic healthcare occupations as bodywork and affects all modalities that direct movement or work with energy aka “chi” (1).  The bill proposes a Board of Massage Therapy and Bodywork that would have 3 massage therapists and two bodywork professionals on it.  

These two body workers would have to set the educational requirements of more than 200 holistic disciplines and spiritually based practices that are the religions for many in the Commonwealth.  

In addition, you can only become licensed if you take courses at “state licensed schools“.  There are currently no state licensed schools that offer courses in the majority of these disciplines.

How You Can Help SAVE:

REIKI & OTHER spiritual based healing and/or holistic health modalities in Massachusetts:

Why This Matters

If this bill were to pass, it would become ILLEGAL for anyone to practice Reiki, any spiritual or professional practice that can alter “Chi” without a license.

Those receiving volunteer services through hospice, hospitals, non-profits, elder care, etc will NO longer be able to provide these services for a variety of reasons as listed in this post.

LICENSES ARE EXPENSIVE and Practitioners including volunteers need to start your education AGAIN FROM SCRATCH. Considering the MAJORITY of practitioners are VOLUNTEER, this would be devastating to those receiving as mentioned earlier.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS HORRIBLE BILL!  

Not enough practitioners and/or receivers/benefactors of these modalities have taken the time to contact their legislators.

It is CRUCIAL FOR YOU TO ACT NOW.

EVERYONE COUNTS.  

Laura Joseph, Health Care Lobby Day, June 2018

My Views

Speaking as a survivor of rape and domestic abuse who was subsequently diagnosed with CPTSD taking decades to reclaim my life as well as someone with years doing advocacy work in Massachusetts for victims, SADLY THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SEX TRAFFICKING AND WON’T STOP IT.

I’ve met personally with several state senators and representatives who agree that this bill will NOT do as promoted. It is a shame that the propaganda sold to Massachusetts residents is that if you do not support this bill, then you are harming victims of sex trafficking. THIS IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH.

I have worked with survivors in varying capacity for over 14 years. Yes, there needs to be better laws to protect victims, but how do we legislate bad behavior, colonization mentality of women, young girls, and children when the laws currently on the books are NOT enforced?

This is a regulatory bill to regulate “Chi”(1) through the use of word or touch. How does one regulate “chi”? Really? When we think about this, this is frightening to me and very triggering to someone who is a trauma survivor who depended upon these very practices to SAVE MY OWN LIFE when our traditional healthcare model almost killed me and caused more harm.

In my opinion as a survivor of abuse and rape, advocate, and healer, this is a slap in our faces. This is a gross form of systemic abuse to every victim who has ever been abused or raped.

I have personally dedicated the last 14 years of my healing Journey and helping other survivors of abuse to heal in a variety ways where AGAIN our system FAILED.

I see predatory behavior quite easily AND THIS BILL is PREDATORY.

The state does not have the expertise to set the curriculum of more than 200 disciplines that derive from various “culturally appropriated indigenous and non-colonized foreign cultures” . The American collegiate system is NOT a leading authority in these practices. Those with bloodlines from these cultures who apprenticed students into teachers over YEARS of dedication and training ARE the leading authority.

This in my view is also another attempt to “COLONIZE” sacred teachings further causing irreparable harm to many spiritual based, indigenous, and immigrant cultures not to mention it is racist when you look at the origins of these modalities and who their real targets are.

Issues List   

S.168 would arbitrarily and inaccurately redefine hundreds of holistic occupations as bodywork. The broad definition of bodywork affects more than 200 diverse disciplines and professions and many thousands of practitioners (many of whom are women) who now provide for their families working in this field.  

Due to the restrictive standards set forth in the bill, many will be forced to close their doors, adversely impacting their household and children and increasing unemployment claims and WELFARE assistance increasing the burden on taxpayers.

S.168 would dramatically reduce citizen options for tens of thousands infringing on freedom of choice.

The proposed board of massage therapy and bodyworkers only has 2 bodyworkers to represent more than 200 holistic professions.

You can only become licensed if you take courses at state licensed schools. There are no state licensed schools that offer training in all these disciplines.

The state does not have the expertise nor are the leading authorities to set the curriculum of more than 200 disciplines as stated above earlier.

Why bodywork licensure is not a viable approach to addressing human trafficking:

Contrary to the Massachusetts Interagency Human Trafficking Policy Task Force recommendations, S.168 seeks to reduce human trafficking supply through occupational licensure rather than reducing the demand for human trafficking through enforcement of existing “John laws” or the
promulgation of sensible new laws.

Occupational licensing has not been recommended in the Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2013; or by the US Department of State (see ’15 Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking’}

The National Human Trafficking database reports only 4 cases of human trafficking in Massachusetts at illicit massage spas.  There is no accurate data on the number of human trafficking cases at illicit massage spas in MA as many counties combine prostitution cases with human trafficking cases when reporting data.

What YOU Can Do:

LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU NOW.

The fate of Reiki and ALL spiritually based integrative healing, holistic health, spiritual practices, martial arts is in YOUR hands.

  1. Attend the Public Hearing and give support to the individuals testifying. (We need a very large crowd to attend to show a strong opposition)   
  2. Give oral testimony which is limited to three minutes in length in opposition to S.168.  (See attached Giving Testimony Instructions and Testimony Worksheet)    
  3. Prepare written testimony and submit it at the Public Hearing.
  4. Prepare written testimony and email it to the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure (email addresses  below):


Email addresses of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection &
Professional Licensure:

paul.feeney@masenate.gov ; Tackey.Chan@mahouse.gov ;
James.Welch@masenate.gov ;Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov ;
Diana.DiZoglio@masenate.gov ; Barry.Finegold@masenate.gov ;
Joseph.Boncore@masenate.gov ;
Ryan.Fattman@masenate.gov ; Jon.Zlotnik@mahouse.gov ;
Adrian.Madaro@mahouse.gov ; William.Driscoll@mahouse.gov ;
mindy.domb@mahouse.gov ;tami.gouveia@mahouse.gov ;
david.leboeuf@mahouse.gov ; Jack.Lewis@mahouse.gov ;
Steven.Howitt@mahouse.gov ;
joseph.mckenna@mahouse.gov

You may also include the bill sponsors:

Mark.Montigny@masenate.gov ; ago@state.ma.us ;
Alicia.Rebello-Pradas@state.ma.us ;Patricia.Haddad@mahouse.gov ;
Michael.Moore@masenate.gov ; Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov ;
Danielle.Gregoire@mahouse.gov ; Antonio.Cabral@mahouse.gov ;
david.robertson@mahouse.gov ;Steven.Ultrino@mahouse.gov ;
Patrick.OConnor@masenate.gov ; Mike.Barrett@masenate.gov ;
Becca.Rausch@masenate.gov ; Walter.Timilty@masenate.gov ;
Sal.DiDomenico@masenate.gov ;Joan.Lovely@masenate.gov ;
james.hawkins@mahouse.gov

Hearing Information:

Hearing Date:             Monday, October 28
Hearing Time:            11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Hearing Location:     Gardiner Auditorium

LOCATION:

Boston State House
24 Beacon Street
Boston, MA  02133

References

  1. Chi definitionMerriam Webster Dictionary ; Noun (often capitalized); “vital energy that is held to animate the body internally and is of central importance in some Eastern systems of medical treatment (such as acupuncture) and of exercise or self-defense (such as tai chi) “ – Chinese (Beijing) , literally, air, breath

FALMOUTH: Meditation/Stress Reduction

Have you ever gone to your physician while not well only to be told “it is just stress, go home & relax?”

The challenge is if you knew how to relax to begin with, you would not be at your doctor’s office seeking help. Right?

Many people feel they are spinning their wheels, not getting better & searching for answers with no feeling of end in sight. There is a direct connection between stress and different diseases.

Come join instructor Laura Joseph to learn more.

Held on 10/15 at Lawrence School: Tues – 6-8 pm – 1 week $49

REGISTRATION & CLASS INFORMATION

Click here for details and registration through The Falmouth Community Schools.

Current Energies, Wisdom of the Body, and a Guided Meditation in Nature

Good morning from Webb Memorial State Park in Weymouth, MA.

Please join us as we will be talking about the current cosmic energies, what is happening, how it is affecting all of us individually and collectively and why the wisdom of the body holds the key to the answers you seek.

We will also talk about trauma, the health links, healing trauma, and what is happening now.

We will end with some mindful breathing and meditation in nature. Please stay til the end. There is some magic to be seen.

I hope you will join me and together let’s raise the vibration.

( Recorded on Facebook Live August 9, 2019)

Please

✔ Join in the conversation
✔ invite others to join
✔ Share on your wall or group

Did you know we now have a YouTube channel?

Please subscribe to my channel and scroll for complete playlists on spiritual vlogs, spirit messages, energy updates, nature meditations, mindfulness in nature, reiki and more.

Click here to view my channel and to subscribe. 

With love and appreciation,

Laura


Follow me:

Twitter 
Facebook
Instagram

Did you know we now have a YouTube channel?

Please subscribe to our channel and scroll for complete playlists on spiritual vlogs, spirit messages, energy updates, nature meditations, mindfulness in nature, reiki and more.

Click here to view my channel and to subscribe.

To schedule a private session, to book a corporate wellness event, or speaking engagement, please private message me

SIGN UP FOR MONTHLY E-NEWS


 © 2015-2018 Laura Joseph. All Rights Reserved. This information is for general educational uses only. It may not apply to you and your specific medical needs. This information should not be used in place of a visit, call, consultation with or the advice of your physician or health care professional. Communicate promptly with your physician or other health care professional with any health-related questions or concerns. This article does not share the opinions of Healing With Spirit or its affiliates.  Be sure to follow specific instructions given to you by your physician or health care professional.