“If any field needs integration, it is medicine. If any field needs an integrative paradigm that can make sense out of all the different models of healing, it is medicine. The weaknesses of the conventional medical model have been clear for some time. Its procedures are too invasive and have too many harmful side effects. There is no conventional model for the treatment of most chronic and degenerative diseases… and it is expensive.”
Amit Goswami. (Quantum Physicist). From “The Quantum Doctor.”
Whilst our Government assures us that it’s “ringfencing the NHS” during our anticipated austerity measures, I’m starting to wonder which areas of our current medical system are worth preserving. Perhaps this point in our collective medical history is an opportunity for some replacement rather than preservation?
There are some good reasons for us to question Western orthodox medicine. Personally, I view our National Health Service as valuable for some things such as emergency treatment and diagnosis of disease. For example, I would welcome the arrival of a paramedic if I were involved in a road accident. I would approach my GP if I suspected a broken bone and wanted an x-ray or if I was keeping an eye on my iron count and wanted a blood test, for example. However, once I’ve got a diagnosis and when treating a disease, I avoid allopathic drugs if at all possible because of their toxicity. I will seek alternatives, usually from an herbalist or homeopath. I would also consider changes to my lifestyle and diet.
To promote good health, I would far rather approach an alternative practitioner than my GP. I don’t believe GP’s are trained in promoting good health so much as in treating disease and so I would not view them as a credible source of information and guidance in that area. I much prefer to be treated holistically and by somebody who views me as a whole person and is prepared to spend some time with me understanding my medical problem or my desire to optimise my health.
As a child I fractured my spine and had surgery. My spine was fused in the lower lumbar region in order to prevent the possible loss of use of my legs and further paralysis in my lower body. I’m grateful to orthodox Western medicine for the skill of the surgeons who treated me, even though the surgery was only a partial fix. Subsequent to the surgery, I experienced a lot of pain in my back and some loss of feeling in my arms and legs. This stayed with me on and off all through my teenage years, my twenties and thirties and finally peaked when I was 35.
At this point it seemed that Western orthodox medicine was no longer able to help me. The best suggestion that the Orthopaedic Consultant could come up with to alleviate my difficulties was to prescribe a surgical brace which I was to wear all day every day until such time as the pain was too great to bear and I needed further surgery. He estimated that I would last about 2 years maximum before needing the surgery. He described the surgery as very risky and likely to result in paralysis. This sounded to me like the top of a slippery slope and so I researched alternatives.
To begin with I turned to osteopathy to help me and then later, when I met a yoga therapist, I started a daily yoga practice under his guidance. I also took nutritional advice from a medical herbalist. Using these alternatives I have managed to alleviate all back pain (except for the occasional incident, usually when I lift something too heavy). My spine has stayed in good condition and I have strengthened the muscles that support my spine, something I would not have achieved by wearing the surgical brace. Thus I have also avoided having further surgery on my spine. Ironically, in middle age, my spine is probably stronger now than it’s ever been.
During the course of this particular journey, I’ve met many others – clients, friends, colleagues and family – who’ve reached the end of the road with Western orthodox medicine and have turned to alternatives as a way to inform and support them in their return to good health.
Similarly, as a society, maybe we’ve now reached the point where we need to adopt a totally different, more holistic, approach to treating disease and promoting wellbeing.
1. Western medicine views the body as a collection of individual organs and systems, much like a machine. Alternative medical systems view the body as an energy field and part of someone’s whole intimately connected mind-body-spirit.
2. Western medicine sees its prime function as treating the symptoms of disease or disability. Alternative medical systems see their function as healing disease, preventing disease and promoting good health.
3. Western medicine is not holistic in its approach and thus misses the connection between the mind, body and spirit. It generally discounts the existence of other valid methods of creating wellbeing, even dismissing the positive influences of the mind-body connection in healing as a “placebo effect”, as though this were irrelevant or inconsequential. Alternative medical systems are often holistic and recognise that understanding the link between mind, body and spirit is crucial to wellbeing.
4. In the UK, Western orthodox medicine is the system favoured by our Government and is therefore free or low cost under the NHS. Most alternatives are not and as such this limits their accessibility for some on low incomes. So, there are important political and social barriers to seeking assistance from any alternatives.
1. By prioritising the promotion of good health, rather than the treatment of disease.
2. By recognising and embracing alternative medical practices so that the patient has a choice of low cost, low toxicity, holistic routes to take.
3. By making long-term health and wellbeing (as distinct from health and safety) a priority in the food and leisure industries, education, town planning, transport and every other area of public life.
4. By decoupling the pharmaceutical industry from the national health system.
In our transition to a life-sustaining society, we could view our public health provision as a mirror of our personal attitudes to health. In that case, perhaps our personal transition to optimum health would include:
1. Maintaining our personal good health, rather than waiting for disease to strike.
2. Recognising and investigating alternatives to the current NHS, so that we have greater choices.
3. Making health and wellbeing a priority in every other aspect of our lives.
4. Valuing our health above our short-term productivity.
A guest article today from Joe Rolle of Rapanui, an inspirational, young, sustainable clothing business.
“It’s a question that’s not asked enough – where does clothing come from, and how is it made? The clothing industry is notorious for the proliferation of child labour, disregard for the environment and the more practical challenges – such as the need to freight goods large distances due to the geography of the market. So how can we, as shoppers, know how to buy environmentally-friendly, ethical fashion? When you think about it, it’s almost impossible to find out what you’re buying into.
Rapanui is an Eco-Fashion company from the Isle of Wight that, unlike the typical earth-mother organic clothing companies, has recognised the root cause of the problem: brands aren’t communicating enough. They’ve not only designed some of the worlds greenest clothing – Organic, Sustainable fabrics in a Fairwear Foundation Audited, Wind-powered factory, but also created an innovative system to allow shoppers to trace where their products come from and how they are made on Google earth, with videos, pictures and figures showing the product and the people making it from the planting of the seed to the stacking on the shelf.
All this and the founders are only in their early twenties – a fact that they say helps them keep their finger on the pulse of current fashion styles and gives them a unique advantage: with their 12-strong staff all under 25, this company is perhaps one of the only fashion houses completely run by, and for, young people.
The company is as much about fashion design as it is about research and innovation into sustainable textiles and eco marketing; a mix that has helped them take a clean sweep of the 2010 eco-awards calendar including winning the 2010 Sustainable Business Awards and a finalists place in the Enterprising Young Brits Awards.
Founding brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight say the brand name, Rapanui, the native name for Easter Island, “was stumbled upon as a place we wanted to go to on a surf trip, but turned into much more: the story of Rapanui, where overpopulation led to a collapse of resources, is a great metaphor for the ‘big picture’ challenges we face in sustainability today”
The brand was founded by brothers Rob and Mart Drake-Knight in 2008 with just £200 worth of savings (still don’t know how they did it) and the brothers are now listed on the Future 100 list of Top Young Entrepreneurs, with Rapanui being recognised as one of the top 100 startups of 2008.
“Fashion is like no other medium in that you literally drape yourself in what you believe in. Whilst we make every endeavour to excel in eco-fabrics, renewable energy powered manufacturing and ethical trade, Rapanui is about more than just ticking the green box. The power of market demand and supply, and the influence of brands in our lifestyle is a power that we want to use to do some good. We’re not pretending to be some earth-saving organisation, but if we can succeed in making eco-fashion cool, and by wearing Rapanui we can influence people to make wider lifestyle choices in going green, we will have done our job in making a significant contribution towards sustainability,” says Mart Drake-Knight, Rapanui Director.
If you are still curious and want to find out more do so by going over to check out their eco pages and find out more about traceability.”
(c) Rapanui 2010
It can be a chaotic and challenging undertaking to be self employed or running a small business in these unprecedented times of climate change, peak oil and global economic crisis. What does it mean to “surf” the recession? How do we perform this complex balancing act?
Surfing any waves of change and transformation involves:
• Choosing our surf-board and learning our surfing skills – being prepared as best we can.
• Paddling and resting in the shallows, riding the waves, observing currents, ebbs and flows – being courageous in handling circumstances as they arise in the moment. Being open to change.
• Getting back on the board when we fall off – accepting and learning from our mistakes.
To be truthful, I don’t think anyone can be sure of the perfect way to surf the recession that guarantees sustainability. I offer you my ideas for today based on information and experience that I’ve accumulated so far. I’ve stated them in terms that my astrologist friend calls “suitably broad and vague,” leaving you free to interpret and adapt them to your own unique circumstances.
I imagine you will have your own thoughts to add to these, so please do comment and let’s share what we know.
1. Remind yourself of your business purpose and mission statement. What’s your core business? Focus on this. If your gut feeling is that your business purpose needs reorienting in the light of recent changes, act now.
2. Educate and inform staff on your business purpose/mission statement and how to hone in on it.
3. Identify firefighting activities (‘urgent but not important’ tasks or distracting activity) and seek to eliminate them through identifying their cause.
4. Learn some conflict resolution skills as personal stress levels are likely to increase. These will help you in your relationships with employees, suppliers and clients. Remember “Fair Trade and Fair Treatment.”
5. Make time for relaxation, spiritual practice, your family and friends in your working week. You still need to nurture your health and wellbeing. This is more, not less, important when handling additional challenges.
6. Pay attention to education and training for your place in a life sustaining society. Formal qualifications and accreditation are likely to be less important in a post peak-oil, post industrial growth society than sustainability and self-sufficiency skills.
7. Devise a power-cut plan. How will your business keep running during a break from energy supplies? Make a contingency plan and test it out.
8. Keep it light when you can – add some fun, lightness and love to each day by noticing the ridiculous, the charming, the tender, the beautiful and the humorous in everyday situations.
9. Remember that cutting your costs usually cuts carbon too, so make sure the two go hand in hand.
10. Keep reminders in your work space of your connection to nature and how your business benefits your environment – plants, natural light, images, fresh water and herbal teas. Spend some time in your garden, the park, or the great outdoors every day.
11. Review the planet part of your business plan (energy, transport, stationery, packaging, food etc used in your business) for opportunities to collaborate with others, work remotely, piggyback tasks and eliminate waste.
12. Investigate local suppliers of everyday consumables, use them in preference to others and keep their details handy.
13. Budget at least 6 months ahead and keep on top of your cash flow.
14. If you’re not already banking with an ethical bank, make this a priority now.
15. Review insurance and pension arrangements to make sure they are with sustainable, ethical companies.
16. Increase your supply of ready cash for everyday purchases (petty cash) and receiving cash payment from clients (float) as power cuts and financial shocks are likely to affect the operation of everyday banking, electronic financial transactions and cash machines .
17. Stay in frequent contact with your suppliers and customers and contract for payment in advance with any whose financial position looks tenuous, if this is not already written into your terms and conditions.
18. Maintain margins wherever possible. Add value, durability, flexibility and ease of use rather than reduce prices.
Having worked from home for the last 21 years, I’ve experimented with several modes and environments for working in. Here’s a guest article from Dawn Kubicek, who is an advocate of the benefits of working from an office or studio in your garden:
Working from home is something we are hearing more about at the moment. More and more people are changing their lives around to do it, due to a number of reasons. I’ve idetnfied 10 ways you will benefit from working from home in a garden office or studio:
1. Working in a secluded space away from the hustle and bustle of your home will give you the chance to concentrate and get the most out of your working day. Meeting your targets and deadlines is just as important whether you are in a shared office or in your garden studio.
2. Environmental psychology is known as the interplay between ourselves and our surroundings. It basically acknowledges the importance of our wellbeing and that we become more relaxed and can work better when we are in an outside environment. Natural settings help us relax and concentrate better letting us leave our working day feeling regenerated and ready for social or family activities.
3. Eating green is an important part of everyday life. Working at home will give you the chance to eat homemade lunches with fresh ingredients, or even take advantage of last night’s dinner It will also reduce waste from drinks and snack cartons throughout a working day.
4. A natural environment can reduce stress. Even taking breaks outside can help. This is shown via the Attention Restoration Theory where spending time in places where the clouds are moving in the sky and leaves are rustling in the breeze helps you relax and in this case produce higher levels and amounts of work. So if you are self employed or wanting to start your own business, a garden office will help you achieve the results you want.
5. Flexible hours can come in handy when it comes to childcare and school runs. You would have the chance of taking turns with your neighbour to pick the children up from school.
6. Your garden office laptop is more likely to be quicker and more efficient than those in a large organisation. Why? Because they have a lot of people to manage and have to put restrictions on services. Not to mention that fact that laptops use a fraction of the amount of energy compared to the desktop computer and even have the ability to heat up your whole energy efficient garden office!
7. Your morning drive to work in rush hour can be stressful and is not a good start to a working day. It is obviously cheaper and more environmentally friendly to walk down the garden to your office in the fresh air and relaxed atmosphere.
8. Lunch and petrol costs can mount up throughout the month. So, working from home is a simple way to cut costs.
9. Mobile communication is the cheapest and the best option at the moment for home workers. Some people are dumping the landline altogether and only using mobile phones as these days great deals on unlimited calls are available. Not to forget they are useful when on the road. So, there’s no need to install an extra phone line for your garden office.
10. Motivation and work levels will increase working from your garden rather than from inside your home.. Taking away the ever-present sense of ‘work’ can result in a calmer, generally more relaxed environment which lowers stress levels, benefitting your health and wellbeing.
(c) Dawn Kubicek. www.decoratedshed.com. Decorated Shed garden office buildings have the ability to change your life drastically and give you the chance to build up a more prosperous business where you will be on top of all your tasks and generally be in a better, more productive state of mind where work becomes a pleasure once again.
On the “Coaching” and “About me” pages of this website, I state that I coach from a psychospiritual perspective.
Every so often a prospective coaching client or fellow coach asks me to explain further. Some coaches, particularly business coaches, it would seem, are not familiar with this approach and many clients are unaware of the differences and potential benefits over conventional coaching.
It is operating from a perspective of being connected to the great unmanifest, of being vessels, of seeing what wants to come into being through us (the coach and the client). The client does not need to be aware that the coach is taking this approach, or even to have any spiritual beliefs. I’ll endeavour to describe the four main attributes that make coaching from a psychospiritual perspective special for the coach and the coaching client: Presence, Ego, Intuition, Intention.
For me as the coach: This is a different, more relaxed way of being with someone. It is about holding the space but from a heart connection rather than merely as part of a performance or business transaction. It is about nurturing (and sometimes taking steps to manage) the energy in this alliance and riding the tide of any strong emotions that emerge.
For the coachee: They feel “held” in a space of acceptance, respect and trust and allowed to be exactly who they are. Ideally, it is open and authentic for them. It feels safe to own up to blocks, assumptions and limiting beliefs that are unearthed during the course of the conversation.
Coach: The focus is on minimising the unconscious influence of the ego, keeping mine out of the coaching alliance except when operating consciously from it. In order to achieve this, I actively cultivate awareness and understanding of ego states, their manifestation and influence. I remain open to my higher self for guidance.
Coachee: They are encouraged to cultivate an awareness of ego states and manifestations and how to deal with them. They learn more about how to function from one’s heart and soul. They are also supported in cultivating the four divine states – loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity if and when they are open to this.
Coach: Daily practices (yoga and meditation in my case) help me to cultivate intuition so that I can tap into it naturally and with ease during a coaching conversation. This benefits the client because questions appropriate to the moment then arise naturally and with ease. Similarly, it is easier to recognise when to remain silent.
Coachee: They are encouraged to recognise (if they don’t already) the value of intuition and how it operates. Awareness of it is cultivated: e.g. “What is your intuition telling you in this situation?”. There is also a heightened appreciation of the benefits of intuition in terms of creativity, thinking outside the box and transforming limiting beliefs.
“Your imagination is your preview to life’s coming attractions”. Albert Einstein.
Visioning and setting intentions takes us a step or two beyond goal setting and I’ve found that it greatly enhances performance and fulfilment. Why is this? I believe it’s because this approach engages us to a much greater degree emotionally and spiritually and, at the same time, allows us the space to let go of outcomes. This might at first sound like a contradiction. In practice, though, being emotionally and spiritually involved leads to inspired decision making that’s more likely to be flexible and creative enough to keep us on track with our vision. In contrast, being attached to particular outcomes, rather than being commited to an intention, can lead to: entrenchment; frustration and guilt; feelings of unworthiness and unwillingness to engage in the learning that emerges.
Coach: I do my best to remain aware of my intention in the coaching relationship. Usually before each coaching session, I make an intention to be present and to serve my client in the optimum way for them and for anyone else who might be affected by the decisions made.
Coachee: They are encouraged to use visualisation and to articulate their intention in order to manifest the life and livelihood that they would like for themselves. Part of this is acknowledging where one has control and where one doesn’t. This is also about being at ease with change, with uncertainty and exploring ideals in terms of qualities and attributes, as well as in terms of people or things. Relationships become more important than the material. Growth becomes more important than acquisition.
Dear reader, this is a brief summary of my approach to coaching from a psychospiritual perspective. So, I welcome questions and requests to be more specific about any particular areas mentioned or to offer examples.
This site seeks to explore the heart and soul of downshifting to a more sustainable, ethical and holistic way of living and working, in keeping with the needs of the planet, humanity as a whole and ourselves as individuals. (read more)
