Umm, that’s one of these:

Narmada Lingam

Another one for the “stuff you haven’t heard of…until now” category.  Or perhaps you have in another form of alternative natural healing – Tantra.  Lingams and Yonis are often referred to in tantric texts.  Nothing to do with that here though.  I suspect this is more to do with either a Western fascination or Eastern suppression that has lead to a wider imbalance in psyche.   Everything gets sexualised at some point.

So it’s like a crystal?  NO.  It is almost like a spirit is inside.  When I first came upon them years ago we were meditating in a group.  The room had been silent for a few minutes when suddenly one of those present let out a yelp!  I asked her about it afterwards and she said the lingam jumped in her palm which gave her a bit of a fright.

To use a lingam in alternative healing therapy of meditation, you cup it in the left hand with the coloured bit upwards (pic is right way up).  Put your right hand underneath the left and hold at navel level.  Keeping your back straight relax your body and visualise a green light coming from your heart.  Project love and you will soon notice the difference between using one and not.

Most people comment on the spinning sensation within their bodies.  Others seem to release some kind of tension by crying.  Each lingam “turns on” when it is connected to the right person.  If you were to purchase one or have one gifted to you it would be chosen intuitively – it is that kind of alternative healing, part intuitive, part action on your part.

There are two types of Linghams available, one not mentioned yet is a more common Shiva Lingam.  These are masculine in energy where as the Narmada Lingham is feminine.  I brought one once but found it not to have the same sensation I association with the Narmada one.

There are different sizes available.  Just because a Lingham is smaller, doesn’t mean less powerful.

Shiva shrine lingam

The Narmada Lingam comes from the  Sacred river Narmada, India.  They are found as rough rock and are polished down in the same way other stones are.  The Narmada river is said to be the point where all prana enters the earth.  The Lingams can be found standing outside ashrams.   Giant Lingams act as pranic energy generators over a large land areas.

The lingam is one of the lesser known forms of alternative healing.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan
Alternative*Insight
Photo Credit

I notice a book sitting on the table with some goofy looking guy holding a half full martini glass with a ridiculous grin on his face.  At a healing retreat you find all kinds of unique info.  As it happens the book was all about urine which is what is (presumably) swirling in place of actual gin.  I don’t recall any olive.
Urine for a surprise at that party ….  Ok.  Ahem.  Back to the alternative natural healing retreat.

Many years ago there was only one main brand of bottle water, and since we were detoxing everyone carried a bottle around.  And some of those had a suspicious yellow tinge.  Best not to look too close I thought.  Made sure my generic looking bottle was WELL marked lest there be a mix up.

Apparently the couple running the show had been using urine for years as part of their alternative medicine healing.  Every day in fact.  As it happens one of them ended up very ill and took up the practice in desperation.  He explained that the body self corrects and just “knows”.  A little too vague for me to give it a go however.  And now…. the moment has passed for me to try this altnernative medicine.  Healing for me isn’t life or death at the moment.

I did ask him about breath smell (I gotta know about things like that) and he said you couldn’t tell and went on to mention how they use it on skin.  I kept my distance from everyone just in case.  I’m curious, just not THAT curious.  No need to tempt fate is there?

Thus ended my adventure into this form of alternative medicine. Healing for me isn’t that extreme just yet.

It isn’t recommended that urine drinking be combined with alcohol or drug consumption including.

Make sure you research properly before trying it especially if you are pregnant or currently have a junk food diet.

The thing is that there are many stories around about how drinking your own urine (yes, has to be your own) can heal you when all else fails.  And there are even more stories that circulate many of which include urine faithfully applied to skin conditions.  Interesting.

Not only is urine sterile, but it is overflowing with nutrients.  This is because unused nutrients pass through urine, while waste products are defecated and exhaled.

Remember the episode of Black Adder titled “Potato”?  They are meant to travel to the Cape of Good Hope and end up utterly lost.  To survive they drink there own urine.  This left a lasting impression in my mind about survival.

If nothing else it is interesting to consider intellectually what this form of alternative natural healing can do for you.

In Basic and Clinical Immunology (1982) Dr William Linscott showed that when antigen receptors (white blood cells that are now attacking what they shouldn’t) are reintroduced into your body the body will create antibodies to them.  Good to know because if nothing else worked I’d get over my initial reaction and give this a try.  I think I’d have to be fairly sick first.

If you are interested in looking further into this form of alternative healing urine luck because there are a selection of titles available  (oh the fun they would have had thinking these up)…

* The Water of Life

* The Golden fountain

* Your Own Perfect Medicine

* Shivambu Gita Holy Water Therapy

Blessings,

Keri Eagan
Alternative*Insight

Just a quick note highlighting the valuable work of Anne Godfrey.  Music is a little loud, but info still carries.  If you check out the middle piece you can see the alternative natural healing of agnihotra taking place.  (See, I’m not alone!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4q-_LJ3Nfg[/youtube]

Executive summary: Anne Godfrey is an Australian based in India. She witnessed the suffering of Indian women. Another Indian woman from a nearby village was holding mass meditation meetings. Anne’s website rosecircles.com sells rose related products made by the women to empower them when they have little other alternative.  Natural healing occurs when women from all over the globe to support this project by purchasing the products and forming their own healing circle of women.

The suggested day for the women to meet is Thursday – what is it about Thursdays?  Must be a good day for alternative healing – therapy all over the world.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan
Alternative*Insight

If you have experienced Hatha Yoga, or the Art of Living perhaps you have come across the alternative natural healing power of mudras.

I am referring to them as hand poses, but they can also be eye positions, body postures, and breathing techniques that are referred to the same way.  I think of them as anchors (NLP influence) but suspect I’m the only one seeing this form of alternative healing that way.  They are so much more.

See! You have seen them many times... so now you know

Mudras activate and therefore influence different areas of the body and soul.  There are different poses of the hand for anything from asthma, inner peace, and wealth creation or even coming to terms with the past.   They are fascinating little gestures with much power, your very own alternative healing therapy in your hands.

I still don’t understand why they work but they remind me a little of meridians.

So, next time you see someone with there thumb and forefinger together who looks as if they are meditating, now you know a little of what that hand pose is about.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan

Photo Credit

Sending light, drawing symbols.  Crystals. Distance healers as an alternative healing therapy.   Do they make a difference?  I guess they don’t hurt.  If however you are spending money you want to establish the money you spend is worthwhile.

There are many people around offering such services.  Because they are “spiritual” there is a natural reluctance to subject these treatments and services to critical thinking.  When I have voiced concerns in the past I was met with strong opposition with no logical argument or supportive proof.

An small but growing industry has emerged as people seek to fill the chasm that has due to dissatisfaction with churches.  Within this treatments are intuitively made up and there is much divine guidance.  Increasingly it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I propose a simple solution.  Many years ago I worked as a laboratory technician.  The machines would constantly move from reference (or the known substance) to the sample (the unknown).  In this way we could track down mistakes easily because the results for the reference would be noticeably out.

A great way of determining whether or not a spiritual healer is worth contributing time or money to is to set criteria to measure the results by, and limit the time frame.

Don’t be vague and use something like “I feel better”.  This is too general.  Spiritual healers more than any others are difficult to pin down when it comes to results.

I felt something” is a better measure.  Other indicators, such as symbolic dreams are excellent.  If you do want to remember your dreams a combination of B6 and Zinc may be helpful.*  Sometimes we are advised to look for symbols.  This isn’t the best method because we tend to see symbols anywhere if we are actively looking for them.

Serendipity is an awesome experience but one that should be allowed rather than sort out, shouldn’t it?  It wouldn’t be as magical if we go behind the scenes to manipulate the trick.

Ideally alternative healing and spiritual healing should lift our spirits more than our pocket book.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan

<a href=”http://www.kerieagan.org”>Anything Alternative</a>

* Philip Day, Food for Thought

Photo Credit

I was reading an interesting post by numerology expert John Ho yesterday which analyses Micheal Jackson’s date of birth.

What is most interesting for me is that I share some of the same numbers since my birthday is on the same day.  Since I enjoy improving myself with alternative healing (if I can, why not?) I was surprised to recognise some of the traits still obvious in my life.

Immediately I took the information and used it with the alternative healing therapy called NLP process to improve my responses to situations.  Of course it wasn’t a look at my complete birthday, but it was enough for me to take action as once I read the description I recognised certain core traits.

Numerology can be a powerful tool if it is combined with a healing technique.  All I’ve done is recognise that I would prefer a certain character trait be minimised and turned that into a goal, then acted on that goal.

Let your decision be your destiny.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan

<a href=”http://www.kerieagan.org”>Anything Alternative</a>

A few years ago I was attending a conference when a woman entered the room.  I mean, this woman entered the room and it was like all the oxygen had been sucked out.  She had those beautiful eyes like babies have early on and her presence seemed to radiate happiness.

I had never met someone like her and yet I couldn’t tell exactly what made her different.

When I finally spoke with her I asked her what she was doing that made her so happy to which she replied, “Oh, Agnihotra.  It’s an environmental Vedic healing fire that you perform at sunrise and sunset.  You have to have a special pyramid made out of copper to perform it and some cow dung”.

She went on to explain that about is being a Vedic super science for drawing prana (life force) into the environment and is a fantastic alternative healing therapy.  It also nutrilises and purifies the atmosphere.  The ash is highly charged with life force and micronutrients.  So the ash is used in many applications of organic farming for example composting, planting and in water that is sprayed on plants.

Oookay.  Didn’t see that one coming!  I smiled and nodded.  In the car on the way home I kept thinking about how the happiness filled the room around her.  Lets face it that was a weird response to my question.

Months later  I met her again at a healing retreat.  This time she performed a demonstration which didn’t seem to go that well because the dung she was using was still damp (needs to be dry to burn).  Still, willing to give anything a go especially something so unusual I obtained contact details of Lee and Fritz Ringma who own a Homa farm in Australia.

A “homa” farm is one which is built around the fire of Agnihotra.  They are farms combined with the practice of Agnihotra and the use of Agnihotra ash which has healing qualities and is spread across the plants.  This form of alternative healing is highly beneficial to the environment.

I was able to purchase a kit consisting of a copper pyramid of correct proportions, copper tongs, spoon, with detailed printed instructions and a cd so I could learn to practice the mantra uttered at sunrise and sunset.

Thinking I had nothing to loose I set about finding some cow dung.  I felt pretty ridiculous and told everyone I asked it was for my garden.  Still to embarrassing to collect it so I dragged along a friend so I could share the experience : )

It took about three months of repeated attempts before I finally performed it correctly (remember I was learning by instructions and a cd, not the best way of doing this).

Photo courtesy of Lee and Fritz Ringma

Actually it is my favourite alternative healing technique of all since it is the most powerful energy I have experienced.  As well as being the strangest.

I am very dedicated, but not good at the practice of Agnihotra.  The difficulty I have is in obtaining correctly dried cow dung.  Even in New Zealand where there are plenty of cows this can be a bit of a mission.

My curiosity tends to rule me and therefore in the future I intend to experiment with Agnihotra ash as an alternative medicine.  I’ve heard healing in this way brings the body back into ballance.  All I need is to find some dung…

A website you can visit to find out more http://www.agnihotra.com.au/

Blessings,

Keri Eagan

<a href=”http://www.kerieagan.org”>Anything Alternative</a>

Did you seek alternative healing recently?  What were you paying to receive?

Let’s say you went to see a chiropractor.  This is a professional who you trust as an authority in their area of expertise.

Depending on where you go some chiropractors will charge $35 NZD and crunch your back for five minutes and then they are on to the next person, or they may spend 20-30 minutes working on the muscles, adjusting your spine and still charge a similar price for this type of alternative healing.

They receive my money for the value I perceive them to provide.  Perception is based upon their extensive training, association memberships, and years of practice.

Of late there are an increasing number of alternative healing providers supplementing their income by selling other products.

The ethics of doing this are not well debated and for the most part this type of cross selling has been ignored.  As a consumer I find this behaviour to be unprofessional, especially when combined with alternative healing therapy where personal aspects of life may be disclosed.

When I pay for a service I expect the focus to be on treating me.  I expect the provider to work not only within their scope of practice but also within the parameters for which they were hired.  Increasingly I am annoyed by what seems to be a constant barrage of unnecessary supplements from practitioners who feel it necessary to use my paid for session as free advertising for their own promotions.

I make a point of not purchasing products in this way in the hope *sigh* that this will discourage the practice.  I would be interested to know what others think.

Keri Eagan

<a href=”http://www.kerieagan.org”>Anything Alternative</a>

Bandlerism, “The trick is:  You have to feel good for no reason”

Let’s go back to where it all began for me . . . my childhood spent between an Air Force Base and a Mental Hospital.

Mental hospitals can be scary for children.  No matter how an adult explains it will always be difficult for a child to comprehend being surrounded by mental illness.  Unpredictable people making incomprehensible noises.  Sad people.  Strange people.  Drooling people.  Easy to exploit they often suffer alone.

They are entirely dependant on the decisions of those in control.  They are well if someone else decides.  They have no option to go for alternative medicine or healing in another form unless someone offers.

From the time my parents divorced I was raised in and around Lake Alice Hospital.  Lake Alice was nowhere near a lake as far as I could tell.  It is isolated from any of the surrounding townships which are about ten minutes drive away.  The hospital had its own little community.  It even had its own fire engine, Bedford Van painted red with a white roof affectionately known as “Little Flick”.

When I was old enough to fit in a fireman’s uniform, my father (the Fire Chief) and I would dress up in full kit and take Santa to see all the patients outside of NSU, the National Security Unit.  That housed those who were considered dangerous in the extreme so it was heavily guarded.

No forms of alternative medicine healing went on here.  They closest they got to alternative healing was an occupational therapist.

Since we are in New Zealand our Christmas time is in the peak of summer so this was something that was very draining very quickly.  I often wondered why we bothered with most of it since it seemed to me a little insulting that this affection was handed out once a year and the rest of the time (from my youthful perspective) ignored.

There were two streets where staff houses were so we also drove over there for the kids lollie scramble.  And then it was over for another year.

My father would come home and tell me about his day.  Some of the stories made me cry, not because my father had a sad life, but because he interacted with people who had sadness on a daily basis, a different type of sadness when options you would otherwise have disappear.

Being at cause is difficult in such a situation.

There were people in Lake Alice who had arrived with nothing wrong with them at all.  They were just children without family to care for them and somehow they ended up institutionalised even as adults.  Intellectually handicapped were there too.  I don’t know what proportion of the population had psychiatric problems but I know there were psychiatrists, psych nurses like my Dad.

My observation was that their spirits had disappeared under control of others.

So, back to Christmas the highlight of the year!  As we went from villa to villa and giving out MacIntoshes toffees (for years these were the only Christmas sweets) sometimes patients were so engrossed in the television they barely looked at us or even cared we were there.  To think of a human being like this day after day, year after year…. I had to ask myself why?

The obvious costs to the government are housing, medication, and care.  The even greater loss that exists but is rarely considered is the loss of human resources and the purpose of a spirit here on earth.

I wont argue with anyone who says this was “meant to be” or that it was a chosen path or necessary karma which had to happen.  I don’t agree but it isn’t my nature to waste energy in argument when I could put that same energy towards something that will produce an outcome, not agreement.

In sharp contrast I also lived with my mother and stepfather at Ohakea, an Air Force base about fifteen minutes away. This too had its own little community.  Not sure about a psychiatrist (personal are screened on intake) but there was a full time doctor on base.

An air force base especially one in peace loving New Zealand is an uber cool place to hang out.

The people there had more money and travelled by “shuttle” between cities.  Fundraising for air force kids was easy because everyone had money to give.

Then there were the facilities.  A confidence course which was too big for us but we imagined the day we would conquer anyway, the full sized swimming pool, squash courts etc.  All of which were free to use when the Air Force itself wasn’t using them.

Surrounded by mystery and intrigue we allowed our imagination to take hold over the summer and it seemed we had full reign of our base.

At Christmas someone would organise a Fire Truck (not a Bedford van) to hand out presents to the kids.  They also organised a barbecue and games to play.

The really great thing about living on an Air Force base is that it is really safe.  There is a gate under 24 hour guard.  The people are disciplined as a result of the armed forces lifestyle.

Here there is a level of success that comes with being in control of your destiny.  Human resources are valued and efficiently put to good use.

Two groups of people with me in common.  Parts you might say of a bigger picture.  On one side humanity discarded, on the other side a pedestal.  And yet human qualities were there from the beginning in both groups.

This is where my love of alternative medicine healing and alternative natural healing began.

Blessings,

Keri Eagan

<a href=”http://www.kerieagan.org”>Anything Alternative</a>