We (Bill and Gina) met Sarto at the Waterloo Gardens "Dynamic Living" Wellness Expo back in early May, and were immediately taken by this tall, soft-spoken architect from Philadelphia. (And, I, Gina, especially enjoyed his appreciation for my graying hair... :)

His story, or rather, his wife's, is nothing short of remarkable. And worth paying attention to.

Sun Hee Lee was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer, with metastasis to the chest cavity causing a pleural effusion (fluid build up) and a collapsed lung. About 80% of women with this condition are gone within one year. Sun Hee is now over four years from diagnosis and living a normal life.

They attribute her complete recovery to implementing a combination of medical approach, and the "Trinity of Natural Healing" (Nutrition - namely, Macrobiotics and Gerson; detoxification; and a mind and spirit program), beginning the day after her diagnosis.

Because cancer is a reality that will affect nearly every family in the world, this talk and this book are critically needed resources for every home. This inspiring story shows that cancer is not a death sentence, even if diagnosed in the advanced stages.

We invite you to join us on Saturday, June 9th from 1:00-2:30pm to hear Sarto tell his family's story.

Healthy refreshments will be served and the book will be available for purchase.

This is a free event, but please RSVP (610-594-3656, or info@lionvillehealth.com) as seating is very limited.

~~~~~~~~~~~

About the author: Sarto Schickel is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania. He is a partner in a Philadelphia architecture and design firm and a passionate advocate for natural healing through organic, whole foods nutrition. Sarto grew up on a dairy farm with twelve brothers and sisters. He embraced a healthy plant-based diet twenty-seven years ago. Sarto and his wife, Sun Hee, have two daughters.

Praise for "Cancer Healing Odyssey": "Cancer Healing Odyssey tells a remarkable story of healing from ovarian cancer. Did the Gerson method play a role? yes. Macrobiotics? yes. Medical intervention? yes. But the main ingredient in Sun Hee’s recipe for healing was love...the love of many friends and family, but mostly the love of her husband, Sarto, who never gave up and never lost hope.”  
 ~ Christina Pirello, Emmy Award-winning host of television series, Christina Cooks, and bestselling cookbook author

If you've helped yourself to a beverage at the Center in the last couple of months, you may have noticed an oddly-hand-painted purple pig stationed on the tea table.

The attached card gives a little bit of her story.

But I (Gina) will tell you how she ended up here.

A couple months ago, I was invited by a friend to attend an evening of Chai, Chant and & Charity.. a little gig hosted once a month by Jai Yoga in Haverford. Every third Thursday, they invite a bunch of people for a kirtan and some homemade, kick-butt decaf chai, while enlightening the audience to a small local charity.

This evening's cause was Adopt-a-Pig, a group started in April by a father and daughter in Glenmoore, shortly after learning of her cancer diagnosis. They wanted to find a way to comfort families who suddenly found themselves in a similar situation, and were facing the first frightening days of chemotherapy treatments.

Through donations, the group puts together a "Coping Kit" with the comforts of home - little things that the families might not think to bring during the camp-out in the hospital: personal care items, snacks, even an iPad. They've also organized art therapy programs, family events and even built a 'parent room' at the Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware.

I picked up this little purple pig at the event, mostly for a certain friend of mine, who knows this experience all too well, as well as having a thing for the color purple.

So, if you care to share your loose change for the cause, we'd appreciate it. When the pig gets full, we'll send the money to the group and fill her up again!

Thank you in advance...!

This seems to be a question pondered by many at this time of year!

Spring is a time of renewal and starting fresh after a long winter of being less than active and well, dormant. The greening that is now taking place in nature should carry over to your own plate.

Now is a great time to cleanse your liver and kidneys and prepare them for the light, uplifting foods available to us in the upcoming months.

There is no need for a cleanse to come in a box; with a little help you can add naturally detoxifying foods to your diet everyday.

Here are my top ten for detoxification and the “Cleanse Everyday” diet:

1. Fresh Fruit: high in liquid to washout toxins, easy to digest, high in antioxidants, vitamin c and fiber

2. Greens: Fill your fridge with blue-green algae, wheatgrass, Kale, Spinach, Spirulina, Alfalfa, Chard, Arugula and other organic greens. High in chlorophyll, rids the body of environmental toxins and aids the liver in Detox

3. Lemons, Oranges, Limes: Enzymes for digestion to flush out toxins, aids liver in cleansing

4. Garlic: One of the best ways to stimulate the liver into producing important detoxifying enzymes.

5. Broccoli Sprouts: Extremely high in antioxidants, stimulates Detox enzymes in digestive track. The sprouts are more effective than full grown broccoli

6. Green Tea: Full of antioxidants, washes out toxins with liquid content, but also contains special antioxidant call catechins, known to increase liver function

7. Mung Beans: Used for thousands of years to Detox, easy to digest, absorbs toxic residue on the sides of the intestinal walls

8. Raw Vegetables: Best for juicing. Onions, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, cauliflower. A good combination of these will help liver purge toxins. High in naturally occurring sulfur and glutathione.

9. Seeds and Nuts: Easily digestible. Flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds. Excellent source of good proteins and fats. Two of the macronutrients we need for survival.

10. Omega 3 Oils: Use hemp, avocado, olive, flax oils to lubricate the intestinal walls, allowing toxins to be absorbed by oils and eliminated by body.

By adding these beneficial foods to your diet, your body will begin to thank you.

A great way to ensure you are getting most of these nutrients is by making a green smoothie in the morning. You can include raw veggies, leafy greens and fresh fruit to start your day.

Start to practice mindful eating; step away from yourself a few moments out of the day to think about how the food you are eating is affecting you. Think about being grateful for the wonderful choices you have available to you, why not make them good for your body?

While you are in a cleansing state of mind, consider eliminating or limiting dairy, processed foods, animal products and sugar. Do as much as you are comfortable with.

We all have our own specific needs; this is why one diet will not work for everyone.

Most importantly, remember to drink plenty of clean, filtered water to aid in the Detox process as well as getting enough sleep for rejuvenation. Enjoy!

Last week, I wrote a post giving a brief tutorial in how Traditional Chinese Medicine describes spring within a larger seasonal cycle of relationships.

Since TCM theorizes that these seasonal rhythms are also manifest in the human body - as we are inextricably bound to nature - knowing how to be in harmony with these changes will allow us to navigate them with ease.

For example, take a moment to reflect on whether you notice anything in yourself - your body, your emotions, your behavior, your cravings - at this time of the year. Typical things might include fatigue, restlessness, heightened mood, irritability, colds or flu, feelings of overwhelm, creativity, excitement, arousal.

If you remember the elemental associations from the last post, we can see some parallels between our bodies and what's happening in nature:

Spring = upward and outward rising energy, exemplified in green shoots or tree sap. This is one of the strongest elemental energies, and how that might manifest in our body would be in the form of bursts of energy, creativity, 'spring cleaning' jags, etc. If the well (again referring to the season of Water, or Winter before Spring) was not adequately replenished, we might also feel fatigue, or be more susceptible to illness.

So, what can we do?

For the body:

Adopt the 'wu chi' position. This is a stance in qigong or martial arts, in which you stand in a relaxed, yet stable position - feet shoulder width apart, with an awareness of the 'bubbling well' point on the bottom of the feet strongly connected into the earth. With the knees slightly bent, and the pelvis relaxed and loose, you can immediately feel a sense of grounding, and yet also a readiness for whatever may come. As a further mediation, you can also try visualizing roots digging into the earth from your feet... both deep and wide. Tree energy is upward and outward, but needs strong roots in order to maintain balance.

Take full breaths. 'Metal', as described in the last post, is the 'controlling' element of Wood. Metal is associated with the Lungs, and so taking deep breaths into the body will also help balance that upward rising energy ... which can sometimes manifest as frustration, irritability, neck and shoulder tension and headaches.

Rotate and scrunch shoulders, as well as slowly turn the head from side to side. Again, this is to release that strong energy in the upper body.

Stretch. Wood or Tree energy is manifested in the ligaments and tendons, and as you can imagine, is about being flexible like a tree.. able to bend without breaking. Stretching feels particularly good after the contraction of winter, and side stretching helps to activate the liver and gall bladder, which are most active at this time of year.

Hara massage. The 'hara', or abdomen, is an area that affected by stress and tension, though in our culture, we rarely think to massage is. It can be tender and uncomfortable at first, but hara massage can create a great sense of relaxation and centeredness, as well as improve digestion. Doing this while lying in bed at night, with the knees bent will make it more comfortable, and paying special attention to the area just below the rib cage (left side - stomach, right side, liver/gall bladder) can bring immediate effects.

Eat sour fresh foods. Sour is the associated taste for spring, as naturally sour food stimulate and support liver and gall bladder activity as they take on the work of cleansing from the excesses of winter. Also, fresh, spring greens and sprouts are appropriate for the diet at this time.

For the mind:

Make lists. Metal, the controlling element, can be seen in the form as 'pruning shears' for the overwhelm of spring growth. I know, for me, when the warm weather hits, I immediately want to run out and take on the world, leaving me to collapse in an armchair about 10 minutes later just thinking of all there is to do. Having a plan of action, and directing the energy can help keep it all from reaching overwhelm status. And likewise...

Spring cleaning.. also a means of pruning, and releasing what is no longer needed in order to start fresh. I stated that the lungs are the organ of Metal, but so is the Large Intestine, with its function of elimination. Open the windows, sweep out the dust, and let the sunshine in!

For the soul:

Draw from your Source. The 'nourishing' element of Wood is Water... which can be seen as feeding the roots and seeds under the ground throughout the Winter in order to ready them for Spring. I also think of Water as a metaphor for Source, like a well. When the well is filled, it can feed and nourish creativity and inspiration, which are Wood traits. When you feel wrung out and overextended from spring activity, return to the source that replenishes you, whatever that may be: a walk in the woods, a meditation pillow, a spiritual practice, a favorite book... some place or activity to sink your roots into.

Well, I hope this helps...! Feel free to share comments and further suggestions below!

Our bodies, being a part of nature, whether we care to admit it or not, are attuned to the rhythms of the seasons.

They respond to the changing energies of the earth - with little respect for the calendar, or agendas of man and groundhogs.

If you've ever maintained a garden, you know that there are appropriate activities for certain times of the year. You plant bulbs in the fall because they need the cold, stagnant period to sprout in the spring, and you plan water usage carefully during dry spells.

It's no different with our bodies. And when you can get a sense of the seasonal appropriateness of what your body is doing and why, you can apply the right kind of nourishment and activities to stay healthy.

How TCM describes it.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the energies that govern the universe are described in terms of yin and yang - a 'classification of duality' and an observation of how everything in nature moves between one relative extreme (is that a contradiction?) to another: day into night, back into day, etc.

To further differentiate the cycle, this duality is broken down into 'five transformations' - each with an associated season and 'element', as well as organs, emotions, directions in which the energy moves, and more. It is believed that the characteristics of these seasons are reflected in the human body.

Looking closer at Wood.

The 'element' associated with Spring is Wood, or Tree ('mu' to be exact). Makes sense, right? The color is green, the organs are Liver/Gall Bladder (think spring cleansing), the structure part of the body is ligaments and tendons (think of the flexibility of a green branch), the direction of energy is upward and outward, the emotion is anger (frustration, irritability), the vocal sound is shouting, and the taste is sour.

I also like to bring in the qualities of Creativity, Inspiration, Flexibility, Tenacity, and Ease of Transition. If you can picture the burst of energy needed for a tiny little seed to break free of its casing and make its way upward through frozen ground to the sun, you can get a feel for that energy in your own body.

But wait, there's more! The Shen/Ko Cycle.

These transformations are not static... they are indicative of relationships. And the health of relationships is based on harmony and balance. There are two main cycles of relationship between these five phases: the Shen, or nourishing cycle, and the Ko, or controlling cycle.

In the Shen cycle, one element 'nourishes' the next... if it is healthy, the next element will also be healthy. If it is weak, and fails to nourish, the next element will also be lacking. Conversely, the element in the Ko position is intended to keep the controlled element from getting too strong, but without controlling too much.

So, let's look at Spring again, in relationship to the Nourishing element of Water (winter) and the Controlling element of Metal (autumn).

Water: The season of Water is Winter, the organs are the Bladder and Kidneys, and the energy is downward. The physical structure is the bones. So you can see, we're talking about depth... the tendency of water is to sink to the lowest point, the deepest structure. And the activity of winter is conducive to stillness, contemplation, and the replenishment of resources. The metaphorical well, as it were. You can see how Water, when tended to properly, can nourish the roots and provide enough energy for the exuberance of spring. But when the well is dry, it can be lead to depletion (think of kidneys and adrenal fatigue) and the transition into rising energy of spring can be fraught with fatigue and illness.

Metal: The element of Autumn, of the Lungs and Large Intestines, and with a direction of inward and downward, Metal has the quality of clarity, of precision and control... of editing and pruning, like garden shears. It's a natural balance to the rush of rising spring energy... keeping it in check, and balancing the potential overwhelm. Sprouts pop up everywhere, and containing the energy is necessary to focus on the plants that will grow to completion, but too much pruning will have the opposite effect.

So, what do we do with this information? How do we put it into practical application?

Tune in tomorrow....!

There are very few people these days who leave my office without hearing me giving either a recommendation for a couple qigong exercises as homework, or a invitation to my class.

I wasn't always this pushy.

I learned the "Eight Pieces of Brocade" in shiatsu school 7 years ago, and while I practiced here and there, and occasionally mentioned it to clients - even taught the first 12-week course about it - it was only after I had an amazing experience of pain relief* did I really begin to take this stuff seriously.

And even though I know I'm not the only one, I also know it's much more than that.

Every time I practice it, alone or with others, I find even greater depth within this deceptively simple set of exercises.

The principles seem basic: 'regulation' or discipline of the body, breath, mind, qi and spirit. And yet these principles can be applied to life at large.

And then... there's the effect on the fascia. The three-dimensional web of elastic connective tissue that interfaces with everything in the body: skin, muscle, organ, bone, nerves, brain... the unifying principle, in my opinion. And the structure of the body that can be directly affected through the five regulations mentioned above.

It's for this reason why I believe qigong is an amazing and profound tool in working with stress and chronic pain relief, in ways that stretching, meditation, massage, and even shiatsu can't always do.

More to come. Believe me.

*My story: For much of 2010, I was dealing with some chronic neck and shoulder tension on the left side. Many times, this tension escalated into vertigo spells that would last for weeks, and sometimes migraines. I could tell that it was from tight muscles, as well as a possible misalignment in the upper cervical vertebrae, but massage and chiropractic only brought temporary relief.

Even though I was teaching the qigong class, admittedly, I was not practicing it daily. As soon as the first class ended, I thought, well, that's hypocritical, and it's time to practice what I preach. So, I started doing the routine every morning. On about the 23rd straight day, I was going through one movement which involves slowly turning the head from side to side... typically feeling limitation and painful tension whenever going to the left. Suddenly, on about the 7th repetition, the tension disappeared. Nothing huge and profound ... it was just .... gone. It felt normal. The range of motion was the same on both sides, and there was such a noticeable 'absence' of tension, it made me almost giddy.

This area is a weak spot for me... it may always be prone to tightening up, but that intensity has never returned, and even when it starts getting tense again, a few qigong moves and it's back to normal.

... and yet, as a case in point, some of us are starting to feel the stirrings of spring due to the unseasonably warm weather.

Usually, near the end of February, many people begin to feel a sense of restlessness, agitation, irritation, 'cabin fever' as it were... even if there's snow on the ground, the itch to get outside become apparent.

Or the dreaded spring colds and flus start to surface.

It is quite possible that our bodies are feeling the shift in the seasons before our calendars acknowledge it, and this is perfectly natural.

Before the crocuses and tulips become visible in the ground, the bulbs and seeds are stirred into life, summoning great stores of energy accumulated during the late summer and fall in order to sprout through their casings and make their way through frozen ground up to the sunlight.

This same vigorous energy is within our own biology, and it can manifest in different ways for different people - though rarely is it acknowledged for being appropriate and natural.

Oriental medical theories believe that the liver and gall bladder are at their height of activity this time of year, and often why cleansing is recommended, to support the body in releasing the accumulations of the winter season ... spring cleaning, if you will. And it is our inherent 'spring cleaning' mechanism that often brings on whoppers of a head cold, or other illness, in the body's attempt to clean house.

We invite you to join us on Sunday, February 26th as we present a mini-symposium on how to navigate the shift into spring with ease.

Please visit our events page for more details!

(contributed by Natalie Lawton, M.Ed. Certified Health Coach)

The body is amazing.

It knows when to go to sleep, wake up, go to the bathroom, maintain 98.6 degrees and tighten the eyes when the light gets bright. It knows the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth. our heart never misses a beat. Your lungs are always breathing. The body is a super-computer and it never makes mistakes.

Look at the foods, deficits and behaviors in your life that are the underlying causes of your cravings. Many people view cravings as weaknesses, but really they are important messages meant to assist you in maintaining balance.

When you experience a craving, deconstruct it. Ask yourself, what does my body want and why?

The eight primary causes of cravings are:

1. Lack of primary food. Being dissatisfied with a relationship or having an inappropriate exercise routine, (too much, too little or the wrong type), being bored, stressed, uninspired by a job, or lacking a spiritual practice may cause emotinal eating. Eating can be a substitute for entertainment or to fill the void of insufficient primary food.

2. Water. Lack of water can send the message that you are thirsty and on the verge of dehydration. Dehydration can manifest as a mild hunger, so the first thing to do when you get a craving is drink a full glass of water. Excess water can also cause cravings, so be sure that your water intake is well balanced.

3. Yin/yang imbalance. Certain foods have more yin qualities (expansive) while other foods have more yang qualities (contractive). Eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang causes cravings in order to maintain balance. For example, a diet too rich in sugar (yin) may cause a craving for meat (yang). Eating too many raw foods (yin) may cause cravings for extremely coked (dehydrated) foods, or vice versa.

4. Inside coming out. Often times, cravings come from foods that we have recently eaten, foods eaten by our ancestors, or foods from our childhoods. A clever way to satisfy these cravings is to eat a healthier version of one's ancestral or childhood foods.

5. Seasons. Often the body craves foods that balance the elements of the season. In the spring, people crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the summer, people crave cooling foods like fruit, raw foods and ice cream, and in the fall people crave grounding foods like squash, onions, and nuts. During winter, many crave hot and heat-producing foods, like meant, oil and fat. Cravings can also be associated with the holidays for foods like turkey, eggnog, and sweets.

6. Lack of nutrients. If the body had inadequate nutrients, it will produce odd cravings. For example, inadequate mineral levels produce salt cravings, and overall inadequate nutrition produces cravings for non-nutritional forms of energy, like caffeine.

7. Hormones. When women experience menstruation, pregnancy or menopause, fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels may cause unique cravings.

8. De-evolution. When things are going extremely well, sometimes a self-sabotage syndrome happens. We crave foods that throw us off, they creating more cravings to balance ourselves. This often happens from low-blood sugar and may result in strong mood swings.

(Need some help in de-constructing your cravings? Contact Natalie at 610-564-4548, or visit her website to download a consultation form.)