Several years ago, I read an interview with a 105 year-old-man who still had a part-time job a couple of hours a day.  When asked the secret of his longevity, he replied, "I never smoke more then three cigarettes a day or drink more than two shots of whiskey a night."  Indeed, it does seem like some people are indestructible, no matter what insults they allow on their bodies. My take on this is that longevity walks hand in hand with both life outlook and lifestyle choices.

Dr. Connie has offered natural medicine guidance to her Bay Area patients since 1993.

 I am all for finding new ways to optimize health as we age. Even the smallest efforts can exponentially improve the eventual outcome. Repletion of vitamin D enhances muscle strength and balance, improves stability, prevents falls.  So does working at a standing desk, rather than sitting all day. Expressions of gratitude transform mental and emotional states, as well as world view, and significantly enhances quality of life. Service to others takes us outside ourselves, and allows for sharing of lessons of lifetimes.

One salvation for aging minds is found in neuroplasticity.  Brain cells die and are gone for good, but you can create new neural pathways. That means that, as you do new things, you grow new connections in your brain. This opens possibilities.  What if, when we lost words, we started to draw or paint or play music? We can definitely create new realities as we age. It makes sense, then, the older we get and the more concerned we become, the more we should strive to vary and balance our experience by trying new things.

Exercise areas of your brain that have not been exercised. Pick up a musical instrument if you have always wanted to but never had the time. Immerse yourself in a foreign language or culture. If you're great at spoken languages, try a different kind of language study, as the study of sign language or the language of music. Alternate your crossword puzzles with mathematical and other brain games.

And don't stint on physical exercise. Brain health requires more than nutrients and oxygen. The brain feeds on signals from movement of all parts of your body. Learn to swim if you've never swum before. Bounce on a trampoline. Balance on a zipline. Try yoga or tai chi or chi kung. Or dance. Spend time in the outdoors.

All of these are efforts to maintain and enhance life as we have known it, which is a good thing. There is, however, another question which I ask myself.  In as much as our bodies are programmed to age, could there be some hidden advantage inherent in the aging, and could we capitalize on that advantage?  Perhaps the inability to perform as we once did on physical and mental levels gives us the opportunity and the mandate to tune in to ourselves as we exist in other realities.

Dr. Connie's parents -- Robert and Mary Alice Sutherland (50th anniversary photo)

My brilliant father, after the stroke which took away his mental faculties, described to me an astral world in which butterflies swarmed around my face and wise beings peered lovingly over my shoulder. Watching my mother in the depths of Alzheimers, I felt the pain of her experience from my perspective. My mother, however, was not in her body, but had reverted to a kind of child like being in which only the present moment mattered.

What if, in that other reality of Alzheimers, there are Zen moments? What if the dimming of our physical and mental prowess were to serve as an impetus to dive deeply within? The phrase "older but wiser" comes to mind.  Wisdom, rather than depending on intellectual prowess, entails an awareness of ourselves as spiritual beings. Though we tend to hold to a fierce identification with our minds and our physical bodies, we are neither our brains nor our bodies. We are pure consciousness.  

If in aging, we learn to tap into that pure consciousness, we've gained everything.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered, "Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived."

I was immediately reminded of this passage when I found out about this month's newsletter theme on "Aging."  No matter how many times I read this quote, the potency of his message sends shivers down my spine.  If this isn't a good reminder to be living mindfully, than I don't know what is!

Here in the West, the word "aging" has such a negative connotation.  Our consumer-driven society has developed every kind of aging-antidote imaginable, encouraging us to try our hardest to resist the inevitable.  For some people, getting old brings about a fear of death; for other people, there's major anxiety surrounding the physical and mental changes to come.  For others, yet, there's a looming sense of regret for not accomplishing enough, or wishing things had been different. 

______________________________________________________________

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

                                                               -- John Lennon

______________________________________________________________ 

We are doing ourselves a major disservice in dwelling on the past and/or worrying about the future.  We have no control over what has already happened - the past no longer exists.  We have very little control over what might happen, as the future is just a fantasy until it happens.  This is not to say that we should never think about the past or the future, in fact, it's perfectly healthy to do both.  What is problematic, is letting thoughts about the past and future hijack our ability to experience the present moment - the one moment we can actually experience.

Getting older is one of the only certainties in life.  No matter how much we might like to avoid aging, we can't.  What we can do, however, is remain present, exercise control over our thoughts, and embrace the journey.  If we don't do these things, we will only feel more burdened by aging, or even exacerbate the aging process. To live fully and truly make the most out of our days, we must try our best to cultivate mindfulness - a careful awareness of the present moment.

Nicole Noceto offers Nutrition Education for people 

meeting the challenges of diabetes and cancer.  

Nicole will soon begin offering yoga therapy programs.

Please phone 650-917-1121 to schedule.

There is so much new research that is telling us wonderful things about what is really going on with our health. One of the most liberating things is, please pay attention here...

The genes you inherited are not the determining factor in your health and how you age.

So, if that is true, then what is?

Your beliefs and the culture you have been exposed to are much greater determinants of the genes' expression and your current health.

All those emotions, particularly the ones you tend to repress like anger, sadness, shame and disappointment are the environment that the genes are exposed to. But that stressful environment can also be changed.

Science has shown that Tapping (EFT) greatly reduces the stress hormones which are responsible for so many of the ailments which seem to accompany aging like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

You can change your beliefs by tapping and alter what your particular life environment has predisposed you to.

What tapping and energy medicine strive to do is bring your mind/body to a state of homeostasis. Imagine your body as an orchestra but the violin sounds as if it's playing a different piece. What you want is to have the violin piece adapted to play in sync with the rest of the orchestra. That's when you have true harmony.

Are you ready for some more good news?

Did you know that it's good practice not telling anyone your age?

The good news keeps coming.

It has been proven that our brains can continue to grow even as we age.

It's called brain plasticity. And when we learn new things like a language, a skill, a different way to do things, we keep our brains limber, just as if it were a muscle that we are exercising. 

So, whatever age you are, let go of the number...just live your life. So much is possible now - release any limiting beliefs which keep you from truly living as you age and the world will unfold in ways you can't imagine.

Elijah Free's approach to helping his patients deal with physical pain has been described as bordering on miraculous.  Elijah is also a Master Herbalist who designs and produces all of his own herbal products for his healing practice. He is an herbal product designer for Ridgecrest Herb Company. 

* * *

Elijah Free is a healer, specializing in pain elimination of all types, both mechanical and metabolic. He is a master medical herbalist with numerous specialties, a researcher and product designer for his own label; Earth Friend Herb Co. 

Elijah is the author of "Apprentice to Angels," and a U.S. patent holder for a formula to eradicate fibromyaligia. He was recently granted a 501-C3 from the IRS as a medical study, something almost exclusively for institutions such as Stanford, hospitals or pharmaceutical companies.

Bringourvetsallthewayhome.org is all about Elijah's work with an herbal formula for PTSD that restores the lives to veterans and anyone else with this condition. A documentary video will be available later this fall about this project. A video on fibromyaligia can be seen at rapidpainelimination.com

For more information see HERE. 

Mistletoe is most commonly known as the decorative plant associated with Christmas under which people are expected to kiss. In the wild, it a semi-parasitic plant that grows on trees and is best harvested there, as it can be difficult to cultivate. 

In Europe, especially Germany and some of the northern European countries, it has become one of the most widely used uncon-ventional cancer treatments and prescribed for most cancer patients. The most common commercial preparations are sold under the trade names Iscador and Helixor, and only the European species of the mistletoe plant is used for cancer treatment.

Mistletoe not only stimulates and strengthens the immune system to fight cancer, but it is also directly cytotoxic and helps to extend survival rates and improve quality of life for most cancer patients. Even late stage cancer patients are able to gain a lot of benefit from mistletoe, as it can help decrease pain, increase energy, improve appetite, and elevate mood - it is not a cure for these patients, but it definitely makes the transition much smoother and manageable as they go through their last phase of life. 

Many clinical trials have been done on mistletoe for cancer, and in an overview of 5 retrospective studies, the 10-year survival rate of patients with certain cancers was much higher in those who used mistletoe versus those who did not. For lymphoma/leukemia patients, the 10-year survival rate of those that used mistletoe was 81.4% as compared to 29.3% that did not use the therapy. For breast cancer patients, it was 86.1% versus 61.2%. In malignant melanoma patients, it was 88.5% versus 57.3%. 

And finally, in pancreatic cancer patients who have one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, the 10-year survival rate was 13.6% in those that used mistletoe versus 2.5% who did not. 

Mistletoe is beneficial for all stages of cancer patients, from early stage patients in remission trying to prevent recurrence all the way to late stage cancer patients who are just looking to improve quality of life. With no drug interactions and minimal side effects, mistletoe is a wonderful natural, adjunctive cancer treatment that is directly cytotoxic to cancer cells, boosts the immune system, improves quality of life, and increases survival rates. 

For more information about mistletoe or to try this natural therapy, please contact us at the Hernandez Center at (650) 917-1121.

Many people have already heard about intravenous vitamin C as a complementary cancer therapy to help stimulate the immune system as well as being directly cytotoxic to cancer cells. We are often using this therapy at the Hernandez Center for our cancer patients. What people may not know is that we also have many other IV therapies that are also very helpful in supporting our cancer patients depending on their symptoms and what they need. 

We often give a nutrient IV in between IV vitamin C sessions, which helps to provide more energy and rebuild our patients that may be feeling fatigued or have low blood counts. 

We also have other anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer therapies like IV curcumin (turmeric) or IV silibinin (from milk thistle). 

Another IV treatment that can help cancer patients from losing more weight or to help them gain weight is an infusion that includes a variety of amino acids. 

These are just a few of the protocols we have for our cancer patients. For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact us at the Hernandez Center at (650) 917-1121.

* * *