A couple of months back my “Book of the Month” slot took a back seat and became “Book of the Quarter”.  LOL

I’d picked Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions not really knowing what to expect. There are some great reviews on Amazon – so I was looking forward to an enjoyable read. I found the book uplifting, informative, funny but profoundly sad as well.

Lame Deer was many things in his life including a Lakota holy man.
His colourful life took many twists and turns as he tried to make his way as best he could.

Reading this book really highlights the plight of the indigenous people in the US and Canada over the last couple of centuries.

The deliberate extinguishment of whole cultures and the tremendous difficulties faced by all the children who were forcibly indoctrinated into another life through the education system is tragic.

For these children the consequences of being taken away from their families, their roots cut away in government schools, forbidden to speak their own language, adrift in a hostile world, would colour their whole lives. They were no longer part of the old world, couldn’t speak the language, had lost the traditional beliefs and life framework and yet were not to be accepted in the new world either.

Restricted on reservations, impoverished – as traditional ways withered with each passing generation.

You can’t stand in the way of progress – some would say.

And to some extent that’s true. Probably most of these settlers were driven by desperation as well, having left famine and injustice in their old homelands , trying to carve out a life for their own families, willing to brave all the dangers to try for a new start.

It’s difficult to see how the overall result of this clash of cultures could have turned out differently given the settler’s drive for land, gold and “green frog skins”.

But the ongoing policy which treated these peoples as sub-human and allowed the state to remove the children from their families was totally wrong.

This same attitude to the weak, powerless or different can be seen throughout the world. Here are a few examples of the disregard and contempt for others which is all too common throughout history:-

As early as 1618 children were being forcibly migrated from Scotland to the Americas to work only ending in 1757.

From 1762 onwards – landowners in Scotland evicted thousands from their homes so that they could profit from raising sheep instead. Many of these people would have travelled to the Americas in desperation.

In the first half of the 20th century forced sterilisations as part of eugenics policy were carried out on 65000 people in 33 states in the US

Lobotomies were performed on thousands of unsuspecting mental patients in both the US and the UK from the 1930′s onward.

 
You’ve got to wonder how these people justified their actions to themselves.

When we look at our lifestyle today and compare this to our great grandfather’s time there have been great changes throughout the world. Family life has changed out of all recognition. Old certainties have dissolved. It seems that money rules in our consumer led society. When you see where this love of those “green frog skins” took the American Continent and consider the banking crisis we’re going through it’s obvious Lame Deer wasn’t far off the mark.

But things never stay the same for long – there are lots of positives as well.

The love of money which is personified by the grasping banks and company directors with their excessive bonuses is no longer acceptable to most people. Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, the internet mean that it’s easier for people to see other people’s point of view, to find out about their lives and beliefs.

Lame Deer came from a culture where at every family celebration there would be a “give-away”, it was felt to be shameful to have more than your friends and family. In his disdain for those “green frog skin” dollars he was right on the money.

We all need to earn a crust to keep the wolf from the door but the most important things in life are the ones money can’t buy – belonging, community, kindness and compassion.

Other links:
Wikipedia Information on Lame Deer
Native American Boarding Schools
Saving Native Langauges
To Walk in Beauty: A Navajo Family’s Journey Home
Highland Clearances

Why are some – should that be MOST – New Years Resolutions doomed to fail?

For more years than I care to remember I’ve silently started the New Year with a wish to change in some way or another – usually related to improving one of my many failings.

Be a better person – lose weight – get the accounts ready on time this year!! – stop procrastinating – you know the sort of thing. Beat yourself up why don’t you!

Almost without fail the resolution is unlikely to last to the end of January, discarded almost as soon as the christmas decorations are taken down.

There have only been two resolutions that I’ve kept – so why did those succeed where all the other fail?

Looking at the list above you can see the resolution is coming from a mind-set of “my existing life is lacking something or isn’t good enough”

- be a better person comes from I’m not good enough
- lose weight comes from I’m not good enough because I’m fat
- get the accounts ready on time comes from I’m not good enough because I’m disorganised
- stop procastinating comes from I’m an inadequate person who likes to avoid things

It’s easy to see why they’ve failed – they’re not attractive enough as ideas to keep me coming back to them for any length of time.

Let’s face it I am the way I am because I like to be that way. If I’m overweight and disorganised then it’s because I don’t focus on these areas of my life – I always have other things which are more interesting to me, better ways to spend my time.

Looks like the resolution must be appealing enough to me for it to stand a chance of lasting long enough to take root.

So would it be possible to find a different way to look at one of my constant failed resolutions which would work?

What works for you?

Did you know that ayurvedic foot massage – padabhyanga – stimulates marma points on the feet. Marma points are thought to be connections between the physical body and the energetic or quantum body. The quantum body is thought to be the body’s blueprint.

By treating the underlying quantum mechanical body itself, Ayurveda can bring about changes far beyond the reach of gross physiology….at the quantum level, no part of the body lives apart from the rest.
Deepak Chopra – Perfect Health (Revised Edition)

To find out more about Ayurvedic Foot Massage – check out the upcoming workshop in London.
I’d like to find out more myself so if you know anything about padabhyanga or marma points – why not leave a comment.

Some links to further information
Vedic Society
Image showing the location of the marma points on the foot. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

How many of you dread the snow and ice each winter? Each year it seems that the roads and footpaths are neglected while cash-strapped local authorities prioritise gritting to just the main trunk roads. For short journeys it would be far less stressful to leave the car at home when there’s snow and ice around. Or walk into town and take the bus to work. But even a short walk on untreated surfaces risks a nasty fall.
So when I was checking my site traffic I noticed that one of Footfairy visitors had purchased a pair of these Ice Traction Slip-Ons. What a great idea! – I’m ordering a set each for my family for Christmas stocking fillers and I can’t wait to try them myself.

So you’re not happy with the way you live your life!

Why not do something about it?

If you’re miserable, frustrated, angry or depressed then you owe it to yourself to try to do something about it.

But where to begin?

When you’re feeling low it can be difficult to see where to start.

Before you  rush out to chuck the job, buy the Ferrari or trade in your other half for a newer model …

I suggest you follow these 5 simple steps for the next two or three weeks.

Hopefully then you may find that you have a clearer idea of where to focus to make lasting change in your life – to live  the life you want.

Making changes doesn’t have to be complicated.

There’s no need for a gym membership and you can begin at any age.

But first you need to decide that it’s ok to spend some time focussing on what you want.

That can be a big hurdle for many people – somewhere deep down they feel guilty or selfish when thinking of themselves. They can’t justify putting aside even 30minutes a day for themselves!

It’s never to late to make a plan which aims to take you closer to your dreams, to living a life you will be happy with.

You can start today – it will cost you nothing but your time, thoughts and energy.

The simple steps which follow are not new ideas but by making them a regular part of your day they will:

By taking these simple suggestions and making them a daily part of your routine you will already be changing …. you will be moving towards the future life you want to live.

1. Start the day well

Develop a routine which starts your day off well

Get up earlier than usual – start with 5 – 10 mins for the first few days gradually working up to 30mins as you begin to get used to rising earlier.

2. Meditate Daily

Once a day – meditate.

3. Keep a Dream Journal

Keep a dream journal.   This is to record your wildest, never in a million years, dreams of how life would be in the best of all possible worlds.

Dream big!  If anything was possible how would you like to be? Where would you like to be?  What would you be doing?

The idea behind this is to let your creative powers loose on the future.

Be as specific as possible  - Each day write down a different possible future path.

Give as little or as much detail as you wish. Keep each idea separate so that you can add to it easily later.

The aim is to explore the various aspects of possible futures which appeal to you  – not to decide on one yet.

So be adventurous let those well-hidden dreams see the light of day.

4. Review your Journal

Each night before bed – read through your dream journal – if you’ve been making regular entries you’ll be amazed at some of the ideas which have sprung to life on the page.

Concentrate on those possibilities which appeal to you most.

Pick one  and jot down any other ideas which come to mind. Flesh out the idea.

Gradually over a couple of weeks you will hopefully find that there are one or two favourite themes which recur in many of the possible futures. You will have discarded many of the ideas and will hopefully have identified areas where you want to change deep down.

5. Plan

The dream journal encourages you to be adventurous – to dream big. The review process builds on those dreams which appeal most.

Now it’s the planning stage – take each dream – and make a plan to realise this.

• What would you need to do to achieve this dream state?
• How long would it take?
• Identify steps which would need to be taken – the order they would need to be taken in?
• The timescales etc., etc.

Each night build on the plans you have for each of your favoured potential futures.

Then what?

The early morning routine you’ve developed prepares you to meet the day on your terms.

The time you’ve spent dreaming and reviewing will have helped you to identify where you need to change.

The time you’ve spent planning will have identified what you need to do to start moving in the direction of your dreams.

On the river of life, your dreams are the boat and your plans are the oars.

Once you’ve decided to stop drifting there’s only one option – join me – start rowing!

Looking at life as a journey is a concept which never occurred to me till around 8 years ago. I was in my early fifties and at a friends house when she asked everyone to say a few words about their journeys. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that my reply was brief and not very enlightening to anyone – even me!.

Like many folk I’d never thought about life in that way. But interestingly at around the same time my interest in complementary therapies, healing, the spiritual side of life started to revive. Perhaps something was awakening in me – or maybe I just had more time on my hands – nothing more than that.

A journey usually suggests going somewhere – there’s an aim in mind – routes planned, stop-overs booked.  Well my journey has meandered, sometimes aimlessly, occasionally round in circles.  I’ve always thought that the best things in life can’t be planned but happen spontaneously. Emotionally I still believe this although on a practical level if I’d planned a bit more perhaps I’d be able to retire soon – lol.

Over the years I’ve noticed themes appear and disappear again, interests wax and wane – sometimes popping up many years later for no apparent reason.

When I was younger – say 10-14, the lifestyle of the native American Indian tribes fascinated me. I’m not sure where this interest sprang from – there wasn’t the same media influence then but perhaps I was influenced by TV – the only thing I can think of now is the “The Lone Ranger” – though I’m not aware of my interest being media driven.  I spent hours in the local library reading about the different tribes, art, beadwork, traditions and their way of life. Some of it frightening to a youngster but always fascinating. This may account for my long held dream of travelling across Canada from coast to coast.

So strangely for the last couple of months both the idea of the train journey across Canada and the interest in native American Indians has been resurfacing. I’m reading Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions at present and this has set me off looking at how aboriginal people live now. It’s really disturbing to realise that in this day and age there still seems to be a form of apartheid being practised in Canada.

The land of my childhood dreams has been tarnished by this “new” information about the treatment of these indigenous peoples. Enshrined in Canadian Law – the Indian Act was first enacted in 1876 and has been revised often since then and surely must be against all natural justice.

This must be racist! – can you imagine in the UK having an act called the Scottish Act which laid down in law how you were to be treated differently if you were of Scottish parentage. It’s mind-boggling that this is still in place in this day and age.

Here is a little about the Indian Act from Wikipedia

The Indian Act (“An Act respecting Indians”), R.S., 1951, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. The Indian Act was enacted in 1876 by the Parliament of Canada under the provisions of Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867, which provides Canada’s federal government exclusive authority to legislate in relation to “Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians”. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is administered by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
The act defines who is an “Indian” and contains certain legal rights and legal disabilities for registered Indians. The rights exclusive to Indians in the Indian Act are beyond legal challenge under the Constitution Act, 1982. Section 25 of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms shall not be interpreted as negating aboriginal, treaty or other rights of Canada’s aboriginal peoples Wikipedia

If you want to check out more about the issues as seen from the receiving end check out Shannon Thunderbirds site. For more about the Indian Act – click here

So why has this popped up into my life again after so many years?
Who knows – maybe one of you reading this post will be the one to solve this problem and end this awful state of affairs.

Thought I’d let you know how my pilates adventure is getting along. Well gentle reader you’ll be glad to now that I’m still attending weekly classes on Monday nights. My sillhouette is still gargantuan but I can definitely feel those core muscles contracting and sometimes I kid myself on that a long hidden waistline lurks below my voluminous clothes.
That’s what I tell myself and I intend to carry on till it is fact not fiction!!

Unfortunately my budding meditation class has fallen after a few weeks but only because the class has shifted to Monday nights and something had to give. But every evening before bed I sit crosslegged and try to concentrate on my breathing for 5-10 minutes. Lately I’ve found it more difficult to keep focus so I guess I’ll be looking for another group soon.
I like to think of all the other people who are also sitting meditating at the same time – and the good vibrations which are multiplying – nice thought

Each New Year starts for me with the idea that I’ve got one or two goals that I’d like to accomplish over the next year.

Since free time’s precious I usually pick hobbies or interests which sound enjoyable – like the year I attended a stained glass workshop at Pearsons in Liverpool (really enjoyed that!).

This year though my choices could turn out to be life altering. It’s pilates and meditation for me this year. Pilates because I don’t enjoy exercise classes but want to improve my core strength and meditation because I’m interested in the mind-body connection and want to bring some calm into my life.

I’ve been attending Jane Henderson’s mat based pilates class for three weeks now and must say I am enjoying the class and look forward to attending my fourth class next week. If you live in the Dumfries area check out Jane’s website.

I wouldn’t say I’m finding it easy to engage my stomach muscles because truthfully I’m not. But I’m going to keep at it for at least 12 weeks and if it does have any effect you’ll hear about it first!

At present I’m going to one class a week – that fits in with my schedule so I should be able to keep it up. But I did wonder whether or not I would see any visible change if only going to one class a week. So I was browsing Pilates DVD’s to see if I could find anything which I might be able to do at home. I noticed a book on Standing Pilates: Strengthen and Tone Your Body Wherever You are which looks interesting.

It gets to one of my main issues with exercising – I’m lazy! – you have to change into tight, unflattering clothes, lie on the floor like a beached whale and because it doesn’t fit into your life it’s so easy to give up. Maybe by incorporating some standing Pilates exercises into everyday life there would be a better chance of seeing a visible difference. One for the wishlist I think.

I think the key to starting any new exercise regime is to start at the right level – there’s no point it trying to keep up with advanced exercisers if you’re not fit and haven’t exercised for years but on the other hand you’ve got to feel as if you’re having an effect in order to keep motivated.

So on to my second challenge of the year – Meditation.
For many years I’ve thought of trying to develop a meditation practice but I’ve not really seriously given it a go. So as the famous saying goes – when the student is ready the teacher appears – I’ve started attending drop in meditation classes at Gracefield Art Centre. The classes in Buddhist Meditation are provided by teachers and nuns from the Kadampa Buddhist tradition. They are open to everyone whether Buddhist or not.

Over the last three weeks we’ve been given instruction in three variations of breathing meditation. Each class has two meditations one at the start and one at the end of the class so there’s plenty of practical experience of meditation. In between the practical sessions the teacher explains more about meditation, it’s benefits, what we are trying to achieve and how it can bring about a sense of wellbeing.

The classes are suitable for everyone as the meditations are carried out in a seated position. There’s no need to go every week but as with the pilates I’d like to stick with regular classes for 12 weeks and then review how I feel about continuing. Each day I try to carry out a 5 minute meditation usually before bedtime with varying degrees of success. Sometimes it can be difficult to still the mind especially if you’ve had a busy day.

I don’t know much about the Tharpaland International Retreat Centre or the Kadampa Buddhist tradition yet but they run regular meditation courses in Castle Douglas, Dumfries, Annan, Thornhill and Biggar so they are easily accessible in most areas of Dumfries and Galloway. There are also regular residential meditation retreats held throughout the year. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, founder of Tharpaland has written many books and audio CD’s on meditation a few of which are shown below.

Geshe-la, as he is affectionately called by his students, is primarily responsible for the worldwide revival of Kadampa Buddhism in our time. He is a humble Buddhist monk dedicated to helping people throughout the world find true happiness in their hearts through the practice of meditation.
quote from Tharpaland website

It seems that Kadampa Buddhism is a relatively new group which is spreading in popularity.
For a comparative and informative history of the various Buddhist traditions click here.



Interested in reading about other reflexologists approach to treatment. Then read on.
Glenda Hodge has kindly written an article for Footfairy which gives us an insight into a more metaphysical approach to reflexology treatment. Glenda lives and works in Australia and is the author of Holistic Reflexology – available now.

Glenda has been working as a reflexologist in Australia for the past 12 years and has developed her own method of working which I hope you will find interesting.

Thanks to Glenda for her very interesting article.

Editor’s note: although many of the links on Footfairy are affiliate links (by that I mean that if you purchase from the link Footfairy will receive a small commission) the links on this post are not affiliate links.

The clocks went back on Saturday night – so it was dark as I travelled home after work. Whether this change made me think that winter was on it’s way and this was on my mind as I browsed the t’internet – well whatever the reason I found myself watching a few interesting videos on Youtube on Vitamin D and health.

Vitamin D is produced naturally in the body in the presence of UVB light in sunshine. For those of us in the northern hemisphere where the necessary levels of sunlight aren’t forthcoming – it may well be that many of us are Vitamin D deficient or at least have low levels of Vitamin D. So what! Well the latest research seems to show that this deficiency reduces the effectiveness of our immune system leaving us more vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses especially in the winter months.

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone (not a vitamin) and as such has effects all over the body. One of these effects is to reduce or balance the inflammation effect which normally kicks in during illness. So according to Dr. John Cannell it makes the immune system work smarter not harder. Not only does it help protect you against colds, flus, and other infectious diseases but some of the latest data seems to suggest that having higher levels of Vitamin D in your blood has a protective effect against cancers and some chronic diseases.

If you’ve visited the blog before you’ll know that I’m always interested in healthy living issues and in the simple, practical things we can do to help improve our health.
It’s fascinating to think that 50 years ago my mother was making sure all of her children had their daily spoonful of malt and cod liver oil but that I didn’t follow that path myself with my children. (see note below) I think I was more influenced by the school of thought which held that if you ate a varied diet you shouldn’t need to supplement. Now I’m not so sure! In fact for Vitamin D there doesn’t seem to be much alternative to supplementation especially the further north you live.

Occasionally over the years I’ve wondered if there was a vitamin deficiency element to my own intermittent asthma. The first time I had asthma was in 3 or 4 months after my daughter was born – I was in my thirties. I’d never had asthma before this and I’m not a typical asthmatic now – I only have to be careful when I’ve got a cold or there are allergens in the air. Makes you think.

Take a look at the videos on Footfairy home page. I’ve embedded one of Dr John Cannell’s video’s which was recorded in 2008 -because I liked the simple way he talks about the subject. The second video is from University of California TV channel recorded in 2009 and this looks at the statistics coming out of the latest research. There are loads more videos on Youtube.

The natural way to make sure you have enough Vitamin D is regular exposure to sunshine – now that’s the polar opposite of what we’ve been told for the past few years. For mothers with young children its a worry to make sure they get enough sunshine when the levels of UVB are available without damaging the skin. There’s a a great new invention which will monitor the amount of UV light a child’s had and let them know when they’ve had enough. It’s been designed by a graduate from Edinburgh’s Napier University as part of his postgraduate course – check out the story on the BBC website

The Sunpoints wristband monitors the amount of UV light a person is exposed to and gives them a signal to go indoors once they have had enough. Fantastic idea and it looks great too!

Note about cod liver oil
According to some sources cod liver oil doesn’t provide the best way to supplement with Vitamin D as it also includes Vitamin A which competes with the Vitamin D and decreases its absorption. The suggested supplement is Vitamin D3.