Japanese Acupuncture, Phoenix, Arizona
Why Awareness
Because without it, love turns to hate, and the mind and the thinking would be out of control.
Dalai Lama
Because he (man) 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 doing to die, and then dies having never really lived.
On Awareness
Deryck Cooke on Mahler and His Symphony
“It was intense awareness of nature that was the inspiration of the Third Symphony…such magnitude that it actually mirrors the whole world. When he had almost completed it, he wrote in a letter to the great dramatic soprano Anna Bahr-Mildenburg: ‘Some passages of it seem so uncanny to me that I can hardly recognize them as my own work…’ …He did in fact feel like an instrument that was being played on by some unknown power: as he said in another context, ‘We do not compose; we are composed.’”
The Heiligenstadt Testament
During the composition of Symphony No. 2, Beethoven realized that deafness was upon him, and contemplated suicide. He wrote the now famous Heilgenstadt Testament: “…someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing or someone heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended me life—it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me. So I endured this wretched existence–…Recommend virtue to your children; it along, not money, can make them happy. I speak from experience; this was what upheld me in time of misery. Thanks to it and to my art, I did not end my life by suicide–…” Beethoven went on to compose the Third Symphony and the rest of his works. But the Second Symphony was the testament to live and you can hear his defiance especially in the first and the last movements. (I think 2nd Symphony played by Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the best to this date.)
Quotes from NY Times (Feb. 26, 2013)
Caffeine’s Link to Birth Weight
“New research suggests that drinking caffeinated drinks during pregnancy raises the risk of having a low birth weight…….they do suggest that pregnant women should put their caffeine consumption ‘on pause,’ or limit it.”
Too Many Pills in Pregnancy
“drug use during pregnancy have ignited new concerns among experts…A growing number of pregnant women naively assume safety, self-medicated with over-the-counter drugs that once were only sold by prescription…The FDA estimates that 10% or more of birth defects result from medications taken during pregnancy…’Many over-the-counter drugs were grandfathered in with no studies of their possible effects during pregnancy.’…A study, published online last month in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, so-called ‘safe lists for medications in pregnancy’ found at 25 web sites revealed glaring inconsistencies and sometimes false reassurance or alarms based on inadequate evidence.’…Among medications a woman should be certain to avoid, in some cases starting three months before becoming pregnant, are isotretinoin (Accutane) for acne, valproic acid for seizure, lithium for bipolar disorder, tetracycline and ACE, and angiotensin receptor antagonists for hypertension, Dr. Dolan said.”
About Vitamin D by Gene Bruno, MS, MHS
UV light converts a form of cholesterol under the skin into vitamin D. It helps absorption of calcium and phosphorus (as well as magnesium) and helps to promote healthy bones. Other functions are: it inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of cells such as cancer, stimulates the differentiation of cells, is a potent immune system modulator, plays a role in insulin secretion under conditions of increased insulin demand. Outright vitamin D deficiency is present in 41.6% of the US population. Vitamin D3 is more active than D2 and in fact D2 potency is less than one third that of D3. Commercially, D3 is derived from yeast and D2 from lanolin (from sheep) or fish oil. Vitamin D may help reduce inflammation, prevent susceptibility to chronic bacterial infections. It acts as a chemopreventative agent against several malignancies including cancers of the prostate and the colon.
© copyright: Japanese Acupuncture, 2016
