Fields of Flowers - A Homeopathic Remedy Story

Hi All,

I hope you've all had a good week.  I had a short week after taking a 3 day weekend.  It's been busy but good.  

I wanted to share this story with you.  Full disclosure - I'm a rep. for Energetix (an herbal and homeopathic remedy co.).  I have found these remedies helpful and a great alternative to standard nutritional supplements and an excellent alternative sometimes to traditional medicine.  

Below is a blog post from the Energetix website.  It's written around a lady's personal recovery story involving the flower essence remedy, Fields of Flowers(FOF).  FOF is a flower essence blend that's designed to help you release the toxic emotions and anxiety during the healing process.  

The thing I love most is that these flower essences and homeopathic and herbal remedies can be so helpful, without any harmful side effects.  

So here's the story written by Christine Cronin, PhD.  It's a very personal and intense story from a lady who was on hand, during the Boston Marathon bombing, and of her healing afterward.  

Title: Marathon Monday and Fields of Flowers

Marathon Monday started as a happy, exciting day. The day had arrived, a day we had been expecting for months. After hours, months, miles and the soreness and tiredness of training,our  son would cross the finish line of the famed Boston Marathon.

Getting off the train in Boston, we decided to walk through the park; the weather was beautiful. We had decided to settle in as close to the finish line as possible. It was getting really busy and people were already five or six deep as the first wheelchair athletes were coming down the street. We found a perfect spot on the right side of the Marathon Sports Store enclosure. We were tracking our son’s run and knew that he should be arriving between 2.45 and 3pm. We had been standing there for more than two and a half hours when our daughter asked if we should move, go where the crowd was a little less dense and get a spot at the barrier to get better pictures. We moved…

The next 60 seconds changed all of our lives. The loud explosion left us stunned and wondering what could possibly have happened. Before we could have another thought about it, the second blast ripped through the air, close by on our right, making the ground shake and fear took a grip on our heart.

What came next is better left untold. Cameras were rolling and captured it all for the world to see. The images that are imprinted on my brain are better left alone, to hopefully fade as time goes on. Shock set in, as well as a deep visceral need to find my son, see him and touch him, to know that he was unharmed. He managed to call us later on a borrowed cell phone; he had been stopped right before the half-mile stretch to the finish line.

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions, the very high highs of knowing we are all safe and the very low lows of knowing so many are not. The feelings of disbelief, looking at the pictures and the reality of what took place where we had been standing just a few minutes before the blast. The immense gratitude and thankfulness, but the “why them and not me” questions that are so haunting. The lack of control over our emotions, and the surprise crying fits that still come on for no apparent reason, the amazing support that friends, colleagues, neighbors or complete strangers have shown to us.

Dr. Patti Bartsch, a colleague of mine, sent my family bottles of Fields of Flowers. There was so much anxiety around us, guilt and emotional pain. Sleep became elusive, or riddled with nightmares. I took drops during the day, when images surfaced at random times and at night when trying to go back to sleep after nightmares woke me up with a racing heart. I carried that bottle with me wherever I was and, little by little, the anxiety eased, the nightmares mostly stopped. As a holistic practitioner, I help my clients deal daily with many issues, stress being one of them. These past weeks have brought me to a place I had never been before, having to use all the tools at my disposal to just get through the day. It has been humbling and an incredible learning experience, one that cannot be learned in a book. This time, I was the one using the remedies, on myself and my family. Healing took on a much more personal turn. Fields of Flowers helped us all deal with emotions that felt overwhelming at times. Restoring peace in our hearts and in our minds has allowed us to focus on helping others do the same.

Very nice.  I'm proud to provide herbals, homeopathics, etc, from Energetix.  In my own life we try to use some supplements to maintain good health and some of the remedies when necessary also.

If I can assist with anything from Energetix or answer questions, let me know.  I'm happy to help.

I hope you all have a great day and wonderful weekend and do something nice for someone this weekend.

Peace,

Tom

Energetix

www.goenergetix.com

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Thoughts on Meditation

Hi All,

Hope your week is going great.  I'm having a pretty good week here in beautiful Phoenix, AZ.  The weather is cooling down a bit (low 100s), and even cooler at night.

Lately the topic of meditation has come up several times.  Just last night a friend was telling me about his new practice of meditation that his girlfriend helped him start, and how it's really helped him to be more calm and relaxed.  It's so good for that.

I've been thinking about starting a Wednesday afternoon meditation class/group.  I rent space to run my massage/therapy biz at a place called Beyond Today Co., here in Phoenix.  I was thinking a group would be great to help people who would like to try meditation, but feel like they can't on their own.  It would also be a good place for experienced meditators to come and share about their meditation practice, what they do, how it's going, etc.  And - we'd also do a group meditation every week as well.

So why would you want to meditate?  There are lots of reasons; better health for one; Physically and mentally.  For me personally it's a recharge and a reset.  It gives me a good recharge of energy - helps me really get going on as little as 15 to 20 minutes of deep rest or meditation.  Thomas Edison was famous for his 15 minute recharging "power naps."

It also is like a "reset," for the body, or like a "reboot."  When you reboot the computer it resets everything, helps all the little programing that get out of whack, get back into place and running at more efficient levels.  Meditation does that for the body and mind.  It calms you down, lowers blood pressure, and relieves stress.  It also helps in the same way mentally to quiet the mind chatter down and help you feel more peaceful.  Life is hectic and fast paced - when we get stressed out even the little things can start to bother us, and then we may even obsess about them.  Meditation helps to quiet that down.  After meditating I'll usually wonder why I even gave any of those crazy thoughts energy to begin with.

So what can we do to start?  It can be so healing to just start with 15 minutes a day of relaxing and quieting down the body and mind.  You can talk to yourself with that inner voice - tell yourself, guide yourself to relax.  Relax your body a piece at a time and get into a nice breathing rhythm.  Focus on your breathing and when you get distracted by some passing thoughts, come back to your breathing and focus on it.  Everything is connected...if you are thinking good thoughts, you'll naturally feel better.  If you're thinking about all the junk going on in the world and obsessing about things that are out of your control...it will make you feel worse.  That's just common sense right?  So when you meditate, you take the focus off of the negativity and impulsive thoughts - and into a good peaceful direction.  Simple.

Now I know some folks that may be concerned that meditation is related to a spiritual practice or religion that they don't want to be affiliated with.  Yes, there are meditation practices that are taken from various religions.  However - you can create your own practice, just like I described above.  People of all walks of life know that taking a quick power nap, or closing their eyes and resting for a little bit can be very rejuvenating.  That's meditation, it's just not labelled as meditation.  However, the results are the same.

So if you can, take a few minutes out of your day and take a little rest.  Relax your body and mind.  Who knows, it may help keep you out of the doctors office or help you feel a little more balanced.

Take care everyone and have a wonderful weekend.  Be kind to others...and be nice to yourself.  Treat yourself with the same kindness that you would extend to your friends.

Peace,

Tom

Holistic Therapy Solutions, LLC
http://holistictherapysolutions.weebly.com/

Dylan - Part II

Hi All,

Wow!  What a great day here in Phoenix, AZ today.  We've got a nice gentle, steady rain coming down this morning.  Beautiful.  The summer in the desert has been long and hot, so this is a nice change.  I hope you're having as good a day wherever you're at.

So I got up early today to get an early start and be productive.  The first thing I wanted to do, is finish the Bob Dylan artwork.  (I know it's not really a priority - but - that's how it goes sometimes).

So last week I did a pencil sketch caricature of Bob Dylan.  It was fun and I liked it.  Just a fun sketch for myself.

Original pencil sketch

So after posting the sketch, I decided to continue to work on the pic a little and see where it went.  So I took it into Photoshop and started working with Black strokes.  I did this on the same layer as the sketch.  So I made a "pen and ink" with pencil.  Well, I liked it and I liked the effect.

finished color illustration

I thought about adding color and didn't want to affect the pen or pencil drawing - and I couldn't color on a layer below.  So I used the "darken" setting in the brush tool Mode.  It allowed me to add color to the image of Bob Dylan, without affecting the dark line work.  By this time I'd also "cut out" the Dylan image, and set it as the top layer.  Then I started coloring in the background layers underneath it.  I think the background is comprised of about 5 or 6 layers.  I keep adding layers when working backgrounds and playing with brushes, colors, and layer opacity levels.  Fun stuff!!

So that's the Dylan.  A fun little project.  Hope you like it.  All you out there - have a great week.  Enjoy what you're doing - every moment, and be good to yourself and those around you too.

Peace,

Tom

New Office at Beyond Today Co.

Hi All,

As most of you know, I'm an artist and designer and have been for many years.  I'm also a holistic healthcare practitioner.  I've been doing massage and other therapies for a while now after I graduated from the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts with an Associates Degree in Holistic Healthcare.

Recently, my friend and colleague, Susan Webber, introduced me to the folks at Beyond Today Co (BT).  BT is a business run by Rod Lyman and Cleo Daily where Rod performs holistic therapies and massage, and they also hold classes and events regularly.  Susan and I were looking to use their classroom for the smoking cessation group we're putting together.  Well, one thing let to another - and I and Susan ended up renting a room to work out of.

A view of the Beyond Today Center near I-17 and Cactus Blvd in Phoenix

Beyond Today (BT), is a great place to work out of.  There's a number of therapists that provide a wide range of therapeutic body work, energy work, and intuitive services.  The atmosphere is nice and peaceful as well.

By the front reception area, there's a little store where you
can purchase a variety of essential oils or other products.

I'm working every Tuesday and Thursday at BT.  I'm also working some Wed and Sat - call or schedule thru schedulicity for an appointment.

My room on left, hallway on right

Very good energy here.  The place is clean and the room is nice size for doing therapy work.

The classroom.  It can hold over 70 people - and they've already filled
it for events.

There's a large classroom at BT as well.  Tonight Susan and I start our first Tobacco Freedom smoking cessation group.  It's a group for quitting tobacco that includes the use of hypnotherapy.  It's going to be awesome!!  Early next month Rod and I are going to teach a class together.  It'll be a Reflexology and Acupressure for the hands class.  He'll teach the Acupressure part and I'll do the Reflexology.  They're bringing in Yoga soon and they have a number of events and classes continually.

My room - massage table and therapy chair

So call or come by soon.  Book now for a massage, reflexology, or other body/mind/energy work.  See you soon.

Beyond Today from across the lake

For more information check out the website for:

Beyond Today

my therapy company: Holistic Therapy Solutions, LLC

Remember - I still do chair massage at your event or office, and out-calls (when requested).

Have a great day All.

Peace,

Tom

Fun With Dylan

Hi All,

Happy Labor Day to my fellow Americans and Happy Monday to everyone around the world.  Hope you're having a good day.

I loved the cover photo on the latest issue of the Rolling Stone, so thought I'd use it for a fun drawing of Bob Dylan.  I've subscribed to the Stone for the last 30 years for the music news and stories, as well as social and political information.  I've followed the careers of folks like Bob Dylan over the years thru the pages of the Rolling Stone.

OK - enough of that.  Sometimes I like to just sit down with pencils, sharpener, and eraser sticks; and just draw and enjoy creating a picture.

Starting out...having a little Monday morning fun.

So I started drawing with a Ticonderoga HB pencil, with my eraser sticks and sharpener.  I like caricature style drawing that's a recognizable pic - almost a cross between portrait and caricature.  It's a fun drawing of an early 1970's Dylan.

I wanted to keep it simple with some dark darks, rendered with a 2B Koh-i-noor pencil.  I wanted to make it look like Dylan and keep it loose and fun.  Here's the final product.

finished sketch...post cleanup with Photoshop.

It's funny...I took the photos with my new phone.  The photos of the artwork had a bright green tint.  I have no idea why.  So, I took it into Photoshop and did a little adjusting and "drew" the background back to white.  Crazy...yes, I'm not a photographer.  So that's my fun holiday pencil sketch.

Another aspect to this - on this Labor Day.  Dylan always had been pro-labor politically.  I like that.  My dad and granddads had been working men....hard working men in factories and my mom's dad in a print plant.  I was raised in a pro-union family.  I think this picture pays homage to that in some small way....at least in my mind.

Anyhow - have a great day and enjoy...whatever you're doing.  Be nice to those around you too....

Peace,

Tom