"An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful..."

Hi to everyone!

In the words of the Dalai Lama,

"An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful..."

The first hour after you wake up is an opportunity to reclaim a commitment to robust health, good thoughts, and vibrant energy. Even if you've had a poor night's sleep, or you consumed too much of the wrong food (or drink) the night before, you can reset your intentions each morning, and step back onto the path.

With that in mind, here are 3 start-of-day rituals that will help to energize your body and spirit:

1. Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice (in your first glass of water)

Lemons are a digestive bitter. A digestive bitter is an herb, vegetable, or in this case, a fruit that promotes digestion by stimulating the production of enzymes that break down your food. So fresh lemon juice helps your body absorb vitamins, minerals, and other vital nutrients from your meals, releasing all the potential energy they contain!

Squeezing a lemon wedge into your first glass of water in the morning has been shown to be a mood booster too! That sour punch has a sweet psychological aftertaste. So if you're prone to anxiety or depression (clinical or seasonal), I would definitely recommend adding this dose of nature's cheer to your morning drink.

2. Morning Meditation

I talk about meditation a lot because it's an invaluable resource, and it's free and easy. It's changed my life and the lives of millions of people all over the world.

If you don't have a meditation practice yet, I guarantee it will be a game-changer if you start one.

Here's a very simple meditation you can do each morning:

Seat yourself in a comfortable chair, or on a cushion on the floor. Keep your back as straight as possible, without straining. Take a deep breath or two, and then close your eyes.

Notice your breath. Place light attention on it as you breathe naturally, in and out of your nose. You may want to focus on the space just underneath your nose, where the air enters and leaves your body.

Allow your thoughts to flow as they will. Don't try to control them or to "empty your mind."

But don't get too involved with your thoughts either. Don't chase after them, and don't push them away. Just let them pass through your mind, while you keep your attention - ever so lightly - on your breath.

If you lose track of your breath, that's all right too. When you notice you've forgotten about your breath, just gently return your relaxed attention back to it.

Try this practice for 5-20 minutes and then see how you feel.

3. Stretch

Now, you don't need to do advanced yoga poses first thing in the morning (though kudos to you if you do!). Some basic stretches can make a huge difference in your day.

Roll your neck around for half a minute, clockwise and then counterclockwise (or vice versa). Extend your arms straight outward and hold for 20 seconds, to relieve tension in your sides. Put your hands on your hips and do a little side twist in both directions.

These incredibly simple movements help to get your blood flowing and prepare your cells to absorb the nutrients from your breakfast. They also stimulate the release of endorphins -- happy hormones -- in your body!

I hope the 3 practices above help you create a little extra self-care time for yourself!

Stay curious,

Nick Polizzi

Host of Remedy: Ancient Medicine For Modern Illnesses

5 things you need to be successful in health & wellness

What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

My career hasn’t always been focused on the wellness industry, so I’m not going to claim that I know all the secrets. But I’ll share some things and values that my team and I believe in:

• Have a vision that focuses not only on your customers’ wellness but on everyone involved in the process (partners, contractors, employees).

• Never forget about sustainability. Taking care of our planet should be on everyone’s mind.

• Your “internal customers,” or your employees, should be as important to you as your actual customers.

• Focus on your career and your work but don’t forget about other priorities in your life. Spending time with your loved ones or yourself will nurture you and give you the energy to move forward.

• Find a project or product that you truly believe in, and that makes you genuinely excited.

Jeff Stevens of Psyched Wellness

Lorene's Story

Lorene Re-Lighting Her Halo ~2022

We were born with a Halo. and I ‘almost’ lost it with the complications life brought in the last 2 years.

I chose to rise above my ‘challenging state’ and return to my original Halo!

Here is my story.

What an adventure, but what a hard journey, at the same time!

Mid-summer 2020, I had just encountered a traumatic church experience that left me emotionally shattered. I tried my best to just forget about it, but when one Sunday afternoon my nose started bleeding and I could not get it to stop, my gut feeling was that my blood pressure was off the charts. This was confirmed when I went to the doctor’s office on Monday morning. I was prescribed blood pressure medication, and my life was forever changed!

For the first several weeks everything was normal, then I started noticing anxiety creeping up on me, and shortly thereafter insomnia did as well. I consulted with my Primary Doctor, and she prescribed me an anti-depressant, a sleep aid, and a benzodiazepine.

I wish I could have done more homework on the extreme side effects these had...and I also wish the PD would have explained what these drugs do to my brain.

However, I am finding out that they don’t know…

Let’s continue.

I immediately felt calm and was able to sleep for the first time in weeks, so I relaxed and felt I had gotten the help I needed. Several weeks into this program, I noticed the anxiety increased and got worse than ever, so I was advised by my PD to switch my blood pressure medication.

It made no difference.

In my frustration...I decided to reach out to a functional Doctor, who advised me to discontinue the anti-depressant and change lifestyle habits, exercise, eat healthier and aim to get off the benzo. We were able to lower the blood pressure medication, as well as the benzo for anxiety.

However, I was still on the benzo medication! Life was going great! I was able to function and participate normally. But then a year later and I felt the anxiety was no longer manageable, and I started having panic attacks. Again!

I was in constant fear! I was in a very foreign place in my brain!

A forsaken place…entire body tremors, nightmares, brain fog, memory loss, the list goes on and on…the functional Doctor had me try liquid herbs to curb the dependent feeling I had for the benzo. It didn’t even touch it!

So, we tried adding an anti-depressant, herbs, and a different med.

At this time my husband and I had planned a getaway to see family out of state and she assured me that I should be fine. But I honestly thought I was going to die! The anxiety was so off-the-chart harsh, and I couldn’t sleep or relax! It was a very awful experience! (I tried pretending to be calm in the presence of my family, but it just made things worse!)

When we returned from the getaway trip, I contacted my functional Doctor and she said she wishes she could help me, but unfortunately, she can’t. So, I was advised to see a psychiatrist, which I did. The psychiatrist immediately had me stop the benzo and switch me over to an SSRI, along with a low-dose antihistamine.

I asked if I would experience any side effects. She assured me that this will make the transition very easy. However, I was in for a ride straight to the most devastating time in my life!

On my first day of the transition, I was sitting at my daughter’s house, along with my 2 other daughters. Suddenly, my head felt like it was going to pop off! My brain started zapping and vibrating! My vision blurred and I felt like I was burning up on the inside! It was a Saturday, so the Psychiatrist's office was closed. I had to look within myself for intuitiveness on how to cope with this.

I was at such a loss, and I simply took a dose of Ativan to calm everything down! Then I planned to connect with the Psychiatrist on Monday. Once again, she assured me that I would be fine and that I could just drop the dosage of Ativan and start the antihistamine and take it as often as needed.

Of course, I was extremely scared! But I took several throughout the day…and I told myself over and over repeatedly that I will be fine! But the anxiety and fear were unbearable. Somehow the days went into weeks and before long I realized that I must figure out a different route because this, too, was NOT WORKING!

The nightmares increased. I couldn’t function! I had to cancel numerous events that I had organized because I could not even wrap my brain around being able to operate or think. My brain was too overwhelmed and fogged, I had zero energy! I would forget the smallest details.

And then there was this aspect of leaving my “Safe space” ... which was home. The fear and anxiety were not “general”. To be honest, they felt like HELL! When I tried to go to the grocery store...I would go into a full-on panic attack!

I was anxious ALL THE TIME! I couldn’t be with anyone! Not even my children! Isn’t that just WRONG?!

At this same time, my youngest daughter had given birth to her most beautiful, “Miracle Baby Girl” and I was NOT able to help her, which brought me to the most frustrating, humbling, embarrassing crash!

I started asking why I am still even living. Thankfully my hubby would reassure me thousands of times! And my children were the best cheerleaders ever! They believed along with me that I would someday be better and get over this!

I can’t thank them enough for being here for me over and over again and again!! My daughter, Danica, did so much research for me and kept reassuring me that I was going to get on the other side of this!

It is vital to have a STRONG support system in place in times like this! My family had more strength and faith than I did!

The benzo withdrawal blurred my cognitive thinking and processing. I couldn’t make decisions. I couldn’t rely on myself. It took every ounce of focus just to get out of bed to only want to go back into it! I wanted to hide. I wanted life to stop!

I stuck to the suggested written plan by the Psychiatrist. But on my nightstand were 4 bottles of medications!

What?

Why?

How?

I started praying more seriously. I started digging and researching even more.

I was advised to stop googling and stop hanging out with the benzo withdrawal support groups.

So... Where do I go?

I had read and was advised to try several safe modalities, including CBD/THC. So, I started taking it, complimented with a plant-based diet.

During this dark experience, I was so blessed to find some very powerful support people.

One was Steve Farrar. The following 2 texts are just a small portion of the highlights he shared with me. I found Steve through the tapestry of divine connections that were meant to be.

He listened to my brokenness during the night…and never judged my pain.

"Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them an abundance of prosperity and security.” We see two conditions here, healing and health, that God brings into our awareness of being. Healing is temporary. Health is eternal, and it is comprehensive. It takes place at the deepest foundational level of the spirit when we no longer hold ourselves to be insecure fragments of matter, bound to decay, in a universe subject to time. This is the security God speaks of: we are greater than temporal manifestations of matter. The 'body electric' so to speak, is aligned with the truth of Love, which says no disease can ultimately and permanently disorder God Himself, of which, and in whom we exist eternally. He sees what we may see as matter, bound by natural laws, subject to all matters of disorder, as but energy, animated by His Loving thoughts."

"D E E P H E AL I N G.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:14 “Sickness itself may be only a symptom of a deeper malaise, a forgetfulness of Being. The role of the therapist, then, is to give those who suffer the opportunity to regain their health in the sense of physical, psychic, and spiritual wholeness. The Gospel of Thomas reminds us that every human being has the power to heal. There is a therapist within each of us. The Living One wants life in abundance for us in all the dimensions of our being. It is an attitude that is important, and an openness that allows Life to act in and through us.” Jean Yves Leloup, The Gospel of Thomas Physical illness is an opportunity. It is a calling to see the true wound. Cells in the body are a network of interlinked communication points. They are naturally life-bearing and self-healing. It is the mind which speaks life or death. Our cells hear and obey. When confronted with cellular symptoms of dis-ease, let us go deeper into the affliction of the mind. It is here we will find the Spirit of God ministering, interceding with groans too deep for human language."

And many more beautiful healing modalities, connections, prayers, and texts happened to me.

I am incredibly grateful to ALL of you! You know who you are!

Thank you first to my husband, Dan. He was strong when he, too, had no idea at times what to do! He answered every phone call from me and told me that we are going to get through this! We cried together, often.

Thank you to my awesome children! You rock! Seriously. No matter how I was doing they never gave up on me! They saw me whole, healed, and back on my feet!

I am still in so much gratitude - how every step of this healing experience was so aligned with the right people, the perfect modalities, and the exact encouragement I needed to get me from one step to the next.

It was so orchestrated with beautiful answers!

My whole purpose for speaking up, sharing, and caring, is to get the word out that there is hope!

YES… There is life after benzos!

And that we MUST quit prescribing these awful destructive medications!

But I am not done telling my story!

The BEST part of my story!

I have another daughter who had planned her wedding a year previously and the date was creeping up fast! I would lay in bed and wonder how I would be able to attend her wedding. I had promised her that I would be at her wedding! No matter what!

Of course, I am a believer in God. In healing.

It was my brain that needed healing from all the petroleum-induced medications... I had read about a very unconventional modality to heal our body, based on an ancient therapy that had been practiced in many other countries and had been pretty much shamed in the USA. While doing my homework, I found it was very welcoming and worked powerfully for many, many people!

I believe in synchronicities and perfect connections happen in divine order.

My girlfriend, Esther, reached out to me and simply quoted, "I think I have something that could help you and make that you will be able to attend your daughter’s wedding." It was the SAME Ancient therapy I had read about! So, it got my attention!

I welcomed the therapy and sought counsel from established practitioners, which led me to divine connections. Was I able to attend my daughter’s wedding?

YES!

I know many do NOT understand Benzo’s withdrawal and I understand…I just learned to grace those that told me to get over it!

Fast forward to 90+ days later…I am off all medications and feeling alive for the first time in a LONG time!

I am healthy!

I am healing!

And I am ALIVE!

I surpassed the awfulness of benzos!

Thank you urine therapy for assisting me with my oneness!

Thank you, Doc M Witort, P.M.D, for supporting me, answering my thousands of questions, and encouraging me to heal my whole self!

Thank you to other organic, healthy alternatives- that complement wholeness!

I am so grateful to myself for winning this, for loving myself, and for forgiving myself.

To live life fully in happiness and peace!

I am grateful that Christ within me is MY HEALTH!

My halo is re-lit!

My cup is full!

Joy abounds!

I AM HEALTH!