Did you see the latest episode of 30 Days?

Did you see last week's episode of 30 Days? If you've never seen the show, it's one to be added to your viewing schedule. Morgan Spurlock, the producer and star of the movie Supersize Me!, has created a unique reality show (no, really, it truly is unique and not cheesy at all!) where he puts different people into different situations for thirty days. Their experiences during those thirty days nearly always become transformative in one way or another. In so doing, it creates opportunities for inspection of one's own values.

In the season premier, a member of the MinuteMen, the militia group in the southern US on the watch for illegal immigrants, moved in with a family of illegal immigrants in California. The Minute Man and his parents had legally emigrated from Cuba when he was a small boy. Watching this I thought there would be no way his perspective would be changed. And, for most of the show, it didn't. Only when he visited the other family members still living in Mexico did he reevaluate his position. Once he saw the extreme poverty this loving, generous, hard working family came to America to escape, you could see his eyes open. Illegal immigration no longer was simply a case of foreigners trying to take over "his" country. The issue, like so many issues, became much more complicated for this man.

Back to alternative health...The latest episode had an overweight stressed-out salesman pursue a variety of different alternative health practices. From meditation to scream therapy to walking over hot coals, this guy was pretty open-minded (this surprised me!) in his experimentation with the world of alternative healing. I was proud of how open he was to healing his body by recognizing the connection between his emotional well-being (or lack thereof) and his physical wellness.

The producer spent a brief couple of minutes talking with a guy who proclaimed that any therapy that hadn't been "proven" by science was a fake and a waste of money. Other than that, the show reflected the different paths to healing quite well. Its focus was on being open to change, being more conscious in the moment, and allowing oneself to feel the emotions generated in different situations without suppressing them. It also discussed the role of energy in health and healing, looking at a couple of examples of young cancer survivors who had turned away from modern medicine (chemotherapy and radiation treatments) in favor of energetic healers to quite positive effect.

I only wish they show had looked at the role of "modern" medicine in creating the cycle of sickness, the treatment of symptoms through suppression and the subsequent creation of the facade of health, only to often experience deeper sickness later. Homeopathy (my favorite alternative!) wasn't even mentioned once!

But Morgan Spurlock can be forgiven... I love the show. If you haven't checked it out, it plays out here in western NC on Wednesdays around 10:00. Watch it and leave me a comment on your thoughts.

(I've left a link to his show through the fx network below. Ugh, I feel a little dirty conducting such base advertising...)
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/30days/main.html
Be well!

Self-defense for the Classroom Teacher

Once the school year starts, I'm always on the watch for the slightest sign of a cold. If you've ever put yourself in front of a classroom full of pre-teens and just barely teenagers, you know how demanding it can be. With a cold, you've hardly got a chance. The nice thing about teaching is that you can take a sick day if necessary. But usually the sub that comes in can't really move the class forward like it needs to. Many of us have learned to try to suck it up and tough out those days where we feel under the weather for the sake of our students' education (such martyrs, aren't we?).

Ever since I started working with King Bio, I always keep his Cold and Flu homeopathic remedy in my desk drawer. Typically a sickness, like the cold, follows a predictable pattern. For me, I get that tiny sore throat way in the back of my mouth. This lasts for about twelve hours. Then I get a bit of a runny nose and some sinus pressure. From there, I get the full blown cold. If I catch that cold early on in the sore throat stage, and dose myself up with my homeopathic, I often can fit off that sickness entirely! And, if I catch it just a bit late, taking that remedy helps soften and shorten the cold.

I can't tell you how many times these homeopathic remedies have saved me. If you're interested in the homeopathics I use, leave a comment and I'll get back to you. You can also order off the company's website www.kingbio.com.

One note of caution for all you first year teachers just getting started: there's precious little you can do for your sweet untested immune system. Get ready to be sick. Consider it a rite of passage for the uninitiated teacher. But on the flip side, once you make it through that first year, your immune system will be rock solid!

Good luck all you teachers out there. I know first hand just how valuable your service is to our children. Just remember when things get tough, we are literally saving these kids' lives by giving them the tools they need to succeed!

With all this focus on health, who has time to get sick?

Wouldn't you know that after spending all this time focusing on health and homeopathy and working on getting the word out about King Bio's groundbreaking grant that provides homeopathic remedies free of charge to groups working in the health care industry, a big ol' head cold sneaks up and zaps me!

My wife had been suffering (just a little because she's way tougher than me) from a little sinus trouble this last week. For the most part we refrained from kissing and the usual sort of germ swapping thing that goes on around here. But I think she might've snuck in one little kiss when I wasn't watching.

I went to bed feeling fine after selling popcorn all night at Asheville's Downtown After Five concert. I should have known something was up when I dreamed my head was so filled with green goo that I quickly filled up a bathroom sink trying to clear it out *ugh*. And, when I woke up, my dream had come true. My head was clogged tight!

That day I doggedly took the cold/flu homeopathic remedy from King Bio, but really that remedy works best when you catch a cold at its initial onslaught. Usually I can sense a cold coming on when I get that little sore throat. Immediately I hit it hard with the homeopathic and dose up on the Vitamin C (I take nearly 6000mg a day when I'm in self-defense mode!), some zinc, and some goldenseal. But this time I had no warning.

Do you think my cold is learning my defenses and adapting more complicated guerilla style tactics? Oh well. It's starting to pass. Good thing. I've got a hundred seventh grade students joining me in my classroom this Thursday and lots to do to get ready. Wish me luck!

If you get a chance, check out the press I'm starting to get on the King Bio Community Outreach Program Grant. This is that grant I mentioned providing free remedies. You'd be amazed how difficult it's been giving stuff away! If you know of anyone who wants in on the program, just leave a comment and I'll get back to them ASAP!

http://www.pr.com/press-release/16045