kidsgotlyme
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I have GOT to get this product for my bed!! Dang, I wish I was rich instead of beautiful!!
-------------------- symptoms since 1993 that I can remember. 9/2018 diagnosed with Borellia, Babesia Duncani, and Bartonella Hensalae thru DNA Connections. Posts: 1470 | From Tennessee | Registered: Dec 2009
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Surface area doesn't seem to matter, at least when I tested it with a voltmeter. Maybe it has different affects on things that can't be tested.
Meaning, the bracelet (or earthing pad touching your body somewhere, in my case) will provide the same flow of electrons. So if you can only afford the bracelet, just go with that.
Also, if you get the pad, don't use the "conductive" cover sheet, I tested it and it does not ground properly. The conductive rubber pad grounds like a champ though, well made.
Posts: 501 | From Cleveland Ohio | Registered: Apr 2009
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kidsgotlyme
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I'm still looking at them on Amazon. I want that stuff bad!
We don't really "do" the holidays so I guess I can't really ask for a gift. But if we did participate in all of the hoopla, this is what I'd ask for.
So Toppers, you think it would be worth my money to go ahead and get the mat that's like $60 instead of holding out for the sheets?? I think I could swing that right now.
I almost went ahead and ordered it, but I didn't want to waste my money. I guess I could even use that at night, right?
-------------------- symptoms since 1993 that I can remember. 9/2018 diagnosed with Borellia, Babesia Duncani, and Bartonella Hensalae thru DNA Connections. Posts: 1470 | From Tennessee | Registered: Dec 2009
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'Kete-tracker
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Quote: "They [Earthing products] allow the Earth�s natural energy to come through but not any potentially harmful electricity."
Huh? Wha?? Just what does this natural energy consist of... if not some type of electron flow?
M.S. CET Sr.
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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daystar1952
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Yesterday I recieved the book "To Be Healed By The Earth...mentioned above somewhere in this thread. I am halfway through it so far and love the book. It is very simply written and contains much wisdom.
Basically the book is sharing the idea that if we renew ourselves consistently with energy from the earth....I like to think of it as God's energy too.....that this enables us to renew our stores of love, patience, kindness and gentleness and that these qualities...along with the healing energy....is what heals ourselves and others. ...AND the world!
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With chronic lyme/cfs etc the key problem in inflammation. According to Dr Sinartra the best anti inflammatory is grounding. But it is dose dependent so an hour a day wont be enough.
My view is that it will pay for itself because we wont need all those expensive supplements to calm our inflammation!
At some point I will buy the star shoes Daystar!
Nice to hear some positive vibes!
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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On healing I have ordered this book as I love this author:
Healing the Mind through the Power of Story: The Promise of Narrative Psychiatry [Paperback] Lewis Mehl-Madrona M.D. Ph.D. (Author) 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews) 2 Reviews
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daystar1952
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I have been using the bedsheet for about 2 months now. While it seems to have made a little bit of difference, I noticed more of a difference being barefoot outside. Everyone is different tho.
I have just ordered an EMF detector so I can measure stuff and do some FUN experimenting. I want to make sure I have the bedsheet grounded correctly. It was interesting...the first few nights I used the bedsheet, I felt a slight tingling in my legs.
It felt good. I don't feel it anymore though. I think the book mentioned this phenomonon and that the tingling does go away after a bit. So...I thought that was interesting
I don't know if its all in my head but I love wearing the soft star shoes and walking around our yard or on trails in the woods. When I do this I wear the shoes with the all natural suede soles. It feels really good to me to feel the uneven lumps and bumps of the natural ground through the minimal soles.
Don't overdo walking in them the first few times because you may have sore foot and leg muscles. Walking in these shoes developes muscles and tendons...etc....that have been stifled in regular rubbersoled shoes.
It's almost like having reflexology done on your feet...which also feels good and heals. It will be interesting to see if I am free of positive electrons when wearing these shoes outside and holding the EMF meter. At least I think that is how you would tell if the shoes are allowing any conductivity from the earth.
I also wonder if wearing synthetic socks blocks the flow of electrons at all. So....there are possibly several benefits from these shoes....excercising the foot and ankle muscles, reflexology benefits on the soles of the feet, just the feel of natural materials and possible negative electron conduction.
I also wear the soft star shoes when walking on the road but it is not quite as comfortable walking on asphalt as it is on natural ground
Let us know Wallace....how you like the book you just mentioned
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Hoot With regards to groundology products I would only order products approved by clint obers organisation.
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Wallace-- I guess your *new shoes* and the Earth will be your best option for now. Maybe you could contact the people at http://earthing.com to see if they have any suggestions. Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Went for a 4km with my #magic shoes#; I would normally be totally exhausted but feel ok!
Those hippies were right along......
Hippie Roots & The Perennial Subculture (Views: 343,200)Topic: Hippiedom Contributed by Skip on May 13th, 2003 Hippie Roots & The Perennial Subculture
By Gordon Kennedy & Kody Ryan
"Wandervogels Abschied" by Fidus, 1900
According to Webster�s dictionary (2003) a "hippie" or "hippy" is: "a young person of the 1960�s who rejected established social mores, advocated spontaneity, free expression of love and the expansion of consciousness, often wore long hair and unconventional clothes, and used psychedelic drugs".
This mass-media definition of the 1960�s dropouts has eclipsed all pre-1960�s uses of the actual word such as that mentioned by Malcolm X in his famous autobiography. As a 17 year-old hustler living in Harlem in 1939 Malcolm noticed, "A few of the white men around Harlem, younger ones whom we called "hippies", acted more Negro than Negroes. This particular one talked more "hip" than we did. He would have fought anyone who suggested he felt any race difference".
This echoes the familiar sentiments of Jack Kerouac from "On The Road" (1955): "I walked with every muscle aching among the lights of 27th and Welton in the Denver colored section, wishing I were a Negro, feeling that the best the white world had offered was not enough ecstasy for me, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music, not enough night".
Clearly the actual word "hippie" was a form of Ebonics (black slang) from Harlem that passed it�s way through the beat era into the 1960�s, until Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle used it enough times by late 1965 to describe the young arrivals in their city�that the national media soon swallowed it whole and patented it.
But apart from the slick zoot suit clad "white Negroes" of 1930�s Harlem there actually were long-haired bearded individuals during this same era who wore sandals or bare feet and usually tended to favor mild subtropical places like southern California and Florida where they could forage their meals from the fruit trees that were so plentiful then.
Wandervogel print from the local group in Darmstadt, 1911
"Nature Boys" as they were later called were without exception either German immigrants or American youths whose lives were influenced by transplanted Germans that spread their Lebensreform (life-reform) message to anyone ready for a radical departure from the accepted boundaries of 20th century civilization.
Modern primitives, naturmensch, wandervogel, bohemians, reformers, wayfarers, and vagabonds are all expressions that evoke a tone of something wholly apart from the orthodox.
So why Germany? What was happening there in the 19th century that caused a phenomenon like this to erupt so big?
Germany had always made a virtue of their late submission to Latin civilization and had glorified the natural man and woman with all of their virtues and vices. Over 2000 years ago (about 51 B.C.) Julius Caesar noted of the Germans: "The only beings they recognize as gods are things that they can see, and by which they are obviously benefited, such as sun, moon and fire; the other gods they have never even heard of."
"Vegetarisches Speisehaus", 1900
The word "God" was neuter in gender in the Teutonic language (Das Gott, or in old Nordic "gud") and the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (98 A.D.) wrote: "According to German outlook, pronouncements of destiny seem to acquire a greater sacredness in the mouth of women. Prophecy and magic in a good as well as an evil sense is by choice the gift of women. If it is inherent in the nature of men to show the female sex a great consideration and respect, then this was particularly shaped on the German people from of old. Men earn deification through their deeds, women through their wisdom."
Thus the religiosity of the Indo-Germanic people, whenever their nature can unfold itself freely, emerges only in that form which religious science has described as "nature religion" or "earth religions". To remove the German soul from the natural landscape is to kill it. The Romans knew this so once Christianity had become the state religion of the Roman Empire their missionaries were eager to chop down the German forests and set their temples on fire.
Whenever the church encountered Pagan elements that it could not suppress, it gave them a Christian dimension and assimilated them. These ancestral traditions were reinterpreted and revised, but the church never succeeded in effacing the German Pagan heritage.
Hermann�s victory (9 A.D.) had forestalled Roman colonization, thus Germany had thereby retained its ancient language and avoided early Christianization.
Meister Eckhart (c1260-c1328) possibly represented most strongly the development of the mysticism as a result of the revolt of the Teutonic Indo-European spirit against Roman Christianity.
During the Middle-Ages a group called "Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit" existed in Germany and Holland. Also known as the Adamites, they were spiritual descendants of an earlier group, the Adamiani. They held nude gatherings in womb like caverns to achieve rebirth into a state of paradisiacal innocence.
In 1796 Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland of Weimar published his landmark study of aging "The Art Of Prolonging Life" using the word "macrobiotic" in the preface of the book, while the second edition used the word in it�s title. His emphasis on exercise and fresh air, sunbathing, cleanliness, regular scheduling, temperate diet, stimulating travel and meditation were all far ahead of their time.
"Lichtgebet" ("Prayer To The Sun") by Fidus, 1913
Goethe�s (1749-1832) perspective erased the boundary between man and Nature altogether. The poet of Nature religiosity he believed "God can be worshipped in no more beautiful way than by the spontaneous welling up from one�s breast of mutual converse with Nature".
Another prophetic quote from Goethe (1832) "Man in his misguidance has powerfully interfered with nature. He has devastated the forests, and thereby even changed the atmospheric conditions and the climate. Some species of plants and animals have become entirely extinct through man, although they were essential in the economy of Nature. Everywhere the purity of the air is affected by smoke and the like, and the rivers are defiled. These and other things are serious encroachments upon Nature, which men nowadays entirely overlook but which are of the greatest importance, and at once show their evil effect not only upon plants but upon animals as well, the latter not having the endurance and power of resistance of man".
In 1866 Ernst Haeckel of Jena University first employed the term "ecology", thereby establishing it as a permanent scientific discipline for all future generations. Ecology as a concept had more in common with Buddhism and its recognition of the oneness of all life.
Also in the 1860�s an ex-Protestant minister named Eduard Baltzer published his four-volume book about naturliche lebensweise or "natural life style". He organized some vegetarians and founded a Free Religious Community, then later published a book on Pythagoras as the ancestor of his movement.
Diefenbach and Fidus at Hollriegelskreuth, Germany, 1887
Baltzer�s writings had a strong influence upon a young painter named Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851-1913) who also went on to form several communities and workshops for religion, art and science. Diefenbach spent the last portion of his life on the Mediterranean isle of Capri, which was a retreat for other life-reformers. Two of his pupils, Fidus and Gusto Graser were to make a tremendous impact with their art and reform messages.
Fidus (1868-1949) was recognized as perhaps the greatest psychedelic artist ever, pre-dating the 1960�s multi-colored posters and albums by over a half century.
Gusto Graser later went on to become a close friend and teacher of the writer Hermann Hesse. Hesse�s report "Among The Rocks- Notes of a Nature Man" (1908) described how he, along with Graser lived the lives of natural men and hermits, sleeping in caves in the Swiss Alps and fasting for days and weeks. The guru-disciple relationship within Hesse�s novel "Siddhartha" (1922) was a mirror of his own association with Graser his teacher. Graser�s poetry appeared in some of the Wandervogel magazines.
In 1870 the population of Germany was 2/3 rural, but by 1900 it had become 2/3 urban. Near the end of the 19th century the German middle class had become superficial, coarse, complacent, gluttonous, materialistic, industrialized, technocratic and pathetic. As a response to this phenomenon many natural healing modalities came into existence and even more youth movements were organized.
In 1883 Louis Kuhne of Leipsic Germany published a book titled "The New Science Of Healing", and this work laid the foundation for what was later to become known as Naturopathy. Translated into 50 languages it was the inspiration for a whole generation of health practitioners and was also highly praised by Mahatma Gandhi who said it was very popular in India.
In 1896 Adolf Just opened his Jungborn retreat in the Hartz Mountains near Isenburg Germany, which was a model institution for the true natural life, and was meant to show how the most intimate communion with Nature could be re-established.
"Gnadennacht" by Fidus, 1912
In his best selling book "Return To Nature" (1896) Mr. Just spoke out against air and water pollution, meat, vivisection, vaccination, coffee, alcohol, smoking and so-called education in schools. Gandhi again was so moved by Adolf Just�s rebellion against scientific medical treatments that it helped him to formulate his ideology for the future. When he was released from prison is 1944 he opened a Nature Cure sanitarium in India based on Just�s model
In 1904 German author Richard Ungewitter wrote a book titled "Die Nacktheit" (nakedness) wherein he advocated nudism, abstention from meat, tobacco and alcohol. He had to publish it himself, but it quickly became a bestseller. The vegetarian aspect focused on the purity of the body and soul, with adherence to a regular program of fitness. The German attitude towards nudity has not changed too much in 100 years because even now on a warm summer day people along lakes and rivers can be found enjoying themselves in the sunshine without clothing.
Nude Bathing has been popular in Germany a long time. (1916)
In the 19th century hiking societies proliferated in Germany. One group "Friends Of Nature" were into social hiking and used the slogan "Free Mountains, Free World, Free People".
Another group, called the "Wandervogel", was founded in 1895 by Hermann Hoffmann and Karl Fischer in Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin. They began to take some high school students on nature walks, then later on longer hikes. Soon a huge youth movement that was both anti-bourgeois and Teutonic Pagan in character, composed mostly of middle class German children, organized into autonomous bands.
Wandervogel, 1926
Wandervogel members, aged mainly between 14-18 years and spread to all parts of Germany eventually numbering 50,000. Part hobo and part medieval, they pooled their money, wore woolen capes, shorts and Tyrolean hats and took long hikes in the country where they sang their own versions of Goliardic songs and camped under primitive conditions. Both sexes swam nude together in the lakes and rivers and in their hometowns they established "nests" and "anti-homes", sometimes in ruined castles where they met to plan trips and play mandolins and guitars.
Their short weekend trips became 3 to 4 weeks long journeys of hundreds of miles. Soon they were establishing permanent camps in the wild that were open to all. With no thought of pay, the bands worked at improving their campsites and building cabins for which they made the furniture-in all forming a complex of precedents underlying the youth-hostel movement which began in 1907 when Richard Schirmann opened the first hostel in Altena Germany.
Mostly the Wandervogel sought communion with nature, with the ancient folk-spirit as embodied in the traditional peasant culture, and with one another. They developed a harmonious mystic resonance with their environment.
The expression "Lebensreform" (life-reform) was first used in 1896, and comprised various German social trends of the 19th and first half of the 20th century.
Elizabeth Dorr with some of her daughters at Ascona, 1905 (Note the headbands!)
Particularly: # 1. vegetarianism # 2. nudism # 3. natural medicine # 4. abstinence from alcohol # 5. clothing reform # 6. settlement movements # 7. garden towns # 8. soil reform # 9. sexual reform # 10. health food and economic reform # 11. social reform # 12. liberation for women, children and animals # 13. communitarianism # 14. cultural and religious reform: i.e. a religion or view of the world that gives weight to the feminine, maternal and natural traits of existence
Further south in Switzerland, Ascona was a little fishing village on the shore of Lake Maggiore, on the Swiss side of the border with Italy. In the year 1900 a counter-culture renaissance began and lasted until about 1920. Ascona became the focal point for all of Europe�s spiritual rebels.
Life experiments were in vogue: surrealism, modern dance, dada, Paganism, feminism, pacifism, psychoanalysis and nature cure. A few of the participants were Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, Isadora Duncan, D.H. Lawrence, Arnold Ehret and Franz Kafka.
At the turn of the century Germany had 56 million people, and had as many large cities as all of the rest of Europe combined. Industrialism, technology, pollution and "affluenza" began a crisis amongst the over-privileged German-speaking of that period. The disenchanted began to arrive in Ascona by the hundreds.
The beautiful natural setting inspired urban people to sunbathe in the nude, sleep outdoors, hike, swim and fast. This village quickly developed a universal reputation as a health center.
Hermann Hesse was excited when he saw four longhaired men with sandals walk through his village on their way to Ascona. He followed them, settled in and then took a nature cure for his alcoholism. The year was 1907.
Born July 2, 1877, at the northern edge of the Black Forest in Calw, Germany, Hermann Hesse knew at age 13 that he wanted to be a poet or nothing. Beginning in the 1950's with the Beat generation, his novels became immensely popular in the English-speaking world, where their criticism of bourgeois values and interest in Eastern spirituality and Jungian psychology echoed the emerging revolt against the unreflected life. In the 1960's Hermann became the novelist of the decade, with "Siddhartha" (1922) and "Steppenwolf" (1927) selling in the millions, and capturing and shaping an American Audience. Legitimate history will always recount Hesse as the most important link between the European counter-culture of his youth and their latter-day descendants in America. (Photo from 1908.)
The people of Ascona refused eggs, milk, meat, salt and alcohol. Nature cure was a powerful idea in the German mind, and was a widespread and profound rebellion against science and professionalism.
On August 20, 1903, an anarchist newspaper in San Francisco, California published a large article about Ascona, describing the people and their philosophies. This was certainly one of the first times that detailed news of the European counter-culture had reached the California coast.
Nudists worshipping the Sun, 1926
Perhaps the most central Neo-Pagan element in the German folk movements was sun-worship, believed to be the ancient Teutonic religion. From at least the Romantic era, sun-worship was offered by prominent Germans as the most rational alternative to Christianity. The solar images were at the center of a desire to return to natural Paganism and a natural lifestyle in harmony with the earth.
Eugene Diedrichs Publishing was the highly respected voice of Neo-Paganism and the religious-not the political-arm of the great Volkische movement. Diedrichs envisioned an "organic peoples state" (organischer Volksstaat) and like Carl Jung preferred a return to the nature religion of the ancient Teutons.
"Satana" by Fidus, 1896
No one described solarism better than Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) the prominent scientist who first coined the word "ecology": "The sun, the deity of light and warmth, on whose influence all organic life insensibly and directly depends, was taken to be such a phenomenon [of naturalistic monotheism] many thousands of years ago. Sun-worship seems to the modern scientist to be the best of all forms of theism, and the one which may be most easily reconciled with modern Monism. For modern astrophysics and geogeny have taught us that the earth is a fragment detached from the sun, and that it will eventually return to the bosom of its parent. Modern physiology teaches us that the first source of organic life on the earth is the formation of protoplasm, and that this synthesis of simple inorganic substances, water, carbonic acid, and ammonia only takes place under the influence of sunlight�.indeed the whole of our bodily and mental life depends, in the last resort, like all other organic life, on the light and heat rays of the sun. Hence in the light of pure reason, sun-worship as a form of naturalistic monotheism, seems to have a much better foundation than the anthropistic worship of Christians and other monotheists who conceive of their god in human form. As a matter of fact the sun-worshippers attained, thousands of years ago, a higher intellectual and moral standard than most of the other theists. When I was in Bombay in 1881, I watched with the greatest sympathy the elevating rites of the pious Parsees, who, standing on the sea-shore, or kneeling on their prayer rugs offered their devotion to the sun at its rise and setting."
As the 20th century dawned many Germans began to feel the weight of oppressive political forces, powers that would later lead their nation into 2 world wars and change the course of European history.
Between 1895 and 1914, tens of thousands of Germans left their homes and families and immigrated to America. After all America was the country of the future, and they saw themselves as pioneers helping to lead a new society by transplanting and nurturing the most valuable ideas from their homeland into their new dreams for the United States.
There were several key individuals who made a substantial contribution, but probably none more than Dr. Benedict Lust.
Born in Michelbach near Baden Germany February 3, 1872 Lust first came to America in 1892, became ill with tuberculosis, then returned to Germany and took a nature cure treatment from the famed Father Sebastian Kneipp. He regained his health and found his true purpose in life, then returned to America in 1896 to become a Kneipp representative in America.
Rightfully called "The Father Of Naturopathy" in America, Lust introduced all of the great naturist movements that were in vogue in Europe; hydrotherapy, herbal remedies, air and light baths, various plant-based diets and he also translated and distributed the German classic health works of Father Kneipp, Louis Kuhne, Adolf Just, Arnold Ehret and August Englehardt.
Near the turn of the century in New York City he founded a school of massage and the Naturopathic Society, then in 1918 he published Universal Naturopathic Encyclopedia for drugless therapy. Nature�s Path Magazine and a radio show devoted to natural healing were also some of his notable achievements.
Dr. Benedict Lust enjoys a sun-bath at "Sonnenbichel" sun and air park in Kneipp-Bad Worishofen, Bavaria, Germany on a return to the Fatherland in the summer of 1926. The "Father of Naturopathy" in America, no single individual contributed more to natural healing and lifestyle in the world than Dr. Lust did through his many schools and publications. Everything from massage, herbology, raw foods, anti-vivisection and hydro-therapy to Eastern influences like Ayurveda and Yoga found their way to an American audience through Lust. Though he was repeatedly harassed by Medical authorities and Federal agents, his devotion to promoting Nature's methods of healing finaly gained wide acceptance. Like so many others from his generation, he was a tough man. (Photo from Naturopath, February, 1927)
eden ahbez, 1948. Part-time yogi and full-time mystic, this 1940s "hippie" always spelled his name with small letters because he believed that only God and Infinity should be capitalized. (Photo courtesy of Gypsy Boots)
Dr. Lust�s school of Naturopathy was the starting point for hundreds of America�s natural health practitioners, while his magazines introduced the West not only to German Nature Cure, but also ancient East Indian concepts like Ayurveda and Yoga. Paramahansa Yogananda was one of several Indians who wrote articles for "Nature�s Path" magazine in the 1920�s gaining wide exposure to a large American audience.
Dr. Lust was "busted" repeatedly by American authorities and medical associations, for promoting natural methods of healing, massage and nude sun bathing at his Jungborn sanitarium. He was arrested 16 times by New York authorities and 3 times by Feds. One news headline read simply "They Have Lust Again".
As many as 30-40% of the graduates of Dr. Lusts school of Naturopathy were women, and his magazines were full of enthusiastic letters and praise from practicing Naturopaths in India, Jamaica and all over Latin America. No one was more devoted to introducing nature cure to the Spanish-speaking world than Dr. Lust.
Another influential Nature Doctor, Dr. Carl Schultz, arrived in Los Angeles California in 1885 and became the Benedict Lust of the west. In 1905 he created the Naturopathic Institute and Sanitarium and also opened the Naturopathic College on Hope Street. Most of the practicing nature doctors in the west were graduates of this college.
Bill Pester at this palm log cabin in Palm Canyon, California, 1917. With his "lebensreform" philosophy, nudism and raw foods diet, he was one of the many German immigrants, who "invented" the hippie lifestyle more than half a century before the 1960s. He left Germany to avoid military service in 1906 at age 19, for a new life in America. (Photo Courtesy of Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California)
In 1906 Bill Pester first set foot on American soil having left Saxony, Germany that same year at age 19 to avoid military service. With his long hair, beard and lebensreform background he wasted no time in heading to California to begin his new life.
He settled in majestic Palm Canyon in the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs California and built himself a palm hut by the flowing stream and palm grove.
Bill spent his time exploring the desert canyons, caves and waterfalls, but was also an avid reader and writer. He earned some of his living making walking sticks from palm blossom stalks, selling postcards with lebensreform health tips, and charging people 10 cents to look through his telescope while he gave lectures on astronomy.
He made his own sandals, had a wonderful collection of Indian pottery and artifacts, played slide guitar, lived on raw fruits and vegetables and managed to spend most of his time naked under the California sunshine.
During the time when Bill lived near Palm Springs he was on Cahuilla Indian land, with permission from the local tribe who had great admiration for him. His name even appeared on the 1920 census with the Indians, and in 1995 An American Indian woman Millie Fischer published a small booklet about Palm Canyon that included a chapter on Pester.
The many photos of Pester clearly reveal the strong link between the 19th century German reformers and the flower children of the 1960�s�long hair and beards, bare feet or sandals, guitars, love of nature, draft dodger, living simple and an aversion to rigid political structure. Undoubtedly Bill Pester introduced a new human type to California and was a mentor for many of the American Nature Boys.
Professor Arnold Ehret, taken shortly after his 49 day fast in Cologne, Germany, circa 1905. Ehret later migrated to southern California and helped to spawn a new sub-culture in America, based upon his natural philosophy and lifestyle. His books have never been out of print in over 70 years. (Photo courtesy of Fred Hirsch)
In 1914 another German immigrant, Professor Arnold Ehret arrived in California. The philosophy he preached had a powerful influence on various aspects of American culture. Ehret advocated fasting, raw foods, nude sun bathing and letting your hair and beard grow un-trimmed. His "Rational Fasting" (1914) and "Mucus-less Diet"(1922) were literary standbys within hippie circles in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1960�s.
The husband and wife team of John and Vera Richter first opened their Raw-Foods cafeteria the "Eutropheon" in 1917, and during it�s lifetime it hosted thousands of customers and taught many people how to prepare such raw treats as sun-dried bread, salads, dressings, soups, beverages and many other healthy alternatives to the typical Los Angeles cuisine of the 1920�s-1940�s.
John�s powerful lectures were attended by many young health enthusiasts, who later went on to become well known health teachers and authors, and Vera�s recipe book was the precursor to many of the modern Live-Food recipe books.
Some of the young employees of the Eutropheon were Americans who had adopted the German Naturmensch and Lebensreform image and philosophy, wearing their hair and beards long and feeding exclusively on raw fruits and vegetables. The "Nature Boys" came from all over America but usually ended up in southern California. Some of the familiar ones were Gypsy Jean, eden ahbez, Maximilian Sikinger, Bob Wallace, Emile Zimmerman, Gypsy Boots, Buddy Rose, Fred Bushnoff and Conrad. This was decades before the Beats or Hippies and their influence was very substantial. In "On The Road" Kerouac noted that while passing through Los Angeles in the summer of 1947 he saw "an occasional Nature Boy saint in beard and sandals".
Seven of California's "Nature Boys" in Topanga Canyon, August 1948. They were the first generation of americans to adopt the "naturmensch" philosophy and image, living in the mountains and sleeping in caves and trees, sometimes as many as 15 of them at a time. All had visited and some were employed at "The Eutropheon" where John Richter gave his inspiring lectures about raw foods and natural living. The boys would sometimes travel up the California coast some 500 miles just to pick and eat some fresh figs. (Back row: Gypsy Boots, Bob Wallace, Emile Zimmerman. Front row: Fred Bushnoff, eden ahbez, Buddy Rose, ?) - (Photo courtesy of Gypsy Boots.)
Cover of "Nature Boy" songbook, eden ahbez, 1948. Born into a poor Jewish family with 13 hungry children, the orphan from Brooklyn never had to worry about where the money would come from after the success of his #1 hit tune, made famous by Nat King Cole.
But in the spring of 1948 eden ahbez became an internationally recognized personality when his song "Nature Boy" was recorded by Nat King Cole. Photos and story of eden and his wife Anna appeared in Life, Time and Newsweek magazines that year.
Born in Brooklyn New York, April 15, 1908 "ahbez" had walked across America 4 times, hopped freight trains and lived in a cave in Tahquitz Canyon before he penned his #1 hit tune, which was on the hit parade for 15 weeks.
The song itself was part autobiographical but was also a nod to his German mentor Bill Pester who was 23 years his senior and had been a Nature Boy for decades when eden encountered him in the Coachella Valley of southern California.
Another one of the Nature Boys, Maximillian Sikinger was born in Augsberg Germany in 1913 and spent most of his childhood and youth living wild in the environs of various European cities. Through his wanderings, personal contacts and outdoor living he developed a keen interest in various aspects of natural healing; nutrition, water cure, fasting, sitz baths, deep breathing and sunshine.
Nature Boy, Maximillian Sikinger, at home in the Santa Monica Mountains, 1946. Max left Germany in 1935 then made his way to Southern California where he inspired many American kids to become "Nature Boys". By the 1960s, he was a regular fixture at pop festivals and concerts and was considered a guru to many Topanga hippies.
Max left Europe in 1935 at age 22, arrived in America then eventually made his way west to California where he traveled with the Nature Boys who valued his introspective and philosophical ideas very highly. Maximillian�s world travels and rugged background had given him deep insight into many of life�s puzzles.
But the one Nature Boy to pass the torch from the old era (circa 1930�s-40�s)�into the 1960�s hippie generation was Gypsy Boots.
Born in San Francisco in 1916 to Russian Jewish parents "Boots" grew up in the San Francisco area where he quit school at an early age to travel and live a life close to nature. He met Maximillian on the beach at Kelley�s Cove in 1935 and it was then that his life began to change. Boots noted in his autobiography: " It was with Max that I first experimented with fasting and special diets, and also learned much about yoga".
In the 1940�s Boots lived wild in Tahquitz Canyon with all of the Nature Boys, bathing in the cool mountain water, eating fruits and vegetables, sleeping on rocks or in caves, hiking and selling produce in Palm Springs.
In 1953 he married Lois Bloemker, settled near Griffith Park in Los Angeles and had 3 sons. In 1958 he opened his "Health Hut" in Hollywood, which was a big hit, and shortly thereafter began his career as a serious health teacher and example of optimum living.
In the early 1960�s he appeared on the Steve Allen show over 25 times to an audience of some 25 million households. Steve Allen had originally started the "Tonight" show, then began his own show featuring guests like Elvis Presley, Jack Kerouac, Frank Zappa and the psychedelic band Blue Cheer.
When the Beatles and Rolling Stones arrived in Los Angeles in the mid 1960�s their "pudding basin" hairstyles seemed tame when compared to a local rock band "The Seeds" who wore shoulder length hair, thanks to the influence of Gypsy Boots and his ilk. "Seeds" singer Sky Saxon, a vegetarian, had invented a new type of music�."Flower Punk". Even Jimi Hendrix had a front row seat to a Seeds concert, and the Doors played second bill on a Seeds tour.
When the Love-In�s began in Griffith Park in 1966 some of the Flower Children who were stoned on Owsley acid looked up in the big trees to see Gypsy Boots swinging and climbing from branch to limb, then exclaiming "what�s that guy on�. I�d sure like to have a hit of that!" But Boots "high" was always induced from his sun-charged foods like figs and grapes, as well as his fitness regime.
At the Monterey and Newport Pop festivals in 1967 and 1968 Boots was a paid performer along with acts like the Grateful Dead, Ravi Shankar, The Jefferson Airplane and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Two of Boots greatest admirers were Mama Cass Elliot of "The Mamas And Papas" and Carolyn ("Mountain Girl") Garcia, Jerry Garcia�s wife.
German-issue of a rare Capitol 45 picture sleeve single from 1968, "We're Having A Lovin-In", recorded by California Nature Boy Gypsy Boots.
Those best informed also agree that Boots� influence helped inspire members of several Los Angeles rock bands to become vegetarian, notably Randy California of "Spirit" and Arthur Lee of "Love", as well as Sky Saxon of the "Seeds." Mickey Dolenz, the zaniest member of the TV pop foursome "The Monkeys" was also a Boots fan, while Frank Zappa appeared in the cult movie "Mondo Hollywood" (1968) with Boots, and they must have been the only 2 bearded long-haired guys in L.A. preaching a "no dope" philosophy in the late 60�s.
The surf scene foreshadowed the hippie period by at least a decade with many common features. This surf-sedan was painted psychedelic in 1962 on Oahu, Hawaii, a half-decade before the infamous "Summer of Love" in San Francisco.
"Surf Bohemians" with shaggy hair, goatees and vegetarian lifestyle, rode their redwood boards on un-crowded waves in the early 1950's in the Malibu area. The surf scene of the late 1950�s in California and Hawaii was a precursor to the counter-culture that began in 1964, including components like long hair, natural foods, trips to Mexico, psychedelic music, living outdoors, unique vocabulary, anti-authoritarian posture and global travel destinations. A surf band called "The Gamblers" had a hit song titled "Moon Dawg" in 1960, and the B-side was the song "LSD 25. Dick Dale, the undisputed King of the surf guitar had a hit with "Let�s Go Trippin" in 1961, which was later recorded by the Beach Boys (1964). Noted surf artist Rick Griffin later became a respected hippie artist as well.
On the east coast of America professors Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and Ralph Metzner were busy in the early 1960�s with their psychedelic research, first at Harvard University then later at the Millbrook estate in New York. They were quick to recognize the strong correlation between L.S.D. induced archetypes and their many Germanic antecedents available from 20th century scientists, artists and writers.
L.S.D. was first synthesized in 1938 by Dr. Albert Hoffmann in Switzerland. In the fall of 1963 Dr. Leary and his colleague German born Dr. Metzner, published an article in their quarterly magazine "The Psychedelic Review" titled: "Hermann Hesse: Poet of the Interior Journey". Although Hesse�s novels "Siddhartha"(1922) and "Steppenwolf"(1927) were published in Germany many decades before the 1960�s, they considered them the most important psychedelic literature available. Partly through the influence of this article these two novels sold millions in the 60�s and rode in the backpacks of a whole generation. Nearly all hippies read Hesse!
In 1964 Leary, Alpert and Metzner published their landmark book "The Psychedelic Experience" which was quickly labeled the "bible" of the hippie movement. In the introduction they included a tribute to Swiss psychologist Dr. Carl Jung who had committed himself to the inner vision of internal perception. Dr. Jung, a one time resident of the commune at Ascona (1900) had witnessed first hand many spiritual purifying rituals involving fasting, diet and excessive hiking, that could sometimes induce a psychedelic-type high.
"Herbst" (Autumn), mural sketch by Fidus, 1934 (Note "peace" symbol on top)
As the 1960�s flowered the "peace" symbol (used by Fidus as early as 1934) became a familiar icon in artwork and graffiti�while the Volkswagen bus became the most quintessential symbol for hippie transportation and even lifestyle. The bus was created and engineered in 1949 by technicians of the Wandervogel generation.
Nature Boy eden ahbez sat in on the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" recordings in 1966. And while the Beatles popularity reached it�s absolute zenith by 1968�.most of their fans never knew that the once scruffy bar band from Liverpool received their first big break playing in clubs in Hamburg Germany in 1960. The four English lads with greasy slicked-back 50�s style hair radically changed their image and hairstyles after meeting Klaus Voorman and several of the other German art students who wore shaggy long hair with bangs. George Harrison said that German photographer Astrid Kirchherr "invented" the Beatles with her camera giving them tips on dress and posing, and capturing their images in some priceless early photo shoots.
As a deep heartfelt thanks to their faithful German fans the Beatles later recorded "Komm gib Mir Deine Hand" (I Want To Hold Your Hand) and "Sie Liebt Dich" (She Loves You) singing in German.
Klaus Voorman designed the cover and drew the artwork for the Beatles landmark "Revolver" (1966) album. The Beatles German period can be viewed in the video "Backbeat" (1994). Psychedelic music exploded from a ferocious British band called The Yardbirds (1963-1968) whose lead guitarists included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Virtually every heavy band from Jimi Hendrix and Cream to Black Sabbath and Van Halen used the formula invented by The Yardbirds.
Nature Boy Gypsy Boots getting ready for the Newport Pop Festival in August 1968. Born in San Francisco in 1916 he was the most important living link between the old Naturmensch and the Flower Children of the 1960s. He was a paid performer at many concerts along with acts like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, but he had been living the hippie lifestyle wild in Nature since the 1930s. (Photo courtesy of Gypsy Boots)
After the 60�s ended the 70�s became the decade when more people went back to the land than any other period in the 20th century.
This California surfer and his girlfriend were some of the young folks who went to live wild in nature during the late 1960s and early '70s, mostly in California, Hawaii and parts of Europe. This most radical form of communalism was a replay of the Wandervogel and Naturmensch period some 60 years before in Germany and Switzerland (Taylor Park, Kauai, Hawaii, 1971)
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, later, July of 1972 saw the first "Rainbow Gathering" near Granby Lake in Colorado. It began as a healing gathering with spiritual nature-loving participants, and according to long time Rainbow focalizer Michael John: " Our roots are in the Pagan festivals of the Middle Ages, and the time after Christ when the way we celebrate the summer and our union was here, something has called us to that memory, to give us the chance to re-experience that. I think that the Rainbow Gathering is just the resurfacing of the ancient Festivals". (From: "People Of The Rainbow" Michael Niman-1997)
Also in the early 1970�s many hippies in California and Hawaii embraced the most radical form of earth habitation�living in caves (and sometimes tree-houses) in the wilderness, native style. Most of the larger watercourses in southern California like Tahquitz, Deep Creek, Sespe and The Big Sur River had young cave dwellers in their canyons.
This was an echo of the Naturmensch and Wandervogel with their wild seasonal forays in the Alps and farther south into Italy, some 50 years before�and of Bill Pester who came to California in 1906 to live in Nature.
The "Ferals" of eastern Australia are yet another present day link in the chain of youths who have abandoned urbanism and returned into forested areas where they live mostly in nomadic tipis in the Nimbin/Byron region of New South Wales, sometimes numbering as many as 10,000.
By the mid 1990's there were as many as 10,000 "Ferals" living in the forests of eastern Australia, many of them in the region surrounding Nimbin and Byron Bay in New South Wales. Small nomadic tipis are the preferred habitation and nearly all of these Gen-X kids come from the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and are a modern-day echo of the German Naturmensch and the American youth movements in the 1960s.
After the high times of the 1960�s were over many people began searching for new ways to maintain clarity and health, "graduating" to things like yoga, pure diet, meditation, hiking, environmental activism, etc.
Fred Hirsch, the man who published Professor Arnold Ehret�s books for over 50 years in his office in Beaumont California was host to many "acid heads" who had shifted to "sun-foods" during the 1970�s to maintain their high as well as a strong connection with the plant kingdom.
The Green political Party began in Germany in the late 1970�s as an outgrowth of the 1950�s anti-nuclear movements in Europe, later spread to other parts of the world including America.
"Fruhlingsodem" by Fidus, 1893
For a brief period in the 1980�s the Hippie lifestyle seemed pass� and years out of style, but it re-charged itself vigorously in the 1990�s. Even though the media tends to anachronize young hippies, Rainbows and environmentalists as remnants of the 1960�s, anyone can see by looking at the photos that accompany this article that Hippiedom is really just a perennial sub-culture�as old as the first humans that ever walked upright, and as new as the 30,000 plus members on the Hip-Planet site.
That�s why hippies will never go away�because they�ve always been here anyway. click here to buy book
Gordon Kennedy is the author of "Children of the Sun", a book about the origins of the Hippie Movement in Germany and the ideas they introduced to the US in the early 1900s.
Copyright 2003-Kennedy/Ryan Nivaria Press; All rights reserved including the right of reproduction of text or images.[Excerpts taken from �Children of the Sun; A Pictorial Anthology From Germany To California, 1883-1949�-By Gordon Kennedy 1998 ISBN 0-9668898-0-0]
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Got my half bedsheet today from earthing .com. With my grounded adaptor I get a definite tingling sensation. Apparently this will last a few days. Very impressed!
Today I went for a barefoot walk on concrete. Not nearly as cold as I thought I would be!!! Will definitely make this part of my routine. I intuitively feel this will be very beneficial for me.
How are people doing?
WATUROPATHY FOR YOU Walk barefoot for health and happiness
Walk 15 minutes a day without footwear and you will let the earth seep into your being. In a month, you will start feeling a new strength, says Manjushree Abhinav. By Manjushree Abhinav summary 01 Dec 2008, Citizen Matters bookmark email print
�Because the wind wants to feel your hair, and the earth wants to touch your feet.' - Kahlil Gibran
We live in nature, but we don�t live naturally. We live on the earth, but we don�t touch it. Ninety per cent of the time, we hide from the sun. We use hot water to bathe, which is a fast, functional affair. Most of the time we condition the air we breathe. In winter, we keep warm and in summers, we protect ourselves from the heat. We burn most of the vitamin in food before we eat it. In fact, we protect ourselves from all that is natural. And yet, many of us fall ill from time of time, worry about our general health.
Walking with barefoot on the uneven path
Walking barefoot on an uneven path. Pic: Manjushree Abhinav.
This is where naturopathy comes in. Naturopathy is an alternative healing system. Like the name suggests, naturopathy attempts to re-link us with the five elements of nature, namely fire, water, earth, air and space, and thereby heal us.
Let us talk about an important element of nature: mother earth. There is one simple, quick way to get back in touch with the earth: walk barefoot.
Nature has made our feet sensitive. We have a lot of acupressure points on our feet which love to be massaged every now and then. But we deprive our poor feet the right to feel different surfaces by continuously covering them in thick chappals, or walking on flat tiled floor.
Then there is the obsession with clean, soft feet. The choice is simple. Do you want to be pretty and sick or tough and healthy? Health is the wealth that can give you the smile that no beauty parlor can produce.
Let�s go back to the first step. No baby ever wore shoes while learning to walk. And the first step was such joy. The baby was trying out the strength of his leg muscles, and suddenly discovered balance by becoming aware of the muscles in his feet. Most children hate wearing shoes, they prefer sandals. Shoes and socks, worn the whole day, render our feet numb. The more comfortable our shoes, the lesser aware we are of our feet.
Walking with barefoot
On stones. (Pic: Manjushree Abhinav)
Walking barefoot on mother earth is like hugging your mother. You might remember the experiment with two groups of baby monkeys. The one who were allowed to hug their mothers lived as compared to the ones who got the milk from plastic bottles.
Nature nourishes and cherishes us in more ways than we are aware. Soil has healing properties. It draws out toxins from the body. Minerals that get lost on their way to us otherwise seep in directly from the touch of mother earth.
Try this experiment. Twice in a day, walk on bare earth for fifteen minutes. If you can�t find bare earth, walk on a footpath. Make sure it is not a very smooth footpath though; we want some mud and pebbles. Walk slowly, letting the earth seep into your being. It might be painful at first, but soon the feet will start relishing the massage. Most of your bodily aches and pains will diminish within a week.
If you continue for more than a month, you will start feeling a new strength in your body, feet up. The feet will actually radiate a palpable sense of well �being.
Walking with barefoot on the stones
Even closer. (Pic: Manjushree Abhinav)
Walking barefoot is especially good for knee pain, stiffness in the joints, and back pain. A study showed that the incidence of arthritis and varicose veins are much lower in villages, probably because they walk barefoot. Digestion also improves drastically by the acupressure effect of barefoot walking.
But yes, care for the feet that walk bare can include a warm footbath at night, followed by a quick massage with oil. Soaking the feet in warm water for five to ten minutes will, as it is, refresh your entire being. And the massage will soothe the creases and seal in the energy.
Celebrities who walk barefoot
Although he is a little eccentric, M F Hussain is a sprightly old man who radiates energy. Famous for his paintings, the media doesn�t tire of musing over his bare feet.
It is written that Jesus Christ walked bare foot, and made his disciples do the same.
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after barefoot walking one day i will try this!!!!!
Barefoot Running [Perfect Paperback] Michael Sandler Michael Sandler (Author) � Visit Amazon's Michael Sandler Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central (Author), Jessica Lee (Author), Sandra Wendel (Editor) 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews) 21 Reviews 5 star: (20) 4 star: (0) 3 star: (0) 2 star: (1) 1 star: (0)
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5 new from $19.95 Page 2 Feedback | Help | Expanded View | Close Go to "Barefoot Running" page Barefoot Running (Perfect Paperback) by Michael Sandler, Jessica Lee 4.9 out of 5 stars (21) 5 used & new from $19.95 Book sections Front Cover Copyright Table of Contents First Pages Index Back Cover Surprise Me! Search Inside This Book Just so you know...
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Next Editorial Reviews Product Description Running barefoot may be good for your health. It will help you with your posture, balance and spinal and hip alignments.
Barefoot running is low impact, toe-centric, enhance stability and balance.
Give it a try and it just might change your life to the best, and at the least will save you about $150 not spent on a new pair of shoes. About the Author Michael Sandler is a best selling author, barefoot running and walking coach. He has coached professionally for nearly 20 years. After a nearl-fatal accident he was told that he would be lucky to keep functioning legs and that he would not run again. With an implanted titanium femur and hip, it was only through barefoot running, and lessons learned on the trails that he was able to heal and run again.
With coauthor Jessica Lee, they travel around the world, teaching people how to discover the joy of running. Product Details
* Perfect Paperback: 298 pages * Publisher: Run Bare Publishing; 1 edition (May 2010) * Language: English * ISBN-10: 0984382208 * ISBN-13: 978-0984382200 * Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches * Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds * Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews) 21 Reviews 5 star: (20) 4 star: (0) 3 star: (0) 2 star: (1) 1 star: (0)
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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive guide to barefoot running and running in general, May 11, 2010 By Zachary D. Bergen "Colorado Runner" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) This review is from: Barefoot Running (Perfect Paperback) I love this book! I have been running since high school and as I approach 50, I want to continue running. I am convinced that my switch from "shod" running in high tech running shoes with orthotics to a barefoot stride will insure running for years to come. This book is an exhaustive treatment of the subject in a great format. I found out many things I did not know that have helped me as I transitioned out of traditional shoes. Now I look at runners who are heel striking knowing for certain they could have a better running experience. The authors state that you should start slow. I could not emphasize this enough and by going slow it will pay off. Your feet have been trapped in shoes and need to learn how to be feet again and have the feedback with the brain and your kinesthetic awareness heightened. Since running barefoot and with the help of this book, I have gone through many phases of "healing" and have completely changed my attitude about feet and how tough they are.
I think even if you still buy the myth of running shoes, you should improve your stride by using this book and translate that new brain learned response back to your traditional running shoe regimen. Although I think you'll find your old running shoes to feel unnatural and clunky like I did. I can't go back. The neat thing is that there are plenty of minimalist shoes to choose from for all seasons and conditions.
This book will also serve as a reference. I often flip through the pages to learn more about something like their advice for difference surface types. It is a good companion for people who want to know if their experience of barefoot running is normal since there are not a lot of people out there to share experiences with (yet). I also joined the barefoot running group. It is an easy way to share experiences.
I know there is a lot of interest in barefoot running. I often get stopped and hit with questions about my experience. They have all been positive. It is not necessarily easy to transition and it is more than worth it. It has completely redefined my running game and brought more fun and another dimensions to my runs. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Not sure what to think about this..., October 28, 2010 By Neil Gunton (Eureka, CA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Barefoot Running (Perfect Paperback) I found this book by accident in one of my local outdoor stores. I had been interested in running barefoot for some time, ever since reading "Born to run". I had tried the Vibram Five Fingers, but had problems with a seam rubbing my arches, so that had put a damper on that experiment. When I saw this book, a little light went off in my head - hang on, maybe I can just ditch the VFF altogether and go completely barefoot! This book seemed to light the way. The apparent endorsement by Barefoot Ted, who was featured heavily in Born to Run, clinched the deal in terms of apparent legitimacy.
The outdoor store has quite inflated prices, so I decided to look for the book on Amazon. I was a little mystified to find that Amazon doesn't sell it, even though it is a very recent publication. And when I called my local Borders, they couldn't even find it in their system by the ISBN. So I went back to the little store and bought the copy they had. I noticed that it seemed to be kind of self-published, so maybe that explains it.
The book has the usual fluff at the beginning - you know where they take 30 pages with lots of positive, vague, rah-rah motivational stuff. They do admit right up front that you don't even get to the running part until chapter 5. Ok, that's par for the course.
My first doubts surfaced when they started going on about being connected with the Earth, and how everything has a frequency, and how important it is to be "grounded". All of this is part of a justification, it seems, for why barefoot running is a Good Thing. Ok, I thought, fair enough - it's a bit much, but whatever.
Serious doubts began on page 19, when they started talking about something called the Schumann Resonance, which is apparently the frequency of the Earth's "heartbeat" (7.83 Hz). According to the book, "this number is important because it's the same frequency our brains use to survive and thrive. In other words, our vibrations are matched or we vibrate at the same frequency of the earth. Put another way, we evolved in sync with the frequency or heartbeat of the earth". Ok, again, whatever. But then there's this little gem: "NASA scientists have known this for years. In early space missions, astronauts became surprisingly weak and ill when they went into space and left the resonance of the earth behind. They now alleviate this process by having a vibrational device attached to the ships that resonates at the Schumann Resonance - by matching to the frequency of the earth, spacecraft help astronauts stay in sync".
Hmm. This was news to me, I was quite interested in space and NASA when I was younger, but I had never heard of this. As far as I know, astronauts become weak after periods in space because of the lack of gravity, which weakens their bones and muscles unless they take care to do resistance exercise. A quick search on a well known search engine pulled up as a top result for "Schumann frequency NASA" a thread that says this is bunk. I can find no official references to this at all. And what about airline pilots? They do long haul flights all the time where they are out of touch with the earth. Do they have these devices on airplanes? Why can't I find any reference to it anywhere, except on websites dedicated to debunking bad science?
Then, on page 20, referring to why people don't get hurt when lightning strikes their car, the authors call this the "Farridy Cage" effect. I laughed when I saw this (apparently) phonetic spelling of Michael Faraday's name.
They then go on a bit about things called "grounding pads", and how these keep us in touch with the earth, and how (surprise, surprise) they sell them at their website.
At this point I was having some serious doubts about the book. I mean, the authors are giving out some quite detailed advice on how to get into running barefoot, and if you do this wrong then you could end up with some quite serious injuries to your feet. If they are spouting nonsense about Schumann Frequency, "Farridy" cages and grounding sheets, then how can I take anything else they say seriously? Why couldn't they just stick to the barefoot running, without going off into cloud cuckoo land and thus throwing their entire credibility into doubt?
The book overall has the air of a somewhat breathlessly enthusiastic amateur. The biggest lesson to be taken away from it, really, is "take it slow, listen to your body". This can be conveyed in one single sentence, I don't really know why it needs to be fleshed out to a couple hundred pages, but I guess that's how people sell books.
I tried contacting the authors via their website contact form, telling them about the misspelling of Mr Faraday's name and asking for sources for their claims on the Schumann Frequency stuff, but I did not get any reply. Hmmm.
I thought this would be a straightforward book about barefoot running. However, given the ludicrous claims in the earlier parts of the book, I have to say it throws the whole idea into a cloud of doubt and uncertainty. When they talk about how Lance Armstrong's team uses these "grounding pads", how do I know I can believe it? How do I know I can believe one of the authors really cycled 5,000 miles across America in 2004 in 40 days, solo? It's a wonderful achievement (I've done this myself, but I took a lot longer, and trust me - averaging 125 miles a day for 40 days is quite a feat). The point is about credibility, and as far as I'm concerned, with the early parts of this book the authors really shoot themselves in the foot (sorry). My podiatrist says that running barefoot on concrete is a bad idea. This book says it's not. Who to believe? Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comments (3)
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book - 5 Toes Up!, May 16, 2010 By Tom Anderson (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Barefoot Running (Perfect Paperback) What a fantastic book!
Barefoot Running by Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee was much more than I expected. It covers everything I wanted to know about getting into barefoot running. It's step by step approach is super-easy to follow, and the pictures make it incredibly easy to get started. They also covered timely topics I never thought much about...such as why kids should be barefoot (there's a whole section devoted to kids) and why seniors can recover balance and health by going barefoot (I've gotta share this with my parents).
However, they're not barefoot evangelists. They strike a great balance between going barefoot or in a shoe, stating straight out that barefoot running won't be for everyone, but that it will help strengthen your feet or legs whether you choose to run in our out of a shoe. On that note, they cover transitioning into Vibram Five-Fingers in great detail, shoes I've always wanted to try (waiting for my local store to get them in stock!). They cover do's and don'ts of footwear, overcoming injuries (primarily from running in shoes) how to get into barefoot running when you've got plantar fasciitis (as I did), and how to strengthen your feet, legs and core. When they say help you run "light and free" it's no exaggeration. They share tips on running in all types of terrain, from ice and snow (not that I'll try that!) to summer's melting asphalt, along with racing and even ultras.
There's a healthy dose of science throughout the book, sharing the latest science and backing things up with studies. They even cover the science of getting "grounded" or why it feels so good to get in touch with the earth. Last, they cover the more meditative side of things, or why barefoot running helps quiet your mind (something I could definitely use more of in this hectic world, and a big reason why I run). I wish they included a review of different minimalist shoes in this book. However, they still share a wealth of information about different shoes and categories of shoes.
I'll be referring to this book for years to come as I progress from a newbie to an experienced barefoot runner.
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I think I felt a little tingling, too but not much. I feel more warmth in my hands and feet while on the sheets. I don't suffer from lyme or have any other chronic health issues.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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Ok killing this thread with the copy and pasting of entire books into here, some of you sound like you're working for the earthing companies....chill
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Some people might appreciate the info but maybe a link would be a better idea???
The thread is not really dead, is it????
I would like to hear about what other people are experiencing.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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momlyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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Hoot... do you have any experiences to share?
I am very interested in this.
I would like to try plugging into ground... haven't invested the $59 in a grounding mat or $169 in a bed mat... just because I haven't dished out the dough yet.
I want the benefits of this!
I watched the youtube videos for longevity now conference with David Wolfe. I loved the blood test example.
Any less expensive sources for getting grounded other than walking barefoot outside... not an option with all the snow on the ground.
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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Momlyme-- no experience to share since we just received ours. I want my hubby to use it to see if it helps with neuropathy. I also want my son with autism to use it to see if it helps him with *anything*. I will post when we get some results.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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momlyme
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Oooooh, I am jealous. Did you get the pad? Where did you get it? Is the price I put in above about what you paid? Can you post a link to where you bought it?
Looking forward to hearing your positive results. Don't forget to try it yourself!
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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We have a king bed and I ordered the king fitted sheet. I did not realize they have bed pads (basically 1/2 sheets). I would have ordered two queen bed pads instead now that I understand this better. The 1/2 sheets would be easier to move around from place to place and for the same amount of $$$ I could have 2-4 people family members trying them at once.
Also, for the protective effect from EMFs, it would be easier to take the 1/2 sheet off the bed and bring it into the family room so that it could be used while working on the computer or watching TV, etc.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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kidsgotlyme
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momlyme- I have been looking into this, and I am thinking about buying the pad because it's cheaper. I figure that I can use it when I am in the living room while I am sitting in my chair, or I can take it easily to the bedroom and sleep on it.
If it works well, then I would invest in the more expensive sheets.
-------------------- symptoms since 1993 that I can remember. 9/2018 diagnosed with Borellia, Babesia Duncani, and Bartonella Hensalae thru DNA Connections. Posts: 1470 | From Tennessee | Registered: Dec 2009
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Another interesting book on barefoot running:
Amazon.com Review Book Description Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world�s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.
Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico�s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.
With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.
Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Christopher McDougall
Question: Born to Run explores the life and running habits of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico�s Copper Canyon, arguably the greatest distance runners in the world. What are some of the secrets you learned from them?
Christopher McDougall: The key secret hit me like a thunderbolt. It was so simple, yet such a jolt. It was this: everything I�d been taught about running was wrong. We treat running in the modern world the same way we treat childbirth�it�s going to hurt, and requires special exercises and equipment, and the best you can hope for is to get it over with quickly with minimal damage.
Then I meet the Tarahumara, and they�re having a blast. They remember what it�s like to love running, and it lets them blaze through the canyons like dolphins rocketing through waves. For them, running isn�t work. It isn�t a punishment for eating. It�s fine art, like it was for our ancestors. Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain. And when our ancestors finally did make their first cave paintings, what were the first designs? A downward slash, lightning bolts through the bottom and middle�behold, the Running Man.
The Tarahumara have a saying: �Children run before they can walk.� Watch any four-year-old�they do everything at full speed, and it�s all about fun. That�s the most important thing I picked up from my time in the Copper Canyons, the understanding that running can be fast and fun and spontaneous, and when it is, you feel like you can go forever. But all of that begins with your feet. Strange as it sounds, the Tarahumara taught me to change my relationship with the ground. Instead of hammering down on my heels, the way I�d been taught all my life, I learned to run lightly and gently on the balls of my feet. The day I mastered it was the last day I was ever injured.
Q: You trained for your first ultramarathon�a race organized by the mysterious gringo expat Caballo Blanco between the Tarahumara and some of America�s top ultrarunners�while researching and writing this book. What was your training like?
CM: It really started as kind of a dare. Just by chance, I�d met an adventure-sports coach from Jackson Hole, Wyoming named Eric Orton. Eric�s specialty is tearing endurance sports down to their basic components and looking for transferable skills. He studies rock climbing to find shoulder techniques for kayakers, and applies Nordic skiing�s smooth propulsion to mountain biking. What he�s looking for are basic engineering principles, because he�s convinced that the next big leap forward in fitness won�t come from strength or technology, but plain, simple durability. With some 70% of all runners getting hurt every year, the athlete who can stay healthy and avoid injury will leave the competition behind.
So naturally, Eric idolized the Tarahumara. Any tribe that has 90-year-old men running across mountaintops obviously has a few training tips up its sleeve. But since Eric had never actually met the Tarahumara, he had to deduce their methods by pure reasoning. His starting point was uncertainty; he assumed that the Tarahumara step into the unknown every time they leave their caves, because they never know how fast they�ll have to sprint after a rabbit or how tricky the climbing will be if they�re caught in a storm. They never even know how long a race will be until they step up to the starting line�the distance is only determined in a last-minute bout of negotiating and could stretch anywhere from 50 miles to 200-plus.
Eric figured shock and awe was the best way for me to build durability and mimic Tarahumara-style running. He�d throw something new at me every day�hopping drills, lunges, mile intervals�and lots and lots of hills. There was no such thing, really, as long, slow distance�he�d have me mix lots of hill repeats and short bursts of speed into every mega-long run.
I didn�t think I could do it without breaking down, and I told Eric that from the start. I basically defied him to turn me into a runner. And by the end of nine months, I was cranking out four hour runs without a problem.
Q: You�re a six-foot four-inches tall, 200-plus pound guy�not anyone�s typical vision of a distance runner, yet you�ve completed ultra marathons and are training for more. Is there a body type for running, as many of us assume, or are all humans built to run?
CM: Yeah, I�m a big�un. But isn�t it sad that�s even a reasonable question? I bought into that bull for a loooong time. Why wouldn�t I? I was constantly being told by people who should know better that �some bodies aren�t designed for running.� One of the best sports medicine physicians in the country told me exactly that�that the reason I was constantly getting hurt is because I was too big to handle the impact shock from my feet hitting the ground. Just recently, I interviewed a nationally-known sports podiatrist who said, �You know, we didn�t ALL evolve to run away from saber-toothed tigers.� Meaning, what? That anyone who isn�t sleek as a Kenyan marathoner should be extinct? It�s such illogical blather�all kinds of body types exist today, so obviously they DID evolve to move quickly on their feet. It�s really awful that so many doctors are reinforcing this learned helplessness, this idea that you have to be some kind of elite being to handle such a basic, universal movement.
Q: If humans are born to run, as you argue, what�s your advice for a runner who is looking to make the leap from shorter road races to marathons, or marathons to ultramarathons? Is running really for everyone?
CM: I think ultrarunning is America�s hope for the future. Honestly. The ultrarunners have got a hold of some powerful wisdom. You can see it at the starting line of any ultra race. I showed up at the Leadville Trail 100 expecting to see a bunch of hollow-eyed Skeletors, and instead it was, �Whoah! Get a load of the hotties!� Ultra runners tend to be amazingly healthy, youthful and�believe it or not�good looking. I couldn�t figure out why, until one runner explained that throughout history, the four basic ingredients for optimal health have been clean air, good food, fresh water and low stress. And that, to a T, describes the daily life of an ultrarunner. They�re out in the woods for hours at a time, breathing pine-scented breezes, eating small bursts of digestible food, downing water by the gallons, and feeling their stress melt away with the miles. But here�s the real key to that kingdom: you have to relax and enjoy the run. No one cares how fast you run 50 miles, so ultrarunners don�t really stress about times. They�re out to enjoy the run and finish strong, not shave a few inconsequential seconds off a personal best. And that�s the best way to transition up to big mileage races: as coach Eric told me, �If it feels like work, you�re working too hard.�
Q: You write that distance running is the great equalizer of age and gender. Can you explain?
CM: Okay, I�ll answer that question with a question: Starting at age nineteen, runners get faster every year until they hit their peak at twenty-seven. After twenty-seven, they start to decline. So if it takes you eight years to reach your peak, how many years does it take for you to regress back to the same speed you were running at nineteen?
Go ahead, guess all you want. No one I�ve asked has ever come close. It�s in the book, so I won�t give it away, but I guarantee when you hear the answer, you�ll say, �No way. THAT old?� Now, factor in this: ultra races are the only sport in the world in which women can go toe-to-toe with men and hand them their heads. Ann Trason and Krissy Moehl often beat every man in the field in some ultraraces, while Emily Baer recently finished in the Top 10 at the Hardrock 100 while stopping to breastfeed her baby at the water stations.
So how�s that possible? According to a new body of research, it�s because humans are the greatest distance runners on earth. We may not be fast, but we�re born with such remarkable natural endurance that humans are fully capable of outrunning horses, cheetahs and antelopes. That�s because we once hunted in packs and on foot; all of us, men and women alike, young and old together.
Q: One of the fascinating parts of Born to Run is your report on how the ultrarunners eat�salad for breakfast, wraps with hummus mid-run, or pizza and beer the night before a run. As a runner with a lot of miles behind him, what are your thoughts on nutrition for running?
CM: Live every day like you�re on the lam. If you�ve got to be ready to pick up and haul butt at a moment�s notice, you�re not going to be loading up on gut-busting meals. I thought I�d have to go on some kind of prison-camp diet to get ready for an ultra, but the best advice I got came from coach Eric, who told me to just worry about the running and the eating would take care of itself. And he was right, sort of. I instinctively began eating smaller, more digestible meals as my miles increased, but then I went behind his back and consulted with the great Dr. Ruth Heidrich, an Ironman triathlete who lives on a vegan diet. She�s the one who gave me the idea of having salad for breakfast, and it�s a fantastic tip. The truth is, many of the greatest endurance athletes of all time lived on fruits and vegetables. You can get away with garbage for a while, but you pay for it in the long haul. In the book, I describe how Jenn Shelton and Billy �Bonehead� Barnett like to chow pizza and Mountain Dew in the middle of 100-mile races, but Jenn is also a vegetarian who most days lives on veggie burgers and grapes.
Q: In this difficult financial time, we�re experiencing yet another surge in the popularity of running. Can you explain this?
CM: When things look worst, we run the most. Three times, America has seen distance-running skyrocket and it�s always in the midst of a national crisis. The first boom came during the Great Depression; the next was in the �70s, when we were struggling to recover from a recession, race riots, assassinations, a criminal President and an awful war. And the third boom? One year after the Sept. 11 attacks, trailrunning suddenly became the fastest-growing outdoor sport in the country. I think there�s a trigger in the human psyche that activates our first and greatest survival skill whenever we see the shadow of approaching raptors.
(Photo � James Rexroad) From Booklist From the depths of Mexico�s Copper Canyon to the heights of the Leadville Trail 100 ultramarathon in Colorado, from the centuries-old running techniques of Mexico�s Tarahumara tribe to a research lab at the University of Utah, author McDougall celebrates, in this engaging and picaresque account, humankind�s innate love of running. There are rogues aplenty here, such the deadly narco-traffickers who roam Copper Canyon, but there are many more who inspire, such as the Tarahumara runners, who show the rest of the world the false limitations we place on human endurance. McDougall has served as an Associated Press war correspondent, is a contributing editor to Men�s Health, and runs at his home in rural Pennsylvania, and he brings all of these experiences to bear in this slyly important, highly readable account. --Alan Moores See all Editorial Reviews Product Details
* Hardcover: 304 pages * Publisher: Knopf; First American Edition edition (May 5, 2009) * Language: English * ISBN-10: 0307266303 * ISBN-13: 978-0307266309 * Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches * Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) * Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (609 customer reviews) 609 Reviews 5 star: (488) 4 star: (75) 3 star: (24) 2 star: (14) 1 star: (8)
� See all 609 customer reviews... � See all discussions... * Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #94 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) o #1 in Books > Health, Mind & Body > Exercise & Fitness > Running & Jogging o #1 in Books > Sports > Individual Sports o #1 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural
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Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (609 customer reviews)
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382 of 387 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A great story and so much more, May 16, 2009 By D. Sull (London, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Hardcover) Born to Run succeeds at three levels. First, it is a page turner. The build up to a fifty-mile foot race over some of the world's least hospitable terrain drives the narrative forward. Along the way McDougall introduces a cast of characters worthy of Dickens, including an almost superhuman ultramarathoner, Jenn and the Bonehead--a couple who down bottles of booze to warm up for a race, Barefoot Ted, Mexican drug dealers, a ghostly ex-boxer, a heartbroken father, and of course the Tarahumara, arguably the greatest runners in the world.
Born to Run is such a rip-roaring yarn, that it is easy to miss the book's deeper achievements. At a second level, McDougall introduces and explores a powerful thesis--that human beings are literally born to run. Recreational running did not begin with the 1966 publication of "Jogging" by the co-founder of Nike. Instead, McDougall argues, running is at the heart of what it means to be human. In the course of elaborating his thesis, McDougall answers some big questions: Why did our ancestors outlive the stronger, smarter Neanderthals? Why do expensive running shoes increase the odds of injury? The author's modesty keeps him from trumpeting the novelty and importance of this thesis, but it merits attention.
Finally, Born to Run presents a philosophy of exercise. The ethos that pervades recreational and competitive running--"no pain, no gain," is fundamentally flawed, McDougall argues. The essence of running should not be grim determination, but sheer joy. Many of the conventions of modern running--the thick-soled shoes, mechanical treadmills, take no prisoners competition, and heads-down powering through pain dull our appreciation of what running can be--a sociable activity, more game than chore, that can lead to adventure. McDougall's narrative moves the book forward, his thesis provides a solid intellectual support, but this philosophy of joy animates Born to Run. I hope this book finds the wide audience it deserves. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comments (14)
154 of 158 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A phenomenal book about running but more importantly a way of life, May 17, 2009 By R. George "raygeo3" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME) This review is from: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Hardcover) My wife handed me Born to Run about 24 hours ago and said "you might like this." Having run quite a bit but nursing an achilles tendon injury for about 3 years, I had almost given up on my dreams of getting back into marathon shape. 24 hours (and very little sleep) later, I feel inspired, awed, and enlightened, and I have Christopher's wonderful book to thank.
In a nutshell, I have not been this entralled by a story since Shadow Divers, Seabiscuit and/or Into Thin Air. Christopher's recounting of the forbidding Copper Canyons, the amazing Tarahumara, ultramarathoners young and old, and the greatest race you've never heard of is enough for me to give this a rave review. But like the aforementioned books, there is so much more to this story, not the least of which was Christopher's own quest (and amazing resiliency) to run without pain. Finally, he put to words many of the thoughts and feelings I've had about running but am unable to articulate. And Christopher is a great writer - I laughed out loud many times throughout. He has a style akin to a Timothy Cahill - a great wit that was obviously aided by a wonderfully intriguing cast of characters.
As the sun was coming up this morning I was a bit sad to see this book end, and am already contemplating picking it up again. But only after I strap on the old, beaten up sneaks and get in a quick jog. Thanks so much for writing this book - I hope it changes lives and perspectives in the process. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comments (3)
114 of 123 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The Cure for Modernity, May 11, 2009 By A Customer - See all my reviews This review is from: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Hardcover) If, when you finish with this book, you don't immediately get yourself outside and run like hell, then there's probably not a drop of living blood in you. This book is the perfect antidote to everything that's wrong with modern running and the way to find everything that's still so right with it. Even if it were all a work of fiction McDougall's tale would still be worth the price of admission. Fabulous. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
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daystar1952
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I just bought a trifield meter which measures magnetic, electric and radio/microwaves. I have a special wrist grounding bracelet attached to the ground plug on an outlet nearby the computor. When I put the meter on the keyboard, it measures 2and 1 half milligauss.
The computor screen is 3 milligaus and the mouse is 1 milligauss. When I put on the bracelet, all three items then measure at zero. But...I'm not sure what that means.
Does it mean that the electromagnetics are going through me and I am protecting the equipment or does it mean that wearing the bracelet is canceling out the positive ions emitting from the equipment with the negative ions from the earth so that I am NOT absorbing them?
I have already changed a couple of lightbulbs in the kitchen from flourescent (which made the meter go off the scale)to xenon bulbs. The xenon bulbs use more electricity than the flourescent...probably more comparable to the incandescent bulbs....but the electomagnetic frequencies that the xenon bulbs emitted was much much less and the light was so much more soft and pleasing.
It was like a relief looking at the light from those bulbs.....calming. Flourescent bulbs never make me feel calm and that must mean something
The meter has also shown me how far away to place my floor lamps from my head...etc. Our electric radio alarm clock is pretty bad also. I may replace it with a bateery operated one which is supposed to be much better in that respect.
Posts: 1176 | Registered: Oct 2002
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momlyme
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Daystar- that's interesting about the fluorescent lights... Perhaps the link I posted earlier in this thread will shed some light with your experiement and the tester you have.
David wolfe does a similar test grounding himself with the grounding pad. He uses a voltmeter... First his body EMF reads at 8-13 volts then he touches the pad and the reading is close to zero. He does it again and again.
Seems to me that means when you are grounded you are getting zero negative effects from the electronics that surround you. Here's the vid again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46Fm0dtE2c
I bought the grounding pad last night. Haven't received it yet. Hoot - how bout you? Any benefits yet?
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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momlyme-- the first couple of days I felt tingling and warmth in my hands and feet. Now I just feel the warmth. I seem to be getting really good sleep and it seems as though I am dreaming more (or remembering that I have had dreams). I don't have any chronic health issues. I think I read that the people with more serious issues may see more...
My hubby has not used it yet. He insists on sleeping in the basement bedroom lately because it has in-floor heating and is much warmer down there (too hot for me to sleep there!!!). I should have put the sheet on that bed. I will switch it tomorrow unless I can convince him to come upstairs.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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momlyme
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Thanks for the update hoot! Glad you are getting good sleep! Has hubby seen the benefits described in David Wolfe's Longevity conference?
I had my hubby watch that. He can't wait to try it! I did not get the sheet, just the pad. We will have to share.
According to what I have seen from David Wolfe... the more you can stay grounded the better, but you can see the benefits (blood under a microscope) in just one hour. So the minimum is one hour per day.
The guy in this video mentions another website where you can buy grounding/EMF stuff cheap: http://lessemf.com
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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posted
momlyme-- I am going to try to get my hubby to start using it. Tonight is the night. He will be back from California...no excuses!
He has not tried it yet so no results to report.
Posts: 236 | From Illinois | Registered: Feb 2009
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momlyme
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Good luck Hoot! I hope he has a good night's sleep!
Glad it's working for you Wallace!
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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posted
atural Walking for Exercise By Tom A. Kutscher
Natural walking is the practice of barefoot walking in the most natural environments, with the most natural techniques and methods in order to maximize the enjoyment of walking while providing low stress exercise. The concept of natural walking is that to do whatever is most natural for the body is the best form of walking. Natural walking, as exercise and not as simply an enjoyable pastime, is one of the very best forms of exercise of any kind while being low on stress and high on pure fun.
What is "natural walking?" Natural walking is outdoor walking during daylight hours in bare feet on non-abrasive natural surfaces such as grass, earth, hard-packed sand or other natural surfaces at a pace that is adequate for exercise and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Natural walking vs. unnatural walking The following list covers the advantages of natural walking and guidelines to doing it properly and safely.
1. Barefoot Natural walking must be done barefoot. That is the way that humans walked for many thousands of years prior to the invention of footwear. Barefoot walking utilizes the feet entirely while shoes restrict some of the natural movement of the feet. Shoes and footwear, since they are man-made, cannot be considered as natural. Since we are not born with shoes on, we have to adapt to wearing them. In addition to restricting some of the natural movement of the feet, shoes cut off the range of sensory ability of the feet and cut down on the sensory pleasures of contacting the grass and earth. Shoes also are often the cause of blisters, overheating, fungus, foot injuries and pain. 2. Outdoors Walking outdoors is natural. Early humankind had no indoor facilities; walking was a daily outdoor activity and was a necesity for survival. Outdoor walking maximizes the contact with nature and availability of fresh air and natural scenery. 3. Earth Connection to the Body Natural walking allows for a natural connection to the earth through the feet. Nearly all natural health specialists and healers acknowledge that we need to be "grounded" to the earth. This "groundedness" effect is believed by many to enhance and unblock the body's chi energy, chakras, and subtle energy. 4. Reflexology Effect Reflexology is a form of massage therapy that involves point pressure stimulation of parts of the feet. Natural walking on grass and other natural surfaces provides a similar form of stimulation that has a "reflexology effect" that is beneficial. While this benefit is not as intense as a full reflexology session, it is far superior to walking with the feet encased in shoes. Shoes offer no reflexology effect at all and in fact shoes block the feet from any stimulation by the environment. 5. Natural Surfaces Grass that is healthy and well hydrated is the best natural surface to walk on. This includes grass that is common in lawns (fescue, bluegrass, zoysia, etc.) and other similar forms of soft vegetation such as clover, soft (non-toxic) broadleaf weeds, and other non-toxic leafy vegetation. Grasses generally range from good to outstanding as a natural surface. Other non-grassy earth surfaces, such as smooth earth, slightly muddy earth, and hard-packed sand (e.g. wet sand that is near the shore of a beach and provides a firm support for walking) are also natural as long as they are not harmful to the feet, and range from fair to excellent. For best results, the earth that the grass grows in should be fairly smooth (i.e. not filled with a lot of hard dirt clumps) and not filled with stones, sticks, or other debris. These types of obstacles, while natural, tend to diminish the enjoyment of the natural walking experience. Unnatural hazards (glass, metal, garbage, biohazards, etc.) should be avoided. Clean, well-maintained parks usually provide some of the best natural walking surfaces. 6. Cooler Walking Area Grass and live vegetation have much less surface heat radiation than concrete and asphalt, and generally can provide a cooler walking area. 7. Natural Gait The body's natural walking sequence and motion of bones, muscles, and other body parts, i.e. "gait", is thrown off in all cases at least moderately and sometimes substantially with the use of shoes. Studies have shown that only barefoot walking makes it possible for a completely natural gait as long as the feet are normal and healthy. A natural gait allows for full movement of the toes and front of the feet as is readily done when barefoot. Likewise, carrying substantial weight (being substantially overweight, carry a heavy backpack, etc.) will adversely affect the natural gait. Natural walking promotes a natural gait. 8. Use of the Toes Natural walking allows for full use of the toes when walking. This is not possible with any type of footwear, even flip flops, which provide a barrier between the toes and the ground. 9. Natural Exercise Pace Natural walking is best done at a pace that is good for exercise; not too fast, and not too slow. A too-fast pace can cause a risk of injury and sometimes is unduly stressful in warm or hot conditions. A too-slow pace is inadequate for a good exercise workout. A general range for natural walking is 4 to 7 km/hr (2.5 mph to 4.7 mph), and will depend on several factors, especially the quality of the surface. Smooth soft grass and earth surfaces are much more conducive to a faster pace than are uneven grassy areas that are rocky or are full of unpleasant sharp-edged weeds or stubble. It is quite acceptable, and in fact wise, to temporarily slow down a bit if some obstacles or poor terrain are encountered and then return to the regular pace when safe to do so. 10. Water Water is the most natural liquid refreshment. Bottled water should be brought with you when natural walking and you should hydrate yourself before, during, and after the walk. For natural walking to be done most successfully, at least 0.5 to 0.8 liter (1 pint to 1.7 pints) of water should be consumed per hour, and more if the weather is hot or if it is very sunny. The water can be cold, cool or at a tepid temperature. 11. Distance A natural walking distance is one that provides sufficient exercise but does not exceed one's natural limits. If you feel pain, aches, significant discomfort, etc., the walk should be ended as soon as possible. Exercise should not cause regular significant injuries or even regular minor injuries. Each person's appropriate distances (i.e. natural limits) will vary as you get more in shape and as your feet get more "ruggedized." It will typically increase over time. 12. Daylight Natural walking is best done in daylight with natural lighting (i.e. sunlight). It is not recommended to be done under the lights, or in darkness. 13. Posture The posture is either straight or slightly leaning forward. The main exception to this is when going uphill it may be necessary to make posture adjustments (e.g. slightly more forward when going uphill). 14. Leg Movement A natural sequence of leg movement is used, not an exaggerated lifting of the legs up and down and also not a lack of upward leg movement along with sliding the feet across the ground or shuffling motion. The legs and feet should be lifted moderately and go straight forward, not outward. 15. Weight Natural walking is best done if you are at a natural weight for your height and body type. You should not be substantially overweight. Being very overweight may put too much stress on the feet and knee joints. Early humans that went barefoot all the time were rarely overweight due to the scarcity of food. Being at one's correct weight is best for optimizing the natural walking experience. Regular natural walking can lead to some weight loss (with proper dieting) if you are overweight but it is better for stabilizing weight rather than reducing weight. 16. Cleanliness Natural walking is done in a clean environment (i.e. no bio hazards). Harmless grass, dirt, and vegetation debris will get on your feet. Brushing debris off the feet and watering and drying them should be done after each walk. A full cleaning of the feet and rest of the body should be done after returning home. 17. Breathing Deep lung breathing is used in natural walking, as practiced in yoga and martial arts. The diaphragm is fully expanded for belly breaths when inhaling, and each inhaling breath starts at the bottom of the lungs and goes to the top of the lungs, which are totally filled before exhaling. 18. Stride Length A comfortable stride length should be used for natural walking. The stride should not be too long or too short. Your natural walking stride will typically vary from your natural stride length to less than this when encountering difficult terrain or obstacles. 19. Do Some Uphill Walking If possible, part of each walk should include some uphill walking. The uphill portion(s) can be very slightly uphill or more steeply uphill, depending on your preference. Uphill walking promotes a better aerobic workout and is better for the muscles. As you get better at natural walking the uphill sections will become more easy to accomplish. 20. Armswing The arms should swing in the reverse direction to the legs and should be back-and-forth, not side-to-side.(i.e. not crossing the front of the body). The amount of armswing can be either slight or substantial, whatever your preference is. 21. Time Duration of Each Natural Walk Initially, as you get used to walking barefoot outdoors, this will typically be a 20 to 30 minutes. After a while when you are fully acclimated to natural walking, the time duration of a walk can range from 30 minutes to about 2 hours. There is no fixed upper limit; it is an individual parameter that can vary depending on how you feel, the weather, your fitness, etc. The typical range for a natural walk is 40 to 100 minutes. During most of the spring, summer, and early fall, three to six natural walks per week, weather permitting, should typically be possible. 22. Temperatures The best temperature range for natural walking is 55 F (13 C) to 86 F (30 C). Walking barefoot outdoors below 46 F (8 C) may not be comfortable for everyone and is a matter of individual choice. Even above 50 F (10 C), if the grass is wet, it may be too cool on the feet for some. Walks on wet grass at temperatures of 59 F (15 C) or above should not be a problem for most. Natural walking should not be done at temperatures or wind chills at or below 39 F (4 C), with the exception of very short walks (0.8 km total, i.e. 0.5 mile) or possibly longer distances for those experienced barefoot walkers who have gradually acclimated themselves to cold weather barefoot walking. Walking in extreme heat should be limited to shorter-than-normal distances, and requires much more hydration (water intake) than usual. All walks should be ended if discomfort or numbness is felt due to either heat or cold. 23. Foot Motion When walking naturally, the feet do not come down hard on the heels. Three methods of natural walking are all perfectly fine and are a matter of preference. These three are (1) heel-to-toes with rapid shift of weight away from the heel, (2) straight down, and (3) front-part-first or fox walking. For heel-to-toes method the foot lightly touches the surface with the heel first and the contact surface moves rapidly toward the ball of the foot and toes. Normally the front of the foot (including the toes) carries the bulk of the load, not the heel. The other two methods are self-explanatory but there are websites that go in more detail on fox walking (so refer to them if you want to learn more about front-part-first walking). With any of these methods, if an obstacle (e.g. large stone) that you did not see is stepped upon by the middle or inner part of a foot, you can rapidly adjust the weight to the outside of the foot is your pace is not too fast. This ability to make quick adjustments should be used if you feel an obstacle that is uncomfortable and large enough to cause an injury. A too fast pace makes it harder to make momentary adjustments and makes bruising injuries more likely when stepping on protruding blunt objects that you do not see and subsequently step on. Generally, an experienced natural walker will have a light stepping foot motion that is well matched to the pace. 24. Clothing In mild, warm and hot weather, clothes should be light, loose and comfortable. Cotton and natural fabrics should be used as much as possible. Cotton/synthetic blends are okay but less desirable. Hats with brims are recommended for sunny conditions. In colder weather it is important to dress with warmer clothes to retain body heat as there will be greater heat loss from the feet being barefoot than there is when wearing shoes. 25. Safety There are 25 safety guidelines for natural walking that should be followed. These are listed under The 25 Basic Safety Guidelines of Barefoot Grass Walking by Tom Kutscher. It is best to memorize the safety guidelines and practice them at all times that you do natural walking. They are included in this website. 26. Accessories That Are Okay Sunglasses, bug repellant, sunscreen, watches, keys, IDs, and other essential items are okay. Cell phones, electronic devices, and other items that will distract you from the walk should either be shut off or left behind. Shut off the outside world except where you are walking. Also, do not wear weights for strength conditioning; weight work is fine but should be done separate from natural walking. 27. Rainy Conditions While it may be tempting, it is not advisable to walk in the rain. The primary hazard is lightning. However there are other hazards as well (slippery areas, puddles that can temporarily hide sharp objects and other hazards, possible chilling from wet clothes, etc.). Light drizzle is usually okay for walking as long as there is no lightning. Natural walking is best done in weather conditions that are dry or after a light rain. Walks that are done on wet grass in warm weather after a substantial rain are especially enjoyable. 28. Non-Competitive Natural walking is not competitive. It is for exercise and enjoyment. 29. Enjoy the Moment The sensual pleasures of natural walking vary with the temperature, grass moisture level, sunlight, wind, natural sights, grass length, grass texture, ground texture, and other parameters. Take it all in as you walk and enjoy the moment. 30. What will Others Think? It is understandable that you may feel self-conscious walking barefoot while others are all in some form of footwear. You will get over this fairly quickly. Remember, you are the one doing the natural form of walking, and they are not. 31. Fun You had fun as a kid going barefoot, didn't you? So go back to what you did as a kid! Kids instinctively get it right…ditch the shoes and return to what is fun!
While natural walking is terrific, there are three main drawbacks when compared to traditional forms of indoor exercise. First, the weather will be a limitation, especially cold, winter weather. Second, the conditions of the grass and the ground can vary substantially. Dry grass and earth is less fun to walk on than well-hydrated grass and moistened soil. If you really want a totally predictable exercise routine with an unchanging environment and with unchanging grass and earth, that is not possible. And third, there are some minor hazards (minor bruises, cuts, scrapes, slivers, occasional bug bites, etc.) that usually are not a problem for most people but could be for some.
But the benefits of natural walking far outweigh the drawbacks. And the cost is FREE if you go to public parks with no admission charge or to other free public areas. No expensive athletic shoes to buy, no lessons, and no equipment, yet excellent exercise with the backdrop of the scenic outdoors. The upside of natural walking greatly exceeds the downside!
It is permissible to reproduce any and all of this article "Natural Walking for Exercise" by Tom A. Kutscher without permission from the author provided that (1) the author is acknowledged as the originator and source of this text and (2) no copying of this article is done for commercial purposes.
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Just to follow up, still using this thing at the computer and during sleep. The quality of sleep is so deep it's incredible, vivid healthy dreams and feeling great the next morning.
Definitely a piece of the puzzle in overcoming all this.
Posts: 501 | From Cleveland Ohio | Registered: Apr 2009
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momlyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
Awesome Toppers... glad it is working for you!!!
...still waiting for mine in the mail!
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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I have ordered the grounding mat, which I plan on using in bed, on the couch and while working on the computer. I'll check back later and let everyone know how it works. I should receive the mat next week. My main symptom is chronic fatigue, but have other weird Lymey stuff going on too from time to time. Hoping this helps with my immune system, adrenals, cortisol level and fatigue. We shall see!
For those that can't afford the earthing.net prices, looks like www.lessemf.com has better pricing. Their mats are $29.99. Noticed this after I paid $59 through the earthing site. Not sure if it's exactly the same thing, but it appears to be.
Posts: 215 | From Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
Feel like I am going through a detox, sleeping and resting an awful lot.
Glad to hear the encourging reports of others. This is important!
I also feel walking barefoot is important Thom hartmann explains in his book that walking is a form of bilateral therapy similar to hynosis and EMDR in releasing gradually trauma etc.
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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96 of 101 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Simple--But Fascinating--Theory, November 14, 2006 By Janet Boyer "JanetBoyer.com" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being (Paperback) "Just as a person with a severe hemispheric imbalance can be badly disconnected from emotions such as empathy, and thus sanction or even encourage actions such as mass murder that is war, so too can an entire society. In the opinion of some researchers, societies that are hemispherically unbalanced are more likely to be patriarchal, hierarchal, and violent, whereas societies that are hemispherically balanced are more likely to be egalitarian and democratic, and employ violence only in self-defense." - From the book
Remember the caricatures of stage hypnotists brandishing a swinging pocket watch while intoning "Look into my eyes..." ? Well, according to author Thom Hartmann, this type of hypnosis was actually a bona fide psychiatric therapy in the late 1700's and early 1800's. In fact, Franz Anton Mesmer ("mesmerize") was the first person to develop a system of bilateral cross-hemispheric stimulation by waving his fingers side to side while a patient followed with their eyes. Mesmer discovered that his system was quite effective in resolving non-organic physical and psychological problems. That is, psychosomatic conditions or issues rooted in emotional trauma.
In the late 1800's, Sigmund Freud--a prot�g� of Josef Breuer--discovered the power of bilateral therapy in the form of alternatively stroking both sides of the body, a technique that Mesmer first developed. In fact, in the 1880's and early 1890's, Freud's preferred method of treatment wasn't talk therapy (which is what he became famous for) but a bilateral technique known as hypnosis.
In Walking Your Blues Away, author Thom Hartmann traces Freud's sudden discontinuance of hypnosis to the popularity of the book Trilby, authored by George Du Maurier in 1894. Playing on the new wave of anti-Semitism that swept Europe at the end of the 19th century, Du Maurier's novel Tribly chronicled the seductive story of Svengali a "sinister, Jewish" hypnotist who exploited susceptible women both sexually and financially.
Hartmann suggests that the public reaction to Jewish physicians employing hypnosis was so intense, that Freud had no choice but to abandon this successful form of therapy.
Walking Your Blues Away offers theories as to why bilateral therapies such as hypnosis, side-to-side stimulation, NLP, EFT, etc. are so successful at reframing emotional trauma--and the author applies this mode of therapy to walking.
The hippocampus is the part of the brain that functions as a "dumping ground" of memories, so to speak. Whatever we go through or experience in a day is processed by the hippocampus while sleeping (REM being another form of bilateral stimulation). However, some emotional trauma--such as what is experienced with PTSD--is so severe that the hippocampus can't process it all. This trauma then becomes "stuck" in the brain, unable to be processed as a mere memory. These frozen experiences can debilitate and depress unless they become resolved.
Interestingly, talk therapy can often cause a "re-wounding", asserts Hartmann, which actually makes matters worse. Drawing on his experience with NLP, he realized that emotionally charged memories are "seen" front and center of a person--in full color--while non-traumatic memories are "seen" far away, off to the side, "flat", or in black and white.
Combining the most natural form of bilateral therapy extant--walking--with NLP, Hartmann realized that holding a painful memory in central awareness while walking can resolve a traumatic issue in less than 30 minutes.
Amazing, no?
Yet, according to Walk Your Blues Away, Hartmann's technique has proven successful for alleviating both short term and long-term symptoms in people--ranging from angry domestic disputes to war trauma. This is because walking uses both hemispheres of the brain, and "holding" the traumatic issue in one's mind while walking can literally vaporize disturbing events. In addition to providing compelling evidence in the form of case studies, he also shares fascinating cultural and historical anecdotes as to why "brain balance" can heal. For example, Hartmann refers to the legacy of left-brain dominance caused by literacy as put forth in the book The Alphabet Versus the Goddess by Leonard Shlain, as well as Darwin and the "noble savage" and how "walking" tribes were much less violent than "civilized" horse-riding people.
Most of us realize the many benefits of walking, but Walking Your Blues Away describes a deceptively simple process to resolving stuck emotions and symptoms stemming from traumatic experiences. At only 102-pages, this is a short book, but the case histories and theories Hartmann presents is compelling--and his methodology is so easy that even a child could use it.
In fact, walking as bilateral therapy can also be used to generate creativity, solve problems, and create motivational states.
My one criticism of this book is that the author doesn't mention if this type of therapy can be used with treadmills. I happen to live in a region that experiences some cold winters and while I'll go to the park as long as I can stand it, it's difficult to do so when the wind chill sinks to 0 degrees!
Bilateral therapy through walking is a fascinating, sensible idea--so if this form of healing sounds appealing to you, it's an easy way to (hopefully) treat chronic emotional distress or resolve "stuck" emotions.
Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing) Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comments (7)
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Breakthrough Book, January 16, 2007 By Dave Smith "Author of 'To Be Of Use'" (Mendocino County, California) - See all my reviews This review is from: Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being (Paperback) Don't let the lightweight title, cover, and page-count fool you. This is a breakthrough book, and not just another self-help, happy-talk rip-off. This book can stand proudly next to the most academic psychological tome, and replace much of the pop psychology pap moldering on our bookshelves.
To be open to something so important, one first has to know who the author is, what he stands for, and why he can be trusted. I've read several of Thom Hartmann's books, and listened to his daily progressive radio program numerous times. I can only state emphatically: This is a gifted man we can trust. He is the real deal. (See my earlier post on him for more info.)
The basics of the book are these:
1. Our bodies are self-healing if we feed it the right food and exercise it properly under the right conditions. Shouldn't our minds and emotions also be self-healing?
2. Rhythmic, bilateral movement is the way we've healed ourselves from traumatic, psychological wounds for hundreds of thousands of years. But until now, we didn't know how it worked.
3. "Bilaterality is the ability to have the right and left hemispheres of the brain fully functional and communicating with each other."
4. Freud's early, very successful work was based on Bilaterality techniques, but after some unfortunate, sensationalistic historical events, he was forced to abandon it for mostly unsuccessful "talk-therapy" methods. Freud tried, but failed, for years to find an equally-successful technique. This history is crucial to our understanding of why psychotherapy evolved the way it did.
5. Devastating events can haunt our every waking moment for years. Some suffer war-caused "post traumatic stress disorders" for years or allow a loved-one's untimely death to ruin their lives, while others are able to move on. Just as we learned to transform our physical health by eating organic food, exercising, and drinking pure water, now we know how to consiously bring ourselves back to a healthy mental state.
6. This discovery comes from Hartmann's own training, observations and experiments, with dramatic results illustrated by case studies and testamonials.
7. Hartmann details a simple, five step technique.
8. Bilaterality has also been used by humans for less-traumatic problem solving, creativity, and motivation. Now we can train ourselves to use it consciously.
This book deserves a wide readership and word-of-mouth recommendations. I urge you to read it and pass it on, especially to those whose lives have been darkened by tragedy. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Report abuse | Permalink Comment Comment
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars It works, November 25, 2007 By Bill (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-Being (Paperback) When a self-improvement book is reviewed I always look for actual experience from people who have tried the methods in the book - not just those read it and agree with it. Well now I am reviewing 'Walk Your Blue's Away' and I can say unequivocally IT WORKS, at least for me. All of my adult life I have been prone to depressive episodes from rejection and loss - even if the loss is very small. Recently a loving and satisfying relationship of 5 years was broken off by my partner. I knew from experience I was poised to nosedive into depression. This was despite many years of zealous embrace of cognitive behavior therapy in which the two sides of the brain battle. An adverse event triggers dejection, anger, depression. With cognitive therapy you have to identify the irrational thought that supposedly triggers your negative emotions, dispute the thought, and find a rational and sensible substitute thought. The problem was the negative emotions would take sometimes years to dissipate and I was constantly ruminating and flashing back to previous events. What Thom's book does is address healing. When you heal from emotional trauma with this method, the two sides of the brain actually are successful in integrating reason and emotion. With cognitive therapy reason and emotion seemed to constantly battle one another without resolution. You might win a battle but the next day another begins. I contend that after 5 daily walks following the simple guidelines of the book, the crushing sadness of rejection has lifted. The memories that previously would trigger bouts of depression are still there but now in the distance. They no longer dominate my mood allowing me to concentrate and get on with my life. At the end of each session my thinking was especially sharp - the corrective rational thoughts that I tried for years to marshal with cognitive therapy were at last automatic. Everyone suffers loss, rejection and emotional trauma. The key, as Thom says is, to facilitate your ability to heal naturally. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Was this review helpful to you? Yes
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I received my grounding mat and using it already at my computer. Will sleep on it tonight. Will report back soon as to what I feel. Any others getting good/bad/indifferent results from grounding?
Posts: 215 | From Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Jul 2008
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momlyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
I wish mine would get here already!!!
My son's gonna have to fight me for it!
Just kidding.
Can't wait to hear about your good night's sleep.
-------------------- May health be with you!
Toxic mold was suppressing our immune systems, causing extreme pain, brain fog and magnifying symptoms. Four days after moving out, the healing began. Posts: 2007 | From NY/VT Border | Registered: Aug 2010
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
I started doing my own grounding lately. It does feel good and I need about an hour less of sleep without waking up tired, on the contrary, somehow I think I sleep even deeper.
My daughter is on the same 'device' and she begs for it, when it moves out of her reach in bed.
I only connected a copper cable to the water tap in the toilet (metal part), then linked it to my bed letting the wire under my thin sheet touch my legs. With a bit of sweat during the night, I do think 'connection' is happening (that is how Dr. K. sells his own grounding mat, to be used under the sheet).
I've been using it for about 3 weeks now, and I am happy with it. Energetically it tests good but it is still not as strong as grounding ourselves barefoot outside.
I am living in a country that doesn't have an 'earth' in the electrical plugs in the houses, so I have to do this alternative on the water tap.
The guy there connects either to his heat radiator (I think he's in Canada) or to the electrical plug. He's got a voltimeter to show that after grounding on the radiator, his voltage is down to zero (or close to zero).
He also has another video on how to ground your shoes (very simple, even though might not be comfortable). You can buy a softer copper wire to connect to the harder copper wire that goes under your shoes though.
I'll try it when I find the proper material and let you know. You certainly sweat in the shoes, so connection through the socks is easy.
I think that a combination of BLOCKING EMRs from reaching you while in bed PLUS grounding gives very profound effects, much better than doing these things isolated.
Posts: 6200 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
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Just one more video from the same Max from above, he's talking about muscle tests to be done by yourself. I feel he has some good tips and different types of testing for you to try.
posted
Anyone know where Dr K sells his grounding mat?
Thanks for the tips Selma!
I have developed sore red marks on K1 points on both feet which according to the earthing books is the major meridian on the foot.
Posts: 654 | Registered: Oct 2003
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MichaelTampa
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Thanks for the links Selma, very cool to see.
Posts: 1927 | From se usa | Registered: Mar 2010
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
You're welcome!
Wallace, I think I saw these mats at Biopure not too long ago. If not, just call them, they certainly know where to find these. Explain you are talking about the mats that go under the sheets, that you are supposed to link to the earth with a sort of crocodile 'clip' (I don't know the tecnical name in English).
If I remember well, they are of silver too, so not unexpensive, but I do believe dr. K. when he says that if a patient has, for example, cancer, and you go do ART down in the garden of the house of the sick guy and look for a better place to place a metal stick (the grounding 'tool) for his SPECIFIC health problem, then you simply connect it with a wire to the grounding sleeping mat, he said that healing is so deep and so fast, that is truly amazing.
Like each health problem or each person has a better spot to be connected!!! Like each spot gives even more profound impact than simply connecting to the water tap like I do.
It's 'almost' like laying down directly on the earth every night, and in a special chosen spot! Of course, if you live like me, in the 8th floor, it may be a problem.
In Swiss internet shops, I certainly saw some grounding mats but quite expensive too. Dont' ask me where.. I guess I could google again.
I was more for building on my own, but sort of too lazy or too busy with treatments to try that. I'm pretty sure it's perfectly possible to weave a net of thin metal threads, (I would choose copper if possible). Not too much, just a small mat would be enough for a start.
If I had a time machine, I would have started with this grounding from the beginning, because the effect can be deep, I believe.
I started with protecting myself against EMRs and NEVER regreted. I still protect myself using whatever I have in my hands. It is a must in my bedroom. The difference between sleeping in a dirty EMR bedroom and clean one, is soo sharp!
Now daughter and I are used to sleep on the grounded wire. I wonder what will happen if we take it off. So far, we both sleep well, deep, I feel more rested than before as though I reached even deeper sleep and therefore, I need about one hour less of sleep and so does my daughter. I have to let the experience go on and see long term.
Next week I will be moving to the first floor! I will try to pierce a hole in some part of the bedroom walls or windows and send my cable outside!!! Let's see!!
I wonder how is Rachel sleeping mat experiences??
Posts: 6200 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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