We had so much interest in SHO-TAI at our last clinic, that we are having Will Bell back again this month on April 23, 2010.

If you are noticing strange things happening in your body, now is the time to act. In today's society, there are two ways to approach good health: proactively and reactively.

•  In the proactive approach, when you sense changes occurring in your body, you can use non-invasive analysis methods like SHO-TAI, to find out what's wrong and begin the process of returning to good health using herbs and supplements and allowing the body to repair itself naturally; or
• you can use the reactive approach, ignore the warning signs your body is giving you, and wait until illness or disease takes hold, and you can go and see your doctor. As you well know, doctors are best at prescribing something that will address your problem but most affect several other things in your body in the process. It's either that or surgery, and when you remove an organ or gland that has a purpose in your body, it will never have a chance to repair itself.

Of course your body does have back-up systems that can perform the task of a removed organ or gland, but as the saying goes, 1-2-3 strikes and you're out! Why reduce your chances?

Click here to view the flyer.

Click here to find out more about SHO-TAI.

My wife Denise and I will be hosting a SHO-TAI workshop in our home on January 29, 2010 and have invited SHO-TAI Practitioner Will Bell to do the treatments. We're both very excited to showcase this new modality to friends and local Peterborough residents.

I first got involved with SHO-TAI about a year ago when Denise was invited by our good friend Deb in Stratford who was hosting clinics in her home.  She regularly espoused the virtues of the system created by Manitoban Terry Bell. At that time, Denise was struggling with a forever-running nose and Deb told her SHO-TAI could help. We travelled to Stratford for Denise's appointment and when we got there, Deb was surprised I wasn't also going to participate. I found this strange because I knew Deb was intuitive and the funny look she gave me made me think I should give it a try.

I watched in amazement as Terry assessed Denise's body reviewing the eyes, tongue, ears, teeth, nose and fingers, then confirmed his findings using acupressure points and muscle testing. He made notes as to the functions within the body and then suggested the herbs that would counteract the imbalances he had found.

At this point, I spoke up and asked whether this system interfered with medications. You see, I have had two transplants (heart and kidney) in the past and to receive them, I made an agreement with the doctors that I wouldn't take any herbal remedies that would interfere with those medications. Fortunately, he had a method of testing just that. He asked me about my medical history and why I was skeptical and so I told him. He then said, "Just for the sake of argument, let me test your system and see what I find. There will be no charge because I am equally as interested to see what I find." I agreed.

Am I ever glad I did. Little did anyone know that I was experiencing some of the symptoms I had years before when my kidneys were in end-stage failure, but I told no one. I guess I just didn't want to alarm anyone. When Terry did his tests, one item in particular was dangerously out of balance. A normal reading was 11 or under and I was at 85. The way it was explained to me, is that when your various body systems are over 50, tumors can start to form in the body. then when your system surpasses 70, those systems can then become cancerous. At 85, he was surprised I was still standing. At that point, I knew why I had come to this appointment and why Deb gave me that strange look. Here, I thought I was going for Denise's runny nose but the appointment had been for me all along.

Almost, a year since that first appointment, Denise no longer has a runny nose and all my systems are close to 11 or under. I feel great and realize that I dodged a bullet that time. It's normal for us to justify how we feel because as human beings, we all abhor change. I dreaded the return to the hospital life and so ignored my body when it was telling me things. I'm glad there are holistic method such as SHO-TAI so we may begin the healing process without the invasive approach of allopathic medicine.

Stand Up Against Poverty

I am a ONE member. This weekend, October 17-19, activists from over 100 countries will Stand Up and Take Action against extreme poverty and hopefully set a new world record of 67 million people—or 1% of humanity—standing up against poverty.

Why don't you join us? To be counted, please sign up to let us know you’ll be standing up:

http://www.one.org/international/standup08/

This vast number of people standing together is a powerful statement of our global commitment to end extreme poverty. But it will take effort from all of us to reach the goal of 67 million. So along with standing up, please invite a friend to join ONE and stand with you. After you sign up, we’ll also link you to where you can find a Stand Up and Take Action event in your area, so you can meet up with local activists to take action.

This is probably the easiest thing we can all do in the fight against poverty, and it’s crucial that we do it to demonstrate to our leaders how many people around the world are ready to act together for this cause.
 

The World's Biggest Walk

As many of you know, I am a double transplant survivor. The World's Biggest Walk is a 5K walk to promote organ donation and transplantation awareness. On Saturday, October 25th, 2008, at 12 noon Greenwich Meantime (8:00 a.m. Eastern Time) people around the world will walk 5 kilometers AT THE SAME TIME. People in Toronto will be walking at the same time as people in Melbourne, Tokyo, and Paris!  Canadians will be walking for organ donation awareness in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Saskatoon, London, Ottawa, Trois-Riveres, and Portugal Cove (NL).

There is NO COST to enter. Just show up and walk!  If you can not make the Toronto event, feel free to plan a walk in your area or neighborhood. Or, just go for a walk with your dog, knowing that thousands of other grateful transplant recipients will also be walking with you in spirit!

The Toronto walk will start and finish at the University St. entrance of Toronto General Hospital (585 University Ave.).  Registration starts at 7:30, a group photo will be taken at 7:50, and the walk will start at 8:00 SHARP! Please pass on this information to all of your friends!

If you would like to organize a walk in your area, please see this web site for more details:
http://worldsbiggestwalk.org
 

Out of the Box Reading Closes its Doors: eReadingPro Launches!

Denise MacDonald former co-founder of Out of the Box Reading launches eReadingPro. This reading program was originally designed for children with Down syndrome but is an excellent tool for teaching reading to children with varying abilities. eReadingPro now offers complete reading kits as well as more affordable do-it-yourself eBook packages that can be downloaded on demand.

Anyone currently using the former Out of the Box reading program is welcome to contact eReadingPro for continued support while using the program. Click here to contact ereadingPro.
 

iLookLikeYou.com is in
Pre-Launch. Get In Now!

Be one of the first! Upload your photo today and get ready for what promises to be one of the biggest Internet phenomena since Myspace.

iLookLikeYou.com - Uniting the world one face at  a time!

Uniting The World...

NEWSFLASH: ILookLikeYou.com Is Preparing To Launch!

Healing Digest founder Kirk Johnson has partnered with gifted clairvoyant and healer Wayne Adam to bootstrap the latest Internet phenomenon ILookLikeYou.com. Using cutting-edge biometric facial recognition technology, users can upload a picture of themselves to try to find their look-alike or twin from a worldwide database of images. The service will be offered free to the public in an effort to unite people from all across the globe. We have posted a page here with more information: http://www.healingdigest.com/i-look-like-you.html . Help us get started by entering your first name and email address in the form so we can contact you for our pre-launch and beta testing. Thank you. Kirk

In Memoriam

In memory of my beloved wife.

Coming Soon - Emotional Kinetics

For those of you who have been contacting us about ways to heal what ails you, the wait is almost over! Emotional Kinetics will soon be here. Emotional Kinetics, or eK for short, is a system of healing methods used to energetically move emotional blockages in the body that cause stress, anxiety, and disease. Via our website, you will be able to schedule personal treatments or sign up for workshops to learn the techniques first hand. If you are tired of the way you have been living your life and know that it's time to move through that tough piece that has bee keeping you back, Emotional Kinetics is for you. Keep checking back!

That Was A Long Vacation

Yup! April was my last entry in the weblog but I wasn't quite on holidays the entire time. Where to begin? First off, on an unfortunate note, my wife's breast cancer has metastasized further, which of course is the primary reason for passing on the blog entries for such an extended period of time. I couldn't bring myself to talk about healing in the weblog when I was needed to perform more hands-on forms of healing with my wife. She is feeling much better these days and that has prompted me to begin writing again. In the beginning I wasn't prepared to discuss the "Big C" word, but as time has gone by I feel more confident to speak about my experiences with the disease from a first-hand perspective.

I have also been furthering my metaphysical studies and  participating in workshops and events in the local area and beyond. As a result, I've got lots of new stuff to talk about in the coming days, weeks, and months. Keep your eye on the HD weblog because we're back - and stronger than ever.

On Vacation

Just a little note to everyone. We'll be away from April 13th to April 21st, so if you have any support requests or other concerns, please note that there will be a delay in your reply. Thanks for your understanding and we'll be thinking about you!

About Us Section Launches

The long-awaited "About Us" section is now available. Read about the conception of the Healing Digest from the perspective of its publisher, Kirk Johnson. Kirk has drawn the wisdom from traumatic experiences in his life and used it to make a positive impact on his own and the lives of others.

Happy Easter!

Wishing you and your family a very happy Easter on this blessed day.

Easter is one of those days that has become popularized by chocolate and turkey dinners. Let us not forget the true meaning behind Easter and remember to take some time for silence today.

What is it that stands higher than words? Action. What is it that stands higher than action? Silence...    - Francis of Assisi

Coming Soon - About Us

I think it's high time you found out about Healing Digest writer and publisher, Kirk Johnson. Our upcoming About Us section will give you insight into Kirk's life and the events that sparked the creation of the Healing Digest.

Humor Healing Launches

Check out our daily cartoon in the new Humor Healing section. A new cartoon each day Monday to Friday and read about humor healing and how it helped this writer deal with a difficult situation in his life.

Prayer Unanswered?

I just got home from having a painful surgical procedure that I usually have a couple of times a year. No, I should correct that. I usually have it a couple times a year, but it is not always painful.

In 2000, I had a heart transplant and every so often the cardiac team requires me to check for rejection of the transplanted organ. This is done via heart biopsy in which, under local anesthetic, a catheter is introduced into your vein through your neck near the collar bone. The catheter is inserted all the way to your heart through the vein. Then a wire-like instrument is inserted into the catheter, then into your heart, and clips off tiny pieces that will be viewed under microscope to check for normal or abnormal cells.

As you can imagine, having a tube rammed into a vein in your neck is no picnic, but in my case the procedure is even more abrasive. You see, normally the doctor would go through the right side of the neck where your vein has a direct path to the heart. However in my case, since the vein on the right is occluded, the vein on the left must be used. Its path normally starts on the left, crosses the chest and merges with the right vein. Then to make it a little tougher, the vein on the left has a couple of corkscrew turns that have to be navigated along the way. If you don't know your way around, it can be a painful ordeal... and sometimes even when you do know your way around it can be a painful ordeal.

Last night, after meditation, I used a technique to send healing energy to the procedure room where the biopsies are normally performed. The effect of this technique would be to spiritualize the room and the participants so the outcome would be for the highest good for all participants and I am confident the technique was successful. Yet, I am left wondering, "if it was successful and the technique should have made the biopsy nearly painless, then why did I endure another painful encounter?".

It's kind of like a prayer that seems to go unanswered. You ask for something, and at first glance it appears like you are ignored. This is what many of us would think. However in my case, my beliefs are so engrained in me that I can come to another conclusion. My technique was successful, or my prayer was answered. The rationale is this: I was considering a situation where I expected the regular amount of pain and through the technique, hoped to reduce it to nominal pain. When instead, today's procedure was to be extremely painful, and after the technique of pain reduction, I was left with regular pain.

So to recap, when we ask for something and it appears not to be granted, we must look at what greater pains may have rained down on us if we had not prayed at all. Our prayer may have reduced greater pains to normal, instead of reducing normal pains to zero.

In short, always be thankful, because things could always be worse.

Coming Soon - Humor Healing

We're currently working on a new page for the website on humor healing. Our Humor Healing section will feature a new cartoon every day and an article about the healing effects of humor. Stay tuned!

Making Progress

Ok, here I am, back at the computer and... it doesn't seem so bad. At least not like yesterday. It didn't take any time at all to get typing today. In fact, it feels like a continuation from yesterday. Like I had never left the computer, but I have. Now I'm making progress.

It's amazing the feeling of accomplishment even the first day after taking that baby step. It works like this, once you've done something positive for yourself, you feel the need to back it up with another positive step or the first step is wasted. In not wanting to waste that first, all-important step, you are compelled to follow it up. Then the cycle continues over and over, again and again, with each successive step getting easier and easier. Before you know it, you have developed a habit, a "healthy" habit, and you know how hard habits are to break.

For me, not only did I make a commitment to begin writing something each day, I returned to the gym today after a 4 month respite (had a lot of critical stuff going on at home that needed my attention). So now I'm multitasking my baby steps. The benefits of the progress I made yesterday did not only affect my writing, but it has had an influence over another aspect of my life requiring attention - my ongoing physical fitness.

It's kind of like baby step synergy. Synergy is where the sum of the parts exceeds the whole. We use baby steps to get going on an issue we are trying to correct, but the motivational effect of the baby step for ISSUE#1 on our life, is carried forward and helps with ISSUE#2 and #3, #4, etc. The motivational energies from all the baby steps of each issue exceeds the motivational effort required for the individual issues themselves. Now that's synergy!

So with the extra motivational energy floating around me, I wonder what I'll do next?

What will you do next?

Something good I hope. Something you have been trying to do for a long time. Just go for it. You've got help.

Stuck Inside

Right now, I'm just sitting here, staring at this computer. Wondering why my fingers are not busily hammering away on the keys banging out a blog entry.

The answer is, "I DO know, and... I DON'T know".

Let's do the "I DON'T know" first. I don't know why I just do not get going, doing what I need to do right away. I enjoy writing (when I get to it - ha ha!) and I enjoy creating the Healing Digest. They why don't I get going?

It's because "I DO know why!". I spend my time thinking about what it is I want to say. I mull it over. Make all the corrections and adjustments. And then marvel at the product. Yes, the product that never gets onto paper (or on screen, that is) for anyone else to see.

I have become very good at performing a multitude of tasks in my mind. In fact, I live in my mind and am quite comfortable there. This is great, except the people I cohabitate and consort with are left in silence - a place by the way I'd love to be, but most people don't.

So what to do...

The answer is BABY STEPS! Yes, baby steps. One step at a time, just like the name of this blog. I need to take one step at a time. Just like you do in trying to get out of the habits that tend to take YOU over - habits like overeating, drinking, smoking, etc., whatever you're into personally.

Now I've taken my step. Today. Right now. This little blog entry.

When are you going to take yours? How about today! OK. Sounds good! I'm looking forward to it.

P.S. Don't forget to check back tomorrow to see if I've taken step two. Oh, and by the way, check yourself while you're at it!

Time For An Update!

If you have been following our website, you may have noticed that I was away for a while. Or maybe you didn't. In any event, I'm back!

We all need to take a bit of time off once in a while. I used the time mostly to spend with my family over the holidays, but I also took an art course and participated in a 9 week course on hospice palliative care. Yes, the learning never ends.

I found the art course, which was watercolor painting by the way, very therapeutic. The use of art is gaining ground as a healing therapy. You learn to leave the inhibitions behind and explore your creative side that many of us ignore most of our lives. I enjoyed art as a kid and further enjoyed rekindling that part of myself the past few months.

For those of you who don't what hospice palliative care is, it's best described by its mission statement:

"...to enhance the comfort, dignity and quality of life of individuals and families living with or affected by life-threatening illness or grief."

It was a very informative course and I met some interesting people along the way. In our session, there were over 20 participants taking the course for various reasons. Hospice offers the course free of charge in hopes that some of the participants will become hospice volunteers, which is for the most part, how the organization survives.

With my own personal experiences with life-threatening illness, becoming a volunteer was an easy fit, and further provided me with an excellent opportunity to give back to the community some of what it has given to me. A little community ROI (return on investment) so to speak.

Now that I'm back working on the Digest, keep checking back for more blog updates, articles, news and content as we continue to grow to be one of the best healing sources on the Web.

Samples of my painting. Not bad for beginners watercolour, you think? Click to enlarge.