Super Learning Technique

Here's an interesting and powerful self-hypnosis technique you can use for the most fabulous study or reading sessions you've ever had.

First, sit in your most comfortable chair with the book or material you want to learn in your lap. If you need a light to read with, make sure it's turned on before continuing with this technique.

Wiggle around until you're comfortable and relaxed. Take a long, slow, deep breath and hold it for a second. Exhale gently and visualize your muscles relaxing throughout your body as you slowly release the air.

Repeat this deep breathing until you feel totally relaxed and at peace.

Now, here's the fun part.

Visualize a stairway leading into a basement.

It's a long stairway with 103 steps.

Visualize yourself walking down each stair. You can mentally count off each step, if you want, though that's not necessary as long as you visually see yourself going down each step.

When you reach the bottom, you find a beautiful wooden door with elaborate carvings etched into it.

You pause at the door for a moment to admire the carvings.

Then you turn your attention to the doorknob, which is made of beautiful brass. It feels cool in your hand as you turn the knob.

You open the door and walk into a beautiful study, a room lined with books, books, and more books.

This study is so lined with books, it's utterly sound-proof... a perfect place to read and think deeply.

You close the door. As you do so, a deep and peaceful silence falls over you, an atmosphere utterly conducive to reading and thinking.

In the center of the study, there's a reclining chair.

You sit down in the chair, adjust it to your favorite comfortable position, and open an imaginary book that's resting on the mahogany table right next to the recliner.

Now, while still visualizing yourself in your deep basement study, open your eyes and start reading the real book you have in your lap.

When you finish with your work, close your book and close your eyes and repeat the deep breathing exercise.

Now, visualize yourself getting out of the recliner, opening the door, and slowly walking back up the stairs.

Once at the top of the stairs, open your eyes once again, stretch as you take a few deep breaths, and then resume your normal waking consciousness.

Done properly, this technique results in a depth of concentration and degree of retention that you'll find hard to believe, at first.

Keep in mind, too, that you can use variations of this technique for writing and memorizing, as well as reading.

Chet "Super Learning" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog

Memory Improvement Liquids

Today I'd like to share with you four liquids you can use on a regular basis to help improve your memory.

I've lifted the information you're about to read about these memory boosters from Karen Railey's comprehensive special report Memory Decline and Nutrition.

The first magic liquid for memory improvement isn't a surprise.

It's water.

And you should drink pure filtered water to avoid heavy metals and toxins such as chlorine that may remain in tap water. According to one memory researcher, lack of water in the body has an immediate and deep effect on memory; dehydration can generate confusion and other thought difficulties.

A good guideline is to drink about 48 ounces of water per day. For optimum benefit, add electrolytes, fresh lemon juice, or raw organic apple cider vinegar to your drinking water.

The consumption of distilled water should be avoided unless electrolytes are added to it. Plain distilled water is dead. Having no minerals of its own, it may draw precious minerals out of the body. This can be extremely detrimental, particularly for those who already have low mineral reserves or mineral imbalances.

Fresh vegetable juices contain a myriad of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids as well as enzymes. Because they are juices, containing no fiber, they are easily assimilated and go to work in the body via the blood stream in a matter of minutes. Juices are very cleansing and aid the body in expelling unwanted toxins.

Fresh vegetable juices can be healing and are good liver builders and cleansers. Carrot, beet, cucumber, and greens make a good combination. Carrot juice mixes well with many other vegetable juices. It is best to take some oil, flax or fish, along with vegetable juices. Beta-carotene cannot be converted to vitamin A in the body without the presence of fat.

Fruit juices are not recommended for daily, consistent use as they contain extremely high amounts of sugar.

Vegetable juices also contain natural sugars and in some cases, people with candida or blood sugar imbalances cannot tolerate consuming large amounts. Take care not to overdo juice consumption.

Recommended Servings of Vegetable Juices:

One or two 4-ounce glasses of fresh juice every day for about a month. After that every other day or so should be sufficient.

Green Tea is a powerful antioxidant containing polyphenols such as catechins and quercetin, which can increase antioxidant activity in the blood by as much as fifty percent within a half-hour of drinking the tea. Green tea also assists the liver by improving the efficiency of its enzyme detoxification system. This is important for excreting toxins before they damage cells.

Green tea is also rich in flavonoids and is relatively low in caffeine. If not over consumed caffeine can be beneficial for cognitive function; however, no more than 100 mg of caffeine should be consumed in one day. (Khalsa, 1997:266) Green tea typically contains 20-45 mg of caffeine per cup.

Decaffeinated green tea is also available and a decaffeinated concentrate, Herbagreen Tea, is available from HerbaSway laboratories (available in health food stores). This eliminates the tea bags and also the concern about the substances used to bleach them.

Ginger Tea: Ginger has been used in China for thousands of years for medicinal purposes. The herb contains antioxidant properties, aids the digestive process, supports the cardiovascular system, and inhibits the inflammatory process.

Ginger is available in a tea, named Rubus-Ginger Tea, also from HerbaSway (available in health food stores). This tea contains ginger, green tea, and blackberry. The blackberry in this tea adds the benefit of nourishment for the liver and kidneys and is anti-inflammatory as well.

In closing, if you're having memory problems, Karen Railey's information-packed, 78-page special report Memory Decline and Nutrition provides a multitude of natural solutions. Click here to learn about her report.

Chet "Memory Improvement" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Panic Attack Tips

Panic attacks are no fun. Anyone who's ever had one will testify to that.

Prescription drugs as a solution to panic attacks aren't any fun, either. Those who have suffered the various side effects will testify to that.

Happily, there are many natural alternatives you can put to use when a panic attack strikes. I want to share three of them with you today.

The first technique?

Use your nose and sniff something that reminds you of when you were a kid. Baby powder works well for many people because its smell evokes happy memories of childhood. This kind of aroma therapy works because bringing back happy memories results in relaxation where fear has less power. Other suggestions for relaxing smells include cookies right out of the oven, freshly cut flowers, and various essential oils.

Second, when a panic attack strikes, consciously slow down your breathing. Here's an easy technique to do just that:

Take a deep breath. Hold for a second. Exhale slowly and start to focus inwardly. Repeat several more times until you feel yourself relaxing.

When you're quiet and still, stay that way, with no thoughts of anything other than breathing in and breathing out.

Just be like the space between your breaths: silent, still, and blissful.

Finally, if you suffer panic attacks, stop consuming coffee and other liquids and foods that contain caffeine -- tea, chocolate, colas, energy drinks, and all the other so-called "power boosters" on the market today. If you want extra energy, eat less and exercise more.

The techniques you just learned about will dramatically ease panic attacks IF you put them to use.

If you have a panic attack tip you'd like to share, click on the "comment" link below and start typing! :)

Chet "No Panic Attacks" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Sound of Silence

Today let's do a little something different and turn to Richard Albert, also known as Ram Dass, who wrote...

The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Ram Dass's insight works great as a little stress reducing meditation.

How so?

Keep reading.

Take a long, slow deep breath, hold for a second, and then exhale slowly. Repeat several times until you feel your consciousness shift into the quiet moment.

Now listen.

Intently listen.

Become aware of the multitude of sounds around you in this moment.

Focus on one sound and let it reverberate through you.

And for the final step, let go of that one sound and now listen only to the deep silence that is your true nature.

Ah, peace and bliss.

The sound of silence.

And where there's silence, there is no stress. :)

If you liked today's blog entry, you'll definitely enjoy my free EarthRain Meditation newsletter. Click here and join over 14,000 subscribers from more than 40 countries around the world.

Chet "I Like Silence" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Zucchini Hail Zucchini

For more than forty years, I avoided zucchini as if it had rabies.

I mean, I not only wouldn't eat the stuff, I didn't even like to look at it in the produce department.

I can remember telling my wife back in 1973 the first time she made zucchini, right after we got married, that I wouldn't insult pasta by ladling such ugly stuff on top of it.

One of the world's thoroughly committed junk food eaters in those days, if it wasn't pizza or a cheeseburger or meat or potatoes with canned peas on the side, I would have no truck with it.

I continued to avoid zucchini and all forms of squash even after I made my diet and life style changes back in 1993. Old prejudices do die hard, I guess.

But then I read what I consider to be one of the classic books for the serious health student, Dr. Henry G. Bieler's Food is Your Best Medicine, and the good M.D. spun my opinion 180 degrees. One section stuck in my mind:

Dietic histories point out that for hundreds of years, the Italians used zucchini as a cure-all. Why would they select the simple, bland vegetable for this purpose? Perhaps it was only accident, or superstition, or perhaps they found that besides being nourishing it grew well in the soil.

It's more likely, however, that they reached their conclusions by trial and error, not knowing that the zucchini is an especially sodium-rich vegetable, as are other members of the squash-cucumber-melon family. The organic sodium in zucchini, as well as in summer and crook-neck squash, is the most ideal source of refurbishing a sodium-exhausted liver.

Click here to read more about the healthy Mediterranean Diet that has served Italians so well for generations

So I started slicing zucchini as well as crook-neck squash in my salads, and, guess what? It tasted just fine. It wasn't nasty at all.

Although I still don't jump for joy over cooked zucchini or cooked squash, I do like it raw, and I like it even more in fresh juice. If you haven't added half a zucchini or half a crook-neck squash (peel it first) to your carrot juice, you don't know what you're missing.

And my commentary on zucchini wouldn't be complete without at least one good recipe.

How about a tasty zucchini burrito?

Zucchini Burritos Recipe

3-4 medium zucchinis
1 red pepper (roasted) or pimentos
Tortillas
1 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic - chopped

Wash zucchini and cut each into match-sticks. Heat olive oil in wok and add garlic and zucchini. Add the chili powder as the zucchini is being stir-fried. Cut roasted pepped into match-sticks about the same size as the zucchini and toss into the wok. Briefly stir fry (just until the veggies heat through). Roll up in the tortillas, put in an oiled baking dish, and bake for 5 minutes. Pour your favorite enchilada sauce over and bake for 5-10 minutes longer.

Okay, that's enough about zucchini.

Oh, one more thing, if you have a favorite zucchini recipe, take a second and click on the "Comment" link below to share it with fellow health seekers.

Chet "Zucchini" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Fried Grasshopper Recipe

Good Enough for John the Baptist

Today's blog entry was inspired by a reader who had a beef with me after I shared the url for a web page with recipes for fried grasshoppers.

No, I'm not kidding.

Although I've not yet worked up sufficient curiosity to munch on insects, I do know a few natural health seekers who enjoy eating grasshoppers.

I'm told grasshoppers are especially tasty when coated with a nice chocolate covering.

John the Baptist, of course, liked his grasshoppers dipped in honey.

And let us not forget Po Campo from the marvelous novel "Lonesome Dove" who fried up a mess of tasty grasshoppers every morning for Gus and Captain Call's cattle drive to Montana.

Grasshoppers, by the way, are an excellent source of protein.

Anyway, the reader who scolded me about the grasshopper recipes tickled my funny bone, so I thought you might enjoy reading a sample of the kind of letters that keep me chuckling in the CasaDay editorial chair:

Chet, shame on you passing on this info... grasshoppers are good insects... don't encourage idiots to fry them... there are enuf sickos out there who torture critters... Yes, I'm serious... no one needs to eat grasshoppers as food is not scarce and how many folks get lost in the wild? Gimme a break!

My own love for critters aside, this sort of feedback is all part of being an editor who monitors the natural health circus.

And, yes, of course I'm going to provide you with the actual fried grasshopper recipe that so annoyed a reader:

Charles Griffith's Fried Grasshopper Recipe

First, catch a bunch of grasshoppers and leave them in a jar overnight to purge (if you're finicky). Then boil them for ten minutes, after which you can easily remove the large legs, and wings, too, if they are also large.

Next, in a bowl, beat one or more eggs, depending on how many grasshoppers you have, to which you add the little critters after removing the legs and wings.

Then put the beaten-egg-covered "hoppers" in a paper sack or plastic bag which contains some yellow or white cornmeal and shake.

Next, place the egg and cornmeal-covered grasshoppers one by-one into a small frying pan with an inch (2.54 cm) of hot cooking oil and fry until golden brown.

After cooking, remove the hoppers from the skillet and place them on paper towels to soak up any excess oil.

Our family experimented by eating them plain, and dipped in mustard, catsup, horseradish, or honey. We could have tried lots of other dips, too, I suppose.

We liked them best with honey; small wonder, we have heard that the "honey and locusts" that John, the Baptist, ate, was really a mis-translation of "honey and grasshoppers." Can anyone verify that?

Anyway, eating them fried and without any honey or catsup, etc., they tasted something like fried okra. We liked them well enough to have had them several times now.

Okay, now you have a recipe to add to your collection that's not going to be in the files of most natural health seekers. Click here to read Charles' original fried grasshopper recipe.

Bon Appetit!

Chet "Keep Hopping" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Workout Recovery Drink

It's ridiculous, but the cost of sports drinks seems to be rising as rapidly as gasoline pump prices.

Well, today we're going to save you some money by telling you how to make your own workout recovery drink. The recipe is easy to make and rich in nutrients. In short, you'll enjoy this concoction after all your strenuous workouts.

Edward's Workout Recovery Drink

1 Tbs sugar or honey
2 Tbs hot water to dissolve sugar or honey
Pinch of salt
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
8 ounces cool water

Dissolve sugar or honey with hot water, add pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add cool water and drink.

Thanks to Edward for contributing this recipe to one of my newsletters way back in 2003.

If you have a workout recovery drink recipe you'd like to share, use the "Comment" link below and start typing.

Chet "Fast Recovery" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com/blog