

"We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." - Marcel Proust
Good job he did as, initially, there were just the two of us in there before two other people joined us. The talk consisted of a brief history on Tibetan Singing Bowls, how they are made and the uses to which they are put, such as religious purposes, meditation and sound healing. John Thornberry, the guy giving the talk, uses them as musical tools and as sound therapy to treat a variety of illnesses and also uses them to clear houses, including clearance of unwanted spirits/ghosts! It was interesting to see the tools used to make the bowls sing and the different sounds and resonances each bowl produced when "played" - the resonance could be felt through our feet and within our bodies, an odd but not unpleasant sensation. We were then invited to have a play. DH dived up straightaway to have a go and was soon making his chosen bowl produce lovely sounds..... it took me a little bit longer to get the knack but when I did it was singing quite well and it was a lot of fun. As John - or rather Jet, as he's known professionally (his initials) - doesn't sell the bowls I'm now looking forward to the next M,B&S event, as I'd like a bowl for use as a meditation tool and for clearing the house when needed. It's such a shame this workshop wasn't better attended - it deserved to be. Later we visited Jet's stall and bought some of his CD's:
The top CD is relaxation music and, boy, does that work well! Himalaya Song uses the bowls, synthesised sounds and Jet's voice chanting, which is good for meditation (tried it - it is), and Voices of the Bowls is of the singing bowls and is another one for meditation, though I haven't tried it out yet.
After the talk we returned to the main room to have a better look round the various stalls. We talked to quite a few of the stall holders and picked up leaflets for various alternative therapies and also some free samples of a natural skin care range to try out. The aloe vera stand was quite good and DH got to try out some of their cream for aches and pains - I didn't try it because I'd already got some moisturiser cream on my hands from the other stall and didn't want to mix the two. DH was so impressed with the aloe vera cream that he went back later and bought some.
By this time it was almost 1pm, so we headed for the restaurant. DH had soup and carvery while I had a herbal tea and carvery. The young waitress was very helpful when I explained I was on a special diet and was dairy intolerant - she brought some unbuttered potatoes from the kitchen for me. We were quite impressed with the food, helpfulness and surroundings and will go there again some time. :0)
Another walk round the event room later and it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to get a tarot or angel card reading of any description from any of the readers in the hall - they were busy all of the time. No problem, as I didn't really feel the need for one. We don't usually have therapies at these events either, as there's no way you can relax when you're on view, with people walking past. I did manage to have a word with John, the Reiki Practitioner who treated my Dad, and thanked him for the help he gave - Dad really rated him and I told John so. He actually remembered us which was nice. I took one of his leaflets, explaining that though I went to Aureen for my treatments I thought DH would benefit from having Reiki and would be happier seeing a chap, so I hoped to get him to the Clinic soon. It was an interesting chat: it seems John was once in Aureen's Development Circle and benefited much from it. :0)
At 3pm I headed off for the second talk I was interested in: Connecting to the Shamballah with the Archangels and Ascended Masters. DH popped out to the car for a sit down and chill with his laptop, muttering something about Grand Prix as he went. LOL The talk was taken by a chap called Wayne and was better attended - around 8 or 9 of us, all sat in a circle of chairs. After the talk there was a short guided meditation. Unfortunately it all seemed a little rushed, so I didn't get fully into it (have found I need to do some relaxation techniques before attempting to meditate and to take things slowly - guided meditation CD's don't work for me because of this). I did come out of it feeling uplifted though, so something had obviously worked at some level. I came away with another leaflet: Wayne will be running a two-weekend Master Healer workshop at the Clinic later in the year and participants will gain a 13d Master Healers certificate that's recognised by the British Complementary Medicine Association. Jan was right, I would enjoy it and am mighty tempted, though unsure if I can justify the cost at this stage.Appropriate, given that I'd recently attended my first Development Circle meeting and currently wish to expand my Spiritual and psychic side. It reinforces the feeling that things are proceeding the way they are meant to.
Next I felt drawn to asking: What's my next step? Another shuffle and out came this card:
This is a pic of Natalie and the equipment she uses (taken from the Earth Energies website):
It consists of the machine in the background which sends the electronic pulses through the probe she uses and into your hand or finger. What you can't see, because her arm is in the way, is the circular disk that's attached to the machine by wires and which holds the little test tubes full of little "pills" which are used to test for intolerance's. The first thing that happened was removal of all my rings (except my wedding ring which can't come off), then I had to hold what looked like a brass rod in my left hand - which was also attached to the machine by wires - whilst she used the probe on various areas in my opposite hand, swiping the metal end on a small piece of damp cloth before each application, and moving some little test tubes around in the disk container. I then had to change hands and the same procedure was repeated, though she had to turn the pulses down a little as I felt definite small belts from it this time. Every time the probe touched my hands the machine made an odd ticking noise, sometimes soft and sometimes a bit louder. This first procedure calibrated the machine, presumably to me.
Natalie then opened one of several boxes containing more little test tubes and told me that she would now be testing for food intolerances, whislt I had to hold the brass rod in my dominant right hand. The soft ticking from the box meant things were OK, a slightly higher tone meant moderate intolerance and a louder one meant high intolerance. The little test tubes looked a bit like this, but with plastic stoppers and not cork ones:
I didn't ask but guess the white "pills" contain the essence of each food. It's amazing how quickly Natalie was able to swap the test tubes, swipe the probes end on the cloth and apply it to the right side of my middle finger to test and repeat - very well co-ordinated and dexterous - though what really impressed me was that she could also hold a conversation whilst doing it all!
I noticed quite a few of the little tubes went back in the box the right way up but a few went back upside down..... those turned out to be the ones that I registered intolerances for.
The results showed moderate intolerance to: egg white and yolk; most dairy products, as in cow's milk, butter, cheese, sour milk and yoghurt; margarine; tuna fish; orange; banana; grapefruit; tangerine; lemon; garlic and paprika and a high intolerance to peas. The citrus I knew about because well before starting the candida diet I stopped eating and drinking them as they made my stomach very acid. The dairy I'd suspected for a long time because whenever I had any I saw a big increase in catarrh and sinus problems - when I stopped having yoghurt and cheese and reduced the amount of milk I had it improved. The butter is a little annoying, as we tend to use that for pan-frying fish and meat. Banana wasn't a surprise either, as when I ate them (pre-diet) they used to make me burp badly. The eggs and tuna were a surprise and was a bit upset about them showing up as I do like them, especially the tuna.
The upshot is I have to avoid dairy with it registering them all - it's olive or flax seed oil for pan-frying from now on and using an alternative to milk (rice, oat or soya milk - as reduced sugar as I can get it). Tuna I can try re-introducing after a four week break and see how it goes, eggs in six weeks and bananas would be OK in seven weeks (though they're still banned from the candida diet). I have to avoid using paprika and not eat peppered mackerel.... I'd decided to avoid the latter anyway last month as it kept giving me indigestion!
Next was the candida test, to see what effect the treatment is having. A good response should be between 90 and a 100. Unfortunately mine was down at 60, so something is going wrong and I had to chat to Jan about it. I will have a summary of the testing and recommendations posted to me in the next couple of days.
Whilst I don't understand all the ins and outs of how the machinery, electrical pulses and test tubes of pills work I feel it was well worth having it done, as it confirmed some of the suspicions I'd already had about certain things affecting me and set my mind at ease about others. It must work: how else could it have picked up on the citrus fruits intolerance when I don't eat them because I know they upset me? It also gives another overview to my health, what I take in and the effects they have, and how I can make further changes to my diet to help improve my health and reap long-term benefits from it. Now that can't be bad, can it? :0)
As this is already a long post I shall do a separate one about my session with Jan afterwards.