Thanks to a persistent case of aquaphobia, I’ve never tried surfing. However, I’ve done my share of snowboarding, and I am trying to imagine what it would be like to carve the slopes with several tons of avalanche chasing me down the mountain. First of all, I would have to hike to the top and wait to catch the biggest avalanche, getting pummeled by several in the process. Oh, and then try not to think too much about the abominable snowman poised to take a hunk out of my leg when I least expect it.

Yeah. I’m stoked.

I don’t really “get” surfing, but I stand in awe of it. It’s impossible to avoid acknowledging the strength, timing, grace and heart-blazing courage required just to catch those enormous waves, let alone ride them smoothly without wiping out.

Whether or not you’re into water, “Riding Giants” is a breathtaking film guaranteed to raise your pulse rate. Following the rise of big wave surfing from its ragtag roots in the fifties to the jet-ski boosted endorsement deals of today, “Riding Giants” offers a fascinating look at surf culture in all its guts and glory–not to mention its sun-bleached hair, wave- toned bodies, and plenty of pre-cancerous skin cells.

Although several world-class surfers are profiled, the one I find most amazing is Jeff Clark, a 43-year-old native of Half Moon Bay, California who is credited with discovering Mavericks, a notoriously gnarly big wave mecca twenty miles south of San Francisco.

Clark spotted the monstrous waves from the cliffs of Half Moon Bay as a teenager. One day, he decided to paddle the half-mile in chilly ocean water to check it out. Never mind that he was too far out for his worried friend–or anyone else–to save him. Forget that these waves would turn out to be so huge that, years later, seasoned pros from Waimea would find them jaw-dropping. Disregard the razor-sharp rocks waiting to chew up anyone unfortunate enough to be slammed to the shore.

Clark had his first of many ride-of-your-life experiences that day. He couldn’t believe the power of it, the magic, the unimaginable thrill.

He went out to surf that incredible vortex every day. Alone. For fifteen years.

I’m guessing that his parents were either a) clueless about where he was, or b) powerless to prevent him from returning. He couldn’t find anyone insane enough to join him.

He wasn’t doing it for the attention, for the chicks, for the cameras, or for the money. He was out there getting pounded for the sake of that big ol’ grin on his face and the unfathomable sense of connection to something larger than himself.

Clark was like some modern day ascetic, putting himself through tortuous rites and death defying acts of faith while living in seclusion. He became one with the water on a daily basis through rigorous attention and exhaustive exploration.

I am humbled. I envy him. And I can’t stop thinking about how most of us will never have this all-consuming passion or such a magnificent opportunity to experience oneness with anything.

Jeff Clark may be crazy. He may be obsessed. But he is a man whose mindfulness has inspired and elevated him–and saved his skin on numerous occasions.

We should all be so lucky to discover such a wondrous wave.

About the Author

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse offering specialized mindfulness training in Portland, Oregon. Her work has inspired thinkers in over 90 countries. To subscribe to her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, visit http://massageyourmind.com.

Monday, August 1st, 2005

In the United States every company with over two hundred employees is required to provide full health insurance coverage to its employees. Since 1999, when the US FDA allowed “Big Pharma” to advertise directly to the American consumer, the cost of the average prescription drug has increased 500% – with no reason other than greed.

The same prescription drugs cost five to twenty times as much in the US as other countries. Because of this, the average cost of health insurance for a family of four, including the amount a company pays, and what the employee pays, is now $14,700 per year.

No company in the US can afford those increases in health care costs – so just to survive, at all, much less compete in a word-wide market, US companies are sending their labor requirements overseas – and shutting down US production facilities, laying off US workers, supervisors, managers, vice presidents, etc.

In addition, those companies that provided products and services to those factories are having to shut down – with a cumulative effect – the accelerating destruction of the US economy.

Worse, is that “Big Pharma” is engaging in an organized campaign to damage and destroy those attempting to change the system – and provide REAL health care for Americans. The operation, calling itself the “Quackbusters” is, I believe, run out of a New York ad agency. Their “bible” is the nefarious website “quackwatch.com,” and their “flagship” is the sinking (financially insolvent, and corporately suspended) National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF).

I believe that all this is happening because the pharmaceutical industry, “Big Pharma,” hates America, and everything it stands for, with a passion…

Why do they hate us? Because on June 6th, 1944 the American public, through the Normandy invasion (D-Day), began the annihilation of the NAZI war machine, and the system of beliefs that spawned it.

“Western Medicine,” as we know it today, has its very roots in the horrible experiments inflicted on the victims by Germany’s I.G. Farben, in the NAZI death camps…

As a result of the destruction of the NAZI world domination scheme, and the Nuremberg trials, I.G. Farben was broken into four separate companies. Those companies, today, control MOST, if not all, of Planet Earth’s pharmaceutical industry. “Big Pharma,” in my mind, has never abandoned their disdain for human life – nor their hatred for those that stopped, cold, their intent to dominate the world in 1945.

They’re back – with a vengeance.

But this time the war, although on the surface is economic, has far more victims and casualties.. “Big Pharma,” which world-renowned Mathias Rath MD says “is the rise of the Fourth Reich,” is killing its victims with gusto. No more “death camps,” yet, but our vaccines are full of death droplets, our pharmaceuticals cause more damage than a nuclear attack, our water is full of pollutants (flouride, heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs, benzines, azo dyes, etc.) and “Big Pharma” has bought off network TV news.

Even more, the American fabric, itself, is being torn asunder, with the unsustainable costs of the medical system.

It’s time America recognized “Big Pharma” for what it really is – the enemy of mankind – and does something about it.

So, what’s the action plan?

(1) We need to stop CAFTA, and any other attempts to cancel the US Constitution in favor of a big business controlled world government. If we can’t stop it in this first go-around, then we’ll have to do it the second time, or the third time.

(2) We have to remove “Big Pharma’s” right to advertise directly to consumers.

(3) We must criminally prosecute industry executives for the deaths, and damages, of, and to, Americans. Merck, and Vioxx, knowingly killed 55,000 Americans, in the name of profit. Thimerasol in even more insidious. Mercury fillings in teeth have been accepted far too long.

(4) We need to push to get the Bush administration’s new “Health Insurance Guidelines” for America into effect. The Bush Administration, recognizing the overburdening of health care costs to American industry and its employees (the cost for health insurance for an American family of four is now $14,700 per year), wants to change the requirements for “Health Insurance Coverage” from “Full Coverage” to allowing Industry to offer “Catastrophic Coverage Plans” – with employees putting tax-free money into “Choice” plans, where they can spend their health dollars wherever they want…

(5) We must ask Congress to pass a bill creating a “Health Czar,” for a five year period to investigate, and straighten out, the US Hospital system – the number one annual killer of Americans. This agency must be given the power to criminally prosecute Hospital Administrators, and doctors, responsible for this calamity.

(6) We must ask Congress to put laws in place stopping the revolving door between “Big Pharma” and the US FDA. We need the FDA to do what “we the people” intended it to do – not what “Big Pharma” wants it to do.

(7) We must ask Congress, and the Bush Administration, to investigate, and vigorously prosecute, the “Quackbuster” conspiracy to suppress innovation in health care.

So, why do we need to do ALL of these things?

In essence, we need a Health Care “Nuremberg…” We cannot, as a society, permit what’s happened to our health care system to continue, or to be able to resurface any time soon.

Stay tuned…

Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate

About the Author

Opinion by Consumer Advocate

Bifocals are the combination of two prescriptions in one lens allowing a person to move their eye to see both near and far without having to remove their reading glasses or exchange them for another pair of glasses. There are two main types of bifocal lens: segmented and no line. The segmented bifocals have a second lens that sits in the larger lens and is visible to others. No line bifocals, a form of progressive lens, have the two prescriptions blended together at the edges to create a single lens appearance. Both types of bifocal lens take an adjustment period for your eyes to get used to having two different prescriptions in a single lens. Both types of bifocals are available in reading glasses and the choice is up to the buyer.

Bifocal reading glasses have benefits for those who normally wear glasses and for those who don’t. For people who already wear glasses, the change to a bifocal lens in your regular glasses eliminates the need for a second pair of reading only glasses. People who do not normally wear reading glasses may want a bifocal lens combined with a non-prescription lens so they can easily move from near to far vision without a hassle. Overall bifocal reading glasses get rid of having to shove your glasses down your nose so you can see far away or having to lug around a second pair of glasses.

Bifocal reading glasses are nice for the person who must often switch from near to far vision. They make less hassle as the wearer can simply move their eyes, not their glasses. With the choice of a no line bifocal the only person who knows you are wearing them are you. Bifocal reading glasses are becoming popular and can be found wherever reading glasses are sold.

About the Author

Steve Cogger is a licensed optician and co founder of www.readinstyle.com a online reading glasses boutique. Visit today for your free report, “7 Key ?’s to Answer Before Ever Buying Reading Glasses Online!”

About the Author

Use the link below for the best savings for all your health care needs!
http://hoturbanhealth.nutritionandbeyond.com/

Bifocal contact lenses add an extra layer of near vision correction to the actually lens give you the power to focus and see object

Surfing is mindfulness in action. Riding the biggest waves is an all-out, fully-present-or-die-trying proposition.

Thanks to a persistent case of aquaphobia, I’ve never tried surfing. However, I’ve done my share of snowboarding, and I am trying to imagine what it would be like to carve the slopes with several tons of avalanche chasing me down the mountain. First of all, I would have to hike to the top and wait to catch the biggest avalanche, getting pummeled by several in the process. Oh, and then try not to think too much about the abominable snowman poised to take a hunk out of my leg when I least expect it.

Yeah. I’m stoked.

I don’t really “get” surfing, but I stand in awe of it. It’s impossible to avoid acknowledging the strength, timing, grace and heart-blazing courage required just to catch those enormous waves, let alone ride them smoothly without wiping out.

Whether or not you’re into water, “Riding Giants” is a breathtaking film guaranteed to raise your pulse rate. Following the rise of big wave surfing from its ragtag roots in the fifties to the jet-ski boosted endorsement deals of today, “Riding Giants” offers a fascinating look at surf culture in all its guts and glory–not to mention its sun-bleached hair, wave- toned bodies, and plenty of pre-cancerous skin cells.

Although several world-class surfers are profiled, the one I find most amazing is Jeff Clark, a 43-year-old native of Half Moon Bay, California who is credited with discovering Mavericks, a notoriously gnarly big wave mecca twenty miles south of San Francisco.

Clark spotted the monstrous waves from the cliffs of Half Moon Bay as a teenager. One day, he decided to paddle the half-mile in chilly ocean water to check it out. Never mind that he was too far out for his worried friend–or anyone else–to save him. Forget that these waves would turn out to be so huge that, years later, seasoned pros from Waimea would find them jaw-dropping. Disregard the razor-sharp rocks waiting to chew up anyone unfortunate enough to be slammed to the shore.

Clark had his first of many ride-of-your-life experiences that day. He couldn’t believe the power of it, the magic, the unimaginable thrill.

He went out to surf that incredible vortex every day. Alone. For fifteen years.

I’m guessing that his parents were either a) clueless about where he was, or b) powerless to prevent him from returning. He couldn’t find anyone insane enough to join him.

He wasn’t doing it for the attention, for the chicks, for the cameras, or for the money. He was out there getting pounded for the sake of that big ol’ grin on his face and the unfathomable sense of connection to something larger than himself.

Clark was like some modern day ascetic, putting himself through tortuous rites and death defying acts of faith while living in seclusion. He became one with the water on a daily basis through rigorous attention and exhaustive exploration.

I am humbled. I envy him. And I can’t stop thinking about how most of us will never have this all-consuming passion or such a magnificent opportunity to experience oneness with anything.

Jeff Clark may be crazy. He may be obsessed. But he is a man whose mindfulness has inspired and elevated him–and saved his skin on numerous occasions.

We should all be so lucky to discover such a wondrous wave.

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse offering specialized mindfulness training in Portland, Oregon. Her work has inspired thinkers in over 90 countries. To subscribe to her free weekly ezine, visit http://massageyourmind.com

maya@massageyourmind.com
]]> http://researchhome.com/topics/big-wave-mindfulness-surfing-for-a-connectiton/feed 0 http://researchhome.com/topics/are-you-concerned-about-chemicals-and-by-products-in-grocery http://researchhome.com/topics/are-you-concerned-about-chemicals-and-by-products-in-grocery#comments Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 9993 Are you concerned about the recent outbreaks of Avian Flu and the potential health risks of eating commercially raised poultry?

If your family eats 2-3 servings of chicken per week you may be subjecting yourselves to all types of health hazards.

Poultry growers are in the business of getting birds to their top weight as quickly as possible by any means available. As a result people are becoming increasingly aware of the health risks of the food they eat.

It is no secret that steroids and other chemicals are used to grow chickens quick to the market. What goes into the birds will eventually be ingested by your and your families bodies.

Growing in popularity are concerned families hosting a backyard flock of their own to supply meat and eggs. These families control the food their birds receive and raise them in a stress free environment – which results in better taste, nutritional value and satisfaction. Raising a small flock of chickens in the backyard is easier than you think – and, given the rise in cost of chicken perhaps economical as well!

About the author:

Laura Childs has been operating the GoodByeCityLife website since 1994, helping people to realize their dream of moving to the country or living a simpler life in urban areas. Visit http://www.goodbyecitylife.com today to learn more about raising your own chickens as well as enjoying other self-sustainment articles.

But maybe crisps aren