New Mexico: Hiking Along Rito de los Frijoles in Frijoles Canyon
During the first part of November 2009, Jen and I spent a week in New Mexico hiking in the mountains, canyons and desert. The scenery was stunning; and the variety of ecosystems and terrain was unbelievable. New Mexico is not at all what we expected! And, having spent time in 35-states and several countries, New Mexico is our new favorite place to be.
We stayed in Sante Fe, which is a really neat town with lots to see and do — and GREAT food. Sante Fe is also reasonably close to many of the must-see destinations in North-Central New Mexico. A scenic drive to the Sante Fe National Forest, and hiking in the snowy mountains, started our week of high-altitude fun (Sante Fe is the highest state capitol at about 7,000-feet above sea level). Another scenic drive up the High Road to Taos led us to the Taos Pueblo, the Rio Grande Gorge and many of the other gifts Taos had to offer — including an equally beautiful drive down the Low Road back to Sante Fe.
One of our favorite day-hikes was a day we spent in Frijoles Canyon just outside Los Alamos. We enjoyed it so much, we went back the next day. The drive to and from Los Alamos is another beautiful experience; and Los Alamos is quite a surprise itself. Mountains and canyons, skiing and museums, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Bandelier National Monument, along with the second largest volcanic caldera — Valles Caldera — teeming with Elk, Mule Deer and other wildlife, make Los Alamos a destination with something for everyone.
Rito de los Frijoles (Little River of the Beans) flows through Frijoles Canyon and into the Rio Grande just outside Los Alamos. Frijoles Canyon features steep cliffs with dozens of ancient cliff dwellings and ceremonial alcoves and kivas. As we hiked back down from a 142′ climb up the side of a cliff to a huge alcove, a pair of Mule Deer approached the trail we were walking on. We stopped to take a picture, and one of them walked right by me — within about three feet of me. The deer went about their business with absolutely no fear of us at all — as if they knew they were perfectly safe.
Hiking in the other direction, the Ritos de los Frijoles drops down into a deep canyon on it’s way to the Rio Grande. We followed it — sometimes crossing over it by stepping on stones or fallen trees and sometimes scaling canyon walls hundreds of feet above the little river. Up and down, we made our way to the first of a set of waterfalls (Upper Falls and Lower Falls) that drop the river down several hundred feet to the Rio Grande.
Along the way, we encountered very little wildlife; but we did meet up with a rather large Tarantula that showed as little fear of us as the Mule Deer had. This heavy, hairy spider simply crawled up some rocks on the left side of the trail we were on, crossed the path, and continued up the rocky slope to our right.
As we got closer to the Rio Grande, we could see it in the bottom of the “vee” made by the sides of the canyon. The water appeared to be green — blending in to the colorful landscape of the canyon. A few switchbacks took us down several hundred feet where we took a rest below the lower falls before retracing our steps back, up and out of the canyon.
The next time I go to New Mexico, I’ll spend more time and do many more things I didn’t do this time; but I’ll definitely go back to Frijoles Canyon — and I’ll spend more time there. Next time, I’ll get there as early in the day as possible and stay as late as I can — spending plenty of time lounging by the Rio Grande and taking more time to sit and relax along the rocky path that follows the Rito de los Frijoles through the canyon.
Jennifer and Pete Koerner in Frijoles Canyon, New Mexico
Dying For A Change: William Murtha’s New Book Featured On Ponder Central
PONDER on THIS for Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 by William Murtha in DYING FOR A CHANGE
“Please do not cast blame on yourself…To heap regret and recrimination on yourself misses the entire point of what it means to be human. We all fail at one time or another. We all fall short of our own teachings and beliefs. We all make mistakes. That is because we are all human. Know that you are normal to fall short of your own grand vision, and you will inherit a valuable life lesson. That’s what life is for. It creates a framework for us so that we can learn from our mistakes. Of course, there are no mistakes if we use these experiences wisely. Every mistake carries within it the seed of true wisdom. The mistake is that you give yourself a hard time over it. The mistake is that you don’t learn from your mistakes. The mistake is that you let fear stop you from trying to be more. If you do not fail, then you have not tried.”
~William L. Murtha, in “Dying for a Change”
For more information regarding this book, visit Transformation Media Books or the author’s website.
Compiler’s Note: This book is a riveting true story of the author’s fight to survive hypothermia and drowning in the freezing waters off the coast of Britain. In the midst of this near-death experience he suddenly became aware of a Presence that engaged him in an enlightening and heart-warming conversation. While struggling to stay alive, he effectively re-lived many pivotal times in his past and had every question he had ever asked about life answered with complete clarity. I found it to be the type of book that once you start reading it you can’t bring yourself to put it down. It reminds me of the original “Conversations with God, Book 1″ because of the truly profound nature of the teachings delivered to the author. For these reasons I highly recommend it, as not only is it a very entertaining read, but it’s also a valuable spiritual growth resource.
~Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified
Dying For A Change: New Book By William Murtha
“Dying for a Change is the gut-wrenching, inspirational true story of William Murtha’s fight to survive hypothermia and drowning in the freezing waters off the coast of Britain. It is a riveting story of survival that will captivate readers with a compelling, life-changing message about miracles and the power of choice.
In 1999, William’s life was rapidly spiraling out of control when all meaning and purpose had vanished. While riding his bike along a channel one evening, William was swept out to sea by a twenty-foot freak wave and had a close brush with death. Only this wasn’t any “ordinary” near-death experience. As his body finally began to shut down, and the excruciating pain subsided, William suddenly became acutely aware of a Presence close by.
What followed, and the book vividly recounts, is the enlightening and heart-warming conversation he had with this Higher Presence. Caught someplace between this world and the next while struggling to stay alive, William “re-lived” many pivotal moments in his past and had every question he had ever asked about life answered with absolute blinding clarity.
Dying for a Change will inspire readers to come face-to-face with their own deepest fears. It is a powerful, emotional story of hope with a profound message that many people in today’s frantic, crisis-filled world will identify with in their own lives. This thought-provoking and insightful book challenges views on mortality, birth, life and God while inspiring readers to live more fully by questioning ideals and dogma that may no longer serve them.
William used his horrendous ordeal as a catalyst for positive change. He eventually gave up the manic, fifteen-hour work-obsessed days and walked away from a materialistic and ego-driven lifestyle that almost killed him. After his “wake-up call,” William turned his whole life around, reconnected with his family and found his true purpose in life. In Dying for a Change, William clearly demonstrates how personal trauma can be used positively to become the inspiration for individual, social and global transformation.
Readers will cheer at William’s “one in a billion” spine-tingling rescue that made headlines in the U.K., inspired a segment on a television documentary and has left audiences spellbound during his global speaking engagements.
Dying for a Change is essentially an everyday, grounded and contemporary story of redemption, healing, forgiveness and new beginnings that will connect with readers of all ages and beliefs.”
To view the newspaper article about William Murtha’s harrowing experience and miraculous rescue, click the link below:
http://www.williammurtha.com/images/Cyclist-can-thank-full.jpg
William’s book, “Dying For A Change,” launches today, Tuesday, November 17th, 2009. To participate in this launch and get one of the first copies of William’s new book, go to: http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Change-Survival-Miracle-Choice/dp/0982385080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258416501&sr=1-1
When Your Hut’s On Fire
*This inspirational reminder was forwarded to me by Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey…
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but saw only the vast waters that separated him from family & friends. He was alone and exhausted. He eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, despair, and anger. He cried out, “God! How could you do this to me?”
Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers. “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied.
Moral of the Story: It’s easy to get discouraged when things are hard and going badly, but we shouldn’t lose heart. God never deserts us. He is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering.
And the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.
Visit Jeff Maziarek at: www.PonderCentral.com to learn more about what he’s doing…
Also, check out Jeff’s books at: www.SpiritSimple.com and www.CodiPup.com
Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams: The Belief Formula on Ponder Central
PONDER on THIS for Friday, November 6th, 2009 by Pete Koerner in THE BELIEF FORMULA
“If you say that dreams don’t come true, I would have to ask you at what point you stopped dreaming and started doubting, and what made you choose that particular time frame as a completion date for your prayer? What might happen if you continued to expect your prayer to be answered instead of proclaiming it a failure? What if your answer was to arrive the day after you hit the “cancel” button on you request?
Unfortunately, you may never know. Why sit around thinking about how you were ignored by God when you could be thinking of all the different ways your prayer could be answered, and how grateful you are that God does such things for you? Why view yourself as a victim when you could just as easily view yourself as the recipient of great gifts – even if some of those gifts are lessons that you asked for in some way, but would rather not learn?”
~Pete Koerner, in “The Belief Formula”
*Special thanks to Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, for posting this excerpt from The Belief Formula on www.PonderCentral.com!
Surviving Cancer on Rachel Ray: Suzanne Somers Speaks Out On Alternative Approaches to Cancer
Suzanne Somers recently appeared on The Rachel Ray Show to discuss her new book, “Knockout,” which examines alternative approaches to the treatment of cancer. Somers’ book was inspired by her personal experiences as she had what many think was a close-call with cancer but was actually a close-call with the medical establishment. Consider Suzanne Somers experience and compare it with that of millions of others in the United States. Then, look into some of the alternative perspectives provided at the end of this article.
Somers was diagnosed with cancer and told she would have to immediately start full-body chemotherapy. After her decision that she’d rather die than undergo the horrors of chemo, she discovered that she didn’t have cancer after all, but rather a fungus. Somers’ detractors – including Rachel Ray to a small degree – warn that celebrities speaking out on medical issues could be dangerous and lead people away from the “medical help they need.” But Somers’ personal story is actually evidence that she could indeed be saving people from a far greater risk in modern, commercialized health care.
Cancer is indeed a frightening word and a scary subject. It is understandable that a culture of people trained to fear a word and seek “expert” assistance would blindly follow any advice given to them by a qualified physician. After all, they’re the experts, aren’t they? Or are they? In my opinion, an expert is someone who is very good at something – not someone holding a piece of paper stating they are legally qualified to do a certain kind of business in a particular country. I’m not bashing doctors; but humans were doing just fine before corporate medicine came along to save them from themselves.
And medicine doesn’t exactly have a stellar record for knowing what they’re talking about – as in Suzanne Somers case, where they almost rushed her into chemotherapy when she didn’t even have cancer. What’s the big deal about chemotherapy? Have you ever seen someone who’s gone through chemotherapy? Of course, the medical establishment has led us to believe that cancer is a death sentence – unless they can save us with drugs, radiation or surgery – and they’ll say that the patient who undergoes chemotherapy and dies would have died anyway. But there is no way to determine that the patient didn’t die, or die quicker, because of the devastating effects of the toxins used in chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy for cancer treatment was stumbled upon after people exposed to Mustard Gas (a chemical warfare agent) during a military operation in World War II were found to have decreased numbers of white blood cells. Medical science reasoned that, if toxins like mustard gas could decrease the number of white blood cells, it might also decrease the number of other rapidly dividing cells. Since then, despite mixed results, medical science has experimented on humans with several other toxic chemicals; completely ignoring the one constant throughout all of medical history – a certain percentage of people are going to respond positively no matter what you do to them as long as they believe it will help. In other words, though a cancer survivor may be convinced that chemotherapy saved their life, there is no way to definitively determine that the survivor did not save their own life despite the chemical assault on their body.
Most doctors are good people who truly want to help. But most doctors – the classic “4-out-of-5 doctors” who recommend or agree on this drug or that toothpaste or mouthwash – simply believe what they paid someone to tell them in medical school. Like most people, they know what they know and believe that their thoughts and beliefs are somehow more “right” than someone else’s. With Western allopathic medicine being one of the leading killers of Americans, it is never safe to assume – under any circumstances – that someone knows more about your body than your body does. No matter how frightened you are, how much you’re paying someone or what route to healing you choose, your body is the only thing that can save you. As ancient wisdom tells us, “The physician treats the wound; but the body heals.” No one outside of you can heal what’s inside of you – no matter how “qualified” they are. As for the “4-out-of-5,” do you really think 80% of any group is right? Do you really think enlightenment is that common? Do you really think that medicine would be in such a terrible state if it were?
Your choice of approaches is completely up to you; and I’m not suggesting that any of them is any better or worse – for you – than any other approach. What is dangerous is the idea that 8-years of school can give a person magical powers or insight. It is this Belief that has led people to blindly hand over their fate to the highest bidder – even though the establishment they trust fails more often than it succeeds. Suzanne Somers is just as qualified to speak out about this as anyone. She witnessed firsthand how medical opinions almost caused her great suffering and could have even killed her had she not trusted her body and taken the initiative to discover that those “qualified” opinions were wrong.
Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer’s opinion of chemotherapy is that there should be “a special monument in hell erected to the inventors of chemotherapy.” This is, perhaps, a bit harsh but this doctor’s qualified opinion is clearly not with the “4-out-of-5.” Emotions aside, I believe that we should all seek out the “5th doctor” and listen to what he has to say. If you have cancer, you may be interested in what Dr. Hamer has to say in this free pdf on the German New Medicine: http://www.pilhar.com/News/Presentation_E.pdf . To hear Dr. David Holt speak about Dr. Hamer’s New Medicine as it applies not only to cancer, but to ALL disease processes, check out these two videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPb-rGRBjJs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj_DwhHrKoQ .
Dr. Hamer’s views make a lot of sense; and I have personal experience successfully helping clients treat disease with this approach. But Dr. Hamer’s views are not popular with a medical community that believes they will lose a great deal of money if people learn to heal disease from the inside out. Hopefully the medical community will remember that the word, “doctor,” comes from the Latin, “docteo,” which means, “I teach.” There will always be a place for teachers of health; but, if we’re lucky, the days of these teachers pushing dangerous chemicals as cures are coming to an end. Let’s hope today’s doctors learn to put aside their financial fears and step back into their roles as teachers rather than pill dispensers.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is yet another qualified physician skeptical of pharmaceutical-based approaches to health care and even critical of the machine that is modern medicine. His support of a variety of alternatives to conventional medicine hasn’t won him a lot of friends in the Western medical community, but his site: www.DrMercola.com is a valuable resource for anyone seeking alternative approaches to health care. One of the techniques Dr. Mercola promotes and supports is the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) which is a safe, non-invasive technique that has been used successfully with an incredibly wide range of emotional, psychological and even medical conditions. Check out the official EFT website at: www.EmoFree.com and download your Free guide to using EFT at: www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com/free_download.
Dr. William Kelley is another one of the “1-out-of-5 Doctors” who didn’t simply keep preaching and selling what he was told to be the truth. Dr. Kelley’s Counter Perspective on cancer and chemotherapy can be found here: http://www.drkelley.info/index.php?section=Dangers+of+Chemotherapy along with his personal story of how he cured himself from “incurable” pancreatic cancer. There are many such individuals in the world – most cultures have never used chemotherapy or viewed the body and its disease processes as “enemies.” Give yourself a broad perspective and consider the economic machine being used to give Westerners their current set of beliefs and fears of cancer and other disease processes. Then, make a conscious decision about your health. No matter which direction you choose, you should be able to find caring, “qualified” people to help you with your process.
Visit Suzanne Somers’ site at: http://www.suzannesomers.com/Knockout to learn more about her new book.
CISM Innovation: Validation of EFT for Post Traumatic Stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders
The following links have been compiled on the EFT for Vets site (www.eftforvets.com) by EFT practitioner Ingrid Dinter. Ingrid is one of the many EFT practitioners currently using EFT to moderate and eliminate Post Traumatic Stress Disorders in military veterans and others who have experienced Traumatic Stress events. The following information can also be found on EFT founder Gary Craig’s official EFT site: www.EmoFree.com.
I’ve been using EFT since 2002 in private practice and have found it to be invaluable in eliminating all manner of stress and the illnesses and disease processes caused by stress. Having been associated with public safety since 1986, and having been a Public Safety Peer Counselor since 1996, I can personally attest to the value of EFT in the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) arena.
Visit Ingrid Dinter’s site, www.eftforvets.com, and learn more about her and the work she’s doing with EFT and vets.
EFT research (from www.EFTforVets.com)
Much research is underway now to prove the validity of Emotional Freedom Techniques. Here is a list of some of the studies that have already been published or presented. More studies can be found on www.emofree.com, www.stressproject.org and www.energypsych.org.
- Psychological Symptom Change in Veterans After Six Sessions of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT); An Observational Study
- The Treatment of Combat Trauma in Veterans Using EFT
- The effects of EFT on long-term psychological symptoms
- Self-administered EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) in individuals with fibromyalgia: a randomized trial
- Evaluation of a Meridian-Based Intervention, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), for Reducing Specific Phobias of Small Animals
- Neurophysiological Indicators of EFT Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress
- Clinical Story of a 6-Year-Old Boy’s Eating Phobia; An Integrated Approach
- Energy psychology in disaster relief
- Energy Psychology: a review of the preliminary evidence
- Pilot Study of EFT, WHEE and CBT for Treatment of Test Anxiety in University Students
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) For Traumatic Brain Injury
- Thought Field Therapy and its derivatives: rapid relief of mental health problems through tapping on the body
- Veterans: Finding their way home with EFT–an observational study
- Assessment of the Emotional Freedom Technique: An Alternative Treatment for Fear – The Waite & Holder Study
- Six Trauma Imprints Treated with Combination Intervention: Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and Thought Field Therapy (TFT) or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
- Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Research on Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and Other Meridian Based Therapies
Studies Presented at Professional Conferences
- Psychological Trauma in Veterans using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques): A Randomized Controlled Trial
- World Trade Center Tower 2 Survivor: EP Treatment of Long-term PTSD: A case study
- The effect of an energy psychology intervention (EFT) versus diaphragmatic breathing on specific phobias
- The Effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on Psychological Symptoms in Addiction Treatment
- The Effect of EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) on Psychological Symptoms: A Limited Replication
- Measuring Physiological Markers of Emotional Trauma: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Mind-Body Therapies
- The Effect of Energy Psychology on Athletic Performance: A Randomized Controlled Blind Trial
- The Effect of a Brief EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Self-Intervention on Anxiety, Depression, Pain and Cravings in Healthcare Workers
Other Studies and Experiments
- Preliminary Report of the First Large-Scale Study of Energy Psychology
- An Objective Experiment on the Use of EFT for Depression
- EFT brings about 80.7% sports performance improvement
- The Genie in Your Genes–An extraordinary book that many EFT’ers will welcome
- An EFT study: Reducing anxiety in dental patients with EFT
- EFT for Libido: Study Results Summarized — 80% report an improvement of 50% or more
- Impressive emotional improvements with student athletes in 4 weekly EFT sessions
- The results of Carol Look’s eyesight experiment
- EFT improves Minerals, Amino Acids & Vitamins
- Articles evidencing the existence of energy meridians
- Before and after photos of Rouleaux–”blood cell clumping”
- Clear evidence that our emotions affect our body–in this case, dramatic changes in the blood
These studies are also available at www.Emofree.com along with hundreds of other case studies and testimonials from psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, athletes, clients and practitioners from several other areas using EFT to improve lives by moderating stress and eliminating the harmful effects of the stress response.
*Stay tuned for more on EFT and Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)…
**To download a Free Illustrated Guide to The Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), just click here: www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com/free_download
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The Belief Formula
