All posts by LJ Vanier

Can You Feel it? 5 Signs You’re About to Undergo A Life-Changing Shift

Sometimes when we think our lives are falling apart what we don’t see, is that they might just be falling into place. While change is not always welcomed, it is always warranted and often when we think that our lives have fallen into utter disarray, it’s because everything is realigning to match our true intentions and desires…

1. Everything you dislike has become unbearable

There is nothing quite like the feeling of irritability. It’s as if it comes out of nowhere like a mosquito in the night, causing you to itch until your skin is scarred.shutterstock_293333285

When the little things in life that never really bothered you much before, start surmounting right before your eyes… know that change is coming.

It has to. There is only so much negativity we can take, until finally the last straw breaks and we snap… into action. Continue reading

Spiritual Parenting: 9 Timeless Truths All Parents Should Teach Their Children

When children are small, their problems are small and mom or dad can fix just about anything. But the bigger they grow, the same can be said for the problems they will bring home for you to help them manage.

There really is no manual on how to raise children properly. We all do the best we can, with what we have and the tools we have learned on how to get by in this world. But the more equipped we can be as parents, the more well adjusted children we will raise.

9. Everything is temporaryshutterstock_374136676

Nothing lasts forever and it isn’t meant to. The more we cling to the old, the more we harbor the stale and stagnant memories/energies of the past, reverberating them within our own body and keeping them alive within our cells.

Teach your children early on about non attachment. To move and flow with the ups and downs of life, embracing all that can be seen, heard and felt without becoming attached to places and things.

8. Pain helps you grow

Pain is an essential part of life. We grow the most through the difficult experiences in life and so we must embrace our toughest challenges, our deepest sorrows, and our dismal defeats. Be with your child and stand by their side through their heartaches, reassuring them that everything happens for a reason.

Without the darkness, the stars wouldn’t shine. Continue reading

10 Things That Happen When Dating a Cancer

Cancers are tough shells to crack! But once you do, you’ll relish in the warmth of their kind, caring, loving, compassionate……succulent gooey centre. But, if you cross a cancer, watch out! that shell will turn into battle armor and their pincers are faster than a speeding bullet.

10. They are easy-going

happyEveryone loves the happy crab! Cancers are the first in mind for many when making plans for a night on the town.

The mature crab knows that there is a place for everything and everything has its place, they never purposefully try to draw more attention to themselves by making things dramatic or serious.

They are out to have a good time which rejuvenates them and charges up the batteries.

9. They are hardworking

Cancers work hard for everything they have and aren’t afraid of a challenge. They know that it takes grit and determination to achieve their goals and they won’t stop until the job is complete. On the downside they are known to get a little tunnel visioned and their work can interfere with family and relationships. Continue reading

10 Things To Remember When Loving a Pisces

Pisces men and women can be slippery fish!

They are full of great mystery, and their emotional depths run deeper than the ocean itself, but once you get a handle on them you will never want to let them go! This is because the Pisces are one the most soft, soothing and amiable signs in the zodiac.

If you are a pisces, you know all too well that there are two types of you out there. Pisces I whom can be understood as the “go with the flow” type that sails through life eating up all of life’s pleasantries along the way. While type II, just can’t seem but to have the need to try and swim back up river, struggling at every moment. The good news for you type II’s is, it’s never too late to turn around and let the waters of life, gently wash over you while coast back down stream.

10. They are selfless.

Art Print - Pisces by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Art Print – Pisces by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Pisces have a tendency of putting others needs ahead of their own.

While this can be admirable, often times a pisces will sacrifice a little too much, leaving them feeling like they have been taken advantage of when others can’t match the same level of generosity.

A pisces will easily feel slighted, and this resentment can manifest into cutting people out of their life entirely, leaving the other party puzzled as to what exactly it was that “they did wrong”.

9. They are escape artists

When you turn up the heat, the fish has a tendency to jump out of the water….

While a pisces is naturally gifted in social situations, and their calming demeanour can be very useful when coaxing others “off the ledge”, when the spotlight is turned around on them in a negative connotation, they turn into magicians and disappear faster than you can say “abracadabra”.

8. They are extremely sensitive

A pisces will immediately show you respect and they expect that you do the same. They have the softest hearts of all of the signs in the wheel, and they don’t understand those who purposefully look to inflict wounds on others. The golden rule should always be applied when loving a pisces, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.

7. They are intuitive

This water sign is naturally gifted when it comes to listening to their hearts. They understand that their intuition stems from feelings generated at the heart centre and they hear and feel these subtle notions with ease. The pisces struggles most between what they know and what they feel, which causes them to be easily conflicted and left all too often feeling like they are torn apart inside.

6. They can take “a lot of punches.”

pisces_by_faceless_fantasy-d2yli5ePisces never fail at finding themselves in sticky situations, I mean lets face it, their hearts are so open that it can take them down some rough roads.

There actions can be viewed as irresponsible to others, especially after they’ve been dragged through the mud.

While a pisces is known to carry a lot of guilt (specifically manifesting in tense shoulders) they will continue to repeat the same cycles over and over until they can learn to no longer let themselves be a punching bag for others.

5. They have humility

Every other sign in the zodiac struggles with this, except for a pisces. A pisces has a higher knowing, either conscious or unconscious that allows them to be exceptional resiliant in terms of their own pitfalls and short comings. They understand that nothing should be taken too seriously, and while they are known to hold themselves to a high standard, they also know that nothing in life is worth being so hard on yourself for.

4. They are soothing

No other sign in the zodiac can match the calming vibration of a pisces. They are the ice to your fire and the softest place to land. Bringing people down from a high emotional state is their speciality. They are smooth tongued and even smoother when it comes to sweet talking someone to get what they want. ;)

3. They get bored easily

A pisces has a hard time when it comes to the mundane, every-day schedule. They feed off excitement and liveliness and are always on the go. Alike to a crab, they can’t get enough of the social scene, live music and large crowds, especially if it means avoiding the tired old responsibility of homely duties. To keep a pisces in your life, you need to keep it fun, spontaneous and fresh!

2. They hold comfort above all elsepisces

Pisces men and women saturate themselves in comfort. They appreciate the simple pleasantries of nourishing their bodies (especially their feet) and will indulge in regular massage, acupuncture, chiropractic and nutritional coaching to name a few.

A pisces appreciates things to be neat and tidy, but loath doing the dirty work themselves.

1. They love to be inspired

Pisces have keen senses when it comes to the magical and mysterious. They will swim as deep as you will lead them. They can be highly impressionable and are always looking for a teacher who will inspire them to think beyond the norm. Forward, out of the box thinking is impressive to a Pisces and will earn you their admiration.

by LJ Vanier,

 

Gut Instincts: Scientists Prove You Have a Second Brain in Your Stomach

“Some of the best advice you’ll ever get will come from your gut instinct”.

We’ve all heard expressions about trusting our gut and following our instincts, but now, science is finally giving us the evidence to support it.

Dubbed “The Second Brain” by Michael Gershon, Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The network of neurons that line our guts are filled with (over 100 million) neurotransmitters which to put it simply, do a lot more than simply digest our food.

braingutWhat Gershon found is that the enteric nervous system directly connects to the larger central system at the base of the skull, that assists in feeding information to our brains through the hypothalamus and pituitary, known as the Gut Brain Axis. This information exchange than helps to determine our mental state, as well as “playing a crucial role when it comes to disease in the body.”

While this second brain has not been proven to formulate its own conscious thought, nor play any major role in our decision-making process, “The system is way too complicated to have evolved only to make sure things move out of your colon,” says Emeran Mayer, professor of physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.).

This second brain plays a large role in our emotional well-being and instinctual motives as it is now being discovered that “a big part of our emotions are probably influenced by the nerves in our gut,” Mayer adds.

Butterflies in the stomach are a sign of physiological distress felt by this system, and sensed by the huge amount of neurotransmitters (more than the number found in the spinal cord or the peripheral nervous systems).

Since this amazing discovery, it is becoming more clear that our emotional well-being has a direct relation to our physiology. When we are stressed, anxious or nervous, there is a concurrent exchange of information being translated between our minds and our guts, which can be speculated as a probable cause in diabetes, obesity and stubborn belly fat.

shutterstock_388851361This incredible research comes pursuant of one of the most well-known scientists in his field Mark Lyte, of Texas Tech University Health Sciences. 30 years ago Lyte began his career long journey seeking to prove that “gut microbes communicate with the nervous system using some of the same neurochemicals that relay messages in the brain”. Lyte proposed that there was a connection between our mental state or mood and the bacteria found in the gut.

In 2007, it was announced that the scientific community would be launching a “Human Microbiome project, that would catalog all micro-organisms living in the body through a series of testing and since then biologist are understanding more and more that much of what makes us human, depends largely on the microbial activity within our bodies.

There are over two million unique bacterial genes found in each human microbiome that make the mere 23,000 genes in our cells seem insignificant by comparison ‘‘It has enormous implications for the sense of self,’’ Tom Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told The New York Times. ‘‘We are, at least from the standpoint of DNA, more microbial than human. ”

These microbial in our gut, secrete chemicals and Lyte has found that “among those chemicals are the same substances used by our neurons to communicate and regulate mood, like dopamine, serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).”

In conclusion, the sayings are true.

You are what you eat, and always listen to your gut.

by LJ Vanier,

Sources:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-second-brain/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html?_r=0

The HPV Vaccine Has Been Found to Cause Premature Ovarian Failure

In 2012, questions began to arise following the case of a 16-year-old girl, whom developed POF (premature ovarian failure) after receiving the Gardasil vaccination, said to protect women against the human papilloma virus (HPV).

This article exists to present studies for you to research and make your own discernments about. The core discussion that needs to happen is not whether or not we should get vaccines, but why we’ve created a world where we need them in the first place – and what we can do about it.

shutterstock_319569155The report was published in the British Medical Journal after she was examined by Dr. Deirdre Therese Little, who noted that the patient began to experience amenorrhea (abnormal absence of menstruation) following vaccinations against HPV. “Premature ovarian failure in a well adolescent is a rare event. Its occurrence raises important questions about causation, which may signal other systemic concerns.”  Dr. Little notes.

Dr. Little went on to state that while in 90% of cases, cause is indeterminable, the main identifiable causes in this case were able to be excluded, which allowed for side-effects of the vaccination to be included as an adverse event.

“This event could hold potential implications for population health and prompts further inquiry.” she reports.

Since then, a new study by the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology was conducted after three more young women were found with amenorrhea (and abnormal absence of menstruation) and concluded that “The increasing number of similar reports of post HPV vaccine-linked auto immunity and the uncertainty of long-term clinical benefits of HPV vaccination are a matter of public health that warrants further rigorous inquiry.

Despite being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Merck & Co. the corporate behind Gardasil, failed to test the vaccine for its adverse affects on the female reproductive system and according to the Australian Therapeutic Administration (Austraila’s FDA) they only tested its effects on male testes.

shutterstock_331725641The American College of Pediatricians responded to the recent rash of cases and media hype stating that:

There have been two case report series (3 cases each) published since 2013 in which post-menarcheal adolescent girls developed laboratory documented POF within weeks to several years of receiving Gardasil….. ” “Nevertheless there are legitimate concerns that should be addressed: (1) long-term ovarian function was not assessed in either the original rat safety studies3,4 or in the human vaccine trials, (2) most primary care physicians are probably unaware of a possible association between HPV4 and POF and may not consider reporting POF cases or prolonged amenorrhea (missing menstrual periods) to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), (view the full report here)

While Gardasil is still one of the most lucrative pharmaceuticals on the market, sales are beginning to slow as overseas independent studies are making their way into the mainstream media.

The Japan Times reported in 2013 that the Health Ministry had issued a nationwide notice advising its citizens that cervical cancer vaccination, will no longer be recommended for girls between age 12 and 16. Later, an Israeli-Italian peer-reviewed study was published (indexed on PubMed) that linked HPV vaccines to premature menopause.

Yet, here in the United States headline news continues to push the vaccine on the public with headlines such as:

HPV vaccination rate stalls. ‘We’re dropping the ball,’ CDC says – “The vaccine is safe and effective,” Schuchat said. “We need doctors to recommend it and deliver it.” – from Los Angeles Times, July 25, 2013

by LJ Vanier,