Local Good News/Golden Bay

By Charlotte Squire

Note: scroll down for information about the online course: ‘Thrive – Boosting Your immune system naturally with reflexology and herbs’

Imagine if you were away skiing with your children, and your youngest developed a bad stomach ache. You’re miles away from your medicine cabinet, and from the nearest doctor, so what would you do? Reflexologist/Herbalist Shanti Burgess was in just that situation recently with her three year old daughter.

Though she was far from her usual supply of herbs and homeopathics Shanti did have two tools in her kete: peppermint essential oil and knowledge of the powerful relationship between our body’s organs and systems, and parts of our feet.  She applied the oil and pressed the exact point on her daughter’s feet to ease the relieve the tension in her daughter’s tummy.  Happy child, happy holiday.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve long been fascinated by the connection between the humble, often forgotten foot, and the rest of our body.  As a young girl I remember being amazed when my Grandmother explained that I could press on a toe to relieve my headache.

And so too were our ancestors. This healing modality has been around for some time, evidence of the practice of reflexology has been found in Egyptian ruins dating back to 2300 B.C. to the Physicians Temple in Nara, Japan, of 690 A.D. Modern reflexology’s only made a comeback during the last 150 years.

Shanti’s part of a growing generation of health practitioners who are working with nature and our natural systems to boost health and well being.  She’s a qualified Reflexologist and Herbalist and she has an active practice in Golden Bay.  She’s offering an online course to us lucky Happyzine readers, which will use videos, notes and live chats called  ‘Thrive – Boosting Your immune system naturally with reflexology and herbs’.

The course will run for one two hour evening session per week, for one month. Shanti says she’ll share “some effective, natural, simple ways of using your body, your body’s innate wisdom and intelligence to boost your immune system.” These are tools Shanti uses regularly on clients, and practices on her own family.

“I’m going to give you tools to boost immune systems, such as when you’re dealing with issues like coughs, colds, fevers, what ever comes along with colds and flus,” she said.

One example of a common problem we all suffer around coughs and colds is a runny nose. Shanti offered some examples of herbal and reflexologist ways she’d treat a runny nose:

“You’d use a general immune strengthening herb for example echinacea, and an anti-mucous or mucous dispersing herb such as thyme, sage, or mullein. You’d drink it as a tea, depending on what you have available. You might have thyme in your gardens, which is a common garden herb. So you could make a thyme tea, you could make a thyme foot bath, you could put thyme in your bath.”

She said that with children, creativity is called for, “I make herbal lollies for my daughter, or herbal ice blocks. Kids do love them when you get them into it, herbal baths are great for kids too, if they refuse to take ir orally they can absorb it through their skin.”

Shanti’s aiming for people to ‘walk away’ from her online course with “practical effective tools that they can use straight away to help their family or their friends.” She’s aiming for simplicity and practicality in her course.

In a world where marketing constantly tells us to take a pill and ignore the physical symptoms our body sends us when we’re out of balance, Shanti works on the belief that the “human body is a self healing mechanism and a self cleaning mechanism.”

“We have this innate intelligence and wisdom and it’s about tapping into it and trusting your body’s processes to do what needs to be done within the body, whether it’s healing itself, or cleaning your organs and trusting that process.

“So when a fever comes on for instance, you can encourage it. Fevers have a purpose – to clean up the rubbish, so I’m a firm believer that the body has it’s own wisdom to do what it needs to do be be healthy. It’s about supporting those processes, and encouraging elimination rather than suppression.”

Shanti also believes it’s important to keep the body systems moving, “everything in the body should be in a dynamic, constant state of change. The body’s meant to be liquid in motion, we’re mostly water, so it’s about working with the bodily fluids, rather than against them.”

She says you can do this by exercising, drinking water, thinking positive thoughts, and using food as your best medicine, with herbs being food as well, “eat a healthy healthy diet, eat a varied, local, close to home diet.”

Shanti’s online course will be broken down according to sections of the foot and will focus on one section per week. Participants will listen to the ailments, they’ll learn what to look for, and they’ll learn to “trouble shoot” with each week focusing on a section of the foot and other herbs to back up healing.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected] for more information about ‘Thrive – Boosting Your immune system naturally with reflexology and herbs’

Course information

‘Thrive – Boosting Your immune system naturally with reflexology and herbs’
When: Wednesday 3rd October – 24th October from 6 – 8 pm (That’s NZ time, see World Time Zone Converter here), online
Where: Online – from the comfort of your home
Who: Herbalist and Reflexologist Shanti Burgess
Cost: Earlybird (if paid before September 10th) $200 or $250 if paid after September 10th.  If you feel drawn to this course, we’d love to help you make it happen for yourself – Pay $20 for ten weeks. Paypal available.
What you get:
4 x Half hour videos (one per week)
1 x Bonus half hour video ‘Wonderful weeds – common herbs for body cleansing and detoxification found in most gardens’
4 x Comprehensive weekly notes
1 x Bonus ebooklet ‘Spring cleansing – simple spring cleansing for the body, mind and soul’
1 x 1 hour, One on One consultation with Shanti
4 x 90 minute group online discussions – Q & As

Walk away with practical, effective tools that you can use straight away to help your family, friends and loved ones.

Frequently asked questions
1.  Can I do this from anywhere in the world?
Yes you can, providing you have access to broadband and a computer
2.  How will we talk online as a group?
We’ll use skype for our live chat sessions.  So we won’t be talking face to face, rather skype has an excellent ‘instant message’ function that we can write to each other with.  The good thing about this is that our weekly conversations will remain on record indefinitely in written form.  We would do this face to face but New Zealand Internet isn’t quite up to speed yet.  You’ll have 90 minutes each week to ask questions and enjoy discussions within our group.  And you’re welcome to skype each other face to face around the hours of our live conversations.  Also, remember you get to ask Shanti any other questions during your one hour consultation.
3.  Can this work around my parenting and family’s needs?
Yes, absolutely.  As parents ourselves we’re designing this course for busy people.  We’ll send you the notes and links to your weekly videos well before the live online instant messaging sessions.  And during the live chat sessions, although it’s best to remain engaged in the group chat, there is space to step away from your computer if you really need to.
4.  How intensive is this course?
You can get whatever you want out of this course.  Go at the pace that suits your needs.  You can keep it to the basics if you need to and simply keep up with the information we give you, or step it up a little and get out there and try these tools through the week.  Your friends will love you for it!  Also, you’re encouraged to get to know each other and make skype dates with each other to discuss your processes and findings.
5.  How about confidentiality – what if I’m not comfortable sharing some of my health questions with people I don’t know yet?
We ask participants to agree to keep the discussions, processes and content of this course confidential and to only speak of it to each other.  We know from experience that the more trust we’re able to build up on this course, the more we’re each able to take from it.

Got more questions?  We’d love to help!
Please email any technological questions to Happyzine Editor [email protected]
Please email any herbal or reflexology questions to Course Tutor [email protected]

www.happyzine.co.nz

Read the inspiring stories of our sponsors:

Tui Balms is a worker-owned cooperative that began 27 years ago in Golden Bay with Tui Bee Balm, a remarkable healing balm made of beeswax and other natural ingredients.  An effective skin healer, Bee Balm has since become a New Zealand icon, the country’s favourite baby balm and the flagship of our popular range of natural skincare and healing balms. Our range of massage Balms with aromatherapy essential oils is the supreme medium for massage.  Tui Balms donates to charitable trusts in New Zealand. Last year, we donated over $30,000 to New Zealand charities! Find Tui Balms at your local health store or organic shop.

www.tuibalms.co.nz
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ph 03 525 9654.

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