Hello everyone! I am posting to let everyone know that yes I am going to be okay! I appreciate all the emails I have received! I was getting ready to teach my FREE class on Herbology & MRT but I ended up in the hospital dealing with my heart condition! I will be just fine- I am currently getting ready to under go a procedure to correct the electrical impulses in my heart. I have a couple things that are wrong with the way my heart beats- I was born with these problems, but my body has come to a point where something needs to be done in order for me to live a happy and healthy life. This has been a very long and tiring struggle for my friends and family who have watched me struggle with this condition. It keeps me from running and doing fun and happy things. Like I have said many times, I will never be the Naturopath that is afraid of Conventional Medicine. I believe that each form of medicine has its place in this world.

Moving on to Herbology! I have put together some literature for everyone to look over, but I will tell you a little about herbology. Herbology is basically the study of herbs. Herbs are anything that grows that you can use. Technically a tree is considered an herb, but for all intensive purposes, we will say that herbology is the study of herbs- herbs will be medicine that comes from the earth-- medicine will be things used that change the structure of the body to help it get better and restore balance. You can find herbs in tablet form, essential oils, cold or hot infused oils, skin care products, spices, whole form, and many other ways. I use herbs a lot in my skin care line. In fact, all of my salves are made with herb infused oils & I use the actual herb not just the essential oil. I use the roots and the leaves and the flowers! 

There are 5 classifications of herbs and some that have subcategories:
1) Aromatic 
           -stimulant
           -nervine
2) Astringent 
3)Bitter
            -laxative
            -diuretic
             -saponin
            -alkaloid
4) Mucilaginous
5) Nutritive

In the documents attached you will learn more about what each category is and some of the properties for each herb!

Here are some common known herbs & their uses!!!

-Basil
         -used in essential oil form is good for preventing and treating ear infections and ear aches

-Cinnamon
            -treats high blood pressure
            -treat high blood sugar
            -nausea
            -You can make a pretty yummy drink with 1 apple (sliced), 1-2 sticks of cinnamon, and a liter of water. Mix it all together and let it sit for a couple hours and drink up! 

-Ginger
               -treats nausea
               -great anti-inflammatory
               -flushes out toxins 
               -add it to your waters & juices & smoothies 
               - add about 1 tbsp to your bath!

Mint
                -treats nausea
                -anti-inflammatory 
                -pain relief
                -easy to grow!
                -add a few leaves to your water for fat flush, detoxing, and tasty drink.

Lavender
                   -use the essential oil or the plant
                   -great for relaxation
                   -anti bacterial
                    -helps with sleep
                     -helps babies with colic
                     -great in tea or kombucha




If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!!

Here is the documents!

Herbology & MRT Documents

Who doesn't love FREEBIES? I know I sure do!

One thing that is always on my MUST HAVE list for college or even when I was in High School was lip balm or chap stick because my lips were always getting chapped from how dry it was in the school!

Well here is the FREEBIE of all FREEBIES!  Email me or order on my etsy site and the first 25-50 people will receive a FREE LIP BALM from Healthy By Choice! No purchase necessary! If you order on etsy you have to pay at least a fifty cent shipping fee though! Use the coupon code LIPBALM01

If you haven't tried my products yet or are wondering about them now is the time to try, after all it is FREE!

Offer ends Friday 9/6/13

Email me at: Jessica@healthybychoice2012.com be sure to include your shipping address or if you would like to order anything else!

Etsy website: CLICK HERE

Do you know the power of touching others? 

How often are you touched?

How often do you touch others?

As a Navy Wife, I have to say I didn't realize that I had not been touched in months other than a quick hug to family members here and there, until I was up at school one day and my teacher said "Five minute massage break". Everyone had to find a partner and massage each other's upper back, shoulders, and neck for 2-3 minutes and then switch. I was the first to start the massaging and I didn't think much of it. Then our teacher said "Switch!". It was then that I realized, I hadn't been touched in a very long time. I felt so stiff and rigid while I was being massaged. The more that I tried to hide those feelings, the more they showed. My teacher looked over at me and said "Wow, you are having a hard time with this aren't you?". I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes and I couldn't even say anything, I just mouthed "yes". She said "Well we are going to break you of that!". Then when we had finished the massage break she began to talk about the power of touch. She said that she has had students in the past that looked forward to that massage break. One student imparticular had asked her if they were going to be doing the massage break that weekend, she replied "No, we will do something else, I like to change things up a bit." It was then that she realized she couldn't seem to get the woman out of her head. She asked her about it the next day and the woman responded that she looks forward to that massage because it is the only nurturing that she gets. My teacher responded "I had no idea that you were alone" the student replied "I'm not I have four children and a husband", my teacher then responded "I had no idea that you were lonely".

As I heard my teacher tell this story, I could feel my heart in my throat. I have always handled my husband being gone pretty well. It isn't easy, but we are lucky enough right now to be able to talk to each other everyday. I realized though, that I was becoming lonely. I am one of those people who will find reasons that I cannot be touched. People will offer to do a massage on me, energy work, etc and I often times will refuse and come up with an excuse as to why I cannot be worked on. Even to this day, I'm not a fan of being touched. I can give quick hugs, but I am not used to nor am I too thrilled with being touched. 

After that weekend at school, I realized that I needed to be okay with being touched. Easier said than done. I began to pray that God would just take that feeling away from me. After all, when my husband comes home- the last thing I want to do is push him away. Just when I thought, "Mind over Matter, if you tell yourself you don't like being touched then you won't like being touched. If you tell yourself that some touch is good then you will live and you will be happy about it"... I saw a dear friend and associate of mine. She had realized one day that I didn't like being touched but she didn't say that she noticed. What did she do? When I went to leave she said "Come, give me a hug" and I went to hug her and let go and she continued to embrace me. This felt awkward and I tried to push her away and she continued to hug me tighter. I even said "ummm..." and she replied "shut up- I am going to hug you until you aren't so stiff" my response "........." and then something happened that I did not expect and I don't think she expected it either: I cried.. and I don't mean "sniff sniff" I mean like an ugly cry, tears rolling down my cheeks faster than they could be dried, my whole body actually leaning into the hug, and my head resting on her shoulder-- oh and makeup all over her lab coat! ha! When she finally let me go she muttered "you should meditate more, it would be good for you-- oh and you are welcome. I will see you when I see you" and she rushed out and onto whatever else she had on her agenda that day. Here I sat, still sniffing, and getting trying to salvage the bit of makeup I might have left on. It was then that I realized that mind over matter in this situation did not work. So I went and had an energy session done that included massage- as much as I didn't want to do it. I can't say that I had a release like I did when hugging my associate, but I'm sure it helped in the grand scheme of things, after all energy work is different. 

Well I began to offer Hungarian Hair Treatments to friends and family and some clients of mine. This includes getting oil massaged into your scalp, some neck rubbing, and oil being rubbed through your hair. It is very relaxing and it is a wonderful thing to have done- and it stimulates hair growth. I recently have had the privilege of gaining a new friend, who happens to be from India. Indian women are known for their beautiful hair, and they happen to have these special hair oil treatments that are done like once a week and it is apparently pretty normal to see a woman in India walking around with oil in her hair. Well I offered to do this hair treatment on my new friend and she happily accepted- I mean who is going to turn down girl talk and tv show?? She also happens to be one of the few people I have met who is extremely spiritual and we can sit and talk for hours (and I mean hours) about spirituality and how things have happened in our lives that lead us here, and how we understand each other differently. I have to say it is really nice to talk to someone who just straight up gets you and doesn't think you are crazy and you don't think they are crazy. Well her only stipulation for me doing her hair was to let her do mine (oh boy I have to be touched again!). I sat there and tried telling her no but then I was like "eh what the heck, I can try something new, and it would be nice to have my head rubbed". So I did her hair and she did mine. I felt so great and relaxed afterwards, to the point that I felt awkward. I didn't know what to do or what to say to her besides "Thanks!". We ended up having a sleep over and watched Hulu until we fell asleep. Now those of you who may know me know that I have a sleep disorder where I can go months with only sleeping 1-3 hours a night, and those 1-3 hours are usually broken up. That can go on for months and then all of a sudden (usually with the help of medication or herbs) I will sleep like 16 hours. Well I have not been taking any herbs lately-  (I went off of them and then am slowly reintroducing them to check the amounts I really need). That night that my friend did my hair treatment, I slept without waking up for the first time in about at least seven months, and then I came home, did some yoga and suddenly woke up five hours later laying on the floor in my yoga room. 

There is a scripture, that I don't remember exactly where it is, but it talks about leaving your peace with someone. I think that having my hair done and my head rubbed on and in a sense being loved on really allowed me to relax to the point of real rest. I am also a big believer in Energy- I think the mood in which you cook affects the food, I believe the mood in which you give affects the person receiving, etc, etc. My friend was thrilled to be doing my hair and happy to do it for me. There was no bad energy there it was all love and girl talk and peace and fun. 

My experiences over the last few months have lead me to really believe- beyond the research that says human touch is a good thing and healing- that human touch is honestly a necessity in our lives. My husband hugged and kissed and cuddled with me daily before he left for the Navy and I have to say I took it for granted. I even told him to "get off" me more than once while trying to sleep (I literally was his human body pillow) and now I would not trade that touch for anything. Human touch is absolutely necessary. 


Think about who you touched today. Did you touch them with love? Were you happily giving a hug? Were you joyful in shaking hands with that business associate? Think about it, every touch can mean something to someone. You may not know it but that could be the only positive touch someone is receiving that day or that month. 
 

I've never been one to post much about God, religion, or spirituality on this website, but there comes a time in everyone's life where you must stand up for who you are and what you believe in. 

I don't categorize myself in a religion at all. I am not a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or anything like that. I believe in the Bible, I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in the power of prayer, but I believe there is much more to God than what we allow ourselves to go into. The mystery of God is hard for us to grasp and understand- we as humans tend to run from what we don't understand or we lock it out and treat it as if it is wrong. I would say that I am more a spiritual believer than anything else. I don't like labels, I know many people who call themselves Christian but act far from it- they don't walk in love, faith, or peace- and I have at many times been ashamed to be walking in the same faith as some of these people. Now- no one is perfect, we all fall short, it is how we handle it. We must learn from our mistakes and move on. See things as a learning experience. 

I was raised in a Christian household. There are many denominations of Christianity- I happened to be raised Pentecostal- for those of you who don't know what that is, they are usually the people that believe in the speaking of tongues among many other things. In many ways I was blessed to be raised this way, but I look back on it and feel that I was taught in a way to fear things that I didn't understand fully. For example, I used to fear people of different faiths. I was scared that somehow it would make me not as good of a Christian to be friends with them or even in school I was scared to learn about the faiths. As I have grown older I have had the pleasure of getting to know some people of different faiths. I know some people who are Muslim who are just like me or my family- they just believe in something different. I have also had the pleasure of getting to know some people of the Hindu faith. I have to say at times I am fascinated by the commitment that these two faiths seem to have that Christianity doesn't seem to hold. For instance, people of the Muslim faith pray many times throughout the day (not all of them but many that I have met do). I don't know many Christian people who actually stop what they are doing multiple times a day and pray to God- and that is just me being honest. There was a time in my life that I did not pray often. There were weeks that went by where the only time I prayed was a quick blessing before a meal. 

My faith has a lot to do with my practice and what I do for a living as a practitioner. I feel that God has given me the natural ability and the love for helping others heal. I have to say that I don't think any faith or religion has it 100% right- I think if we all stop pointing fingers at each other and see the good in each faith, we could learn something valuable from each other. The moment that I quit pointing fingers and assuming that people were wrong who believed differently than I did, a whole new world of knowledge, understanding, peace, love, and just plain God was opened up to me. My relationship with God is 100 times stronger than it ever was before. I still read my bible, I still pray with my clients, I still pray everyday before God, but I also do Yoga. Not just the stretching, but the meditation and breathing that is involved. I will have another post where I go more in depth with what Yoga really is-- and I may even have a quest writer for such a post! 

One thing I would like to get across in this post is the importance of faith. The scripture says "Faith without works is dead". You can even take that literally, with this example, if you do not plant the seeds to a squash -- a squash will not grow. You can't go out to the garden every single day and wonder where the squash is that you never planted, but if you plant a squash- a squash may come. The squash might grow or it might not grow, it all depends on how you nurture it- and even then sometimes nothing comes of it. I would like people to take that example and apply it to their lives. If you go somewhere and believe that you will be healed of an ailment or that you will feel better and have a positive attitude and outlook- more times than not you will feel better. There is always that slight chance that nothing will happen and you will leave feeling the exact same way and in even slighter chances- you might feel worse. More times than not though, if you believe that you will be healed or you will get better- then you will, but you have to have faith that you will. 

When I work with clients one of my first questions to them is "Do you believe that you can get better from seeing me?" If they say "yes" then I know there is a pretty good chance that I can help alleviate or heal the ailment or problem. If they say "I don't know", then I know that I have the ability to help them see the little things and hope that they will believe that they can get better and overcome what they are going through. If they tell me "No", then I do my best to believe for them. 

I would like to strongly encourage each of you who read this post to get back to or find something to believe in. If you want to believe in Jesus, then believe in Jesus, if you want to believe in other faiths then believe other faiths. Get some good information and really learn- don't just believe many of the common myths- ask questions! Find something to believe in- because this world is much bigger than you or me. Get back to the basics- that is what I did tonight. I spent the night not being able to sleep, but I got up and dove into the scripture and feel more alive and awake than I thought possible!

áldás
Jessica Kellaway NP, HC