Donnie Yance is an internationally known master herbalist and nutritionist. He is the author of the book, "Herbal Medicine, Healing and Cancer" and "Adaptogens in Medical Herbalism"
We hear so much about the negative effects of sugar—from obesity to tooth decay to cancer—it might surprise you to learn that sugar has some unique beneficial properties. It’s important to understand that not all sugars are created equal. If you want to reap the health benefits of sugar, it must be truly unrefined raw sugar.
Continue reading “The Health Benefits of Unrefined Raw Sugar”
On January 16th, 2017, MLK (Martin Luther King) day, the ten-piece band I play in, “Souliverse” (Souliverse.com), will be celebrating and performing at a mid-day event at the historic Ashland Armory in downtown Ashland, Oregon. If you’re in the area, please join us for this celebration. (Souliverse just released a live DVD/CD from the Mederi Benefit Concert from this past August.)
Continue reading “Living with Passion and Purpose: Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King and John Coltrane”
One of my family’s favorite dishes is homemade pizza. Making pizza connects me to my Italian heritage, and I find satisfaction in creating this rustic, healthful food. My kids, of course, love the result.
Making pizza from scratch takes a bit of time, but not as much as you might think. I enjoy the entire process, beginning with grinding the whole grains into fresh flour. My favorite flours are made from Kamut and farro; to enhance the elasticity of the dough, I add a bit of gluten flour. The result is a satisfyingly chewy crust.
Optimism can be defined as the non-empirical belief that positive circumstances will result from uncertain or even negative circumstances—in other words, it is the expectation that good things rather than bad things will generally happen. On the surface, that sounds like a positive way to live. But there’s a significant flaw in viewing the world optimistically. What happens when reality doesn’t live up to our optimistic expectations? Optimism claims, “Everything will be all right!” But what if everything isn’t “alright”?
Continue reading “Beyond Optimism—Cultivating the Virtue of Hope”
I often hear people proclaim, “God is everywhere.” Those who argue against the existence of God maintain this cannot be proven, and indeed, they are correct if they view life from a purely logical, intellectual perspective. In fact, from this perspective, it would be just as easy to prove that “God is nowhere.” I personally don’t feel the need to either prove or disprove the existence of God. For me, it is the intuitive internal heart within that senses God—in the form of Pure Love—which is all around us as well as within us.
When we are young, we don’t consciously think about our health—we just enjoy the inherent vitality that comes with youth. For most of us though, as we age, achieving and maintaining good health comes to the forefront of our consciousness.
The word “health” originates in the words “heal,” “whole,” and “holy,” (in Latin, mederi means to heal and make whole). True health is wholeness of spirit, mind, and body, and involves the preservation within of the spirit and the breath of God.