Back on the anti Codex bandwagon I pass this on verbatim from health professional, medical reform advocate and writer Eve Hillary. It is particularly relevant to Australian readers. Please take action.
Have you ever considered the luxury of our well-stocked health shops?
You can choose from many brands and sizes, containing varying strengths and ingredient combinations.
Want Vitamin C? Powder or tablet? 250mg, 500mg, 1000mg? Take your pick.
Or would you rather choose another vitamin or herb?
This freedom of choice could soon be a thing of the past.
WHY?
Because if the government (and pharmaceutical companies) get their way, the Codex Legislation being implemented in Europe will be passed and you may need to visit your doctor for a prescription to get any of the natural health supplements that are now available from your health store, naturopath or distributor. These prescribed supplements will not only contain minimum levels of the current supplements, but many will be synthetic (molecules changed for patent purposes). These European laws could be transposed upon Australia via Free Trade Agreements and WTO obligations.
What this means is: supplements will have no therapeutic effects and in due course, you will need to go to pharmaceutical drugs in order to look after your own health.
Ultimately: you won’t be able to choose your own supplements any more! Doctors will have to do it for you. So then the scenario may be, no naturopaths, no health stores, no herbalists, and no natural health professionals.
Australia is a democratic country and yet something as important as this has not been made widely public.
Our right to choose is being removed without public consultation.
What is the Codex Legislation?
In a nutshell, it is a result of a complex relationship between the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and the World Health Organisation, which seeks to standardise, worldwide, the quality and dosage of natural medicines (vitamins, herbs, homoeopathic, etc.) Once Australia and NZ agree to this legislation they will lose control over this choice. Supplement production and usage will become part of an international policy, which Australia and all countries must adhere to or they will be heavily fined.
Codex also:
· Permits non-labelling of genetically modified foods
· Allows high levels of chemicals in foods
· Encourages antibiotics in animal feed
· Restricts organic food (an area in which Australia and NZ are well regarded)
· Permits irradiation of food and herbs
.
What you can do
Write to your local state and federal politicians. (Click for your local politician's contact details). A letter is already written for you on the Eve Hillary site.
· Help us spread this information – all help will be welcome.
· Join our committee (there is one in each state of Australia). .
· Check out http://www.evehillary.org and click onto Taking Action or go to the AHFA (Alliance for Health Freedom Australia website)
Say NO to Codex or you will be shepherded towards prescription drugs
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The delights of daily practice
The topic of daily practice is up within my women's group.
We all recognise the value of making a commitment to a daily sacred ritual. We know that it does not have to be long or complicated but that it should provide an opportunity to step outside of our ordinary world and to re-connect with the divine, with the bigger picture, with something greater than our daily lives and the story created by mind.
Although we could all feel the value of such practice, a quick round of the circle revealed only one of us who could say that she did something sacred every day.
We explored some of the possibilities:
* Lighting a candle and giving thanks for the blessings in our life;
* Ten minutes (maybe even only five!) of chanting or meditation, dancing or breathing;
* A yoga ritual, a simple asana series or maybe a longer practice;
* A walk in nature, a run on the beach or a ride on the bike made sacred by our dedication or intention.
One of the women revealed that the time that she felt most connected to the divine was when practicing her cello. We seemed to agree that it was our intention with our practice that was more important than it's content. Even our resident yogini expressed that as part of our experiment she wanted to make her daily yoga routine more of a prayer.
We supported one another towards a decision about the form of the practice that we would take on. It needed to be achievable within our busy lives, suitable for our body and realistic given our family commitments. It was surprising how easy it seemed to be for each of us alone to set ourselves up to do something we were bound to fail at. Thank heavens for the other women!
Duly committed we set out on our week.
My commitment was to three sun salutes, offered as a prayer. I had been making a vague effort to do three sun salutes each day for some months but my success rate was about one in two. I realised that to make it a daily reality I needed to do them as early as possible, before I ate and ideally as soon as I got up. I share the care of my son and noticed that it was much easier on the mornings that my son was not at home. I also noticed that the knowledge that I would be reporting back to the group really supported me to remember - even on the busy school mornings when I had previously let my mothering take precedence over my practice.
But the most interesting discovery was in relation to the "prayfulness" or otherwise of the ritual. I had thought I had a sense of this when I had expressed what I wanted to do to the other women. But when it came to it I found myself wondering and pondering for several days what it really meant to offer my practice as a prayer. Was it about gratitude, dedication, intention, a request even? Was it to do with my presence and focus within the movements? Over the week I explored the possibilities in my attitude as I moved my body through the familiar stretches. And it was within the sensation of the stretching that I found my answer. My practice feels sacred when I follow the feeling of stretching and extend it out beyond the physical expressing the longing of my heart and my willingness and my prayer to stretch ever open in all ways towards truth, love and the divine.
We all recognise the value of making a commitment to a daily sacred ritual. We know that it does not have to be long or complicated but that it should provide an opportunity to step outside of our ordinary world and to re-connect with the divine, with the bigger picture, with something greater than our daily lives and the story created by mind.
Although we could all feel the value of such practice, a quick round of the circle revealed only one of us who could say that she did something sacred every day.
We explored some of the possibilities:
* Lighting a candle and giving thanks for the blessings in our life;
* Ten minutes (maybe even only five!) of chanting or meditation, dancing or breathing;
* A yoga ritual, a simple asana series or maybe a longer practice;
* A walk in nature, a run on the beach or a ride on the bike made sacred by our dedication or intention.
One of the women revealed that the time that she felt most connected to the divine was when practicing her cello. We seemed to agree that it was our intention with our practice that was more important than it's content. Even our resident yogini expressed that as part of our experiment she wanted to make her daily yoga routine more of a prayer.
We supported one another towards a decision about the form of the practice that we would take on. It needed to be achievable within our busy lives, suitable for our body and realistic given our family commitments. It was surprising how easy it seemed to be for each of us alone to set ourselves up to do something we were bound to fail at. Thank heavens for the other women!
Duly committed we set out on our week.
My commitment was to three sun salutes, offered as a prayer. I had been making a vague effort to do three sun salutes each day for some months but my success rate was about one in two. I realised that to make it a daily reality I needed to do them as early as possible, before I ate and ideally as soon as I got up. I share the care of my son and noticed that it was much easier on the mornings that my son was not at home. I also noticed that the knowledge that I would be reporting back to the group really supported me to remember - even on the busy school mornings when I had previously let my mothering take precedence over my practice.
But the most interesting discovery was in relation to the "prayfulness" or otherwise of the ritual. I had thought I had a sense of this when I had expressed what I wanted to do to the other women. But when it came to it I found myself wondering and pondering for several days what it really meant to offer my practice as a prayer. Was it about gratitude, dedication, intention, a request even? Was it to do with my presence and focus within the movements? Over the week I explored the possibilities in my attitude as I moved my body through the familiar stretches. And it was within the sensation of the stretching that I found my answer. My practice feels sacred when I follow the feeling of stretching and extend it out beyond the physical expressing the longing of my heart and my willingness and my prayer to stretch ever open in all ways towards truth, love and the divine.
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