Thursday, January 31, 2013

CANCER, CIRCUMCISION & C-SECTION...What Will People Say?



 DARK AGE II: REPORT ON THE RITUALS & BEHAVIORS OF ANCIENT TRIBES LIVING IN NORTH AMERICA FROM 1950-2050.
  
“The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next.”
-Sir William Osler


It is now the year 3013, and in this report we will discuss briefly three rituals and behaviors of the tribes of people living in North America: the tribe of the United States collectively called “Americans,” and the tribe of Canada collectively called “Canadians”—during an era now called “Dark Age II”—1,000 years ago in the period between 1950-2050.  As we’ll see in this report, Dark Age II was marked by extraordinary aberrations of nature and a reign of fear, exemplified in these three rituals/behaviors:

Monday, January 21, 2013

CONCEIVING AFTER MISCARRIAGE: When to Try Again & Increasing Ability to Carry Full Term


CONCEIVING

AFTER  MISCARRIAGE


In Part 1 of this article, AFTER MISCARRIAGE: Postpartum Care for Mothers Experiencing Loss, we discussed the care a woman should receive in the first several weeks after a preterm loss (or stillbirth) to help her through the grieving process, to assure her return to vitality, and—according to the precepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine—to increase her chance of a successful pregnancy the next time she conceives.

Here in Part 2, we’ll address the question: When should we try to conceive again? It would be nice if there were one, but the answer is that there is no one answer.  Conceiving life is a sacred event, and there is no single fact or consideration that can offer a single best answer for everyone.

However, since there are biological and emotional ramifications of pregnancy and loss, there are factors we should consider when deciding when it’s best to try to conceive again.

The western medical industry essentially considers one factor when making recommendations: What is the statistical likelihood of carrying the next pregnancy full-term when conception happened x amount of time after a miscarriage?” 

That is indeed the ultimate question in any woman’s mind. However, the western medical industry offers studies with tremendously conflicting results to answer that question.

For example,

Monday, December 17, 2012

Natural Childbirth Exercies - Review

 
Natural Childbirth Exercises

If we want any performance or undertaking to turn out the way we envision, training and study are a must—even with natural childbirth. 

The good news is: the more we study and train, the more we can release concerns, look forward with joy, and entrust the outcome to the Divine!

With that in mind, check out this fantastic book by Rhondda Hartman, mother to 5, grandmother to 9, & trainer to 14,000+ pregnant women…

Saturday, August 25, 2012

FREE LOVE: Every Ideas for Joyful Living

 

Release Date: September 21, 2012

In my book, New Mother, I discuss how profit-driven institutions have eliminated all that was natural, loving and sacred in pregnancy and childbirth--and what we can do to reclaim the magic in motherhood. 

In FREE LOVE, we pick up where New Mother left off. The same institutions have invaded our kitchen, family life, and communities.  We've allowed it--but once again--at any income level, with any amount of free time, and starting right now, we can reclaim the magic in our homes and communities.  
 

Available Sept 21, 2012

FREE LOVE: RATED G!


We Can Have Exactly What We REALLY Want—Right Now
In 1993, Allie Chee—planning to move to Calcutta—had a one-hour phone call with Mother Teresa that set her off on a different journey—one that led to dozens of countries, great adventure, and unexpected lessons on free love.  In communities around the globe—rich and poor, peaceful and war-torn—she learned that we don't need more time, we don't need more money, we don't need special skills, and we don't need to give up anything we enjoy or desire. We can experience more fun, more joy, more LOVE—we can get our groove back right now—with the simplest of activities in our kitchen, at home, and in our communities.  
The everyday ideas for joyful living that Allie shares in FREE LOVE are waiting for you. So what are you waiting for?
Get your groove on and start spreading the love!




 
                         ALLIE CHEE has studied Asian martial and healing arts since 1989, earning a 2nd degree black belt and certification in TCM nutrition; she is a 42-year old home birth mom; and author of NEW MOTHER: Using a Doula, Midwife, Postpartum Doula, Maid, Cook, or Nanny to Support Healing, Bonding and Growth; and FREE LOVE: Everyday Ideas for Joyful Living.

                          Her articles have appeared in The Well Being Journal, The Holistic Networker, The Birthing Site, and MidwiferyToday.  

                         Website: www.alliechee.com  Facebook: www.facebook.com/AllieChee 

Wednesday, August 8, 2012


WHERE SHOULD MY BABY SLEEP?


Co-sleeping, nursing, and weaning à la Good Nights

New parents have a lot of questions. Some of the most basic are the most controversial:

• For how many months (or years) should I nurse my baby?
• When should I wean my baby and how?
• Where should my baby sleep?

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Response to: Maternity Leave? It's More Like A Pause, NY Times article

Not a single mother interviewed in this article from the New York Times: Maternity Leave? It's More Like a Pause" was from the "natural birth" or "sitting moon" (40-day postpartum healing and bonding time) end of the spectrum.

They interviewed only women who took just a few days or weeks off and continued working.  And loved it. This is exactly the kind of social influence from leaders, Hollywood, and commercial interests that I discuss in my book, New Mother.

The message in the article is loud and clear: American women, forget about taking care of yourselves and bonding with your children.  Work trumps all.

We give birth, if we're blessed, perhaps only once in our lives.  Our babies are only babies for one year. And ever-increasingly, our society refers to this sacred event and magical time as something to be tended to briefly, and gotten over with as painlessly as possible, in exchange for further financial gain and ladder-climbing.

Quoted in the article is Jane M. Swift, who was a month into her term as acting governor of

Monday, July 9, 2012

When people ask new moms...

How Can You Stand Staying At Home?



I’m often asked that question.  It implies that staying home, raising our children, is less desirable, fun or respectable than working in an office.

Personally, I can’t imagine any joy greater than staying home with my baby, cooking for her and my family all day, and being her best friend and teacher.  That’s not what we’re all called to do, nor what we’d want at every phase of life. Maybe that’s why some women feel it’s less desirable than working in an office.

To be fair, I understand what is driving the question...

Monday, January 16, 2012

BOOK REVIEW: Is Your Hair Made of Donuts? by Joy Feldman

UPDATE 2/18/13:  Joy Feldman is doing a statewide tour in R.I., reading in over 200 schools and libraries. City mayors, local celebrities and the governor are participating and will be doing readings in an act of solidarity for children's health.  More info on Facebook and in the Rhode Island Monthly

Best wishes to you, Joy, and to all those lives you will touch with your goodness!


As published in The HolisticNetworker: http://www.HolisticNetworker.com/5063/childrens-nutrition-is-your-hair-made-of-donuts/

Joy Feldman, author

Whether the subject is religion, education, politics, or even eating -- when you swim against the current, you’d better be strong, confident, and resilient.  Parents who work to feed their children nutritious foods know this well.


The Sea Change

Around the world and throughout time, the choice of what to eat has been made by adults combining the foods harvested in the region, along with an understanding of what food combinations best served the health needs of the people in that area and created pleasant tastes.  Children were not consulted in this matter, as of course, they would not yet know what is best for their bodies.  Rather, they were given to eat what the adults ate—the adults knowing what was best and taking the time to prepare it. 

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Joyful Cooking


It is always a delight to discover a cookbook that speaks to the pleasure of cooking for health--and not just to indulging the eyes and tongue!  It's even better still when the author specifically addresses children's health and ways for parents to improve the food on offer at home.

Joyful Cooking by Joy Feldman is my latest discovery. Though my focus is usually on TCM and Ayurveda, occasionally a Western approach to nutrition is so compelling in its wisdom or simplicity that I veer in that direction. As my first beloved TCM doctor and teacher, Dr. Henry Woo, said, "East plus West is best".

Friday, September 30, 2011

Swimming in the Bliss of Natural Childbirth


Swimming in the Bliss of Natural Birth
Choosing home birth as a 
first-time 42-year old mother
I’d always imagined a natural birth.  In  our 20’s my cousin, Christina, and I would joke and laugh about squatting in the shade of a tree to have our babies--and we were just joking...but not completely.
Through my 30’s I watched not one or two, but almost all my friends enthusiastically enter the hospital in labor, having claimed for nine months that they would have a natural birth, and saw them come out 2-10 days later having been induced, forced to labor on their back, drugged, cut, observed by countless strangers, having had their babies taken from them immediately after birth, having nursing problems, and having been given food I would call toxic.
If you’d asked them ahead of time if that would have been their story,  Read Full Article Published in Holistic Networker





ALLIE CHEE has studied Asian martial and healing arts since 1989, earning a 2nd degree black belt and certification in TCM nutrition; she is a 42-year old home birth mom; and author of NEW MOTHER: Using a Doula, Midwife, Postpartum Doula, Maid, Cook, or Nanny to Support Healing, Bonding and Growth; and FREE LOVE: Everyday Ideas for Joyful Living.

Her articles have appeared in The Well Being Journal, The Holistic Networker, The Birthing Site, and MidwiferyToday.  

Website: www.alliechee.com  Facebook: www.facebook.com/AllieChee 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

SITTING MOON: Book review + Author interview

Sitting Moon: A Guide to Natural Rejuvenation After Pregnancy

How does a woman quickly and safely rejuvenate after childbirth, provide well  for her baby, get back to her old energy level, and back into her old jeans? Have a sitting moon!

Sitting Moon?

In use for thousands of years, the Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, indicating the phase of the moon. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to rejuvenate after childbirth a woman should rest for approximately one month, or one “moon”. Thus we have the title of the new book from Dr. Daoshing Ni and Jessica Chen about natural postpartum rejuvenation, Sitting Moon.
In a country where woman are often back on their feet and running soon after giving birth, one month’s rest may sound shocking, but this practice