I have these really GREAT face products I use by a company called “Suki“. I have LOVED them so far and find that my skin has benefited from their use. I try not to use too many products on my skin but for my face, I find I need to be more gentle. I am sure most woman feel this way. There website is great too because it has a lot of educational info on. I am not big on promoting products but I felt like this is a good company that is trying to do good things.

I received a newsletter from them this morning and they had an informative article about skin cancer. I thought I would share it here. For those who don’t know me well, I LOVE the sun. Most days, I try to make the time to sunbathe. I believe the sun can help to keep us healthy. There is now scientific evidences that one of our main sources of Vitamin D comes from the sun. My personal belief is that skin cancer has become so abundant in our society because of the way we are treating our AMAZING bodies. We feed them all kinds of garbage, we aren’t using them to their greatest extend by exercising, we hold in and carry all kinds of negative emotions that are making us all sick, etc. Since the sun is a healer, it strives to keep us healthy by pulling out any unwanted and unbeneficial toxins within our bodies. What an AWESOME gift! I believe our bodies are a gift from God and when we learn to apply the Universal Laws he has put into place, we find life becomes easier and we feel happier, more at peace and stronger in all aspects of health.

Throughout history, the sun would be a representation of part of Father Sky. When I look up to the sky, I only see BEAUTY and wisdom beyond our understanding. From the Native American stand point, Father Sky encompasses freedom, flight, and understanding beyond our own capabilities. He gives us our daily breathe through the air we breathe. If this is really what the Sky is, then it is only here to help us learn more about ourselves and the world around us. It is here to bring us joy!! What a gift!

Here is the article. I have copied it so you can read it but HERE is the link.

Skin Cancer Message May Mislead

[July 18, 2007]

The young woman in the American Cancer Society ad holds up a photo of a smiling woman. “My sister accidentally killed herself. She died of skin cancer,” reads the headline.

The public-service announcement, financed by the sunscreen maker Neutrogena, is running in 15 women’s magazines this summer. It warns readers that “left unchecked, skin cancer can be fatal,” and urges them to “use sunscreen, cover up and watch for skin changes.”

The woman in the picture is a model. And the ad’s implicit message — that those who die of skin cancer have themselves to blame — has provoked a sharp response from some public-health doctors, who say the evidence simply does not support it. As the ad says, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer. But most skin cancer is not life-threatening: It represents less than 2 percent of all cancer deaths, an estimated 10,850 people this year. Almost all of those deaths are from melanoma, which makes up only 6 percent of all skin-cancer cases.

And the link between melanoma and sun exposure is not straightforward. Dr. Marianne Berwick, an epidemiologist at the University of New Mexico who studies skin cancer, led a study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2005 finding that people who had a lot of sun exposure up to the time they got a diagnosis of melanoma actually had better survival rates than those who had little sun exposure. The researchers are conducting a large-scale follow-up aimed at clarifying the relationship between sun exposure and melanoma.

Until that is made clear, many doctors say, it is premature to suggest that people are endangering their lives by failing to use sunscreen.

“It’s just not that simple,” said Dr. Barry Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health.

“We do have some pretty good evidence that sunscreen will reduce your risk of the less lethal forms of skin cancer,” Kramer added. “There’s very little evidence that sunscreens protect you against melanoma, yet you often hear that as the dominant message.”

Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society, acknowledges that the advertisement is aggressive. “We have taken some license in taking that message and using it the way we’ve used it because that’s the way to get the message to our target audience,” he said.

The ad’s creators settled on the approach with the help of focus groups, who told them: “To get the message through to me, you have to shock me and get my attention,” he added.

“Our focus groups showed us that these young women as a group were oblivious to the risk and felt that skin cancer isn’t a serious problem,” Lichtenfeld said. “The issue is to try to prevent that sun exposure earlier in life so we reduce the risk for people later in life.”

In an effort to spread awareness about sun safety, the cancer society has joined with Neutrogena, a division of Johnson & Johnson whose sunscreens carry the society’s logo.

As part of the agreement, Neutrogena is paying for the public-service campaign, though its name is not mentioned in the advertisement.

The partnership benefited both parties, said Iris Grossman, director of communications for Johnson & Johnson. “We have the common goal of raising awareness,” she said.

But this financial relationship raises red flags for some experts. “When people see an American Cancer Society public-service announcement, they expect it to reflect the best evidence,” said Dr. Lisa Schwartz, co-director of the Outcomes Group at the Veterans Affairs hospital in White River Junction, Vt. “We don’t want people who have a financial interest to be telling you the benefit of doing something.”

Neutrogena did not influence the cancer society’s message on skin cancer, Lichtenfeld said.

By Christie Aschwanden, New York Times News Service, July 17, 2007

Are we not surprised to find out that Neutrogena is paying for the public service campaign? I just thought this was a very non biased article but states the facts. I would LOVE to hear others comments on this. What do you think about the sun? Is it killing us or helping us or neither or both?

I have had a GREAT morning this morning. I went and did my walking and Yoga around the temple. It was GORGEOUS!! I LOVED every minute of it and just felt blessed to be able to look up at the mountains and see the SPLENDOR of everything around me.

I LOVED doing my Yoga on the lawn with the warm sun beating down it’s love upon me. In the book, “The Hummingbird’s Daughter”, Hulia is teaching Teresita how to fully ground and connect herself to Mother Earth. She explains it so beautifully, I wanted to share it here. I am searching in my book for it so I could just type it up but I can’t find it so….I will just share with you what it said.

Huila talks about planting your feet firmly in the grass, almost as if you are pushing your feet deeper and deeper into the soil. You bend your legs slightly and curl your toes around the grass and dirt. Then you press your heels into the earth while picturing roots, coming out of your heels, burying themselves down deep into the earth. You just visualize these roots growing longer, larger and deeper until you feel fully grounded and present with our Earthly Mother. Feel yourself becoming one with Her. Open your heart to feeling her love for you. Connect with her so strongly that you can hear the messages she is sending you of love and learning.
I have tried this a couple of times and it is AMAZING! I found myself on the ground soon thereafter just smelling Mother Earth and being so grateful for everything she has given all of us. I listened to my own breathe and connect myself to every part of my body, thanking Her for this physical body she has given to me. I recommend that everyone try this. We will find a new love for ourselves and for everything our Mother has given us.

So….the diet thing is still a bit off. I am living in a world of extremes. I am either eating REALLY horrible, compared to how I normally eat, or I am eating GREAT!! I am striving to gain some balance right now in my life and I am sure my diet is showing me how out of balance I really am. Of course, when I am eating not as well as I would like, I am emotionally eating because I know they are not foods my body NEEDS!! I can usually tell if it is something I need and I feel like I have gotten pretty good at listening to my body.

All I did yesterday was eat. I have 2 salads, 2 quarts of green smoothie, some peas, and a few other things I can’t remember. I know you think it looks great but I have found when I eat all day long that I don’t feel good. Especially when I am eating LOTS of salads with LOTS of oil and salt and such. It just is too much for my digestive system.

I have decided I am going to start a watermelon fast either today or in the next couple of days. I am wondering if there is anyone who wants to do it with me. If there are others who want to join the party, then just email and we can make a plan of when to start and how long we want to do it. I LOVE watermelon fasts. I did 2 last summer and I felt GREAT while doing them and after. After a fast, it makes it TONS easier to stay eating the way you want to because even a plain salad tastes great!!

That’s my plan for now. I hope to hear from people soon. If not, then I will do it all alone and still have FUN!!

Abundant peace to all,
Rachel