Several years ago I was feeling unwell, and couldn’t pinpoint the source. I was chronically tired, unable to sleep through the night, had poor digestion, and finally broke out with eczema on my face and neck. Nothing I did seemed to help. Then a dear friend of mine recommended I see George Vithoulkas, the renowned homeopathist who treated Krishnamurti. I knew that homeopathy treated health issues by using minute amounts of ingredients similar to what caused the problem – what practitioners call treating “like with like.”

The last several days of winter have seemed particularly snowy, dark, and icy. It’s been a struggle for many, with virulent viruses abounding, exacerbated by the bitterly cold weather. What has kept me going is the discipline of my daily routines: Qi Gong , meditation and exercise. My spirits are always lifted and I realize anew how rewarding is the ability to control one’s mind and body. Most recently, I have thought of the Buddhist monks who practice tummo , the art of controlling one’s body temperature through meditation

I happened to be reading Andrew Weil’s website when I came across information on a small machine called RESPeRATE that actually helps lower blood pressure through paced breathing. Doing some additional research I found it had been favorably reported on NBC nightly news and had the stamp of approval from a number reliable sources. i.e. The Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins, Harvard Medical School, and AARP. This got me interested in finding out more about this little gadget not much bigger than a CD player.

Growing up, I never thought twice about whether there was an afterlife, or if it was possible to see into the past or the future, or how one could see things and events at a remote distance. My mother was a psychic, as was her mother and her mother’s mother before her. I knew as a child that I had inherited the “second sight”…. As a result, when people asked me whether I believed in things such as life after death, the paranormal, distance healing, or the mind’s ability to affect matter, I would tell them, “I don’t believe it, I know it.”

Some time ago the New York Times Magazine section featured a wonderful interview with Barbara Ehrenreich, author of several books including “Nickel and Dimed.” The interview focused on her most recent book, Living With a Wild God, which is a memoir detailing the author’s “dissociative” experiences when she was in her teens. “…The whole world came to life, and the difference between myself and everything else dissolved — but not in a sweet, loving, New Agey way. That was a world flamed into life, is how I would put it.” As I read what Ms. Ehrenreich had gone through, I found myself moved by the story and recognized the pattern of staying silent for years about the strange and wonderful events that had occurred to her.

I am a huge fan of Dr. Joe Dispenza’s books, CDs and DVDs . First featured on the documentary, What the Bleep Do We Know? this leading neuroscientist and lecturer has written such best sellers as Evolve Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind and Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One. His latest book, Becoming Supernatural, builds on his previous work.

Coming from a long line of women gifted with the “Second Sight,” I’ve known since I was a child that there are many ways for the Universe or individual souls to get in touch with you. One of the easiest ways is through our dreams, and I learned years ago to pay close attention to who shows up when I’m sleeping. This is not exactly secret knowledge — there are books about the various types of dreams, such as precognitive, announcement dreams, vision quests, meeting your power animal, and more. Any of Robert Moss’ wonderful books teach the reader about these kind of dreams as well as about lucid dreaming and how to navigate through the different dream worlds.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a New York Times interview with Barbara Ehrenreich, author of several books including “Nickel and Dimed.” The interview focused on her most recent book, “Living With a Wild God,” a memoir detailing the author’s transformative experiences when she was in her teens. Having had numerous experiences myself, I found that her account caught my interest. In the last few years I have noted an increase in the number of people stepping forward to tell their sometimes other-worldly stories of wonder, enlightenment, and awe…