David Young, a retired police chief from Indiana, first came to New Orleans in 2010 for a visit. Responding to what he called, “A calling from God,” he stayed. Drawn to the desolate landscape of the Ninth Ward, still heavily damaged from hurricane Katrina, Young started his first garden in one of the vacant abandoned lots there. Now that garden hosts bees, goats, chickens, and a koi pond, as well as helping to feed the neighborhood. One lot let to another, and now Young has over 30 gardens and orchards and 60 beehives. Sensing a need in a community where the closest grocery store is miles away, Young distributes the food for free or at very low cost.

As reported recently in The New York Times, new results of a 17 year long Danish study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, show that routine mammogram screening has not reduced the incidence of advanced tumors. Instead, it has led to early detection and over-diagnosis of benign lesions, tumors, cysts, etc., that would not have led to problems or necessitated treatment. Researchers concluded that screening does not prevent advanced cancers or lower breast cancer mortality.

Dear Readers, This New Year promises to be an exciting one with new research and developments coming through almost daily in the fields of consciousness, science, spirituality, nutrition, activism, the environment, and more. We look forward to presenting our readers with up to date news and information, and we thank you for your support.

Our modern insulated lifestyle with its technological advances has diminished our contact with the earth and we are now virtually cast adrift, isolated from the strength and resilience that trees can offer us. We spend such little time amongst these grand woody beings that we have lost – unknowingly – an important stabilizing and grounding anchor for our psyche. This changes once we remember to honor the energy that trees emanate. The Zen master, T. D. Suzuki, wrote in his book, Zen and Japanese Culture “Every old tree of any sort inspires a beholder with a mystic feeling which leads him to a faraway world of timeless eternity.”

Brenda McGee is the host of the cable TV show Paranormal Encounters with Brenda McGee, where she interviews a variety of guests from psychics to investigators, to those who have experienced hauntings and other paranormal activity. With over thirty episodes (video) under her belt now, recent guests have included channel Roland Comtois, psychic Karmle Conrad, medium Andrew Dee and more.

Much like the benefits of meditation, the quiet wisdom of Mindfulness for Parents sneaks up on you. Amber Hatch has captured perfectly the pitfalls of parenting and the remarkable equanimity that can be achieved by practicing compassion, loving kindness and mindfulness. Whether you are new to parenting, new to meditation, or both – you will reap the benefits of Hatch’s insights and practical advice.

When Arianna Huffington announced last year that she was stepping down from running her digital news site, The Huffington Post, it created quite a stir. Her new venture, Thrive Global is a health and well-being “platform,” designed to promote well-being and productivity in the workplace. Months in the making, ThriveGlobal.com is up and active now. And with big names like Debra Eshmeyer, director of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! and Kobe Bryant participating, not to mention Huffington’s own namesake news organization and business savvy, success is a sure thing.

A few years ago the catch phrase “sitting is the new smoking” became popular in the wake of astronaut studies showing that lack of activity (gravity) profoundly affected heart health and life span. More recently the medical and media fields have turned their attention to sleep deprivation – with astonishing results. Chronic lack of sleep has been linked with Alzheimers and other dementia, cancer, MS, weight gain, heart problems, and more. The physical impact is tremendous, but there are less quantifiable factors as well, such as accidents and fatalities, decreased productivity, and emotional volatility.

David Crow, LAc, is a leader in the field of plant based health care, and the author of Plants That Heal: Essays on Botanical Medicine, and In Search of the Medicine Buddha: A Himalayan Journey. Trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine, he is a master herbalist, aromatherapist and acupuncturist with over 30 years experience as a healer. An expert in the Ayurvedic and Chinese medical systems, Mr. Crow, along with his wife, Sarah, is a founder of Floracopeia, a company devoted to educating and promoting traditional plant-based knowledge.