All functions including the formation of blood, the performance and maintenance of the nervous system, and the formation and fortification of bones, teeth, skin, hair and nails require minerals. In addition, the body also requires minerals to effectively utilize vitamins and other nutrients.

The human body, as all of nature, must maintain its proper chemical balance. This balance depends on the levels of different minerals in the body tissues and fluids. A delicate balance exits in the body between different minerals, (especially the body fluids) therefore the levels of one mineral, is affected by the levels of every other mineral. So if one mineral is out of balance, all mineral levels are affected. If the imbalance is not corrected, this can start a chain reaction of imbalances which leads to illness.
Most trace elements need to be in ionic form to be well absorbed in the intestine. This means that they need to be dissolved in liquid (water) in order for them to be available to the body. Mineral deficiencies are generally due to a nutrient poor diet or an inability to absorb ingested minerals. Enzymes also depend on minerals for their function. In a state of mineral deficiency, the enzymes become sluggish or paralyzed, enzyme detoxification systems are impaired, and a state of disease develops.

“This is the beginning of many chronic disorders. Since the early clinical symptoms of mineral deficiency actually appear as enzymatic dysfunctions, they often go unrecognized. A good example of this is the pervasive magnesium deficiency among Americans. If not reversed, this state of absence of health evolves into a full expression of clinical disease”. (Professor Majid Ali).
The macro minerals: This means the body requires these minerals in large quantities. These include calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and chlorine of which dietary supply is crucial because they are not universally distributed. When we look at the trace elements, dietary supply is just as crucial because some of the 16 are very scarce in food. We need only a tiny amount few thousandths of a gram of some trace elements, and a few millionths of a gram of others, such as iodine selenium, and the far lesser known trace elements, it may be thought that they are less important than say calcium, which we need in gram amounts, but this is not so. Recent science shows conclusively that if even one of the essential minerals is inadequately supplied, then the others cannot do their proper work. It is therefore best to find a product which has a broad spectrum of minerals and trace elements and that their presence can be verified by an independent laboratory analysis.

Although modern medicine does document basic mineral deficiencies in the population, it generally overlooks their significance. Instead of first respecting the natural alchemy of minerals and health,(and restoring the optimal mineral nutrition of the body) it employs powerful but inappropriate drugs to treat disease.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, making up about 2% of an adult’s body weight. In humans most of the calcium is found in bone and in the dentine and enamel of teeth. Scientists agree that the more acidic the body becomes, the more likely it will suffer from disease. Calcium has an important role in alkalizing the body fluids. Minerals are generally difficult to absorb and you need enough stomach acid to ionize them. It is therefore not appropriate to neutralize the stomach acid with any base substances. The minerals in seawater and coral-calcium occur in an ionized form which makes it very absorbable. Ionized calcium and mineral supplements can make a significant difference to your health, especially when taken together with all 75 minerals and trace elements.

A simple pH saliva test can determine the acidity level in your body fluids and indicate if you are calcium deficient. Alkaline minerals such as calcium will be leeched from the bones to buffer and neutralize any excess acidity in the body fluids around the cells, leading to serious degenerative diseases such as cancer and osteoporosis.

Healing and Health Directory, South Africa. [http://www.healing-health.co.za]

Owner of a Web design company in South Africa http://www.hosting-webdesign.co.za

“Pregnancy yoga gave me so much more than I bargained for,” says Brenda Entwisle, mother to two children. “I went because I wanted some gentle exercise, and left physically and emotionally in a much better place for the birth of my child. My personal growth and the deep bonds of friendship I forged were also really important.”

Pregnancy yoga has been carefully shaped to support pregnant women on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. Physically, it is a powerful form of exercise that keeps you in touch with your changing body in a positive and empowering way. It encourages flexibility in your body and has specially designed exercises targeted at muscles that will assist you during birth and labor. For the pregnancy itself, it can transform your experience from a time where you may feel discomfort and unable to do what you used to do, to a place of strength and health. Practicing yoga may ease problems such as tiredness, backache, anxiety, headaches and many other complaints of pregnancy.

Pregnancy yoga helps you to understand and become aware of your body. As you move and stretch into postures, you reconnect with the power of your female form, and begin to listen to and trust your body’s wisdom. You learn valuable techniques of relaxation, and breathing techniques that will assist you through labor, birth and the experience of motherhood.

Beyond a physical preparation for labor and birth, pregnancy yoga provides you with the inner space to adapt to the changes of pregnancy, and the journey to motherhood. “Pregnancy yoga allowed me to spend time focusing on me and my baby. It gave me the space to reconnect with my femininity after the rush and harshness of the working world,” says Aileen Kennaugh, mother of Kayla.

Using breath as the tool, pregnancy yoga teaches you to let your breathing flow naturally and to be aware of its rhythm. By closing your eyes and focusing on the cycle of inhalation and exhalation, your attention is drawn to within, to your own inner feeling centre. Pregnancy yoga facilitates a quiet space to tune into your body’s needs and the needs of your unborn baby. If you allow it to, pregnancy slows you down and awakens your instinctive and intuitive nature, allowing you to focus on the miracle taking place in your body.

During pregnancy yoga, visualization techniques are taught that put you in touch with your memories, thoughts and images. Your body and mind react to these memories thoughts and images in the same way as physical events in the real world. By becoming aware of this internal mental track, you can begin to understand and deal with any negativity and choose to create and focus on positive images and thoughts. This has the potential to impact on your experience of labor and birth.

Pregnancy yoga classes are a gathering of women all going through the same journey in their own different ways. The yoga instructor facilitates sharing in a supportive environment, and the friendships that are made can provide the support you need during the early days of motherhood.

By attending pregnancy yoga classes, you will experience your pregnancy in a deeper way. Pregnancy yoga helps you come to understand pregnancy as a rite of passage, to integrate this knowledge into your process of change and to gradually adjust your priorities and lifestyle.
Bring your bump. Join the circle. Discover the mother you are becoming. Connect with the rhythm of the new life within you. Breathe deep, and enjoy.

Theoni Papoutsis, my yoga instructor where I attended my pregnancy yoga classes, she was my Doula at the birth of my daughter Amy over two years ago.

Healing and Health Directory, South Africa. [http://www.healing-health.co.za]

Owner of a Web design and hosting company in Johannesburg South Africa http://www.hosting-webdesign.co.za

Traditional healers have carried this stigma for generations until today. Traditional healers are very proud of their heritage calling, and wish to make it know that they are not “witch doctors”. The traditional healers play an integral part of African cultures and communities and have since time immemorial. They fulfill functions that go far beyond those of bio-medically trained healthcare workers.

The traditional healer has an enormous influence on the patient and his family and makes a very positive and beneficial contribution to the cultural and spiritual life of the African individually and within the community.

To become a Traditional Healer is a call from your ancestors and our almighty God. You cannot go to any university or institution to study traditional healing. It is a call that is comes from within yourself, whether you are rich, poor, young or old. There are tribal elders (Gobela) who will guide your calling, where you under go a process called (Thwasa). You graduation is determined after a certain period of training is completed.

There are different categories of Traditional Healers as in Orthodox Western Medicine we also have our specialties. The aim is to cure, heal and not kill or to be destructive to our people. Remember your life is our concern also healthy families make healthy communities, healthy communities make a healthy nation and healthy nation creates a healthy economy.

An African patient consults a medical doctor, and a third figure is often present, albeit unseen. This is undoubtedly the Traditional Healer, who has already been consulted or will subsequently be consulted by the patient. There are about 200,000 traditional healers practicing in Southern Africa. Every traditional healer on average consults 200/300 people within their community region.

The Medical Association of South Africa commissioned a study to provide doctors with a better and empathetic insight into the world of the African people, where a large number of patients reside. In addition, it is hoped that the study would dispel the fallacies and prejudices that have clouded the western doctors’ perceptions of the traditional healers and their activities.

We have only begun bridging the gap and the first success story of the traditional healers is that the “Traditional Health Practitioners Act”, has been passed through parliament and signed by the president of South Africa on the 11th February 2005, (Act No. 35 of 2004: Traditional Health Practitioners’ Act). We are currently waiting for the appointment of the Registrar by the minister after consultation with various traditional health practitioners.

Healing and Health Directory, South Africa. [http://www.healing-health.co.za]

Owner of a Web design and hosting company in Johannesburg South Africa http://www.hosting-webdesign.co.za