In April 2010, I published my autobiography – ‘My Enemy, My Friend’ – which documents my life with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and how homeopathy helped me walk again. After publishing the book and talking about the wonderful treatment I received at the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, the hospital asked me to speak as patient representative to the press and at other events. From this, the wonderful people at the British Homeopathic Association got in touch to ask me if I’d like to become a trustee. Of course, my answer was yes!
I have spent the best part of my adult life trying to explain to people the significance of homeopathy in my recovery. Yes, I still have arthritis, but to date, I am the only JRA sufferer I know (who has had the disease for over 20 years) who has no deformities, no puffy face from steroids, no joint replacements and no bone or organ problems from the long term use of medications. However, there are only so many people I come across to share my story with. But how, I used to wonder, could I get to the people who really needed it, the people with illnesses and ailments? Then the BHA approached me and I knew straight away that they would be part of my life for a very long time.
I tell other RA sufferers or people with other illnesses who I meet along the way about how much homeopathy has helped me, I tell friends to treat their children and families with it to keep their immune systems strong. But again, this is still a very small group of people. But now, I feel I finally have a voice, a way to express my positive experience with the world – or at least Britain.
As with every successful and notable charity, every board member at the BHA brings something different to the table. Among our trustees we have finance experts, doctors, scientists, homeopaths and businessmen – all of whom believe in and support the wonder that is homeopathy. The only thing the board was lacking, was ‘the patient’; A person who had a disease severe enough for the public to be able to see the significance, to know how sick this person was before, and to see her now. Then they could realise that it is not just about Arnica for cuts and bruises but important, life changing remedies that changed the course of my life. This is where I came in.
I find it funny sometimes, at our trustee meetings, to be sitting around a table with some highly intelligent, experienced and knowledgeable people and wondering how I fit into this collection of scholars. Sometimes I have to be honest, and ask questions, stating that I don’t understand words like ‘benchmark’ or ‘randomised controlled trials’ or ‘systematic review’. But then we broach a subject about what is really important, the patients, the ones receiving the treatments we’re trying to recommend, and then I come into my own.
After a few meetings I realised that it didn’t matter if I didn’t understand words like ‘Systematic Review’ because firstly, my fellow trustees would explain anything I didn’t understand, and secondly, I was there as the patients voice, not the doctors and after coming to that realisation I am now a crucial part of the team as I am the one who speaks on behalf of the people who need help, and they are the only reason this charity exists.
I plan on being part of the British Homeopathic Association for a long time. Helping it to become more of an option in one’s recovery, as opposed to a last resort, being part of the campaigns that fight to keep homeopathy on the NHS, and helping to bring homeopathy into the public eye as a positive, helpful tool in keeping healthy.
I now do talks all over the country, and sometimes abroad, about all different topics from the benefits of homeopathy, how to use positive thinking to change your life, the 'expert patients' view on healthcare and how to cope with a sick child, among others. If you would like me to talk at your event, please email lauren@jaylaenterprsies.com (changing to lauren@laurenvaknine.com after 4th December)
Friday 2 December 2011
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Love What You Do!
I love what I do! I think that is why I am able to be so happy and positive even when things aren't going great. I've noticed that so many people around me are in jobs they either hate or don't care much about either way. No wonder nothing else in their life is going right! After all, we spend so much of our time at work.
I have recently started going to networking groups and realised the difference between the people here and the people I surround myself with in day to day life. The people working hard to grow their businesses are all so much happier. I think when you put real effort into doing something you love, you can never be unhappy, even if you're working your kishkas off, and all these people are doing everything they can to make their own businesses work. Far too often I come across people who have so many excuses as to why their chosen career path is not going the way they want it to. Here is my answer: Talent will only get you so far, perseverance and determination are what will get you there in the end. I could be the most talented interior designer in the world but if I am not doing the right things to get my business out there to be able to come across the right sort of people, I will remain the most talented but most skint interior designer around!
So what have I learnt from these networking groups? GIVERS GAIN! The philosophy of Ivan Misner, creator and founder or BNI (Business Networking International). 'If I give you business you will want to give me business.' And this is so true. Now I belong to this group and I refer business to people, they are referring business back to me. So why do people around me IE friends etc not try harder to do this? Is it because they are not getting anything back? So this leads me to wonder, do we only do things if we know we will benefit from them, even if we care about those people? If so then Ivan Misner found a serious niche there!
So I will conclude this blog by saying this, I have spent 4 years building up a business and working so hard to do this. It has been difficult and demanding but all that has been worth it when I realise how happy my work makes me. If you are not happy with your work, do something else. I don't see why anyone should be unhappy. There are always other jobs and other options, you just need to allow yourself the opportunity!
Be happy, no matter what!
I have recently started going to networking groups and realised the difference between the people here and the people I surround myself with in day to day life. The people working hard to grow their businesses are all so much happier. I think when you put real effort into doing something you love, you can never be unhappy, even if you're working your kishkas off, and all these people are doing everything they can to make their own businesses work. Far too often I come across people who have so many excuses as to why their chosen career path is not going the way they want it to. Here is my answer: Talent will only get you so far, perseverance and determination are what will get you there in the end. I could be the most talented interior designer in the world but if I am not doing the right things to get my business out there to be able to come across the right sort of people, I will remain the most talented but most skint interior designer around!
So what have I learnt from these networking groups? GIVERS GAIN! The philosophy of Ivan Misner, creator and founder or BNI (Business Networking International). 'If I give you business you will want to give me business.' And this is so true. Now I belong to this group and I refer business to people, they are referring business back to me. So why do people around me IE friends etc not try harder to do this? Is it because they are not getting anything back? So this leads me to wonder, do we only do things if we know we will benefit from them, even if we care about those people? If so then Ivan Misner found a serious niche there!
So I will conclude this blog by saying this, I have spent 4 years building up a business and working so hard to do this. It has been difficult and demanding but all that has been worth it when I realise how happy my work makes me. If you are not happy with your work, do something else. I don't see why anyone should be unhappy. There are always other jobs and other options, you just need to allow yourself the opportunity!
Be happy, no matter what!
Friday 25 March 2011
IPEC Therapy
Shalom from Israel. I haven't blogged for a while because I have been so busy so it was hard to find time to write. I have also not been too well. My arthritis has flared a lot and over the last 6 months I seem to have been in one long flare up that refused to go. It used to be that I would get one or two flare ups a year, each lasting for 3-4 weeks and then it would go, but this one was changing every day. I decided that if it didnt go I would come back to Israel to revisit Ady Shanan and the IPEC Therapy clinic that helped me so much 7 years ago. I arrived on Wednesday night and had my first treatment yesterday and already it has got me asking many questions. Last time I was here for 6 months I ended up doing a little soul searching which I think was part of my recovery. It seems the soul searching has begun again, without me even realising that this would be the case, so this is the reason I wanted to write a blog.
Since I returned from Israel last time, I guess I was a changed person; I see life in a completely different way now and I have strong views and opinions about life, death and all things related. I meditate most days, I eat healthily, I dont drink or do drugs and I believe in helping others in order to help yourself. Because of this I suppose I thought that all my so-called 'Soul Searching' days were over, because I had 'found' my soul, so to speak. The great thing about IPEC and Ady Shanan (the practitioner), is that it always gets you thinking. IPEC treats the person as a whole - mind, body and soul - and so you have to really know whats going on with you in order to get better. You find these things out through a method called muscle testing, or kinesiology. The practitioner asks questions and your body responds through the subconsious. The subconsious mind holds most of the things that cause us to be a certain way but we do not know why. Consciously, we know we are hungry, upset, angry etc etc but I can not tell you why, when I work so hard to stay healthy, the inflammation keeps returning or why I hold anger or resentment towards certain people or situations. All this information is stored in our subconscious mind and this is what causes 'allergies'. So the practitioner goes through a huge list of foods, surroundings, conditions and emotions to see what the subconscious mind says the body is 'allergic' to. You hold your right arm up while the practitioner tries to push it arm down but you have to resist. If the answer is no you will keep resisting but if the answer your subconcsious wants to give is YES, your arm will drop and you have no control over it whatsoever. This is how we get the answers we need in order to be able to get rid of the allergies.
Seven years ago, most of my 'allergies' were to food, but this time it seems it is mostly conditions, environment and emotional issues so I now need to release these. Ady helps me do this through IPEC using a range of different methods and instruments which include reflexology, acupuncture, homeopathy, bio engergy and psychology to name a few, but I need to help the process along by saying, doing or even writing certain things. Yesterday - my first treatment in 7 years - my body decided that the thing I needed to work on the most was Pressure, Load, Self Esteem and Guilt. I had to write this sentence down:
'I am healing and feeling better and better all the time'.
I then had to keep the post-it note inside my bra - so it would be close to my heart meridian - and then write the sentence down 14 times a day, every day for 7 days. (13 to go now today!) (Does typing count??)
Affirmations are very powerful, and trying to get negative people to understand their importance is sometimes difficult. If you are told since you are a child 'you are ugly, you are ugly, you are ugly', you will grow up believing you are ugly because this becomes a thought process that sits in your subconsious. You genuinely believe that you are ugly because your subconscious mind believes it. But if you say enough times 'I am beautiful, I am beautiful, I am beautiful', eventually your subconsious will catch on and replace the negative thought with a positive one. This is what I am trying to do with my affirmation. I need my subconsious mind to believe I am, and can always be healthy, so that I can get better and stay better.
So where does the soul searching come in, you may ask, seeing as all I've spoken about up until now are things that I already practice and use on a daily basis. Well, firstly, it seems I hold a lot of guilt about my illness affecting those around me and I have to let that go in order to move on. If I want to get better, I cannot allow my illness to affect me emotionally in any way at all. Guilt and resentment are very dangerous emotions. Ady explained that I have to let go of my guilt. You can take responsibilty for something and work through it that way, but let go of the guilt. So I am working on this now, and on forgiveness for people or situations I resent.
'I let go of all guilt and all resentment. I forgive easily' (another affirmation to release these emotions.)
The second part, and I think most insightful, is Beliefs. According to my subconscious, I have a lot of belief changes going on which I need to work through. I found this so interesting because in the last year it has dawned on me (and surprising that this only started once I reached the age of 26) that all the religious beliefs that have been instilled in me since I was a child, are changing. Out of nowhere, I began questioning why exactly I believed in certain rules and religious beliefs. Was it because I had been told to or because I genuinely believed in it myself? Ady said this is something I should go away and think about, work through and get to the bottom of what it really is that I believe in. So this is my task now. I know that I believe in, and feel a very strong connection to Judaism. I love the history, I am certainly a Zionist. I believe that Jewish people should have a place they can call home just like Buddhists, Muslims and Christians do. But how much of the actual religious side do I believe in? I am not so sure and this is what I need to go away and figure out. As far as I can tell, I think I believe in Spirituality as a whole rather than one particular religion. I think we all started as souls and chose bodies to come into in order to learn lessons and progress spiritually. How does this fit into my religious beliefs? Well, this is what I need to figure out and I hope to be back here soon with answers. I am going to be in Israel for 3 weeks having intensive treatments so I hope that when the time comes for me to return home, I will have some answers, and that the clarity of my answers will assist in my recovery.
Stay safe everyone.
Love and light,
Lauren
Since I returned from Israel last time, I guess I was a changed person; I see life in a completely different way now and I have strong views and opinions about life, death and all things related. I meditate most days, I eat healthily, I dont drink or do drugs and I believe in helping others in order to help yourself. Because of this I suppose I thought that all my so-called 'Soul Searching' days were over, because I had 'found' my soul, so to speak. The great thing about IPEC and Ady Shanan (the practitioner), is that it always gets you thinking. IPEC treats the person as a whole - mind, body and soul - and so you have to really know whats going on with you in order to get better. You find these things out through a method called muscle testing, or kinesiology. The practitioner asks questions and your body responds through the subconsious. The subconsious mind holds most of the things that cause us to be a certain way but we do not know why. Consciously, we know we are hungry, upset, angry etc etc but I can not tell you why, when I work so hard to stay healthy, the inflammation keeps returning or why I hold anger or resentment towards certain people or situations. All this information is stored in our subconscious mind and this is what causes 'allergies'. So the practitioner goes through a huge list of foods, surroundings, conditions and emotions to see what the subconscious mind says the body is 'allergic' to. You hold your right arm up while the practitioner tries to push it arm down but you have to resist. If the answer is no you will keep resisting but if the answer your subconcsious wants to give is YES, your arm will drop and you have no control over it whatsoever. This is how we get the answers we need in order to be able to get rid of the allergies.
Seven years ago, most of my 'allergies' were to food, but this time it seems it is mostly conditions, environment and emotional issues so I now need to release these. Ady helps me do this through IPEC using a range of different methods and instruments which include reflexology, acupuncture, homeopathy, bio engergy and psychology to name a few, but I need to help the process along by saying, doing or even writing certain things. Yesterday - my first treatment in 7 years - my body decided that the thing I needed to work on the most was Pressure, Load, Self Esteem and Guilt. I had to write this sentence down:
'I am healing and feeling better and better all the time'.
I then had to keep the post-it note inside my bra - so it would be close to my heart meridian - and then write the sentence down 14 times a day, every day for 7 days. (13 to go now today!) (Does typing count??)
Affirmations are very powerful, and trying to get negative people to understand their importance is sometimes difficult. If you are told since you are a child 'you are ugly, you are ugly, you are ugly', you will grow up believing you are ugly because this becomes a thought process that sits in your subconsious. You genuinely believe that you are ugly because your subconscious mind believes it. But if you say enough times 'I am beautiful, I am beautiful, I am beautiful', eventually your subconsious will catch on and replace the negative thought with a positive one. This is what I am trying to do with my affirmation. I need my subconsious mind to believe I am, and can always be healthy, so that I can get better and stay better.
So where does the soul searching come in, you may ask, seeing as all I've spoken about up until now are things that I already practice and use on a daily basis. Well, firstly, it seems I hold a lot of guilt about my illness affecting those around me and I have to let that go in order to move on. If I want to get better, I cannot allow my illness to affect me emotionally in any way at all. Guilt and resentment are very dangerous emotions. Ady explained that I have to let go of my guilt. You can take responsibilty for something and work through it that way, but let go of the guilt. So I am working on this now, and on forgiveness for people or situations I resent.
'I let go of all guilt and all resentment. I forgive easily' (another affirmation to release these emotions.)
The second part, and I think most insightful, is Beliefs. According to my subconscious, I have a lot of belief changes going on which I need to work through. I found this so interesting because in the last year it has dawned on me (and surprising that this only started once I reached the age of 26) that all the religious beliefs that have been instilled in me since I was a child, are changing. Out of nowhere, I began questioning why exactly I believed in certain rules and religious beliefs. Was it because I had been told to or because I genuinely believed in it myself? Ady said this is something I should go away and think about, work through and get to the bottom of what it really is that I believe in. So this is my task now. I know that I believe in, and feel a very strong connection to Judaism. I love the history, I am certainly a Zionist. I believe that Jewish people should have a place they can call home just like Buddhists, Muslims and Christians do. But how much of the actual religious side do I believe in? I am not so sure and this is what I need to go away and figure out. As far as I can tell, I think I believe in Spirituality as a whole rather than one particular religion. I think we all started as souls and chose bodies to come into in order to learn lessons and progress spiritually. How does this fit into my religious beliefs? Well, this is what I need to figure out and I hope to be back here soon with answers. I am going to be in Israel for 3 weeks having intensive treatments so I hope that when the time comes for me to return home, I will have some answers, and that the clarity of my answers will assist in my recovery.
Stay safe everyone.
Love and light,
Lauren
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