Issue 4, Winter 2020

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our winter issue and the launch of our new name: Foundation for Health Creation. Formerly called Friends of PAAM, we are a consortium of organizations and individuals dedicated to actively cultivating health and wellness through medicine, education, and agriculture. We are glad to have you with us!

During the busy holiday season, we often struggle to find time for rest and inner quiet amidst the festivities in order to really savor this special time of year. Outside, the land is quiet. Nature recedes into the earth, as if in prolonged slumber. Following winter solstice, we slowly turn back towards the sun and out of the depths of winter. We celebrate the returning of the light and cultivate our own inner warmth, like a tender seed resting in the dark earth, germinating and preparing to burst forth in spring! We need this quiet time to gather up our forces: to rest, reflect and plan for the coming year. Because of this inward mood, we are more vulnerable to outer influences. We can easily over-expose ourselves to the elements, over-do with work and holiday preparations, and over-indulge in rich foods and sweets. All of these influences contribute to common ailments of the season: cold, illness, fatigue and depression.

In response to this, we offer several resources to help you balance the challenges of the season. Dr. Johnson’s article gives recommendations for staving off the “winter blues” with medicine, therapies and meditations to lift the spirit and warm the heart. Dr. Iancu’s article on “Winter Balance” offers practical advice on sleep, nutrition, remedies and more, to support our need for rest, warmth and inner quiet. We have also included a study on the effects of physical warmth on emotional well-being and human relationships. It is amazing how much a warm cup of coffee can change our behavior! And finally, we share a link to an engaging lecture on technology and how it is changing our relationships, a kind of “cooling down” of our human warmth connection.

Additional Resources:
Upcoming Webinar: Finding inner rest in an anxious world, Jan 15, 2020
Book of Interest: Warmth: Living Element and Healing Substance by Dr. Bertram von Zabern

Advocacy Efforts:
URGENT ACTION NEEDED – The availability of homeopathic remedies is currently under threat by the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, and may soon be subject to the same clinical trials and laboratory testing as pharmaceutical prescription medication. This would effectively eliminate availability of these remedies. If you want to continue to have access to anthroposophic and homeopathic medicines, take action before January 23, 2020 by following this link: https://homeopathychoice.org/fdacomment/
For further information, click here.

If you are interested in supporting efforts to educate the public and legislators about the effect of technology on our young people, please click on this link to the Eliant petition in support of the right to screen-free day care institutions, kindergartens and primary schools. Eliant is active in Europe and throughout the world.