Ian's September 2020 Newsletter

The important and timely theme for this newsletter is aged care and nursing homes, given that a very high percentage of deaths as a result of COVID-19 have occurred in these institutions.

In this article I will discuss the Essences and strategies that can help the wellbeing of a person in aged care or nursing homes as well as increasing our chances of avoiding moving to one.

Many of the residents in aged care have had to go through tremendous change in getting there. For many it entails moving to a new suburb, sometimes a long way from home. For some it has been precipitated by the loss of their partner and in many cases, it’s meant downsizing not only from a much larger home or apartment, but also letting go of all their possessions, keepsakes, furniture etc and retaining only what can fit into a much smaller space. Bottlebrush of course, will be very helpful for someone needing to go through such a process, enabling them to be quite ruthless in discarding what they will not be needing. Transition Essence, which also contains this remedy will also be very beneficial especially with the Bauhinia in it, which enables a person to embrace change before it actually occurs. The Red Grevillea in this combination is for someone who knows what they want but can't work out how to achieve it, whilst Silver Princess helps when you come to a crossroads in your life and you are unsure what step to take next. Antarctic Essence, a Light Frequency Essence, will also help not only in getting rid of things, but in determining what is essential, on all levels in their lives. This makes the choices of what to keep or let go of far easier.

Wild Potato Bush is the most important Bush Essence for dealing with physical limitation and restriction and this Essence is more widely used for older people who cannot move freely. I am always amazed by the number of walkers parked along the corridor near the dining room in aged care facilities, it seems like every person has one!

As people age, especially from their 80’s onwards, coordination, muscle strength, and frailty come into play more, all of which can lead to accidents and falls. For many people in this age category, their rate of healing is slower than when they were younger. Consequently, both quantity and quality of life can be hampered by such incidents and Wild Potato Bush is for where restriction is limited as a consequence. It also deals with the frustration of a slow recovery or of never regaining the full functionality they once had.

Bush Fuchsia is a good remedy to be taken as a preventative against falls as it will help to improve agility. An older person carrying bags of shopping who happens to slip going up or down stairs will be less likely to regain their balance and avoid falling than a younger person. The most common site of falls are in hospitals and aged care facilities, often as a result of medication and frailty. Unfortunately, these floors are usually very hard and hence dangerous when fallen on. Of course, Emergency Essence will always be beneficial to have on hand for falls or accidents. If a fall results in a broken bone, then Emergency Essence would be used for the first couple of days to deal with the initial incident and then followed by Gymea Lily and Hibbertia.

Weight-bearing exercise is very important in maintaining bone density. It also strengthens the muscles so they can support the bones. From the age of fifty onwards a lot of people reduce the amount of physical exercise they are performing. In traditional Chinese medicine they believe that you die from your feet up so that if you are not moving you are speeding up your inevitable demise. Flannel Flower encourages a person to become physically active, stemming the tide of turning into a couch potato and with it a greater likelihood of osteoporosis and obesity. Exercise has also been shown to be the most effective thing you can do to help prevent Alzheimer's disease - and the very best exercise? Dancing. The current figures are 1 in 4 people over the age of eighty suffer from Alzheimer's whilst it is close to 1 in 2 for those over the age of ninety. Get your dancing shoes on!

Taking Madagascar Essence from the Light Frequency Essence range will help remove you from the limiting beliefs around health and wellbeing contained in mass consciousness. The latter is like a psychic cloud that is made up of every past and present person’s thoughts, feelings and emotions. We are all influenced by mass consciousness. The Madagascar Essence helps you to extract yourself from the limiting beliefs that we are indoctrinated with consciously and subconsciously from the day we are born. Examples of such beliefs affecting our health are the biblical statement that man’s life expectancy is “three score plus ten” or that your body falls apart as you get older.

Certainly, for an older person one of the issues they are likely to have to confront is the loss of old friends and relatives who they have known for most of their life. As women outlive men by an average of 4 years this also includes in many cases their spouse. Apart from Red Suva Frangipani, for the initial shock and upset at the loss of someone close to you, consider Sturt Desert Pea for dealing with the ongoing sadness this may bring. Tall Yellow Top can also be very important as many older people feel very alone and lonely because they have not many, or in some cases, any old friends left. This of course can be exacerbated if they no longer have a driver’s licence, a car or the mobility to get out and about and visit people. In the nursing homes and retirement villages they find it more difficult making new friends as many residents in these homes suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s etc, who forget the conversations they have just had or are living in their own little world that is hard to penetrate.

Your social support system is very important if you wish to lead a long, healthy life; if you are socially isolated, you’re more likely to suffer from poor health and a shorter lifespan. This is one of the most important social factors for increasing longevity.

The lungs are affected by the emotions of grief and sadness. COVID-19 is a virus that targets predominantly the respiratory system. As a result of lockdowns many people in aged care institutions were isolated and not allowed contact with their loved ones which increased their sadness and made them more susceptible to the virus. Many simply gave up. They lost their will to live because they were denied access to the thing that gave them the most joy - their family. Kapok Bush Essence would have really benefited these individuals.

May we all age gracefully, peacefully and with joy.