In this extraordinary and touching interview, Tony Robbins interviews 108 year young pianist Alice Sommers Herz who tells us to be grateful and optimistic even through life’s most challenging times and so much more. I hope this soulful and empowering interview will be viewed and appreciated by many more people searching for answers on how to live a life with meaning and no regrets.

Wangari Maathai receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo – the first black African woman to do so

Wangari Maathai’s compelling life story is inextricably linked with the social and political changes that so much of Africa has been through since the idea of throwing off European colonialism began to gain traction shortly after World War II.

Her unique insight was that the lives of Kenyans – and, by extension, of people in many other developing countries – would be made better if economic and social progress went hand in hand with environmental protection.

The Green Belt Movement, which she founded in 1977, has planted an estimated 45 million trees around Kenya.

The straightforward environmental benefits of that would have been important enough on their own in a country whose population has grown more than 10-fold over the last century, creating huge pressure on land and water.

But what made the movement more remarkable was that it was also conceived as a source of employment in rural areas, and a way to give new skills to women who regularly came second to men in terms of power, education, nutrition and much else.

Now, she has succumbed to a battle with cancer. But if cancer was new to her, battle was definitely not; it was a way of life.

Opposing a major government-backed development in Nairobi, she was labelled a “crazy woman”; it was suggested that she should behave like a good African woman and do as she was told.

Her former husband made similar comments when suing for divorce: she was strong-willed, and could not be controlled.

To read more of this BBC story, click here.

My dear friend, poet and writer, Colette, just sent an update about the latest chapter on her healing journey. You may have read about her illness and hyperbaric oxygen treatments in a past post and which some NPD readers contributed to by purchasing a copy of her exquisite collectors book, Gateways of the Divine: An Illuminated Manuscript for the Modern Age. If you able to purchase a copy for yourself or a friend you will contribute to Colette’s medical expenses and own a copy you and your family will treasure.

Here is what I wrote the first time I set eyes on her extraordinary work: “Colette’s magnificent limited edition of GATEWAYS OF THE DIVINE: An Illuminated Manuscript for the Modern Age is a catalytic portal into the shadow world. During the course of a decade, Colette underwent her own intense initiation and deep process, and through this has emerged a work of art that is both compelling and a powerful transformational tool.”
- JEFF HUTNER, Writer and Producer.

To read more about the book and watch a video I shot for her please visit Gateways of the Divine (http://www.gatewaysofthedivine.com). Colette is offering her remaining copies at cost to NPD readers.

From Colette’s Crucible of Chronic Illness

Moving Forward
10 Sep 2011 05:10 PM PDT

Solutio I

And moving forward takes feral courage,
opens the wildest
and most outrageous light of all,

becomes the hardest path of all.
the firm line we drew in the sand
becomes the river we will not cross.

But the river of the soul flows on
and the soul
refuses safety until it finds the sea.

The ocean of longing,
the sea of your deeper want,
the gravity well of your own desire,

the place you would fall becomes
in falling
the place you are held.

-DAVID WHYTE
from “Millennium”

“I don’t know if I should write or scream,” I confess to my sister Carolyn at the end of June. For a month now my body has been riddled with angry, itchy hives, my entire immune system inflamed and overwhelmed, my nights turbulent and devoid of restful sleep. All the symptoms of my chronic health conditions have returned with a blood-sucking vengeance – crippling fatigue, digestive distress, brain fog, a woefully weakened immunity. I am numb with shock, spun out from suffering, unraveled in anguish. I’m outraged, but too stunned to express it. How did I get cast into the Underworld from just one chemical cocktail injected into my veins?

At the end of May, as I complete two months of Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, I feel as if I am sailing off into the healing sunset. I am feeling vastly improved, with greater stamina and vitality, a stronger immune system, and the sense of hope about the unfolding of my life. I feel a great sense of accomplishment, having worked so hard to raise the money for this treatment course, and an enduring gratitude to all the friends and family whose generous support made it possible. I have also completed a month of IV chelation therapy for heavy metal toxicity, which has been going very well, with few side effects. I only have 4 more weeks of IV treatments to go, and then I will be retested to check if I needed additional treatments. As far as I am concerned, I am in the home stretch.

Just five days after completing the HBOT treatments, however, I have a blind date with destiny in the form of a chemical called DMPS, which I later discover was developed in the post WWII era for acute mercury and industrial chemical poisoning, and gets injected into my sensitive body to remove only moderately elevated levels of mercury. In a few short hours, my veins take in an overwhelming blend of IV DMPS for mercury, IV EDTA for lead, and followed by an injection of glucathione, a potent antioxidant, and then a push of minerals, which burns and aches terribly as it goes into my arm. I leave the clinic feeling weak, unstable, in a state of shock. I come home, collapsing into bed at 5PM. All night I feel as if I have poison coursing through my veins. I feel assaulted, but I tell myself that maybe it’s just the toxic metals clearing from my system.

The next morning, though, I don’t feel anything is clearing out from my body. My digestive system is on strike and I feel increasingly toxic. Then hives start erupting all over my body. Inside and out, my body feels inflamed, my immune and nervous systems on red alert. The next night, I am unable to sleep. Something is very, very wrong. I’m sinking in a cesspool of fire.

Ragged and worried at this point, I go to the computer the following morning to research DMPS, since that was the only drug I’d never been given before in the IV chelation series, and I had been tolerating the IV EDTA treatments well. I find out that DMPS is not an FDA approved drug, and its status is only as a “bulk chemical” that requires an informed patient consent in order to be legally administered. I was not warned of any dangers and side effects, nor given a DMPS consent form to sign. I also find out in my research that chemical chelators are not supposed to be combined in one treatment, and that it is necessary to wait 24 hours before receiving the mineral push, neither of which happened in my case. There are serious risks associated with the use of DMPS, especially with in those with chronic conditions and sensitive constitutions. Dr. Thomas Levy, a cardiologist who co-authored the book Uninformed Consent, says “DMPS is an unqualified sledge hammer to the immune system. Immune declines and clinical illness can result can result for weeks and sometimes even months after only one injection of DMPS.” Even Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., who is an expert on heavy metal detoxification and is a big proponent of IV chelation therapy himself writes, “More aggressive approaches, such as I.V. Glutathione, Vit.C, DMPS, CaEDTA and others have a place in reasonably healthy people but often worsen the condition in patients with advanced illness.” If I had known any of this beforehand, I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to this treatment.

What was my naturopathic doctor thinking? When she had recommended this IV treatment course to remove toxic metals several months earlier, I had expressed concern about DMPS in particular, because a friend had suffered permanent kidney damage 10 years earlier from IV DMPS. My doctor assured me that the IV specialist had the latest training, and that I was in good hands. End of discussion. No explanation of possible dangers and side effects, nor an informed consent for me to sign. None of the standard preliminary tests were done on me prior to starting the chelation series: blood and urine tests to assess the health of my kidneys, liver, and immune system, hair test to check mineral levels, nor an EKG and chest x ray to see if my heart would be at risk. Hard lesson learned: no matter how much you like and trust your doctor, do the research yourself before agreeing to any drug or treatment course. I know my doctor didn’t intend to hurt me, but that doesn’t excuse the gross negligence in this situation.

“Acceptance is hard. To accept my pain means holding it in my arms, like a package handed to me, my proper burden to be carried. The package may be as heavy as lead, or burning hot, or stuck through with razors, but I must concede that it is my package, simply because it has arrived in my life.

It is not a mistake. It has not been sent by accident to the wrong person. I may not welcome it, but accepting means I can carry it without protest for as long as necessary—and then I lay it down.”

-JEANNE DUPRAU, author, The City of Ember

In the weeks and months that follow, I do everything I can to recover from this nightmare: juice fasting, strict diets, energy healings, and two weeks of additional HBOT treatments to help me get over the worst of the DMPS poisoning. I am now working with a highly skilled and intuitive MD named Catherine Fehrmann who specializes in safe and gentle detoxification, as well as healing areas of infection and trauma in the body. God knows, my body has been through it. I’m now on a regime that includes chlorella tablets and cilantro tincture for the heavy metals, as well as a host of other pills and potions. So far, the treatment is going well. I feel like I’m in good hands.

It’s been more than three months since the DMPS debacle, and unfortunately my immune system continues to feel weakened, with frequent bodily aches and pains, and swollen glands. I have some good days, but my overall energy and stamina are not good. I wonder how long it will take for me to recover fully. I’m considering going back for more Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, since they are gentle and have had the most positive impact on my health of any course I’ve been on during the past decade.

I’m worn out from what I have been through, but I’m hanging in there. On September 22nd, just 11 days after 9/11, I celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of my book, “Gateways of the Divine: An Illuminated Manuscript for the Modern Age.” At another time I will share the amazing and mysterious synchronicities between the events of 9/11 and the Gateways, but for now I will offer one jewel I gleaned from birthing this 7 lb. book: If you follow your healing path completely, and trust the guidance you receive along the way, you will naturally be led to your path of service in the world.

With a feral courage, I’m moving forward…

“Solutio I,” 4×6” collage on paper from The Oracle of Alchemy, ©2006-2011 by Colette de Gagnier. To order prints from this series, please visit Alchemy of the Divine and Colette’s Visionary Art Gallery at www.MysticAlchemyDesign.com

To learn more about Colette’s book, Gateways of the Divine, please go to www.gatewaysofthedivine.com

For more information on the risks and side effects associated with DMPS, please go to http://www.dmpsbackfire.com/dmps/default.shtml

For more information on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, please go to: www.ImproveHealing.com

For more information on the healing work of Dr. Catherine Fehrmann, please go to http://www.catherinefehrmannmd.com

For more information on the writing of Jeanne Du Prau : http://www.jeanneduprau.com/books.shtml

For more information on the offerings of poet David Whyte: www.davidwhyte.com