Queenstown Tourism Operators Sign Up For Sustainable Business Practice
February 19, 2009 by rosie
Filed under Healthy Business, Sustainable Living
Some of Queenstown’s top tourism businesses are leading the way to a more sustainable future by signing up for the district’s first ever Sustainable Business programme.
NZ Ski, Skyline Gondola, Restaurant & Luge, Dart River Jet Safaris, Kawarau Jet, Kingsgate Hotel Terraces, Copthorne Hotel, Millennium Hotel, Kiwi Discovery & Queenstown Rafting, Nomad Safaris, Southern PR, Fluid Visual Communications, and The Rees Hotel & Luxury Apartments will start their longterm sustainable practice commitment on 17 February with a three-hour workshop. Further workshops, action planning and one-to-one work with a qualified adviser will follow.
The Government-subsidised programme aims to encourage Queenstown businesses of all sizes to become more sustainable in terms of environment, social responsibilities and financial viability. The Sustainable Business Programme is to be delivered by Otago Polytech’s Centre for Sustainable Practice in collaboration with partners Destination Queenstown, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Ministry of Tourism, and the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce.
Queenstown’s Sustainable Tourism Advisor Sharon Schindler and well-known sustainable practice expert Steve Henry, who heads the Centre for Sustainable Practice, will lead the programme.
Ms Schindler says the programme is designed to support organisations as they work towards sustainable practice with a strategic, future-focused approach.
“We’ll provide general managers, CEOs, business owners and senior managers with the advice and skills they need to evaluate, implement and manage sustainable practice from the top down in their businesses.
“Each business will benefit from access to expertise across a range of business disciplines. All attendees will receive a tailormade solution and action plan to follow which includes how to reduce costs on waste, water, power and maintenance, reduce waste, and assist with achieving or upgrading Qualmark certifications and Enviro-ratings.
“The benefits for businesses are huge. Efficiencies will reduce costs, tight focus will reveal weak points and, in the end businesses will have a real point of difference that could offer competitive advantage in the market. Our vision is for every business in Queenstown to complete the programme,” says Ms Schindler.
Mr Henry, of the Centre for Sustainable Practice, says sustainable practice has become integral to long term business success, particularly in the tourism industry.
“Businesses will be at risk if they don’t head down the track of sustainable practice. The expectation of meeting the needs of the more discerning, environmentally aware visitor is increasing around the world.
“Our Ministries of Tourism and the Environment have set a clear direction for New Zealand’s sustainable future. These Sustainable Business programmes aim to improve the overall operation of the business community, bring local tourism businesses into line as per the Tourism Strategy 2015 and provide regionwide economic, social and environmental benefits.”
Author: The release was issued by Otago Ploytechnic. For more information visit www.otagopolytechnic.ac.nz and click on “Changing our Ways, Sustainable Practice”.
The fee structure for participating businesses starts at $150 plus GST for businesses with 1-2 full time employees and ranges to $1000 for those with more than 50 full time employees.
Registrations are now open for the second and third programme intakes in June and October.
A Breakthrough Solution For Insomnia
February 19, 2009 by rosie
Filed under Holistic Wellbeing
Are you having trouble sleeping? Do you go to bed at night and lie there unable to drop off? Or perhaps you fall asleep easily but wake again a few hours later? Insomnia can really put a damper on your days; nothing is quite so easy when you are always tired.
So what is the solution to insomnia or poor sleep? There are of course some sensible steps you need to take and you have probably already taken them. For example cutting out caffeine containing drinks in the evenings, taking regular exercise and establishing a regular bedtime routine, will all make a difference to how you sleep.
But what if you have taken all these steps to beat your insomnia and you are still lying awake in the wee small hours?
One reason that sleep eludes us is that we are unable to completely relax. To begin the relaxation process for sleep your brain begins to slow its electrical impulses so that your brainwaves shift from the fast rhythm that they produce when you are awake, called beta waves, to the slower rhythm called alpha waves.
If you are not able to relax and your brainwaves do not slow down you will not be able to fall asleep.
One solution to this is a breakthrough in sound technology called brainwave entrainment.
Fall Asleep Quickly and Easily
Brainwave entrainment will slow your brainwaves down into alpha rhythm so that you easily fall asleep. All you do is listen to a specially constructed audio that induces your brainwaves to slow down. The word “entrainment” simply means “to synchronize with”.
Research has found that when you hear a particular beat or tone your brain waves synchronize with it. The practical implication of this is that you can induce the brain to move from the beta waves it produces when you are wide awake, to the slower more relaxed alpha waves needed for sleep initiation.
This shift allows you to fall asleep easily and quickly. If you wake in the night you can simply listen again and you will be able to go back to sleep.
This technology is amazingly simple and easy to use. All you have to do is to listen to a CD that contains the brainwave entrainment sound specially designed for insomnia. Just listen when you go to bed at night and you will most likely fall asleep long before you hear the end of the audio.
So if you are finding it difficult to sleep why not try a brainwave entrainment audio CD?
Author: Liz Beresford is a registered nurse and the creator of the popular Sleep Sound Insomnia CD which uses brainwave entrainment and guided relaxation to send you to sleep. Along with the CD you get a free book about how to get a good night’s sleep, plus a free relaxation Mp3 to use during the day. You can find other brainwave entrainment audios for download here: www.magneticsounds.com
Top 10 Reasons Why you should NOT “go” on a Diet
February 13, 2009 by hamish
Filed under Fitness & Exercise, Nutrition
The only thing growing faster than the $65 billion diet industry is the American waistline. If one of your New Years resolutions was to Go on a Diet, the only place I guarantee you will go….is up in weight.
It’s a Fact – Diets will only make you fatter.
When it comes to the latest in Diet fads, we are quite gullible and easily tempted by a Diet’s empty promised. Reason being….the diet industry KNOWS we are in search of the “quick fix” and will only play with our emotions – our desperation for the quickest way to relieve looking and feeling fat.
Diets are nothing more than Temporary Solutions with many lingering, negative side effects.
Here are the Top 10 Reasons Why you should NOT “go” on a Diet
1. Diets do NOT work.
Diets have a 99% Failure Rate. Have you noticed a pattern yet? Lose weight….quickly regain it? Over time, studies show if you diet you are more likely to be overweight than people who eat normally and make small gradual changes to their lifestyle. No, the Law of Averages does not apply to this faulty system.
2. Dieting can be Dangerous.
Any time you severely restrict the amount or types of foods you eat you put your health and life at risk. Dieting has been related to injuries and sudden deaths from electrolyte imbalance, malnutrition, and heart arrhythmia’s. Weight cycling, or yo-yo-ing weight, is associated with higher death rates – especially if some type of pills are being used. At no point should you ever place weight loss above your health.
3. Dieting Destroys your Metabolism.
Diets will cause your weight to quickly cycle up and down. Sure, you may lose weight quickly because you are simply not eating enough. In the initial stages, the first seven to nine pounds lost are water, presenting a real danger of dehydration and mineral deficiencies. Even more terrifying ins the break down of lean muscle due to inefficient nutrients and calories. If you are losing more than 3-4 pounds a week, you can be sure this is what is happening – very little fat is lost this state.
Now, any muscle loss will cause your metabolism slow to a crawl. The cumulative effect takes place for you cannot survive very long on very low calories (1200 or less) and you will eventually eat more – on top of a slower metabolism. All those excess calories will be stored as fat – causing rapid weight gain.
4. Dieting is Exhausting.
Diets are just reduced calorie Fads disguised by a clever gimmick. “Lose weight while you sleep” “Eat all you want and still lose weight” Not eating enough or cutting out certain food groups means your body may not be getting the energy it needs, or may lack certain nutrients. You will feel exhausted, light headed and experience some not-so-fun mood swings.
5. Dieting is Disruptive.
Dieting negatively affects your normal eating patterns. Diets can lead to binge eating, overeating and chaotic eating. When you diet, it is common to override your internal signals telling you to eat. You end up trying to use willpower or resist hunger signals and may even go as far as taking appetite suppressants. This results in being unable to know when you really are hungry or wore….when you’re full.
6. Dieting can lead to eating disorders.
Experts state that the high rates of eating disorders in the U.S. are due in part to people dieting, losing weight, rebounding, and becoming chronic dieters.
7. Dieting Causes Food Obsessions.
If you spend a large amount of time and energy depriving yourself of food or certain types of food – you will spend more time thinking about food and become obsessed attempts to control your weight by what you choose to eat or not eat. How long do you want to live like this?
8. Dieting Diminishes Women.
There is way too much attention focused on our appearance and an arbitrary number on the scale. In the midst of this focus – we end up avoiding what really matters to us – our dreams and ambitions. Even worse, it erodes our confidence and self-respect.
9. Dieting Intensifies Negativity.
If you diet, you are more judgmental and critical of yourself and others. Once again, wasted time and energy.
10. Diets Put Your Life on Hold.
Does this sound familiar….”I’ll be happy when I weigh “x pounds.” Guess what, the issues in your life are not related to your weight. Take responsibility and take back control of your life. Decide to be happy now and do what it takes to live a lifestyle that reflects your priorities.
So this year resolve to NOT go on a Diet. Set Yourself Free from this miserable, guaranteed to fail weight loss cycle. Do NOT let the diet industry make money by taking advantage of you. It is time to stand up for yourself and take control.
Author: Holly Rigsby, CPT, MAT America’s #1 Fat Loss Expert for Busy Moms and the author of Fit Yummy Mummy Lifestyle System http://www.fityumymumy.com/ and expert contributor at http://www.efittoday.com She has helped well over 500 Mom’s lose the stubborn baby fat and get their pre-baby body back. Don’t miss her Free Report: Top 5 Busy Mom Metabolism Boosters.
Article Source: Article City
Organise Your February: Get the Filing Sorted
February 13, 2009 by rosie
Filed under Healthy Business, Holistic Wellbeing
Filing cabinet bursting at the seams? Piles of paid bills shoved in the cupboard? Now is the time to get that paper sorted!
February is a good time to go through all the paperwork from the previous year. As you do this, think ‘Will I need to refer to this again? What is the worst that can happen if this is lost?’
Recycle/shred what you don’t need to keep and file the rest.
You don’t need to spend hours and hours filing, just put in a logical, chronological order, strap it together and put it safely out of sight but accessible.
File like with like. Bank statements together. Regular bills together. One-off bills that you may need to refer to (Who did that roof mend back in 2007?) in another stack and so on.
You’ll soon have a clear space to collate the files for 2009.
Author:Katy Macpherson runs office and home organising consultancy Kinetica. She’s available to help you get your paper in order with a personalised consultation. Contact Katy today: 03 443 6224, 021 154 5511, katy@kinetica.co.nz or check out www.kinetica.co.nz
Multi-Orgasmic Lovers – Healing Love through the Tao
February 4, 2009 by hamish
Filed under Holistic Wellbeing, Life & Relationships
How can we grow and cultivate more love in our life? The ancient Taoists were experts in the cultivation of the intimate arts, and fortunately for us the practices have survived as they have been passed down from Master to student.
Taoist sexuality, also called the ‘Arts of the Bedchamber’, is a three thousand year old tradition that has long known about male and female multiple orgasms and many other secrets of sexual satisfaction. It was developed to help couples experience more pleasurable and healing lovemaking. Through these practices one learns to experience the physically healing, emotionally intimate and spiritually profound aspects of lovemaking.
Mantak Chia, founder of the Universal Healing Tao, is one of the few present-day Masters who is openly passing on these sexual alchemy secrets to the world. In his best-selling books ‘The Multi Orgasmic Couple’, ‘Multi Orgasmic Woman’ and ‘Multi Orgasmic Man’ Chia intricately describes in step-by-step detail a variety of practices for heightening sexual pleasure and intimacy. His belief is that it is everyone’s birthright to have a blissful love life and his teachings inspire couples to not only make love all night, but to make love last a lifetime.
The potential for bliss
According to Master Chia, “shocking as it is for most people to hear, both women and men can have multiple orgasms….However, this is just the beginning of sexual knowledge… When you and your partner are both multi-orgasmic, you will each experience far greater individual pleasure. You will also be able to harmonize your sexual needs and reach ever more fulfilling levels of intimacy and ecstasy together”.
Before going further, I’d like to share how I experience love and sex in my own relationship, so that you get a feel of opportunities that may await you:
“My partner’s presence and awareness allows me to open my heart and body in trust so we can both surrender to the bliss of union. He takes me on a journey and I respond with “active reception”, being aware with movement, like dancing together. I allow sound to express my pleasure. We feel the energy spiralling through us and around us. We channel the universal orgasmic force through us, for the sake of all beings. Deep peace soaks into our bones as we nest. Our joyful play and touch throughout the day is a continual, seamless foreplay. We meditate together and experience alchemical bliss just sitting still in the same room. When I am travelling I feel his presence cuddling and comforting me and I do not feel alone. I am so grateful to have our warm and loving connection in my life”.
Soul Mates
Have you ever longed for your soul mate? A soul mate is someone with whom you feel a mind-heart-spirit connection, which could have been cultivated in past lifetimes. This connection is cultivated by sharing in all three aspects of your being: thinking (views on life), feeling (what you care for) and willing (your life style). Soul Mating is a profoundly intimate experience of union and oneness. It can be felt at a distance. You can experience orgasmic lovemaking on the other side of the world with your partner! Like remote viewing or remote healing, remote soul union is a vivid reality.
The compassion you cultivate in your relationship can deepen your whole spiritual life. As Mantak Chia says, “Sexuality and spirituality are inextricably linked for Taoists”. Body, soul and spirit are one being and work together quite naturally if we do not separate them and judge them as sinful or taboo. He adds “People who deny sexual energy lose access to this vital source of energy and vitality for their life and spiritual growth.”
Sexual energy is sacred. When our raw passionate energy is refined and channelled upwards to higher energy centers it becomes the power behind love, creativity and communion with the Divine or Universal Love. He adds “According to the Taoists, this love and ecstasy that we feel in our most intimate relationship is simply a taste of the Universal Love and the blissful oneness with the Original Force of the universe that we can experience as we grow spiritually.”
Authentic Connection
Starting with a smile The Inner Smile
So where do we start? Despite the many in depth techniques that are prescribed for both men and women, the sexual ‘healing love’ practices always start with a smile. Romantic intentions are worth little if your body is tired or ailing, or if energetic imbalances prevent the sexual energy from overflowing from your heart into your partner’s. If you are out of sorts you will be irritable or emotional, whilst anger or harsh words can hurt, and damage trust and responsiveness during lovemaking.
One of the key foundation Healing Tao practices is the ‘Secret of the Inner Smile’, where you connect with a golden sunny glow of unconditional love and let it flow down your body, melting tension and transforming negativity. Love is the energy of the heart – your feeling centre – and the essence of authentic connection starts with love for one self. Thus one learns to smile to each organ in the body (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys etc) which immediately transforms the chemistry of the body. This exercise, when taken to more profundity during lovemaking, actually allows each organ to have its own orgasm, which in itself is an extremely healing process for the whole body.
Inner Smile Exercise:
If you like, practice this short meditation with your partner in turn. Read it slowly, taking the time to pause in between each segment: ‘Close your eyes and lift the corners of your lips into a smile, feeling the uplifting sensation in your body as you do this. Lifting the corners of your lips creates a whole body smile that is like turning on a light switch. Smile down with love and deep appreciation to every organ in turn, moving from your heart, to the spleen, to the lungs, to the kidneys and finally the liver, as you move through the five elements within the body. Then smile down to your sexual organs, (breasts, womb, vagina and ovaries for women – prostate, penis, testicles for men). Notice how this feels and how your body responds to this intimate inner connection. Get in touch with the life force energy present in your sexual organs which we call sexual energy. Notice how it comes alive just by bringing attention to it’.
Connecting your Orbits of Love The Microcosmic Orbit
Even without any more formal training, you can practice this technique before lovemaking and see how it intensifies your sensual pleasure and deepens feelings of compassion and intimacy. During Taoist training you will learn how to move both unaroused and aroused sexual energy through specific energy channels in the body, starting with the ‘Microcosmic Orbit’ – the two major acupuncture meridians which run up the front and back of the body. Rather than wasting precious life force energy during orgasm, one learns to channel this energy through one’s own Orbit for intensified bliss, and later to share it with one’s partner.
For men, the biggest loss of life force comes through ejaculation, and they are taught to minimize and eventually withhold from ejaculating. ‘Sexual Kung Fu’ is the art of seminal retention, how to pull up the sexual energy with breathing, mindfulness and muscle control instead of letting out through ejaculation. Thus men can learn too to have whole body orgasms: instead of exploding through the genitals the vibrations rises through the Microcosmic Orbit and internal organ channels to the heart and head. During lovemaking this energy can also penetrate through the core channel of the woman, multiply and circle back into him in a continuous loop.
Another fascinating practice is the art of sexual reflexology. Based on the premise that all our organs have reflex points on other parts of the body, reflexology is most often associated with massage of the hands and feet. Yet the most powerful reflex points are on the sexual organs: as specific areas of the penis and vagina come into contact with each other during lovemaking, the internal organs that are connected to each reflex point are stimulated deep within, heightening pleasure and bringing healing.
Sexual Reflexology can also help couples to determine their internal energy compatibility and reveal their character and disposition, which will help define the nature of their relationship.
Soul Orgasm
Soul Orgasm is possible when you feel orgasmic energy circulating and waving through the body. This fundamental circulation of energy in the Microcosmic Orbit becomes a way to receive and give energy and also generate love and light. Once this pathway is open, you and your partner can exchange energy, linking your Orbits into a figure eight, connecting through each others genitals, tongues, foreheads and hearts. The yin energy of the woman flows into the man and the yang energy of the man flows into the woman, creating a harmonious field of united energy. The exchange of energy can be felt even without touching. When a soul orgasm overflows beyond the physical it can feel like a fountain rising out the crown. In bliss, souls can unite above the body. This energetic bonding deepens the potential of long term relationships. You start to cultivate a perennial garden of love, joy, trust and respect.
When we as partners are committed to supporting the highest in each other, we become portals for Source or Unconditional Love to flow through us. As the Taoists teachings say “When sexual energy and loving energy are combined the energy becomes stable and nourishing”. Compassion, a higher state of consciousness, develops and ripples out into all your relationships and the world around you. We urgently need this powerful healing energy to heal this world and to generate more love for generations to come. Mantak Chia says “Multiple orgasms are part of an unfolding process of becoming one with each other and the world.” The whole universe is continually pulsating and vibrating. When we orgasm we harmonize with our own body, our partner’s body and the pulsation of the whole world. Becoming a multi-orgasmic lover is realizing that you are one with the continuous, orgasmic, creative, and mysterious universal process!
Building Love and Compassion Exercise:
Make love in the morning: the Taoists see this as energizing, which gives us the openness and joy to greet the day and deal effectively with any stresses that may occur. Then allow love to flow between you and your partner throughout the day, even when you are apart. Only with this openness of your body and your heart can you truly feel the flow of energy within you, and between you and your partner. The more love that you feel for each other, the more orgasmic you will become. As Mantak Chia says “Learning to make love from your heart is the essence of Healing Love. Without your sincere love for each other, sex is simply friction. Friction is certainly pleasurable, but it is real love that will bind your bodies together in ecstatic lovemaking for a lifetime”.
All quotes with permission from ‘The Multi-Orgasmic Couple’ by Mantak Chia & Maneewan Chia, Douglas Abrams & Rache Carlton Abrams, M.D.
Minke De Vos
Author: Minke de Vos is the Director of Silent Ground Retreats (www.silentground.com) in Vancuver BC. She has devoted over 20 years to the practice of internal arts, working alongside Mantak Chia since 1983. She will be in New Zealand to teach in February – March 2009.
Mantak Chia is the founder of the Universal Healing Tao. Initiated into meditation by Buddhist monks at the age of 6, he has spent his whole life practicing the art of ‘internal energy cultivation’ and is a master of the sexual alchemical practices. He will be in New Zealand for the first time ever to teach in April 2009. See www.taoworkshops.co.nz
