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A Traditional Knowledge Keeper Awakens Spirit Through Stories
by Naomi Lepage

I first met Wes Fine Day, a Cree Elder and Storyteller from Sweetgrass, Saskatchewan, four years ago at a "Gathering" southeast of Regina. I remember thinking it would be fun and interesting to hear stories told about First Nation’s culture and history. Little did I know how profoundly that day would influence my life. I remember the first moment I heard Wes speak; everything within me stopped to listen. Through the use of stories, this Traditional Knowledge Keeper awakened my spirit on a level that is ancient and beyond the bounds of time. My intellect and logic could not understand how these stories resonated and connected with a part of my spirit, both emotionally and physically. Since then I have been fortunate enough to work with Wes learning the protocols for earning knowledge about medicines, sacred stories, and ceremony. I thank Creator for bringing Wes into my spiritual family and I am grateful for the opportunity to pass on some of his teachings.

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A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts
by Paulette Millis

The word coconut comes from the Spanish and Portugese word "coco", which means monkey face. These explorers found a resemblance to a monkey's face in the three round "eyes" found at the base of the coconut. Coconuts, botanically known as “cocos nucifera,” are the fruit of the coconut palm. It is actually classified as a drupe, and not a nut, and is the largest seed known. These "nut bearing" palms are native to Malaysia, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia, and are now prolific in South America, India, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, and Florida. Because the husk is light and fibrous, it drifted on the oceans to other areas to propagate. The husk was originally burned for fuel by the natives but now a seed fibre, called "coir", is taken from the husk to make brushes, mats, fishnets, and rope. The saturated fat made from the coconut meat is used for cooking, as well as for non-edibles such as soaps and cosmetics.

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Leaves of Three, Let it Be
Poison-ivy and its Antidote, Jewelweed
by Kahlee Keane

Poison-ivy is very abundant and everyone knows that it is highly poisonous yet very few people can actually identify it in the wild. When guiding a nature walk I am careful to point it out yet there is always someone who will ask, “What’s this plant?”, only to find out that they had a close brush with poison-ivy! How do you avoid contact with this plant? Your first and best defense is to become so familiar with it that you can spot it any time, anywhere. Take time to study it in all its guises in all seasons and you will develop a sixth sense about its presence, even when it is hidden from view.

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Anti-gymnastique Thérèse Bertherat
A Method to Reveal Your True, Harmonious & Balanced Body
by Ginette Séguin-Swartz, BSc, PhD

Developed in the mid-1970s by French physiotherapist, Thérèse Bertherat, anti-gymnastique, or anti-exercise, as it is translated into English, has been taught for numerous years in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, and Argentina. In Canada, anti-gymnastique instruction has until recently only been available in Montreal. This powerful method is based on the findings and teachings of French physiotherapist Françoise Mézières. An expert in human anatomy, Mézières developed an original approach to physiotherapy and obtained spectacular results in curing such severe structural deformations as scoliosis. Thérèse Bertherat was a student of Mézières and practiced for many years as a Mézières physiotherapist before designing anti-gymnastique, which is a self-healing method that involves the physical, emotional, and psychological realms.

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Covenant Groups
Finding Our “Selves” Through the Small-Group Experience
by Barbara Adams

During the last one hundred years, life has changed dramatically. The last few decades have produced individuals who are stressed about time, money, and lack of social supports. As our culture has changed, our lives have become a commodity whose productivity is measured in time units and dollars. Where once the world was about Sunday dinners, family parties, church, school, and working together, we now live in a world of talk shows, cable television, the internet, fast food, and computer games. The media forms our new community, and our relationships with celebrities begin to feel personal. We are living in a consumption-oriented, electronic community that is moving forward so quickly we barely have a chance to think about what it is we really need and value.

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Editorial
by Melva Armstrong

Welcome to the Tenth Anniversary issue of WHOLifE Journal! I find it hard to believe that ten years have passed since I started this publication. These years have been filled with many unique and diverse experiences, all of which have made me a much stronger and more confident individual. Starting one's own business is not like eating a piece of cake, as many who have undertaken such a task will know, and I would say it was mostly my naïveté that allowed me to begin such a project and to continue with it, especially in the early years. I mean naïveté in a very positive sense, for it was my total innocence and trust in my inner voice that gave me the confidence to begin the journal and the desire to keep doing it from issue to issue.
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Plus:

A Modern Approach to a Myth of Aging
Natural Reflections: Stone is the Foundation of Our Prairie Soil
News of Note
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