BBC News - Music can do 'incredible things' for people with dementia

BBC News - Music can do 'incredible things' for people with dementia

New research shows that singing may slow the progress of dementia.
Singing For The Brain is a group of singers in Bristol made up of people with Alzheimer's and their spouses. Most of the patients have lost their memory for names, events and people, but many respond to music long after other memories have disappeared.

From the Portal:

It's been said many times but this is a fine example of how music can help us all in our lives to heal, to deal with diffcult times and to reach out to those people who need it most. This video from the BBC and program is a must see, it reminds me of the time I did music therapy as a young person in my early twenties working with older people.

It was at first a daunting experience but ulitmately one of the most rewarding I have ever had as a muscian. To see the joy and happiness and to experience the connection with people who were in their 80's and 90's is something I will never forget.

I encourage you all to get involved in music in anyway you can through playing, singing in the local choir, helping other people to achieve their musical aspirations or just by going along to the local concerts many of which are put on free of charge.

It is no coincidence that it is Bristol where the BBC video is based. Bristol is a place I am very fond of, a major centre for the arts and creative people. If you are looking for some ideas of where to go over the holiday season, you will probably find something to your liking.

A good example of this is The Southbank Club, a place I recently visited and saw a most enjoyable and eagerly anticapted performance by none other than Rory McLeod. A former working mens club, The Southbank Club is a busy venue  comprising meeting rooms, gallery space, music club and dance studio. An Arts & Social Club, meeting place and melting pot for creatives, dancers, poets and their friends and just about anyone else who enjoys good music, dance, good beer in a friendly smoke-free atmosphere.

Lastly, this is a post about the power of music and the good it can bring so please click on the charity link at the bottom of the page called Music for Relief, which is a charity I strongly support. Also, for those of you that are concerned about health, don't forget to check out the health tips on this page as well.

The Portal of Healing

The Accidental Veggie Burger

So, there we were, in the kitchen with the new juicer. Juicer? What's that got to do with a veggie burger? All will be revealed.

First off, I never intended to make a veggie burger, so many other people have already done that but this was truly an accident. All of the ingredients can be bought quite cheaply and the preparation time is good too.

So, back to the juicer. We originally intended to make vegetable juice from the over ripe reduced vegetables you can get from the local supermarket. That we did. But the by product was all this vegetable pulp and then suddenly eureka! I thought what if we could take that pulp and use it to make a burger?

So, here is how we did it:

Juice up some carrots, celery, tomatoes and one whole onion. Take the pulp and place in a large frying pan or wok which is what I used. Now the amount of burgers you get depends on how much pulp you make but we found and 6 carrots, tomatoes and celery worked quite well. We also added some mushrooms as well.

In the pan add some olive oil or butter, garlic, salt, pepper, one teaspoon of chilli powder, medium curry spice and fennygreek. Now I say one teaspoon of the spices but that is up to you and your taste - some like it stronger, some not at all but the spices really do work well with this recipe.

Heat for about 10 minutes and mix the ingredients well. This is your basic veg mix. From here we made burgers with it but you can also do vegetarian lasagne as well.

Take the mix and add one egg and about half a cup of flour. Mix well. Please note, I used a food processor which makes some of this easier. Once you have mixed in the egg and flour, get some breadcrumbs which you can either buy or take a piece of toast and crumble that up, works just as well.

Take a piece of the mix and roll it in the breadcrumbs. Fry the burgers in olive oil or butter until golden brown on a medium to high heat. That's it! Results - everyone was ecstatic about the flavour and how well they went with just about anything. We served them with some simple green salad and a home made coleslaw.

The mix we made gave us about 25 burgers which only used half of the mix. The other half was used in a lasagne.

The Portal of Healing.

Nissan rolls out new electric car

Japanese carmaker Nissan has unveiled its first electric car, taking it closer to its aim to become the first car firm to mass produce the vehicles.

The zero-emission hatchback vehicle, called Leaf, is set to go on sale in Japan, the US and Europe next year.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn did not announce the prices but said it would be "very competitive".

"The monthly cost of the battery, plus the electric charge, will be less than the cost of gasoline," Mr Ghosn said.

From the Portal:

This is hugely encouraging news. There have been many doubters as to if or when an electric car would ever be produced and with the cost of oil going up again this week, the timing of this announcement could not be better. I read in the paper that the price of the new Leaf will be roughly the same as their current Versa model, a car which I test drove recently and liked very much, so this new electric car could be a winner.

Roll on 2010!

The Portal of Healing

Stop And Smell The Flowers -- The Scent Really Can Soothe Stress

Stop And Smell The Flowers -- The Scent Really Can Soothe Stress

Shared via AddThis

Reduced Diet Thwarts Aging, Disease In Monkeys

Reduced Diet Thwarts Aging, Disease In Monkeys

Shared via AddThis

A very important study iin understanding the relationship between diet and health. The study, carried out over twenty years in monkeys, clearly shows that a healthy diet is fundamental to how we age and how we can help to maintain our general health.

The Portal of Healing.

The Music of Philip Burton

H

The Portal of Healing

An Introduction

As with most things in life, chance played a part in the formation of The Portal of Healing. One day, some people met and decided that they wanted to make a difference in the world so The Portal of Healing was created as a gateway to promote healing, interactivity and access to more information about healing the self.

There are already a wide number of websites and companies out there promoting their services and products and this is where we will differ from the rest - you will find information, articles and contacts plus ways to interact with others seeking new and alternative ways to promote self healing.

To begin this journey, I have selected the subject of Cymatics. I am not going to attempt to define it as such but there are many links out there already on the subject. Safe to say that Cymatics is the study of wave phenomena or a study of how and what sound is and does in the real world.

It's creator or author so to speak is Hans Jenny (1904 – 1972) whose images are quite awe inspiring and give rise to many questions. How did sound come to be is one that I think of i.e. where does sound come from and how and why does it affect us in the way that it does? Cymatics will help to understand a little more the world in which we live and hopefully allow people to access a very natural and free form of therapy.

For those of you interested in seeing cymatics in action, what better place to start than that of the original video made by Hans Jenny which can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Io6lop3mk


Another good source of information can be found here at Cymatics Source

Thanks,

The Portal of Healing.