Today is the 4th of February and it’s the “first day of spring” in Chinese calendar.  (The “first day of spring” often falls on this day, if not one day before or after)  For many Chinese astrologers this is the real start of the new year.   The new year of the Tiger represents progressiveness, courage, passion and resilience.  I have chosen this day to celebrate the opening of our centre (after being open for more than 6 months in our current location) while welcoming in this new energy.

For my personal friends this day also happens to be my birthday.  So yes I am trying to “kill two birds in one stone”….!  (Otherwise my business is “vegan” and we don’t kill animal here…!)

Most people know my work as helping people to “change diet” – but what I have really been aiming to do is to “change paradigm”. 

When I first proposed corporate wellness programs and superfoods like raw chocolate a few years ago in Hong Kong, I felt rather lonely.  To me the value of wellness in the workplace, as well as delicious, healthy and high integrity foods seemed obvious…but it didn't seem so for the people I tried to impress, or they were too busy to take note...

It has not been easy at all in all these years.  However I am still hopeful and believe that we do not need to wait until we have a terminal disease to start doing something about our diet and lifestyle.  (Sadly it has been the case for many I have observed) I was recently interviewed by a magazine about “emerging trend” in the wellness field.  My response to this question is I can see more people are taking charge of their own health and making changes for prevention.  This has become especially true after the financial crisis in 2008 which forced people to slow down and rethink.  A shift has clearly started.  We have a public that is becoming more knowledgable than the medical profession in self care because conventional medicine has shown to fallen short in dealing with the chronic diseases that take most of our lives or rob us of quality of life.

Studies show that majority of public are taking supplements, have used “alternative” methods of health care and not telling/bothering to tell their doctors.

From the people I have worked with, I have seen many who have used conventional methods (or even some “alternative” methods but practised like conventional medicine...) and failed to see improvements in their health, and they now have got well from making lifestyle and dietary changes, and a new belief and trust that they have what it takes to heal and be well by simply eating and living more in line with the wisdom of nature and their own body. 

What used to be called “alternative” is not really “alternative” anymore (and never was if we look at human history).  For example, "superfoods" like goji, spirulina, maca, raw cacao and medicinal mushrooms have been used  for millenia by  peoples who have proven to live long and high quality productive lives.  Only because these wholefoods cannot be standardised and isolated substances cannot be patented and put into a bottle does not mean they are not useful medicine. In fact all oldest cultures that have survived human history have recgarded food and medicine as one.  No human disease is caused by a drug deficiency.  But tens of thousands of people die from diseases related to poor nutrition and lifestyle, as well as adverse drug effect every year - in fact modern medicine is the number three death cause in America after cardiovascular diseases and cancer - and as the rest of the world is becoming more "westernised" this can well be our fate here, if we do not awaken to where we are heading to. 

"We need education, not medication." - as the film Food Matters says.  This has become our company's motto.

And talking of death….how apt it is to consider death on my birthday – as life and death is one thing!  We all have to die.  Steve Jobs has said, most people don’t mind going to heaven, but they just don’t want to die to get there… Well if death is not so painful and demeaning like it is now for many, then it’s not so scary.  And we do not need to die a torturous death.  One in two people in our culture are likely to be diagnosed with cancer.  Conventional medicine is as poor in curing cancer today than decades ago.  And one in two people who die from heart attack would not experience symptoms.  I believe we can die with more preparedness and with more dignity.  We can die gracefully in ripe old age having lived a mostly healthy and productive life.  And helping to optimise the quality of life for people is what we do here. 

2009 has been an exceptionally trying year for many of us, and for me as well.  In fact ever since  I first started a new wellness career in 2005, there have been numerous times I asked myself “what have I got myself into?”  My family had thought after I left the fashion industry I could have a more relaxed life...! Years ago I never thought I would start a business... until I realised how urgent it was to do the work that I do and that I actuallly COULD make a difference - without having to become a  (medical) "doctor"! Although I never knew starting and sustaining a business takes so much - when it is a new field with so much education required before you can make sales! Sometimes when I hit a wall I wondered to myself "who do you think you are, you think with a small voice like yours you can change mass conditioning and change paradigm...?"

Over the years, every distress and setback have proven to be opportunity to learn humility, courage, persistence, trust and, most importantly – the importance of emptying, emptying periodically and consciously (Well I've ALWAYS told you periodic emptying is good for health – those who have experienced colonic can attest to that ...!).  I have learnt and am still learning that as a healer, and facilitator, it’s never about “me”.  My job is to be a vessel as clear as possible for healing, inspiration and love to flow through, and make such available for myself and others. 

With time I have come to realise as a healer and teacher (in Greek, "doctor" means "the one who teaches"...), what's at least as important as knowledge and experience, if not more, is the healing space we hold for ourselves and others.  Our job is really to facilitate the innate power of nature and to empower and remind the client /patient of the miracle of who they truly are and that they have what it takes already to heal, with ease and grace. 

The creation and growth of Integrative-Living and i-Detox has been nothing short of miracles.  Thanks to support from all sides we have come to where we are.  If getting things done always require money and influence then I would never have created all that I have created with my limited resources.  It has been a most enriching journey to learn the true meaning of "win-win" and train my resourcefulness.  I am grateful for all the people who have helped me out of shared values and pure goodwill.  I do not take it lightly.

And I especially am grateful to the unconditional support of my family.  I know my late father is happy to see what I have created and in his "vantage point" he's better able to make sense of what I do now...

I am also grateful for those who may just have sent their encouragement and positive intents over the years, and yes I get and read your emails of support as well as “cosmic emails”!

And dear clients and friends, talking of "cosmic emails", I must confess, you may well have been the subject of my bathroom contemplation – it’s in the bathroom that I can be most quiet and "empty" (excuse the pun!) – that I am most able to send you my healing intention from an “emptied” space… <grin>

And coming back to the theme for our opening party - “healing intention”.... I recommend a book called "The Intention Experiment" by Lynn McTaggart, where she gives fascinating accounts of how intention works in real life, according to cutting edge studies by scientists done in this area.  She reported that both positive and negative intentions affect observable events.  And the more powerful intentions seem to be specific ones or intention for the highest purpose.  From my experience and observation, the higher purpose may often have something better than what we can even imagine...

May I invite you to consider where you want to send your healing intention?  Maybe it’s a specific group or community in the world, some people in your life, or simply healing of the world to the highest purpose?  I think we can agree the world can use a lot of healing...perhaps more so than ever!  As a group when we unite we can magnify our power of intention.

Here’s mine: “May all be at peace and healed, in perfect timing and manner, to the highest intention”

And of course healing starts from ourselves being healed, and it's a process not a destination. 

I hope you will be inspired to generate and send your healing intention often…whether you take on sending it from the bathroom like me is your choice… <smile>

On this special day when I and my company turn a new chapter, I declare that we are all ready to strive as a business, and to attract the best people who are committed and share our core values to work with us, and customers who appreciate what we've got to offer.  And we will keep getting better with running a profitable and sustainable business with integrity and compassion, and in fact, to me, that is the ONLY way to go, for our shared future.   

Without your continued support we won't be able to do it.  Thank you again!