Donate individually or as a group.

What is PAAP?

PAAP is a non-profit NGO, which trains rural African healthcare workers in basic acupuncture for the treatment of common diseases like, HIV, Malaria and TB.

Fund Goal: $2500.00 by August 1st, 2008. *Donations are tax deductible

Donations go toward:

• Training 52 Ugandan healthcare workers in sustainable, affordable and effective methods to treat or manage symptoms of HIV, Malaria and TB

• Continuing medical supplies after training

* No funds go toward airfare.

Why Acupuncture?

Benefits of the program:

• Sustainability: Acupuncture programs cost a fraction of what an average western medical program costs making it possible to implement in rural areas without hospitals or laboratories. Supplies are also much less costly than pharmaceutical drugs, therefore much more reliable and consistent.

• Reaching rural communities: Once trained, the healthcare workers are able to go back to their existing community clinics and treat patients immediately. Acupuncture is not only used for every day treatments, it also becomes an important tool to supplement their practice during medication supply droughts.

• Bridging Tradition with the West: Many villagers still resist going to western medicine because of a lack of trust. Acupuncture has proven to be a way to bridge the two worlds and create a trust. Once in the clinic, the patients can be educated and tested for STD’s and other common diseases.

This program has been incredibly successful since starting 5 years ago. Seeing the success in Uganda, neighboring countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi have also started sister PAAP projects.

To make a donation please visit: http://www.givemeaning.com/project/paap

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Pilates: Pilates builds strength and flexibility simultaneously, develops core strength, improves posture and alignment, and creates stability. These are all key components to a swing.

GYROTONIC®: Using flexibility and strength, it increases range of motion and develops coordination. Training with GYROTONIC® provides many of exercises for every part of the golf swing. Golfers at every level including PGA Tour Pros & PGA Professionals use this as a source of training.

The benefits of GYROTONIC® training for golfers include:rotational ability will increase, increased strength and flexibility will result in further drive distance, better contact and directional control of the ball, while preventing or Limiting potential injury

Yoga: To create a symmetrical golf swing, both sides of the body need to be balanced. We are often predominantly stronger and or tighter on one side of the body. Yoga can help to restore, open and regain alignment. In addition, using breath and awareness, yoga is an effective way to increase and maintain focus.

Acupuncture: While this ancient technique has many benefits, we find that regular acupuncture helps to relax the mind and builds clarity, which definitely comes in handy in a frustrating golf game!

Acupuncture also proves very beneficial in treating those acute and chronic injuries which may be holding you back from optimal performance in your golf game.

If you have any questions, or want to find out more, please post a reply below. Wendy Eyton, CYT, Co-owner The Space

Welcome to my first ever blog about ‘animal totems’. If you do not know what this means, that is understandable as we city dwellers tend to live in a world that is highly disconnected from nature. Urban sprawls and nature shrinks more everyday. It is my goal to bring nature back into our hearts and our every day lives.

Following your animal totems means paying attention to what animals are showing up in your daily life and following their ‘medicines’. Each animal carries with it it’s own special words of wisdom or advise based on how it exists on our earth.

For example, squirrels can teach us about activity and preparing for the future. Ravens are all about magic and are symbols of both creation and spiritual strength. They can teach us how to be playful and amorous. Eagle is all about creativity and a willingness to seek out our true emotional aspects. Eagle can teach us how to soar in our own lives. Personal sightings or even feelings of affiliation towards different animals can be clues from the universe as to what you may need to either take on or get rid of in your own life in order to feel good.

Spring often brings with it a cleaning and purging of what is no longer needed. The animals we see most often during spring reflect this accordingly.
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Depression has affected people for thousands of years, but with today’s pace and increasing demands at work, school and home, this treatable disease is being diagnosed more and more frequently in western medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) offers another view and approach to managing stress and depression. Aside from the staples of current treatments like counseling, group support - whether friends, family, or peers - and medication if clinically necessary, TCM offers an additional set of diagnostic and treatment methodologies and a new way of looking at what is going on inside our complicated bodies and minds.

Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at the body, mind and spirit as one interconnected being. An imbalance in one organ can manifest or present itself through a change in mood, just as a strain to the emotions can affect the function of our vital organs. It might be helpful to think of the “butterflies” that flurry in your stomach and the sudden loss of appetite you feel when something makes you nervous.

So if everything is connected, what can we do to help lift our mood and ease our tension? (more…)

Forget New Year as a time for resolutions, spring is the time to start fresh and try new things.Naturally in spring we begin to become more active, we sleep fewer hours, we tend to eat less than in winter and we start to shed our emotional baggage. Spring is a time of rapid changes, like a shoot bursting from a seed planted deep in the earth. This time can bring about a burst of energy and emotions, or these changes can be exhausting if we have not rested enough through the winter.

The organ related to spring in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the Liver. Emotions which may arise in spring and which are related to the liver are: frustration, agitation and anger. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you notice you are a little less patient than usual, to a certain extent, this is normal.

So what can we do to help this time of renewal and rejuvenation? (more…)