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January/February 2008 NW Newsmakers
NW Newsmakers

Contact Talk Radio Goes High Frequency

Contact Talk Radio Network, a successful conscious internet talk station based in Redmond, has added hybrid digital (HD) FM radio to their listening repertoire.

Starting Feb. 1, Contact Talk Radio and its entire program line-up can be heard in the greater Seattle area on 106.9 FM HD3.

With its crystal clear sound, HD is the new wave of radio listening. Whether you're in your car, home or at the office, HD sound systems are selling fast at audio and stereo stores around town.

HD is free to its listeners and Contact Talk Radio remains steadfast that the information its hosts deliver should be available to all.

"The more everyone has access to this information, the faster we will see the positive shifts in our selves, our neighbors and our world. This is what we all are striving to achieve," says Cameron Steele, who created Contact Talk Radio with his partner, Davindia Steele.

Contact Talk Radio is leading the way for more positive talk radio without the interruptions of news or sports. Contact Talk Radio's fun, mind-expanding and empowering conversations can be heard now at www.contacttalkradio.com.

Saving the Rain Forest

Save Your World, a Portland-based organic personal care product company, has saved 120,000 acres of rainforest from logging and other destructive development for one year in Guyana, South America.

The company, whose green business model is "one product equals one acre of rainforest saved for one year," is helping to save the rainforest through a unique and innovative leasing program.

Through contributions and product sales, Save Your Worldhelps pay the annual royalties and fees required to maintain Conservation International's agreement with the Guyana Forestry Commission to protect the rainforest in its pristine state. Save Your World's goal is to help preserve 200,000 acres of Guyana rainforest through this renewable 30-year agreement - a conservation concession rather than a timber concession.

"Save Your World is committed to protecting our world's natural resources," says Scott Cecil, president of Save Your World. "We believe that people can live in harmony with nature, and it's important to protect areas rich in plant and animal biodiversity for future generations."

The South American rainforest project is on the world's oldest geological rock formation and is one of the richest areas for plant and animal biodiversity. Rainforests contain about half of the planet's plant and animal species, and harbor approximately 70 percent of the plants identified by the U.S. National Cancer Institute as having anti-cancer characteristics.

Visit www.saveyourworld.com.

Turning Waiting Rooms into Meditating Rooms

Waiting rooms in the Pacific Northwest are turning into meditating rooms as part of the Don't Wait - Meditate pledge at www.meditationchallenge.com. And waiting rooms across the country are joining this challenge to just say om.

"The goal of the meditation challenge is to help 100,000 people develop the habit of meditation," says Lisa Hepner, an Oregon author and meditation teacher. "The biggest obstacle people face in developing a regular meditation practice is time. People say they don't have enough time to learn to meditate or even to incorporate it into their daily schedule. Yet these are the same people that would benefit the most from meditation."

The average American spends 42 to 60 minutes a day waiting. We wait for doctor's appointments or meetings. We wait on hold on the telephone and for computer programs to download. We wait in line at grocery stores and banks, and we wait in traffic.

Hepner has come up with a way to help people cultivate the habit of meditation without taking time out of their current schedule.

The Don't Wait-Meditate pledge invites people to convert waiting time into meditating time. When people sign the official pledge at www.meditationchallenge.com, they receive free podcasts explaining different meditation techniques they can use while waiting.

Hepner has approached holistic health centers across the country to participate in the meditation challenge by converting their waiting rooms into meditating rooms. In Portland, Nature Cure's Clinic and Willow Wood Cottage are a part of the program, and clients at Zoe Lotus Healing Arts in Seattle say om while waiting. Participating health practitioners and clinics receive flyers with meditation tips to distribute in their waiting rooms.

Hepner has found that turning waiting time into meditating time creates immediate, beneficial results.

"I believe that meditating before appointments will also increase responsiveness to treatment," says Hepner.

Weight Management Made Easy

If your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, emotional freedom techniques (EFT) may be the key to controlling your cravings.

Reset your weight clock by attending Weight Management with EFT, a four-part series of 90-minute workshops taught by April Rubino at The Orchard Studio in Moscow, Idaho.

EFT uses acupressure tapping and guided mental focus to address problems ranging from emotional distress to physical pain to sub-optimal body weight or sports performance. In clinical use, it averages a 90 percent success rate.

In the weight management workshop series, learn the basics of EFT and apply these techniques to dissolve roadblocks to achieving and maintaining your optimal weight.

The class runs from Jan. 10 to Feb. 28 for $100. Register at www.integrativemindworks.com. Want to lose weight by phone? Rubino also offers phone sessions at (208) 882-8159.