Mexican Food – Low Cost, Low Calorie Nacho-Grande

The key here is a cooking “hack” to reduce fat and carbs but maintain the taste, texture and “pig out” experience, all without the guilt.

Ingredients:
• Canned Pinto Beans or (pre-made and frozen)
• Tomato paste
• Water
• Olive Oil
• Onion powder
• Garlic (Fresh
• Salt or Vegit brand low-sodium seasoning
• Grated Soy cheese or any low fat cheese.
• jalapeño Peppers (bottles or home-made – jalapeño, sliced and plced in vinegar and a little salt).
• Low carb Tortilla (Available at Trader Joes)
• Avocado
• Low fat, or non-fat sour cream

The Recipe

1. Take a ½ cup of beans and mash by hand or put them in a food processor with enough water to blend smooth.
2. Add onion powder, garlic and 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil and salt or Vegit to taste.
3. Mix tomato paste with water, garlic, onion powder, and salt.
4. Spread beans on the tortilla
5. Spread tomato sauce on beans
6. Spread cheese sauce
7. Place jalapeño peppers on top
8. Place it all in the microwave.

Add sour cream and sliced avocado
If you want to make the tortilla crunchy put it on hot cash iron grill for 30 seconds or just fold it over.

This is a low cost high protein, whole grain, highly nutritious hack.

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Get 100s of Lifehack tips, shortcuts and strategies in my new Ebook.
http://www.realuguru.com/products/ebooks/how-to-hack-your-life-through-game-thinking/

Lewis Harrison – The Lifehack Guru, is a writer, mentor, success and wealth coach, content-rich, motivational speaker, and an entrepreneur specializing in problem solving, troubleshooting and strategizing based on game thinking, applied game theory and Game Thinking.
He is the author of over twenty-two books published in five languages including

How to Hack Your Life Through Game Thinking

Don’t forget to tune to the “Life Hack Guru Radio Show every Thursday 4-6 PM EST at WIOX 91.3 FM or on your smart device at WIOXRadio.org.
WIOX is a diverse station that broadcasts original programming including presentation from NPR, the BBC, Democracy Now etc.
If you are interested in business success in the 21st Century in the arts or in any other endeavor you need to read Lewis’ recently published business books.

You can find books on game theory, and business success here:
http://www.realuguru.com/products/printed-books/building-your-business-in-the-new-digital-reality/
http://www.realuguru.com/products/printed-books/gamification-for-business/

This course and all the offerings on http://www.RealUGuru.com focus on the application of applied game thinking, gamification, decision science, positive psychology, happiness, and visionary thinking to solve basic, complex and extreme problems. He is the creator of a free course on business success and human potential.
Here is a short interview with Lewis;

Find new hacks daily the Lifehack Guru’s Blog at http://www.TheLifeHackGuru.com

Lewis offers anti-stress hacks to meeting planners, event planners and meeting professionals through his chair massage company in NYC, http://www.eventschairmassage.com

February 9, 2017 0

Viktor Korchnoi, Muhammad Ali and Game Theory

I was thinking about the great Muhammad Ali and his passing a few months ago. Here was a brash, brilliant, beautiful man who magnified the human spirit so greatly that even those with ice water in their veins and the moral center of Darth Vader celebrated his life. Ali stood up to the “man”; those people of power and influence who step on flowers, kick dogs, and scream at little children just for the ignorant pleasure of it. These are the people that drove Lenny Bruce to his grave and have started war after war under false pretenses. Ali had a true sense of strategy and at least intuitively understood the principles of game theory.

Reading about Ali’s life I came across an article on Viktor Korchnoi, who also died last week. Who is Viktor Korchnoi you ask? He may be the greatest chess master to never win a world championship.
Why is he important? He consistently resisted the oppressive totalitarian system of the Soviet Union, not specifically as a political dissident but as an unbending contrarian in style and substance. He was consistently punished for this by being isolated and rejected by most of his peers and the Chess status quo in the Soviet Union. Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands in 1976, and later resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a Swiss citizen. Korchnoi played three World Championship matches matches against GM Anatoly Karpov losing all of them.

I was recently at a conference on futurism and the lessons of the cold war. I had done a breakout “On the breakout sessions the meeting planner had my company http://www.eventschairmassage.com offer 10 minute anti-stress massages and I got into a conversation with a Russian gentleman about Korchnoi. “A great man” he said.

Viktor Korchnoi lost the most important games of his chess career the was an oversized figure: Unlike most Soviet emigres, he got a chance to take on the Communist system in open competition, and he put up a fight that inspired many behind the Iron Curtain. It is said he had an explosive temperament and a penchant for inconvenient truths, and sports officials disliked him. Besides, like many of his peers in the star-studded Soviet chess community, he was Jewish — hardly a point in his favor in a firmly anti-Semitic system.
He often gave outspoken interviews and was banned from TV and from lecturing. In 1976, he applied for political asylum in the Netherlands.In those days, emigration was known as defection and immediately a campaign against him was launched. Most Soviet chess players — with only two or three notable exceptions — signed collective letters denouncing Korchnoi. Stripped of all his titles and, later, his Soviet citizenship, Korchnoi remained a formidable player.

To those who distrusted the Soviet system but lacked the courage or the wherewithal to leave or fight, Korchnoi was a symbol of freedom, a man who crossed the line and did not slink away from a confrontation with the machine that had used him and forced him out.
He refused to come back to Russia in 1990, after his citizenship was restored to him: life expectancy was higher in the West, he noted dryly.

Korchnoi’s “sense of contrariness,” was a source of strength again. And the system can lose, even when it wins.

Kerchnoi and Ali died within a week of each other. They played two different games and yet they really played the same game
In a world where there is always a risk of losing our personal freedoms Korchnoi is a hero.

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Lewis Harrison is a writer, content-rich, motivational speaker, and an entrepreneur specializing in game based thinking, applied game theory and Game Thinking.

Known as the RealUGuru. He is the author of over twenty-two books published in five languages. Including the business books.

Lewis
Don’t forget to tune into my Radio show Thursday 4-6-PM WIOX 91.3 FM or on your smart device at WIOXRadio.org.

If you are interested in business success in the 21st Century in the arts or in any other endeavor you need to read Lewis’ recently published business books.

You can find them here:
http://www.realuguru.com/products/printed-books/building-your-business-in-the-new-digital-reality/
http://www.realuguru.com/products/printed-books/gamification-for-business/

In addition Lewis is a seminar leader, futurist, NPR affiliated radio talk show (WIOXRadio.org) host, success and life coach and a best-selling author.
He is the creator of a web site – http://www.RealUGuru.com that focuses on the application of gamification, decision science, positive psychology, happiness, and visionary thinking to solve basic, complex and extreme problems. He is the creator of a free course on business success and human potential.
Here is a short interview with Lewis;

His company http://www.eventschairmassage.com offers Corporate chair massage to meeting planners, event planners, association meetings and trade shows. He also offers these stress management and onsite massage services in NYC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas, Greensboro, Columbus Ohio and many other cities across the United States through http://www.NoStressSpeaker.com.

November 6, 2016 0

Chair Massage, Relieving Back Pain Somatics

How does holism apply to corporate chair massage? – http://www.eventschairmassage.com – Through a theory called “kinesthetic holism.” This theory presents the idea that a structural or energetic imbalance such as we experience when we have backaches and back pain can only be understood in terms of its relation to a larger body of information. A muscular problem for instance would be connected to postural imbalances, structural factors such as heal position, one leg being shorter than the other, imbalances in meridians, emotional issues and cranial sacral imbalances.

Kinesthetic holism is fueled by the interaction of contradictory opposites which can be confusing for a massage therapist. The two schools of thought within academia that wrestle with this reality of opposites are commonly known as “Holism” and “Reductionism.”

Reductionism in massage is the most popular of theories for solving
muscular problems through formal scientific methods.
Massage reductionism presents the idea that any massage or bodywork system, no matter how complex can be understood by reducing it to its most basic units. Thus, from the reductionist perspective, the basics of massage can be found in the relationship between muscle, ligaments, tendons, bones etc and the basics of biology, which is part of most formal massage therapy training can be understood through the essential elements found through chemistry and biology. Reductionism defines much of what has come to be known as the classical scientific approach to massage.

How does the Theory of Reductionism contradict the theory of Holism?” Reductionism says that if we can understand what is basic in a system, than we can understand what is complex. Holism tells us that nothing is as it seems in a system, since that basic thing you can isolate will still be influenced by every other unit in the system.

In reductionism what you see is what you get but most massage therapists are likely to say that there is much more going on between the lines. In Holism the sum may end up being greater than the parts.

In this book we will be exploring how the contradiction between the holistic model and the reductionist model in relation to the advanced practice of massage can be reconciled. There is no need to force conciliation of these ideas. When things are logical, reductionism is the way to go, however in a world where all things are not as they seem and intuition, and right brain/left braining thinking exists, it will be a natural process for these two ideas to integrate. For the advanced massage therapist Holism and Reductionism become complementary.

Holism is really just a non-linear form of reductionism. After all, in a holistic model, you are reducing the different systems of massage to their system to its basic unit. In many cases, the most basic unit consists of more than one quality. For example In Holistic massage a human being may seem like a single unit, but we know that in fact all humans are made up of many chemicals and can also be characterized as structural, chemical, and emotional parts. He or she may seem like “one” but is actually “many.” The practical application of Holistic massage to an advanced practice is that the emotional biochemical, structural and spiritual aspect of the client must be addressed to have a successful outcome. Dealing with one of these factors and ignoring other factors will limit the success of the therapeutic process.

Lewis Harrison is a writer, content-rich, motivational speaker, and an entrepreneur specializing in game based thinking, applied game theory and Game Thinking.

Known as the RealUGuru. He is the author of over twenty-two books published in five languages. This blog is an extract from his book:
“Hands on Healing: Total health Through Massage the Shaman’s Way”
The book is available, with the author’s autograph and private notes at:

http://www.realuguru.com/products/printed-books/hands-on-healing-plus-millionaire-mindset-flash-cards/

In addition Lewis is a seminar leader, futurist, NPR affiliated radio talk show (WIOXRadio.org) host, success and life coach and a best-selling author.

He is the creator of a web site – http://www.RealUGuru.com that focuses on the application of gamification, decision science, positive psychology, happiness, and visionary thinking to solve basic, complex and extreme problems. He is the creator of a free course on business success and human potential.
Here is a short interview with Lewis;

October 26, 2016 0

What is the Limitation of Human Potential?

We all develop skills in life, learned abilities to carry out a task with pre-determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. In other words, the abilities that one possesses. Skills can often be divided into domain general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of work, some general skills would include time management, teamwork and leadership, self–motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills would be useful only for a certain job. Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used.

Still who could have imaging someone running the three minute mile, hang gliding, or an Einstein.

Through technology, the workplace is changing. It is changing so much that they have identified 16 basic skills that employees must have to be able to change with it.

^{How many more are needed to achieve our full potential?}

Often if I teach meditation workshops or speak on human potential to corporations we include chair massage as part of the program through eventschairmassage.com. This applies touch to influence the brain and stressful thought. Often we bring speakers with us from http://www.nostressspeaker.com

^{I was a conference this week speaking about innovative thinking and human}potential and someone showed

This beautiful and inspiring video.

This might make you cry on an emotional level.

You may even think “How lovely to see these challenged people doing this”.

I want to take the natural response to this video in a different direction.

Years ago I took a hypnosis class with my dear friend and mentor Zali Segal.

The question arose “What is the limit of human potential? It would seem obvious that one can’t fly just by flapping one’s arms and yet I think of people who free climb buildings, tight rope walk across canyons and then of course there is Cirque de Solel.

What is the limitation of human potential?

Damn if I know.

Enjoy this video.

http://www.superstarmagazine.com/four-dancers-walk-to-the-gym-floor-now-watch-who-joins-them-incredible/

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Click below to observe a nine minute video interview Lewis did with the Award winning journalist Phyllis Haynes on why people suffer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp4DtXpPBeM

Lewis Harrison is the author of sixteen books including

“Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times” a book of concerned with personal development, human potential, stress reduction and business excellence.

Order his book by clicking below:

http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Not-Religious-Sacred-AskLewis-com/dp/1499150547

Or type these words on your search engine subject line “spiritual not religious Harrison amazon”

You can reach him at LewisCoaches@gmail.com

Lewis Harrison is an author, teacher and practical philosopher

This discussion took place at a small conference at a NYC hotel meeting organized by an MPI certified meeting planner. There were panels on leadership, stress management and brain functions. The event was part of a conference on stress management.

Lewis was a presenter on corporate chair massage. His company – www.eventschairmassage.com –offered some stress management and corporate Chair Massage at the break-out sessions in NYC.

Lewis Harrison offers stress management programs throughout the United States. Part of this company is his corporate chair massage company, eventschairmassage.com provides seated and chair massage for stress management seminars and trainings as well to special events for meeting planners and meeting professionals in New York City, New Jersey Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Greensboro NC, Florida and other major meeting and conventions venues.

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If you are a social networker please “Friend” me, Lewis Harrison on face book “Like” my page at “https://www.facebook.com/AskLewis/” and invite others who might benefit.

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Lewis Harrison speaks to organizations and businesses of all types and offers seminars throughout the world on his work on the art and science of decision making through spiritually motivated “Game Based Thinking”

He also offers private fee based coaching programs.

Call him at 212-724-8782 for more information.

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April 10, 2016 0

Donald Trump and American Ethnic Diversity

We often take things for granted – especially ethnic diversity. I live in a very rural place. Farms, hunting, lot’s of guns. I have a very efficient congressman. He happens to be a Republican.

I have four neighbors. One is Asian, Dominican, Italian and I’m the Polish Jew.

Still I thought Queens NY was the most ethnically diverse place in America.

There is a town in Michigan that is filled with hipsters, gay-black-Christians, Non-Muslim Arabs, a Christian Mayor, and a majority Muslim Town Council; and most of the illegal aliens in town are from Eastern Europe.

Have a read. The Trump thing? Vote for someone inclusive whatever your political may be.

Whatever its flaws the United States is built on a great vision.

We need to protect that vision.

I was motivated to write this because we did a stress management program with www.eventschairmassage.com

I was amazed by the diversity of the Chair Massage workers on our team and by the ethnic and national diversity of our clients

Here is the article about the Michigan City.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/muslim-city-donald-trump-213705?utm_medium=email&utm_source=digg

Thanks for reading and sharing this post.

Lewis

Here is a video of Marion Anderson singing at the Lincoln memorial after she was banned by the DAR. Here is the back story of this as well.

The video: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marian+anderson+lincoln+memorial

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson

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His company www.eventsChairMassage.com offers chair massage services to meeting planners, event planners and incentive travel programs. Massage groups in his massage network offer services in all areas of the United States including: Chair Massage Chicago – Trade Show Massage Washington D.C. – Stress Master Massage Las Vegas – Castro District Corporate Massage San Francisco – Los Angeles Stress management Massage – and The Javits Center Chair Massage Company – Capital Chair Massage Albany NY

He also offers private fee based coaching programs.

Call him at 212-724-8782 for more information.

Stress management, How to be happy, Leadership Development, Life Coaching, Mind, motivational speaker, peak experience, Life Coaching, Coaching, Emotional health, Mental health, Chair Massage in Baltimore and Washington DC, Stress Management, events Chair Massage, Corporate Chair Massage NYC, Events Chair Massage Los Angeles, Meeting Planners Chair Massage, Party Planners Massage, Corporate Massage. The best chair massage in NYC, Human Potential Classes, Personal Development Courses, Mental health, Edward Snowden and the NSA, Anonymous, Wiki-leaks

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Click below to observe a nine minute video interview Lewis did with the Award winning journalist Phyllis Haynes on why people suffer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp4DtXpPBeM

Lewis Harrison is the author of sixteen books including

“Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times” a book of concerned with personal development, human potential, stress reduction and business excellence.

Order his book by clicking below:

http://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Not-Religious-Sacred-AskLewis-com/dp/1499150547

Or type these words on you search engine subject line “spiritual not religious Harrison amazon”

You can reach him at LewisCoaches@gmail.com

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A NOTE FROM LEWIS HARRISON ABOUT HIS FREE COURSE

I have been contacted by many people who have studied with me over the last four decades. Many have an interest in my current ideas on personal development and human potential. These notes are being organized into a series of books titled the”Teachings of Lewis Harrison” of which Volume One is “Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times.

based on the positive response to this first Volume in the series I have organized a free course from my 20,000 plus pages of notes on:

How to Make Choices, Zen, Mystic Taoism, Game Based Thinking, Quantum Thought, Holistic Medicine and Healing and other areas of interest.

If you want to receive the course just send me an e-mail toLewisCoaches@gmail.com and write “Send Me the Free Course” in the subject line. If you like it and ask for the next lesson I’ll send you another one weekly.

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If you are a social networker please “Friend” me, Lewis Harrison on face book “Like” my page at https://www.facebook.com/AskLewis/ and invite others who might benefit.

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He also offers private fee based coaching programs.

Call him at 212-724-8782 for more information.

He is president of the International Association of healing Professional –www.healingassociation.com -. This group offers coporate chair massage for events and meeting planners in all.

March 9, 2016 0

What is Gamification?

Though I do not speak about it much last year I wrote a book and Gamification and business building called “Gamification for Business”.

Most of my writing now is about spiritual issues, and conscious business practices. It is part of the retreat we do at the Royal Victorian Bed and Breakfast and Spa in Stamford NY.

I spent the last few days at a holistic/new age conference. I was surprised at how many people are still using marketing models from the 1970s to promote their products.
There were multilevel marketers, psychics, chair massage therapists, stress management consultants and such. They all seemed to be struggling to get clients.
They need gamification!

Any businessperson can learn to use gamification; a combination of basic systems theory, decision science, positive psychology, motivational and inspirational tools and intuition to create, build, sustain and expand a successful business
The concept of gamification is inspired by what is called “game theory.” Game Theory is a discipline founded by John Von Neumann, a Hungarian-born American mathematician, scientific Renaissance man and polymath. Game Theory describes mathematical concepts (systems) that were designed to explain why and how individuals and organizations strategize, i.e. make decisions when one person (or more than one other person) might also affect the outcome of the decision. It is much more than just incentives, badges, and such.
I took John Von Neumann’s original concept, tweaked it a bit, and applied it to other disciplines to create Lewis Harrison’s Applied Game Theory (LHAGT), an approach that merges classic game theory, behavioral sociology with what is now called gamification. I then took this work and created a private executive and business coaching company and began offering private seminars to entrepreneurs who expressed an interest in my ideas. I have taken the elements from these seminars, and from them created this book. It is designed to help you maximize your business success at the lowest possible cost while serving the customer and the team members of your business.

The Greek philosopher Socrates stated that, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I would rewrite this to say “The unexamined business is not worth having.”
If you are looking to take you business to the next level, if you are one of those individuals that is always asking questions, reading books on business success, and exploring personal development as a personal passion, then this book is for you.

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Click below to observe a nine minute video interview Lewis did with the Award winning journalist Phyllis Haynes on why people suffer:

Lewis Harrison is the author of sixteen books including
“Spiritual, Not Religious: Sacred Tools for Modern Times” a book of concerned with personal development, human potential, stress reduction and business excellence.

Order his book by clicking below:

Or type these words on you search engine subject line “spiritual not religious Harrison amazon”

You can reach him at LewisCoaches@gmail.com

Lewis Harrison offers stress management programs throughout the United States. Part of this company is his corporate chair massage company, eventschairmassage.com provides seated and chair massage for stress management seminars and trainings as well to special events for meeting planners and meeting professionals in New York City, New Jersey Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Greensboro NC, Florida and other major meeting and conventions venues.

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If you are a social networker please “Friend” me, Lewis Harrison on face book “Like” my page at “https://www.facebook.com/AskLewis/” and invite others who might benefit.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Lewis Harrison speaks to organizations and businesses of all types and offers seminars throughout the world on his work on the art and science of decision making through spiritually motivated “Game Based Thinking”

He also offers private fee based coaching programs.
Call him at 212-724-8782 for more information.

Angeles, Meeting Planners Chair Massage, Party Planners Massage, Corporate Massage. The best chair massage in NYC, Human Potential Classes, Personal development Courses, Mental health
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February 1, 2016 0

Creating a Life Mission Through Compassion

Source: Creating a Life Mission Through Compassion

January 31, 2016 0

What is Zen?

Many people ask me to define zen. Zen is a practice that deals with the concept of total self knowledge –enlightenment – through intuitive processes that arise during meditation, and the application of spiritual wisdom in daily life.

Zen defies definition. It is a philosophy of non-philosophy, an intellectually guided practice of anti-intellectualism, and the un-measurable science of non-being. The practice of Zen is the pursuit of various techniques, chiefly zazen meditation and the study of kōan-riddles, which are designed to confound the logical, rational mind in order to trigger or shock the mind into experiencing states of enlightened awareness.

It is the art and science of complete transformation.

Often if I teach meditation workshops or speak on motivation to corporations we include chair massage as part of the program. This applies touch to influence the brain and stressful thought.

I always tell my clients: “Remember, one door to realization is surrendering regret and ignoring expectation.

It is rooted in the most profound elements of intuition and life itself, and the facts of unfettered experience. It transcends the dogmas of traditional religious rites and rituals and focuses on cutting through the veil of the unfocused mind to the core, inherent nature of man.

Many Westerners are confused by Zen for they assume it is a religion but this is not so. According to the greatly respected Zen Master D.T. Suzuki “It is not a religion in the sense that the term is popularly understood; for Zen has no God to worship, no ceremonial rites to observe, no future abode to which the dead are destined, and, last of all, Zen has no soul whose welfare is to be looked after by somebody else and whose immortality is a matter of intense concern with some people. Zen is free from all these dogmatic and “religious” encumbrances. …”

The attraction of Zen to the spiritual seeker is because it is chiefly concerned with the concept of ‘being’. In the West “Being” has usually been the concern of science. “Being” meaning the scientific, mathematical process of defining and measuring the tangible world around us in order to create a universal model of reality.

Zen is born out the eastern idea of ‘non- being’, which is best understood as a world-view that negates absolute definitions, and eschews attachment to the world of measurement and form in favor of a practice of non-attachment. It is a pure experience of the world than is expressed often through different systems of philosophy, ethics and esthetics in the eastern world.

There is no simple answer to what Zen is? What is known is that its practice leads to a state of knowing that is authentic, unfettered, and expresses one’s actualization. In this state of awareness one has less stress, less anxiety, less greed, and less concern for the mistakes of the past or expectations for the future.

A Thought from the Taoist Sage Chuang Tsu

“Calm represents the nature of water at its best. In that it may serve as our model, for its power is preserved and is not dispersed through agitation.”

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Click below to observe a nine minute video interview Lewis did with the Award winning journalist Phyllis Haynes on why people suffer:

Order his book by clicking below:

Or type these words on you search engine subject line “spiritual not religious Harrison amazon”

You can reach him at LewisCoaches@gmail.com

He also offers private fee based coaching programs.
Call him at 212-724-8782 for more information.

January 30, 2016 0

Recent pain studies show urgent need for alternative treatments

A systematic review published in BMJ Open in December found that surgeries performed for chronic pain conditions were no better than placebo. A December Center for Disease Control (CDC) report found that overdose deaths from opioids continue to escalate rapidly. Opioid abuse deaths now exceed deaths from motor vehicle crashes. More than half a million have died from opioid overdose since 2000. Last July, the FDA strengthened its warning about heart attack and stroke risk from all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs except aspirin, warning against long term use. A 2013 meta-analysis found that spinal steroid injections offered no additional benefit over saline injections. In 2014 the FDA issued a warning that steroid injections into the spine can “result in rare but serious adverse events, including loss of vision, stroke, paralysis, and death. . . . The effectiveness and safety of the drugs for this use have not been established, and the FDA has not approved corticosteroids for such use.”

Clearly, the 116 million Americans who suffer from chronic pain need access to more effective, safer treatments. So why is it that health insurance companies continue to restrict coverage for safer and more effective pain treatments such as chiropractic, biofeedback, acupuncture, physical therapy, exercise programs, psychotherapy, nutritional counseling, low level laser therapy, interdisciplinary pain programs and other proven therapies? Insurance companies do this by various means, including restricting the number of visits in the contract, subjecting such care to pre-authorization and medical necessity reviews which deny care, freezing fees to treatment providers at 35 year old levels or refusing to cover treatment at all.
There ought to be a law, and I am proposing one: the Pain Treatment Parity Act. Its provisions include:

1. All pain treatments with some credible evidence of effectiveness must be covered when provided by a licensed or certified provider. This includes any treatments with at least one well-designed randomized, controlled trial showing a significant benefit from the therapy and a good safety profile or any other reasonable evidence of safety and effectiveness. Therapies that currently meet this standard, include chiropractic, physical and occupational therapy, acupuncture, biofeedback, massage therapy, homeopathy, nutritional counseling and supplements, herbal therapy, psychotherapy, energy medicine therapy, supervised exercise programs, and multidisciplinary interventions, including coordination of services.
2. There can be no restrictions on the number of treatment visits or length of treatment for nonpharmaceutical pain treatment unless there are similar restrictions on dosage or length of treatment for the preponderance of pharmaceutical treatments for pain.
3. Copays for visits to nonphysician pain treatment providers cannot exceed the copayment for primary care physician visits.
4. There cannot be a separate deductible for nonphysician pain treatment providers.
5. Preauthorization for visits to nonphysician pain treatment providers cannot be required unless preauthorization is required for the preponderance of pharmaceutical treatments for pain.
6. Medical necessity reviews cannot occur with greater frequency for non-physician pain treatment providers than for physicians who provide pharmaceutical treatment for pain.
7. Fee schedules for in-network chiropractors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and all other non-physician pain treatment providers must be increased by the same percentage as the average increase in fees for physicians for all specialties since 1980.
8. If an insurance plan has out-of-network benefits for medical and surgical treatments, it must also cover non-physician out-of-network pain care providers at the same level of reimbursement.
9. All medical schools must offer a required course in pain management that educates students about all currently available treatments and the body of evidence supporting their use.
10. All physicians who treat chronic pain patients who have not completed a course in pain management in medical school must complete a 12-hour continuing medical education course about the safety and efficacy of all currently available treatments for chronic pain.

The Pain Treatment Parity Act does not yet have state legislative or congressional sponsors or organizations that have officially endorsed it. If you can help with this, please contact the author Cindy Perlin at: cindyperlin@gmail.com.

January 13, 2016 0

Success Through Patience and Persistance

Lewis Harrison

Monday is the day when I write a blog about some extraordinary person. As you may know one of my daily “spiritual exercises” is to explore the lives of those who have changed the world through their sense of vision and their willingness to transcend extreme obstacles. I usually research three people per day; one in the morning, the afternoon and late in the evening just before I finish writing and mentoring my students for the day and go off to meditate.

Today I’m writing about Daniel Eugene “Rudy” Ruettiger.

Though I do not watch football, everyone in my small town seems to and without much struggle I can link Joseph Campbell’s idea of the hero to Rudy.

Daniel Eugene “Rudy” Ruettiger.grew up in Joliet, Illinois dreaming of playing college football at the University of Notre Dame. Though he achieved some success with his local high school team (

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January 5, 2016 0