By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:56 PM on 1st February 2012

The high school principal accused of using hypnosis on students who then committed suicide will avoid jail time in return for a plea deal.

As part of a deal with Sarasota County prosecutors, 52-year-old George Kenney pleaded no contest to practicing therapeutic hypnosis without a license. He was sentenced to one year of probation.

Officials say Kenney hypnotized two North Port High students before the two, independently of one another, committed suicide last year.

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Alternative methods: Dr George Kenney, 52, avoided a year in jail through a plea deal after being charged with practicing therapeutic hypnosis without a license at North Port High School, Florida

He also hypnotized 75 other students, teachers and their families in private sessions at the school.

Officials say Kenney had been warned by his boss to stop using such one-on-one hypnosis with students.

Kenney’s attorney has said that the principal’s supervisor only expressed concern and never gave him a written directive to stop the hypnosis.

Kenney is currently on administrative duty not at the school. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that Kenney applied for retirement in December.

Kenney came under the spotlight after student Wesley McKinley, 16, was found dead in an abandoned house from a suspected drugs overdose in April 2011. The day before he killed himselfhe underwent a hypnosis session with Mr Kenney.

Tragic deaths: Wesley McKinley, 16, (left) and Brittany Palumbo, 17, committed suicide after being hypnotised by George Kenney at their school

Loss of life: An investigation was launched into the high school principal’s hypnotism sessions after Marcus Freeman (pictured left with his girlfriend) died in a car crash last March following treatment

An investigation by officials following the April suicide of of Wesleyuncovered other students who had come under the principal’s influence.

Kenney admitted to having hypnotized 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo five months before she killed herself on May 4 last year.

He also held hypnosis sessions with 16-year-old Marcus Freeman six days before he died in a car wreck on March 15. All three were students at his school.

A report was filed by school chiefs last June who found that Kenney had lied to officials about hypnosis sessions and defied three separate orders to stop the practice.

He first told police he never hypnotized Miss Palumbo but later admitted he had lied.

A teacher at the school, Linda Thornton, 68, was also killed in a car wreck while driving to work in November 2010. It is not known whether she was hypnotized by Kenney.

Kenney has claimed the students were happy to be hypnotized as it helped them concentrate in class. Many had been taking part in competitive sports and he said the hypnosis helped them focus.

In defence: Students including (l-r) Kallie Dremann, Eric Williams and Josh Lang have all been hypnotised by their former principal Dr Kenney

Private sessions: Dr Kenney is said to have hypnotised 75 pupils, teachers and members of their families at North Port High School in Florida

Many pupils at North Port High School have come out to defend Dr Kenney and Facebook groups have been set up called ‘Bring Back Dr Kenney’ and ‘Students in Support of Dr George Kenney’.

One former student Eric Williams, 20, was the first person Dr Kenney ever hypnotized. He told Good Morning America that his SAT scores ‘went up 500 points after the hypnosis’.

When asked about her fellow students’ deaths, another former pupil Kallie Dremann added: ‘They are just trying to pick someone to blame it on.’

He has published a number of audio CDs which are sold on Amazon. One uses hypnosis to help defeat anxiety while others focus on sports – baseball pitching and batting along with improving basketball throws.

Kenney became a certified hypnotist after attending the Omni Hypnosis Training Centre in Deland, Florida.

On the market: Dr George Kenney sells hypnosis audio CDs on Amazon

An investigation had revealed that Wesley McKinley, who had showed no outward sign of depression, got his mother’s signed approval to take part in the session with his high school principal.

But his parents later said they had a ‘ton of questions’ and wondered if the hypnosis had played a part in their son’s decision to take his own life.

According to ABC, private investigators hired by the school district interviewed Kenney, who has been at the Florida school for a decade, over the allegations.

The reported stated that the principal said he felt terrible about ‘putting his school and his students through something that they didn’t need or deserve to have to endure on top of all the tragedy they already have experienced” and started to cry.

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Article Sources: Principal Dr George Kenney who hypnotised students avoids jail time by plea deal

Photos by Louisa Ainsworth

Imagine a scene where nine people sit in silence together with a common purpose. The group is assembled around a polished table in a dimly lit room hidden at the back of the Union. It may sound like a secret society meeting, or perhaps a scene from The Da Vinci Code. In reality, it’s a typical student Transcendental Meditation (TM) group meeting.

Alan Sedghi started the TM group after he went to a lecture on campus about Transcendental Meditation.  Sedghi came back excited to tell his roommates all about what he learned.  Together, Rahul Bonnerjee and Zack Durham learned this type of mediation with Sedghi.

Shortly after the lecture, Alan, Rahul and Zack applied for grants through the David Lynch Foundation  to educate themselves about Transcendental Meditation at a reduced cost. This foundation provides money to help students continue their learning and provide them with a teacher for life. On a larger scale, the foundation works to allow individuals to practice this stress-reducing type of mediation and to research the effects of this program on issues such as academic achievement, depression, anxiety, diabetes and learning disorders.

One of the founders of the TM group, Rahul Bonnerjee explained “Humans think about 50,000 thoughts a day, so mediation is useful to slow down the brain. When an individual thinks a specific thought, a certain neuron is fired, and therefore a lobe of the brain is activated. During mediation, all of the lobes are connected and the neurons fire together.”

All three founders stress how Transcendental Meditation does not require any beliefs whatsoever and is easy for anyone to do. They emphasize that it isn’t about concentration or contemplation, but the ability to get to a state of pure consciousness. All of the founders agree that this is a type of mediation you can do either alone or in a group. “My favorite part is having everyone come together to meditate, the more people we have meditating in a group, the more powerful it is for everyone,” says Alan Sedghi.

To realistically accommodate busy student schedules, the TM group gathers to practice meditation twice a week for twenty minute sessions. Even though most members have taken a TM class outside of the University to perfect their technique, anyone is welcome to attend group meetings. At a TM group meeting, you can’t help feeling refreshed by gathering with a group  just to sit and be silent. (How many times does that happen in the life of a student? Not studying, not talking, but simply sitting with others.) Even if you don’t know the specifics of the TM mind calming technique, the atmosphere in the room is conducive to all meditation methods.

In traditional Transcendental Meditation, a person repeats a mantra, or nonsensical syllables, over and over in their head. The mantra gets softer and softer over time until the meditator moves away from concrete thoughts towards “pure consciousness,” a place where the mind is silent.

After the meditation, everyone takes a few minutes to stretch stiff limbs and transition back to the sensory world. The brief twenty minutes of TM gives the group an energy boost, which, according to studies, is equivalent to six hours of quality sleep. Everyone seems a little more centered and motivated after the meditation, experienced TM students and new members alike.

The Transcendental Meditation Group is not a secret society, and in fact,  always welcomes new members. If you are interested contact Alan Sedghi at for more information. They meet regularly on Mondays at either five or six in the evening each week and on Thursdays evenings at five, Michigan time. Join the TM group mailing list for updates on their schedule.

Article Sources: Transcending Your Average Afternoon – LEAD Magazine

When graduate student Sahin Yetis decided to come to America to get his Master’s degree in Spanish, he chose Fresno State. Yetis, a Turkish citizen, worked with an educational advisor company that gave him a list of universities in California. Yetis found Fresno State to be the best choice.

“Whenever I asked a question, I got a detailed answer,” Yetis said. “The other universities I applied to, I was having difficulties because I was getting replies two weeks later and the price was more affordable than the other places I looked, even more affordable than Sacramento State.”

Fresno State President John Welty called the 35-percent increase in international applications one of several positive achievements at his Spring Assembly address in January. Welty added that the university is making progress in achieving the goal of diversifying and internationalizing the campus.

There are 360 international students currently at Fresno State, according to the spring census. However, Provost William Covino said there would be an emphasis to attract more students from the lucrative international market.

International students pay higher fees, thus making them especially valuable to the cash-strapped university. Despite the higher fees, international business major Joseline Soto points out that Fresno State is one of the most affordable schools for international students like herself coming to California.

Soto said compared to other universities, Fresno State was the cheapest.

“That makes it really good for me,” Soto said.

International students must obtain an F-1 student visa in order to study in the United States. The International Student Services and Programs office (ISP) helps with visas and all things international students may need while attending the university. The office ensures international students have the best possible experience at Fresno State.

“When they first come to the campus there is a special orientation with special workshops for them to help them get used to the campus and living in the U.S.,” Melissa Perez, office manager at ISP, said.

“We come from different backgrounds, different countries, different cultures,” Soto said. “We have to get used to the language at first. Then when you get familiar it’s easier for you and you get to know more people. It’s a nice experience because you gain independence.”

After the semester starts, ISP serves as a home base where students can get advice and direction. There are also weekly events throughout the semester. Two of the events include International Coffee Hour, held every Tuesday, and International Cultural Night, which features a different country each week.

The ISP also provides international students with a special commencement ceremony upon graduation. The smaller ceremony and intimate reception for family and friends affords international students with their own sense of achievement. They may also participate in their department commencement and the large main commencement ceremonies.

Soto thinks ISP has made her transition to the United States more successful.

“The program is really good,” Soto said. “You get together with a lot of people and you get to know a lot of people.”

Article Sources: The Collegian » Fresno State pushes for international students

Despite its horrible side effects, people can’t resist the enticement to light up a stick and become a human chimney. Try health: smoking induces lung and mouth cancers. Try vanity: Smoking darkens your mouth and makes your breath stink. Try relationships: With its negative side-effects, smoking can make you less kissable and less desirable. But none of these warnings ever worked.

After all these forethoughts have failed, take the persuasion to the next level. This time, imagine yourself in a greener world, where you can take a breather in the fresh crisp air and feel your lungs broaden under your chest. Feel the warm embraces of your family and loved ones as you blissfully live your life, without a single cigarette to light. What are we trying to accomplish here? A successful graduation from the smoking addiction through hypnotherapy.

In 2007, the American College Of Chest Physicians gave a report about how hospitalised patients who smoke were more likely to stop smoking after attending hypnotherapy sessions than applying other smoke cessation methods.

The report, reissued with permission by the online digest Science Daily, indicated that patients applying hypnotherapy presented ampler disposition to cease smoking at six months, compared to patients involved in NRT or Nicotine Replacement Therapy or those who just awaken up one day and sound out they’re up smoking.

Dr. Faysal Hasan, MD, FCCP of Salem MA-based North Shore Medical Centre, reported of the detected effectivity of hypnotherapy in helping patients to stop smoking. Dr. Hasan expressed confidence hypnotherapy will be included as one of the methods to aid patients who desire to give up smoking after being released from hospital confinement.

Aside from Dr. Hasan, Dr. Alvin Thomas, MD, FCCP, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, welcomed the effects of the experiment involving hypnotherapy and smoking cessation. Dr. Thomas expressed that as medical professionals, they are constantly caring after the well-being of patients suffering from smoking addiction by means of finding more effective means to help patients give up. Dr. Thomas welcomes hypnotherapy with utmost enthusiasm and hopes that it will soon be accepted into the multiple approaches towards breaking smoking addiction.

Click for further information on panic anxiety or panic attacks.. This article, Better Living Through Hypnotherapy has free reprint rights.

Article Sources: Better Living Through Hypnotherapy

LOS ANGELES — Most Americans know of the so-called Zapruder film of the JFK assassination — the one and only visual recording of the killing of an American president.

Less known is another controversial recording — this one an audio tape — of the other Kennedy assassination, the president’s younger brother.

It is the one and only sound tape of the RFK murder in 1968. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot in a Los Angeles hotel while making his own bid for the White House five years after President John F. Kennedy’s murder.

That long-forgotten sound recording, which was uncovered by a CNN International senior writer and highlighted in a CNN BackStory segment in 2009, is now at the heart of an ongoing court effort by convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan to win a new trial or freedom.

In their first in-depth court filing, prosecutors this month addressed the existence of the tape and a controversial analysis of it by an audio expert: the sounds of 13 shots can be counted on the tape, even though there were eight bullets in Sirhan’s gun, which he had no opportunity to reload.

So, was there a second gunman involved in RFK’s assassination?

Just as the Zapruder film raised questions in some theorists’ minds about whether a second gunman was involved in JFK’s death, the audio tape is being used as evidence in Sirhan’s new legal effort to assert a second assassin was involved in RFK’s murder.

In documents filed this month in federal court, California Attorney General Kamala Harris acknowledged the existence of the recording of the RFK shooting made by freelance reporter Stanislaw Pruszynski, who was covering Kennedy’s campaign and was 40 feet away from the hotel kitchen pantry shooting.

Acoustic expert Philip Van Praag, featured in the CNN BackStory program, said his analysis of the tape concluded that at least 13 shots were fired.

That meant a second gun had to be involved, according to his analysis.

In her overall legal argument, Harris dismissed the second-gun assertion, citing “debunking” evidence.

But California’s top prosecutor was finally forced to engage the second-gun analysis, and that legal development marked a new chapter in one of America’s great political tragedies — RFK’s death — and the case of the man convicted of his assassination, according to Sirhan’s attorneys.

Prosecutors’ engagement of the second-gun argument was stated clearly in court papers, when the California attorney general said about Sirhan’s petition: “Petitioner at most has shown that, according to Van Praag, two guns could be heard firing thirteen shots in an audiotape of the shooting.”

At another point, Harris stated: “The mere possibility that more than one firearm was discharged during the assassination does not dismantle the prosecution’s case.”

William F. Pepper, a New York attorney now representing Sirhan, said this month’s court filing raised public “recognition” of a second gunman now being advanced by Sirhan and his attorneys.

Mindful of a nation’s pain surrounding the Kennedy assassinations, Pepper is careful to note he was a political supporter of RFK in the 1960s. He adds that in 1999, he represented Rev. Martin Luther King’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit concerning King’s April 4, 1968, murder and successfully persuaded a Memphis, Tennessee, jury to find Lloyd Jowers responsible as an accomplice in the King assassination.

Pepper believes Sirhan was hypno-programmed to be a diversion gunman for the real assassin in RFK’s murder.

“What is of interest is that there now seems to be more recognition of the fact that there was a second shooter, well positioned to put three bullets into the Senator from close powder burn range behind him, whilst Sirhan was always some distance in front of him,” Pepper said in an e-mail to CNN.

Sirhan’s insistence on the presence of a second gunman is highly controversial — and it is questioned by such legal experts as Robert Shapiro, the defense attorney who gained prominence for successfully defending O.J. Simpson in the 1990s.

In fact, when Shapiro was in his last year of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1968, he was at the Ambassador Hotel where RFK was shot. Shapiro had just heard Kennedy’s speech after winning the California primary for the Democratic presidential nomination, but Shapiro said he was in a room next to pantry where Kennedy was fatally wounded and Shapiro only heard, not saw, the gunfire, he said.

“So let’s say that there was a second gun. Does that relieve him of any responsibility?” Shapiro said. “Even if there is a second, third or fourth gun, it’s irrelevant to his claim that he’s not responsible.”

Shapiro remembers the night of RFK’s assassination as “horrifying and one that you’ll never forget.”

“That’s like 44 years ago. Unbelievable. I remember it vividly,” Shapiro said. “I think about it now when I go by there and see a school being built there,” on the site of the old Ambassador Hotel, he stated.

“It’s interesting, but conspiracy theories will come out on every single case imaginable,” he added.

Shapiro isn’t a party in the latest court action.

In rebutting Sirhan’s contentions, Attorney General Harris criticizes the method of analysis used by acoustic expert Van Praag.

“As reflected in Van Praag’s declaration, his conclusions depend on numerous assumptions he made in recreating the shooting, such as the location of Pruszynski’s recorder, the make and model of the ‘second’ gun, the location of this second gun during the shooting, and the number of shots fired by petitioner before he was grabbed by others,” Harris wrote in court papers.

“Moreover, Van Praag’s tests necessarily involved his own personal interpretation of whether impulse sounds in the recording were actually gunshots. In turn, there is no dispute herein that Van Praag’s interpretation or opinion about the number of shots and firearms is not universally accepted by acoustics experts and that the opinions of qualified experts are available to rebut or challenge Van Praag’s controversial opinions,” Harris said.

Harris said that even if it could be proven “that a second gunman successfully shot Senator Kennedy, (Sirhan) would still be guilty of the charged crimes” under California law.

Countering that, Sirhan’s defense argues he was hypno-programmed to be the diversion, and that is based on a psychological examination by Daniel Brown, an associate clinical professor in psychology at Harvard Medical School who has interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours over three years, Pepper said.

“The inescapable conclusion was that Sirhan was subject to hypno-programming which involved the use of drugs and hypnosis,” Pepper said in an e-mail. “Consequently, he was not in control of his actions on that night and cannot be legally responsible for them.

“I mention, as well, that Dan Brown’s conclusion was precisely the same as that of Dr. (Edward) Simon-Kallas, who extensively examined and worked with Sirhan when he was in prison right after the trial,” Pepper said.

Simon-Kallas was a prison psychologist, according to court papers.

“That these techniques were developed and used by the CIA over a 50-year period was also well documented, in our brief, by Professor Alan Scheflin, the leading expert on these practices,” Pepper wrote to CNN. Scheflin, of the Santa Clara University School of Law, is an expert in the field of mind and behavior control.

Because Sirhan was under the mind control of conspirators, he wasn’t legally responsible for his actions, and he should be freed or given a new trial, his attorneys contend.

Attorney General Harris, however, said the psychological evaluation of Sirhan is undermined by a failure to provide “any concrete evidence…about when, where, and how (Sirhan) was programmed, about the identity of the ‘malevolent hypnotist,’ or about how the hypnotist happened to find (Sirhan) as his or her ideal subject for mind control.

“Without any independent evidence that (Sirhan) was actually hypno-programmed against his will to write about his intention to kill Senator Kennedy, to plan the murder, and to shoot Senator Kennedy on June 5, 1968, Brown’s opinions about the possibility of mind control are insufficient evidence of actual innocence,” Harris wrote.

Sirhan and his attorney have until February 22 to file in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles their response to the attorney general, Pepper said.

Article Sources: 2nd Gunman in RFK’s Assassination?

• If a picture might paint a thousand words, the recent picture of our Taoiseach being patted on the head by Nicolas Sarkozy speaks volumes, at least in respect of how we stand in Europe.

Apparently the days of proud statesmen like Lemass and De Valera are no more. This is perhaps the saddest reality of all, for arguably the greatest need in Ireland at the moment is one of leadership.

Whatever one might say of their policies, the statesmen of our past would be unlikely to be depicted in a manner that would cause either a mammy or a people to cringe with embarrassment.

Arguably the thing Ireland’s leadership has consistently lacked for the past two decades has been leadership by example. A little bit of “do as I do” would be welcome, rather than the all too familiar and all too evangelical “do as I say”.

If image were not enough, the Taoiseach’s fingering of the ‘greed’ of Irish people as being the cause of our present economic disaster is salt in the festering wounds of our bank bailouts and unemployment.

This is of course, the front before our European paymasters and yet in a fawning address to the people of Ireland we were assured by Mr Kenny that this crisis was “not of their making”.

In Davos, the Taoiseach stated: “The extent of personal credit, personal wealth created on credit, was done between people and banks — a system that spawned greed to a point where it just went out of control completely with a spectacular crash.”

If our Taoiseach wishes to refer to the greed of the people, he should be willing to define what he means.

Surely the families who were desperate to buy a home during the boom and borrowed to buy a gardenless box in a high-density urban development that is now worth a mere fraction of its cost are not being described as greedy?

It was our largely unchanged political system that provided zero regulation to bankers. It was Government that allowed private individuals to amass debts and loans of inconceivable “billions”. It was the Government that actively encouraged corporate greed to rot the heart of our national economy.

Greed can be easily defined as ‘taking more than one needs’ and in this sense we are all greedy.

If the Taoiseach himself is not greedy, then we must assume that he needs €200,000 per annum to live.

RTE presenters are, of course, not greedy but some of them need in the region of €750,000 per annum to live.

Many members of my own ‘ungreedy’ profession struggle on with far in excess of €500,000 per annum.

According to the Department of Social Protection, a single unemployed person needs no more than €180 per week to live. Relative to this definition of need, our Taoiseach and many more are far from swapping halos.

Dr Marcus de BrunRush, Co Dublin

Article Sources: Defining ‘greed’

The first, and scariest, step in any self-improvement program is admitting that you’re falling short of being the person you want to be, or of achieving what you want to achieve. Follow these handy tips for ideas to get you started on the self-improvement path.

Many people struggle with personal development because their goals are difficult to figure out or just too vague. Make your goals very specific. Specific goals will get specific results.

Put your core principles into practice. Everyone has basic principles by which they define themselves. If you have good reason to have these beliefs, you will feel more confident and grow your self esteem by adhering to these beliefs and principles. Maintaining your core foundation allows for consistency in life and builds good character.

Treat yourself right by respecting your body. When you body is letting you know that you need food or a drink, you need to listen! If you do this, your body will better serve you for the future. If you choose to ignore it, however, it may choose to ignore you at some point.

Focus on your internal qualities, not your external image. It makes no difference if you are the prettiest or wear the costliest designer clothes. The person you are inside is what is most important in life. Work on improving yourself as a whole person rather than superficial changes.

Take some risks to be truly happy! Most people don’t want to risk feelings of rejection or failure, so they never travel from their comfort zone, eventually causing dissatisfaction. When you take a risk, you are showing yourself that you have courage, which is important to finding happiness.

A critical step of personal development is the realization and acceptance of your insignificance. The more humble you are, realizing that there is room for growth, the more willing you are to gain knowledge. By instilling these ideas in your brain, you will be more open to improving yourself and learning new information.

Give these strategies a try and take notes on changes in your thoughts or feelings. Take it easy on yourself.

Check out the trendiest motorcycle sunglasses from the top brands online facebook.com/pages/Motorcycle-Sunglasses/161092 450672920

Article Sources: Personal Development Advice For Making Better Choices

CLINTON — Ongoing • Hand-carved duck decoys are featured in "Wooden Feathers," an exhibit in Ashford University's Cortona Art Gallery through Feb 24. A reception for the artist, David Evers of Camanche, is open to the public from 3-5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, in the gallery. The Cortona Art Gallery is located on the second floor of Ashford University's Clare Hall at 400 N. Bluff Blvd. in Clinton. The gallery is open to the public, free of charge, every weekday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and for private showings by appointment. For further information, call 242-4023. Find and post events online in our Community Calendar Feb. 17 and 18 • Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, “The Oneness of All.” Men’s Retreat with Father Bud Grant. From Friday at 7 p.m. to Saturday at 3 p.m. This retreat will take a series of gradual steps to see the connection between life, spirituality and practice. Fee is $100. Contact: (563) 336-8414 or . Feb. 18 • Sawmill Museum: Honoring President's Day with a special presentation about Herbert Hoover by Craig Wright, archivist for the Herbert Hoover Museum. Free with admission to museum. 2 p.m.  • YWCA: The Healing & Energetic Properties of Gemstones and Crystals. 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuition is $30. To register, call the YWCA at 242-2110. Feb. 23 • Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, “Lent Come to the Quiet.” 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  Special Lenten Mass at 11 a.m. The day is yours to shape as you will after a brief introduction into the meaning of Lent today. Fee is $20. Or come for a personal day of quiet at the Prairie. Kathleen Storms, SSND is available for spiritual direction.  Call to set up an appointment: (563) 374-1092.  Contact: (563) 336-8414 or . Feb. 24 • Trivia: Collect a team of your friends and put your thinking caps on. The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre will be hosting a trivia night at Gil’s Ballroom in Clinton. Registration begins at 6:30 p.m. and the contest begins at 7 p.m. Teams must consist of 6-8 people and the entry fee is $10/person. “Mulligans” and “doublers” will be available for sale. Gil’s will be offering food and drink specials for trivia contestants.  The Showboat recently announced that new Producing Artistic Director Tommy Iafrate will take over the helm for the 2012 season. With the change of leadership comes a change in format. The revised season includes Little Shop of Horrors, May 31 to June 10; Into the Woods, June 14-24; Bye Bye Birdie, June 28 to July 15; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, July 19-29; and Love Letters alternating with Hate Mail, August 1-12.   CAST-Teen will produce Honk! Jr on July 27-28.  The Showboat will again offer a summer theater camp from July 2-13, with performances on  July 13 and 14. • More trivia: Unity Christian School is sponsoring the trivia night event – "A Night in Hollywood." Event will be at 711 10th St., Fulton, Ill., at Unity Christian High School. Dinner is available – ribeye steak and chicken sandwiches (for sale) starting at 5:30 p.m. along with a silent pie auction. Trivia starts at 7 p.m. Teams are 5-8 people (no age limit). Cost is $70 per team and that includes 5 mulligans. Winning team gets $250. All proceeds benefit Unity Christian Athletic Boosters. Call (815) 589-3912 to reserve a table for your team. Feb. 25 • Sawmill Museum: 1 p.m. Cheryl Lennox will give a barn quilt presentation. Free with admission to museum. • Ohnward Fine Arts Center presents Joseph Hall's Elvis. Joseph Hall’s resume includes Top 10 on America’s Got Talent 2008 on NBC and he is also recognized as a Top 3 Elvis Tribute Artist by the Elvis Presley Estate. Joseph has also played the Legends in Concert in Las Vegas as well as headlined the Elvis Cruise in 2007. He is the 2010 Branson Male Performer of the Year. 7 p.m. Tickets are $17 (in advance); $20 (at the door); students (18 and under) pay $10 (in advance) and $13 (at the door). Feb. 28 • Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, “Weaving Prayers & Baskets,” by Kathleen Storms, SSND. In this retreat you will be taught simple basket weaving techniques in the context of prayer and meditation. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Materials provided. No experience necessary. Fee is $30. Contact: (563) 336-8414 or . March 3 • Horticulture in the Heartland: “Planting Today for Tomorrow.” The annual event will include a keynote speaker at 8 a.m. — Dr. Elwynn Taylor, the extension climatologist at Iowa State University, will talk about food security. Session I from 9 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. includes class choices on the American Bald Eagle, morel mushrooms and trends in the horticulture market; Session II choices include adding plants to the climate, berries and trees for today; Session III includes birds of prey, perennial of the year, and growing healthy trees; Session IV classes include brambles, roof gardens and perennial garden maintenance. Registration fee is $40. For more information, call 242-4771. The event will take place at Clinton Community College and is sponsored by Clinton Trees Forever, Bickelhaupt Arboretum, CCC and the Clinton County Master Gardeners. March 4 • Family History /Genealogy Lock In at the Clinton Public Library Root Cellar. These after-hour events fund the Ancestry Library database. Patrons donate $10 to attend and a prepaid reservation is required. Everyone is invited to bring a dish to share and their own beverage. Assistance is available for patrons who are just getting started or who have hit the brick wall. Patrons search printed material, microfilm and online genealogy sources in addition to the Ancestry Library database. For more information, call 242-0840. Sessions are limited so stop in and reserve your spot today. March 17  • The DeWitt Just Irish Enough and St. Baldrick’s Fundraiser, a volunteer-driven event, is dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, will host the second annual head-shaving event at the DeWitt Community Center and Lincoln Park on March 17.  The event kicks off with an Irish-themed walking parade at noon at Lincoln Park and the DeWitt Community Center in DeWitt. The head-shavings will commence at 1:30 p.m. The “Just Irish Enough” parade and St. Baldrick’s fundraiser will have food vendors, DJ music, bag boards, bake sale, and fun activities for the kids. • Grand View University Choir: The choir will perform at Zion Lutheran Church at 7 p.m. in Clinton as part of its spring 2012 tour through Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Minnesota.  The concert will be free. Follow the Clinton Herald on Twitter @ClintonHerald.  

Article Sources: NEW: Things to do » Features » The Clinton Herald, Clinton, Iowa

If there is anything at all that makes you feel overwhelmed with your online business, then that just means you have to learn a bit more and get more comfortable. Anyone with experience in here will understand what we mean and maybe even have a chuckle about it. One very common strategy is hiring freelancers, but for most that is only possible with existing business profits. We will delve into alternatives that will work well with what we have just mentioned. If you are new to online business, then seek reliable knowledge on the subject so you will possibly avoid costly missteps. When you take this approach of planning and executing with good information, then that will help you to eliminate the possibility of some mistakes.

Herbal remedies have a wide variety of uses, and relieving stress is one of the most common reasons people start taking herbs. If stress is a serious problem for you, it’s a good idea to seek medical advice, but in many cases herbs can be part of your overall stress reduction program. The information below can help you make informed decisions bout the right path to stress reduction with herbal treatments for you.

Many people use passionflower as their herb of choice for stress relief. Since it is also a natural sedative it can help with sleep problems as well. If those weren’t enough great reasons to give passionflower a try; consider the fact that it is rich in antioxidants too. You should always exercise caution with herbal remedies just as you would when taking a prescribed medication. Since it does tend to promote extreme relaxation and sleep, you should not take it if you need to be alert, such as when you’re driving. If you don’t take the right amount of the herb you could experience some side effects you’d rather skip. This herb is not advised for women who are nursing or happen to be pregnant. When used properly, passionflower can be a great alternative to powerful tranquilizers that take a major toll on the body.

If you need to feel calm, try using some rosemary, which is not just for cooking. Rosemary has been around since ancient times. It can be quite beneficial for any tension you are feeling in your head and neck areas. For an inexpensive herbal remedy that is always available, try using rosemary. If you need it more often than you can purchase it, you could also grow it in a small herb garden. Few things can compare in IM to the power of testing, and the reason for that is you can optimize based on the results. Do not take this lightly because what you can do with check this is more effective than most realize. Who will ever know why people in business do not do the things that will help them to make more money.

It is all too easy to have a sense of excitement early on and want to get things going, but that can cause you to overlook small but important details. Very often what is in your best interest and what you will eventually do can sometimes diverge. Article marketers can quickly perform testing for any number of reasons depending on how they approach it in the first place.

What many people do when they just want to get an idea about possibly using anything new on their site is test somewhere other than the home page. Testing alone is worthless unless you have the correct data or feedback from visitor behavior.

Herbal remedies can come in all shapes and sizes and at least one will work for you. Herbs can come in capsules, tablets and even teas to make it easy for you to take them. Some herbs are more expensive than others, but almost all of them are quite a bit cheaper than prescription medicines. You could even start experimenting with your own herbal remedies. Using fresh herbs in tea is a great way to utilize your new herbal medicine knowledge. Even if you purchase formulas that have been put together for you, you can still enjoy the benefits. While herbs can go a long way towards aiding in the reduction of stress they should never be the sum total of your solution. You know the substances that are constant sources of stress in your life; eliminate those too while you’re at it. Reducing stress requires more than drinking the right teas or taking the right supplements. However, these things can help out a great deal.

So those are our gift to you, today, more IM methods you can put in your tool bag. It is common knowledge among experienced internet business owners that there is usually a ton of information about any method, and naturally that is very true about which you just read. Performing additional research regarding any new marketing approach is simply the smart thing to do, and you will always pick-up valuable information.

However, having said that we must caution you about getting too comfortable with only doing one thing which is remaining in the learning phase.

Chances are you have been working all your life, and that implies you have to change your thinking habits a little bit. When you are working on your business, you need to be creating something toward that end or actively engaged in marketing activities.

Article Sources: Remedies for Stress Relief : bluestatehq.com

From color therapy and medi-pedis to frigid blizzard rooms and swankier eyebrow bars, fresh trends are surfacing around the world in the $60 billion spa industry, according to an annual forecast.

As destination resorts, day spas and beauty salons shake off economic worries, new luxury is playing out in all price ranges through more intimate pairings with healthy fine dining, glamour and child-welcome options, said Susie Ellis, president of the online spa portal SpaFinder.

Past trends such as wellness pampering and organic treatments haven’t been replaced but are being joined by a broader range of foot healing, multisensory experiences and icy cold therapies, Ellis told reporters recently when she rolled out SpaFinder’s 2012 trends report.

Look for more wow, fun and wellness, and for more spa options in Asia, which she said leads the world in industry growth.

Here in Charleston, the trend is the same.

Annette Sandford-Lopez, director of The Spa at Charleston Place, said customers — 50 percent of whom are local — increasingly are seeking spa treatments for stress relief, rather than just pure pampering.

“They (spa treatments) are no longer being considered an indulgence, but part of what people need to do to stay sane and to feel in control,” said Sandford-Lopez, noting several new treatment options emphasizing individualized needs that she and the spa staff created in the past six months.

Among them is “Total Well Being” where a staff personal trainer and a client or two, such as two girlfriends, choose a workout such as yoga, Pilates, pool workout or bootcamp, and then choose a treatment, such as a facial or massage.

Another is the “Therapist-Choice Massage” which, based on the client’s needs, may be a mix of massage specialties, such as

reflexology (specific to the feet) or hot stone massage, with another massage.

And speaking of reflexology, Sandford-Lopez also highlighted the spa’s new “Top to Toe,” which uses Morrocanoil’s argan oil products for a 25-minute session of reflexology followed by a 25-minute scalp and neck massage.

Cost vs. empowerment

With more than 100,000 spas worldwide, making sense of often-pricey services can be difficult, along with tracking evidence that they work. A nearly year-old, industry-funded website, SpaEvidence.com, is a small but growing clearinghouse for clinical trials and published research on services ranging from yoga and music therapy to Ayurveda, the ancient holistic system of medicine from India, and thalassotherapy, the use of seaweed, algae and other materials from the sea.

“You are now moving from not only wellness but to wellness empowerment,” said Dr. Daniel Friedland, an internist and consultant who worked on the site.

Helping spa-goers hunt down research is a game changer, especially now that more insurance companies and employers are willing to reimburse them for preventive care, Ellis said.

More from the SpaFinder report:

Cold and ice

With saunas, steam rooms, Whirlpool baths and rock massages, spas have traditionally used heat to de-stress and detoxify, but the industry is taking a cue from the Romans, who more than 2,000 years ago finished spa-like experiences with a trip to the “frigidarium.”

Look for more ice therapies and cold rooms alternated with hot treatments to reduce pain and inflammation in muscles and joints, Ellis said.

In February, spa designer Thermarium will introduce touchscreen technology allowing users to choose between light, moderate or blizzard-like snowfalls in cold rooms, SpaFinder said.

Elite athletes first took up cryotherapy. It’s earned mixed reviews from researchers for relieving pain and ailing muscles, but Mehmet Oz of “The Dr. Oz” show recently endorsed it. The first U.S. Cryotherapy Center, a 4,300-square foot facility in Roseville, Calif., opened in April.

Color, light, music, vibration

Incorporating them as ambient afterthoughts is nothing new for the spa industry. Now they’re “becoming the main event,” the report said.

One innovation is software that creates real-time music, tones, beats and other sounds like wind rustling and rivers to beats generated by a therapist’s movements in tandem with the client’s bodily responses during massages, SpaFinder said. The client leaves with a CD of the “wellbeing music-art” they helped create.

During Aura-Soma, a person chooses four bottles of dual-colored liquid containing oils, flower essences and the “energy” of crystals for a reading of spiritual and emotional wellbeing, complete with a rubdown.

“I think you’ll see more of it,” Ellis said. “It’s quite an interesting new way of looking at and using color.”

Happy feet

Chinese reflexology has been around for years. Now spas and wellness centers are targeting problems such as high-heel pain as part of menus for the feet.

Computer gait analysis and foot treatments in zero-gravity chairs are available at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub in Las Vegas.

New York City’s Yamuna studio has stiletto classes, and the feet-only Stride in Palo Alto, Calif., includes foot Botox to reduce odor and a “Walking on Clouds” treatment of filler injected into the ball of the foot for padding and pain reduction.

Glambition

While health and wellness have been a spa focus for several years, full-on Hollywood glamour and old European grooming are back at all price ranges.

In addition to affordable blowout bars for the hair, Blink bars for eyebrows have multiplied in the last year at London department stores — along with Henri Bendel in New York City — for eyebrow threading. Some offer brow tinting and false lashes. Choose from flirty, permed, colored or the extra-long Twiggy look.

The Blushington Makeup Beauty Lounge in Los Angeles charges $35 for full makeup from a set menu that includes “Pure & Simple” and “Simply Glowing.”

“We’re seeing a glam factor at both ends of the economic spectrum,” Ellis said. “There are little touches everywhere, like glam nails and quick beauty fixes.”

Family affair

More spas are accommodating adults and kids together. “The new thing is that it’s the family. People want to go with their children to spas. Not all of them, of course. Some want to go without,” Ellis said. “We’re seeing now the spas responding and very much making it more of a welcome place for kids.”

Ellis predicts more will reconsider age restrictions. Kid-specific spas also are on the rise, Ellis said. Some are adding Dad to the mix.

At the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii, guests can book the “family spa suite” and treatments such as chocolate-coconut scrubs and massages for kids as young as 6. At Disney’s new family resort and spa Aulani on Oahu, the Laniwai Spa offers family suites; babies are welcome and young children can have massages.

The Post and Courier’s David Quick contributed to this report.

Article Sources: Spas rebounding