Q.  I don’t get it.  What am I supposed to do to get my quill?

A.  Our classroom has three components: a website, a forum, and an email group.

At the beginning of the course I will sign you up for emails the YahooGroup called “Managing Your Mana.”  Within a day or so you will start receiving daily emails from the group with reminders to help ingrain your new habits.

Then:

·        READ: At the beginning of each month you need to carefully read the appropriate website lesson for the month.

·        WORK ON NEW HABITS EVERY DAY: Make sure to check your email frequently – daily to get the best results.  Mail is slated to be sent daily at 6am US Eastern standard time.  You will probably want to make a folder for your email so that it sorts mail with the word mana in the subject line into its own folder. That way it won’t clog up your main inbox. 

·        POST YOUR HOMEWORK: Sometime during the month log in to the class forum here http://hol.org.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=163 and reply to the topic of the month.  You can reply by the deadline with just a couple of sentences, or you can edit your post over the course of the month and add new insights as they strike you. There will be separate topics for general discussions versus homework.

Q.  Are you a health professional or something?

A.  Absolutely not.  I am neither a healer nor a doctor.  I am someone who struggles, just like you, to live more healthily.  This reminder system is as much for my benefit as it is for my students! I still have a long way to go to maximizing my own mana.  Remember – Progress, not Perfection!

I have carefully avoided giving any medical advice.  To my knowledge, none of the information I give is particularly controversial. However, as with all lifestyle changes, use common sense:

• If you are on regular dialysis you will need to follow your doctor’s recommendations on water intake not mine.
• If you are diabetic, have severe allergies, or have a serious eating disorder, you will need to follow your doctor’s recommendations on food intake, not mine.
• If you have mobility problems you will need to follow your doctor’s recommendations on exercise, not mine.

Get the idea?

While I don’t think any healer or doctor would argue with my observations in general, your specific health conditions are unique to you.  Adapt the program to fit your own needs.

Q.  Why do you hate caffeine so much!!!

A.  Actually, I don’t hate it. In fact, there have been periods in my life when I’ve liked it a real lot!  (And I still whine if I forget to set my Jinxin’ Java Coffeemaker at bedtime and there’s none to drink when I first get up.)

But I’ve experienced first-hand how out of whack your metabolism can get from taking in too much caffeine for too long and not getting enough water.

And our society laughs at the idea that all this added caffeine could be bad for you.  I’ve had people flat-out tell me that it’s not even a drug, since it’s found naturally in plants.

I counter that argument with the fact that aspirin, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are all found in plants too, and, guess what?  They’re drugs.

Take it on faith that you will feel healthier overall when you cut back on all the non-water beverages you typically consume.  Try it for a month.  Prove me wrong!

Q.  Gahhhhhhh!  What am I supposed to do with all these crazy emails !?!?!?!?!?!?

A.  OK, OK, don't panic!  Take a deep breath............................ Better now?  Great.

The emails you get are only reminders and suggestions. Read them through once and then DELETE THEM!  They will repeat about every two weeks anyway. If you really want to keep them, print them, then delete the original emails.

And as we start getting into multiple habit reminders you may need to consider getting them as a daily digest.  You can change the setting on the Yahoo group.