For Episode 72 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS, we will talk about the dying of the summer and the coming of the fall, and how our lifestyles and diets should reflect that change, so that we can be functionally healthier. Ayurveda is an ancient system of wellness that points us towards longevity. Just as we have unique, internal natures, the seasons also have unique natures. Autumn is a Vata season - Vata, meaning cool, airy, dry, and ungrounded. The foods we should eat during vata season should be warm, substantial, wet, and grounding. Our activities should be a little less active, as compared to summer, and a bit more reflective and a bit slower. We eat this way and do these things to bring balance into our lives. I will also provide a short quiz for you to take, so that you can figure out your own nature/energy, so have a pen and paper ready!

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF closes this episode with the poem, "September Midnight", by Sara Teasdale.

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Episode 71 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS addresses one feature of the fragmented US health care system. Concierge Medicine is a health care model enjoyed by the wealthiest Americans. If one can afford the big price tag, one can secure the services of a doctor who acts more like a financial asset manager, who expedites the health care process for the client and provides them top of the line medical care and in a timely manner. However, compared to the rest of the first-world nations, the United States still lags behind in quality health care, even for the wealthiest Americans. Compared to the health care provided to regular folks in many European countries, even wealthy Americans get sicker and die earlier - on average - as compared to these everyday, working class Europeans. We will talk about a few reasons for this disparity.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF ends this episode with a reading of the poem, "To Health", by John Clare.

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Episode 70 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS talks about a type of camping in which Mars was once hardly interested. "Glamping" was a barely passable concept. According to professional survivalists who run survivalist - or minimalist, or wilderness - camps, they've seen a 60% increase in enrollment this year over several previous years. Why? There are two major reasons: 1) the fear of climate change and 2) the fear of the end of the world. We will talk about the basics of both wilderness and urban survival methods, and we will list some schools where one might receive training. Two points Mars would like to make: 1) one should do one's best to not give into the fear behind these activities, but to approach it as an adventure and as a way to come to know Mother Nature - especially when children are involved, and 2) it is vitally important to build community and to practice plans with extended family and neighbors and friends.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF wraps things up with TWO! poems by Henry David Thoreau:   EPITAPH ON THE WORLD, and I AM THE AUTUMNAL SUN.

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Episode 69 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS addresses the subject of Acupuncture, the traditional Chinese medical practice of penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles in order to bring dynamic balance to a person's energy flow, thereby restoring good health. Acupuncture is an effective technique and a tool in the arsenal of one's systemic health care. Instead of addressing one ailment, one organ, one body part, acupuncture addressed the entire system to ease the ailment and to restore whole-body equilibrium. We will revisit the Chinese medical theories of Yin/Yang and The Five Elements - elements of Qi (that lifeforce/energy flow that we seek to balance) - and how they are addressed using acupuncture.

(By the way, if one seeks to become a Licensed Acupuncturist, one is looking at four-to-seven years of Traditional Chinese Medical School. This is NOT something one can learn in a weekend, online course. It is intensive.)

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF ends this episode with "Returning To The Source", from Lao Tzu’s collection of poetry called, “POEMS OF FULFILLMENT”.  

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For Episode 68 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS, Mars takes the audience through a YOGA NIDRA session. Yoga Nidra is a  Sanskrit term meaning "yogic sleep". It is a deep relaxation technique and a form of meditation. It is an ancient technique where the practitioner enters the deep states of conscious relaxation.  It is a systematic practice of moving awareness from our external world to the inner world.

It brings us to a state of conscious sleep where our senses, intellect, and mind relax. We become free from the concepts of time, space and reason. When this happens, brain activity reduces and the body goes in the healing state. It has been claimed that one hour of Yoga Nidra can give the same benefit of a four-hour sleep. As the body enters a healing state, you can clear up metabolic wastes at a cellular level, refresh the mind and remove baggage from the subconscious.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF ends with a reading from a piece of prose that is attributed to many authors and has many titles. I won't list them all here, but the reading is a perfect nightcap to our Yoga Nidra session.

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Episode 67 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS picks up from where we left off from Episode 66, in which we talked about the origins of the political movement, QAnon, and its birthplace, the imageboard website, 4chan. In this episode, we further explore how anonymously posted stories, pranks, trolls, and bamboozles have been taken literally by internet users who stumble across these posts, who believe them to be real news leaks, and react to them in the real world. BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF ends with a document supposedly written by Q, the original author of Q drops and the unwitting (perhaps) leader of the QAnon movement.

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Episode 66 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS answers the question - in a nutshell - "What is QAnon?" You've heard and read about this group in the news but may not know much about them, other than their activities during the January 6, 2021 breach of the US Capitol. I am going to talk about how QAnon started and how it has become what it is, today. One cannot discuss QAnon without talking about where it originated. There is a website called, 4chan. This is where QAnon came into existence and where it "lived" for awhile. How did virtual, ephemeral threads on a message/discussion board on the internet become a real-life, alt-right movement, whose actions have very real consequences? We will speak to that in Part I of this story. Part II will be in the airwaves next week.

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Episode 65 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS spotlights the farming practice known as Regenerative Agriculture, aka Regen Ag. Its main objective is to keep carbon sequestered in the soil through the most organic, natural and hands-off means necessary. In short, the practices that regen ag farmers employ are ancient, derived from the tens-of-thousands years long practices of indigenous peoples. The Anishinaabe people teach that we are currently living in a time known as The Seventh Fire, which is a hinge point in our history and the last fire before The Eighth and Eternal Fire. It asks us where we want to go - do we want to go the way of the cannibal that leaves our planet scorched, or do we want to go the way of the Elders, where the path is green? Whichever path we choose will affect everyone on earth, and this choice will be performed through agricultural and environmental practices - either regenerative or industrial.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF concludes this episode with the poem, THE FARMER IS THE MAN, author unknown.

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Episode 64 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS focuses on the disappearance of a 15 year old citizen of Vatican City, whose father was a Vatican official. Did the girl run away, or was she kidnapped? Circumstantial evidence points to a variety of potential kidnappers: a Turkish nationalist group, the Mafia, and even the Vatican, itself. The only thing that seems to be certain is that the Vatican has played its cards close to the chest since 1983, concerning the case. While there is no concrete evidence to suggest that Emanuela Orlandi is still alive, there is also no evidence that she is dead. The search continues...

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF concludes Episode 64 with an excerpt from the poem, A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER, by W.B. Yeats.

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Episode 63 of MARS MESSINA PRESENTS begins with sage TRAVEL TIPS from a worker in the airline industry concerning flying during a time of lower pandemic restrictions, with the resultant full flights...but with half the flight staff and ground crews. If you are planning to fly anytime soon, please listen to this episode. We will also give further travel pointers to make your trip more successful.

BEDTIME STORIES FROM THE ACOUSTIC BOOKSHELF concludes Episode 63 with a reading of  TRAVEL, by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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