Shout Out Health

Exclusive Interview! Dr. Greg Cason Talks "The Butch Factor"

Are you butch? Or do you fall more into another category when it comes to your perceived place in the gay community? Or perhaps like many you're offended by any label at all. GayHealthBlog'com's Greg Cason, PhD, our resident "Ask the Therapist", is featured in "The Butch Factor" on Saturday, April 17, on LOGO at 8 pm EST and PST., and we have an exclusive interview with Greg below the video trailer:

What exactly IS The Butch Factor?

It's an insightful documentary by Director Christopher Hines where he looks at the issue of masculinity in contemporary gay culture.  He interviews gay men from rugby players to rodeo stars as well as various experts about what it means to be a man and be gay.

People so often get segregated by their stereotypes in larger culture, but especially in the gay culture. What can people do to branch out and go beyond a stereotype of 'fem' or 'butch' or 'daddy' or whatever other common group gay men can get lumped into?

Blatant segregation is mostly a thing of the past in this country (thank goodness!).  Now, people don't generally get pushed into groups as much as they get pushed out of them (or are never let in).  So when gay men try to get into a larger group, but are not welcomed (whether it is in the gay community or the community at large), they have a choice: find a group where they belong or be alone.  The healthy will find a group to belong.  

A problem for many gay people is that they are resistant and reflect the famous Groucho Marx quote: "I don't care to belong to any club that accepts people like me as members."  For some, the gay community feels like high school and there are perceived "in" groups and those who stand on the outside wishing they were a part of that "in" group.  

If one does not want to be "lumped into" a group, the best thing to do would be to not associate with those in that group.  But not wanting to be a part of a group because of what other people think is at the core of this problem in the first place.  If you really want to break through stereotypes and your own personal fears and biases, then get to know those whom you fear.  If you have a harsh judgment about those who wear drag or leather, then it is time to get to know the people that do.  You don't have to put on a wig or a harness to understand that not only is there nothing to fear, but there is much to gain by embracing the diversity of our community.

How is masculinity perceived in gay culture these days?

An exciting development is that gender extremes in the gay community are becoming less apparent.  I believe this is a function of increased acceptance by many in the world around us.  Gay men and women are feeling more comfortable to be truer to themselves and don't feel the need to play a gender role that someone else has decided for them, even if that someone is their own community.  

In places where gay people are less accepted, you often see a gravitation in gay people toward either traditional gender roles or opposite gender roles.  In a more accepting atmosphere, men and women are going to be more comfortable showing both their masculine and feminine sides.  

But, let's be clear.  Our culture still prizes masculinity over femininity.  Much of the negative evaluation about gay men comes due to the negative judgment of men displaying traditionally feminine traits.  As much disdain for lesbians comes from those who believe the feminine is trying to take over and replace the masculine.  

Has the definition of 'masculinity' in gay culture evolved over the years?

I do not believe that we will ever let go of the traditional gender roles of masculinity and femininity in larger society, and this will also be reflected in views taken by gay men because they are also a part of that society.  But, I do believe that there may be an expansion of what it means to be masculine. 

Gay men may one day be less constrained by the outer version of masculine or "straight-acting," and more connected with the inner masculine ideal, or being proud of the man they are and expressing their true wants and desires -- even if that expression appears overtly feminine.  

MIND BODY: Create More Joy, Love and Success in Your Life!

“If you don't listen to others negativity, you can really do incredible things,” says Aleta St. James, a renowned energy healer and author of Life Shift, a comprehensive guide to breaking through emotional blocks and creating optimum health and wellness.

With energy medicine being such a hot topic these days--even Oprah is paying close attention to its healing potential--St. James down with us at her healing studio in New York City to talk about her unique approach to creating greater joy, health, and wellness in your life. Here are excerpts from that interview:

Many in the LGBT community have suffered childhood traumas or feelings of rejection. What's your approach to healing very old but still painful feelings?

Simply feeling different at a young age can cause deep emotional blocks that can last for years. I've noticed this block often working with my gay clients. Often, the feeling of being different, and not accepted at a very basic level at an early age, can close someone down and as a result, it feels impossible to find support in this world. So you don't take the risks you need to build a happy life--going for the job you really want, feeling good enough to attract a healthy relationship--these are common issues but I notice it even more in my gay clients. It's important to identify energetically what you're emotionally still holding on to. What usually needs to be healed is self-esteem and worth, and reaching an acceptance at a deep level of self, both spiritually and physically.

Hopefully you can get to the point where you stop protecting yourself from rejection and open up to love and support from the right people. These old barriers and blocks keep support and love away from you, even if it feels like they keep you safe.

I've heard a lot about bodywork being especially helpful in healing old wounds? What kind of treatments can help dissolve emotional barriers?

Deep tissue massage can get right into areas of tightness and tension, which also where fear and anger reside in your body. Acupuncture is really great because it gets your energy flowing again. Reiki is also good, and so is rolfing. I've found that Yamuna body rolling is amazing and more and more available around the country. Yoga is fantastic for moving energy. These are simple tools that can keep negative energy moving out of your body and align yourself back into a state of health and wellness.

My own healing modalities include a combination of touch, breath work, guided meditation, color, light and sounds, which in concert help release emotional blocks at a subconscious and cellular level.

Mind Really DOES Matter: Candace Pert Exclusive!

by Mitch Rustad

Researcher and author Candace Pert has already earned full-fledged icon status. Widely known for bestselling 1997 book, Molecules of Emotion, Pert is also the Scientific Director of RAPID (Receptor Active Peptides Into Drugs) Pharmaceuticals in Washington, DC, which is centered around AIDS research.

"Our physiology is perfectly designed for bliss and this perfection is dynamic, so taking responsibility for your own health is important."

Pert’s cameo in the hit indy movie What the Bleep Do We Know!? in 2004 that brought her worldwide fame and turned her into an cult figure for the New Age and Hollywood sets, and her latest book, Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d, adds to her already impressive career.

In part two of our exclusive interview (use "What is Peptide T?" link at right for read part one), Pert touched on a wide range of topics—the mind-body connection, science and spirituality, the role of discrimination on health and wellbeing and the path to vibrant health.

You've mentioned that bodywork, meditation and guided visualizations are effective methods of healing. But is it really that simple?

All of these healing modalities are effective. The ultimate solution is really simple—love yourself and love others. A lot of the projections we make to the outside world are actually what we're projecting inwardly about ourselves. If you're angry, take a look at whom you're really angry at, because that angry vibration inside could mean you're actually reacting against yourself. Love is an integrator and a healer, but you have to do the work to love yourself and you can start by loving others. That's the core of human health.

But some people have a very difficult time with love.

The punch line in substance abuse treatments—also in many types of complimentary treatments to therapy—is that if you can't love yourself, then at least realize that God loves you.

My own life journey has led me to not only not dismiss a spiritual approach, but to embrace it. I'm a scientist and I feel very strongly about that; I realize that there are a lot of answers there. Studies have shown that in overcoming alcoholism, appreciating a higher power really works better than anything. That's a key aspect of 12-step programs, so there's science around the spiritual. You're not really alone and isolated, that's an illusion. But often spirituality gets confused with religion. I came to spirituality through science, while trying to explain my scientific work and then putting it all together with my own life experience.

How can this reinforce or enhance someone's ability to love themselves?

There's a divine order and you wouldn't be here unless you were part of this natural law, and you're here for a purpose. Louise Hay suggests something simple, which she calls mirror work, where you just look into you own eyes in the mirror and say, 'I love you.' If that's difficult for you, treat this exercise like you're taking your daily meds. Just do it. There are studies that prove how affirming this work can be.

It seems like a lot of people just get 'stuck' in their lives, even after much therapy or treatment.

The key is to recognize that we're all a multitude of different people; we all have a number of personalities. I'm excited about this term I coined which I call 'selves-esteem' and I think this is at the root of feeling well adjusted, happy and blissful. We need to acknowledge all of our different personalities.

Being stuck merely means you're stuck in one of your personalities, such as a depressed personality, or stuck in a personality consumed by self hated and blame, and you're not yet able to access a healthier personality. I greatly believe in the healing powers of music and movement when you're stuck. Stop thinking about everything and get out and move, if that's possible. If you can't get out, listen to guided imagery tapes, or healing affirmations with background music. This can tweak and nudge things and move you towards a healthier self.

Can you explain how this works physiologically?

We're not static beings, we're always making new cells, even as we're just sitting here. At any time, no matter how much old training and programming you may have, you always have the potential to literally change your mind.

Each cell in our body is constantly vibrating, often in several different shapes, and our receptors vibrate as well. It's a dance that's constantly taking place in our bodies, and every cell is talking to every other cell in a rhythmic, ongoing way. In fact, the frequencies of your cells are even in sync with the audible sounds around you, which is why music and words can be very healing. Every cell is a mirror. One great way of feeling good is to eliminate the excess static in your life, and the antidote for negativity in our lives is positive affirmations. Research has shown that neurons are strengthened by repeated phrases and empowering words.

How can someone overcome the damage many, especially in the LGBT community, often face because of religious discrimination and persecution?

It might be that you have to reject that old religious training in order to love yourself. Affirmations work, whether you bring God into it or not. Forgiveness is very huge. An affirmation like, I know forgiving myself and others for errors of the past allows me to heal, is a good example.

It's the difference between spirituality and religion. Some religious practitioners have been hypocritical and negative about gays; it's just grotesque. So people shouldn't confuse that with spirituality-that has nothing to do with one religion or another. It's more free form, where science meets intuition. What is the definition of God? God is a field that is completely in line with the physical laws of the universe, not someone who says who's bad and tells you what you're supposed to do. That's how I've come to it and this approach works for me.

It's interesting to hear a scientist talk so openly about God.

I've had people say 'her PhD should be sent back because she believes in God!' There's this strong reaction against the right wing religious people who have been politically idiotic. Some react and think that people who believe in God are stupid. It's all rhetoric and it's silly.

Any parting advice?

You're a very active participant in how good you feel, it's a scientific fact. Our physiology is perfectly designed for bliss and this perfection is dynamic, so taking responsibility for your own health is important.

*Originally published in 2007

PODCAST: Aleta St. James - Relax and Rejuvenate!

Aleta St. James Relax and Rejuvenate

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, relax and be fully in the present moment.

According to a stunning study, meditation may slow the worsening of AIDS in just a few weeks, most likely by affecting the immune system, according to researchers from the University of California Los Angeles. In a statement lead researcher David Creswell said: "This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowin HIV disease progression."  

If larger studies back up these findings, researchers say meditation could offer a cheap and pleasant way to help HIV-positive people stay healthier and delay the onset of the disease, according to Reuters.

Researchers tested a stress-lowering program called mindfulness meditation, defined as practicing an open and receptive awareness of the present moment, avoiding thinking of the past or worrying about the future.

The more often the volunteers meditated, the higher their CD4 T-cell counts--a standard measure of how well the immune system is fighting the AIDS virus. The CD4 counts were measured before and after the two-month program.

"It just makes intuitive sense that reducing stress is inherently a good thing," says Dr. Susan Ball, Medical Director of ShoutOutHealth.com. "Relaxing and lowering stress is good for everyone, not just HIV patients."

In an exclusive for ShoutOutHealth.com, renowned energy healer Aleta St. James, author of Life Shift, who has worked with many HIV-positive clients, has created a powerful guided meditation (to listen, use the audio player below) to enhance relaxation and overall wellbeing. Be sure to find a safe, quiet place where you will be undisturbed and can focus solely on your own health and wellness.

Enjoy!

by Mitch Rustad

ALETA ST. JAMES: Removing Your Emotional Blocks

by Mitch Rustad

She's strutted her musical stuff in the world of theater in her 20s and became a highly sought after spiritual healer, lecturer and life coach in her 30s and 40s. But Aleta St. James really hit her stride in her 50s, when she became a media sensation--network divas like Katie Couric and Diane Sawyer tussled for interviews with her--by giving birth to healthy twins, a few days shy of her 57th birthday.

Despite a bevy of biological, medical and societal roadblocks, St. James never gave up or doubted herself. “If you don't listen to others negativity, you can really do incredible things,” says St. James, author of Life Shift, a comprehensive guide to breaking through emotional blocks and creating optimum health and wellness.

 With energy medicine being such a hot topic these days--even Oprah is paying close attention to its healing potential--St. James down with us at her healing studio in New York City to talk about her unique approach to creating greater joy, health, and wellness in your life. Here are excerpts from that interview:

Many in the LGBT community have suffered childhood traumas or feelings of rejection. What's your approach to healing very old but still painful feelings?

Simply feeling different at a young age can cause deep emotional blocks that can last for years. I've noticed this block often working with my gay clients. Often, the feeling of being different, and not accepted at a very basic level at an early age, can close someone down and as a result, it feels impossible to find support in this world. So you don't take the risks you need to build a happy life--going for the job you really want, feeling good enough to attract a healthy relationship--these are common issues but I notice it even more in my gay clients. It's important to identify energetically what you're emotionally still holding on to. What usually needs to be healed is self-esteem and worth, and reaching an acceptance at a deep level of self, both spiritually and physically.

Hopefully you can get to the point where you stop protecting yourself from rejection and open up to love and support from the right people. These old barriers and blocks keep support and love away from you, even if it feels like they keep you safe.

 

CANDACE PERT EXCLUSIVE: Is Peptide T the cure for AIDS?

Unlike many research scientists who toil in relative obscurity, Candace Pert has already earned full-fledged icon status. In medical circles, Pert is perhaps best known for her opiate receptor, endorphin and peptide research—detailed in Pert’s bestselling 1997 book, Molecules of Emotion—along with her current role as Scientific Director of RAPID (Receptor Active Peptides Into Drugs) Pharmaceuticals in Washington, DC, which is centered around AIDS research.

"This is an incredibly exciting time in human’s health history...there’s a real shift to appreciating the truth that when it comes to health—your mind really matters."-- Candace Pert

But it was Pert’s cameo in the hit indy movie What the Bleep Do We Know!? in 2004 that brought her worldwide fame and turned her into an cult figure for the New Age and Hollywood sets; her lectures throughout the country are wildly popular among those seeking a scientifically sound yet spiritual path to optimum health and wellbeing. Pert’s latest book, Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d, adds to her already impressive career, and her global status often finds her mentioned in the same breath with self-help gurus such as Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson and Wayne Dyer. Pert's most important work, however, might just be just getting started.

At her core, Pert remains a scientist, and she is doggedly determined to finally bring to market a non-toxic, highly potent HIV drug (called Peptide T) that she helped discover more than twenty years ago. Pert believes Peptide T* has the potential to effective treat, and possibly even cure, HIV.