About

Philosophy

• One can only serve in the healing process of another to the extent one has healed. 
• True healing takes place on all levels internally and externally and is reflected by relationships in the world.
• Healing is becoming fully alive and present and being responsible in every sense of the word.
• Love is the greatest healer and laughter is the best medicine.
• Pleasure is its own reward.
• We can choose love at any time.

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The Four Agreements

Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements was published in 1997. For many, The Four Agreements is a life-changing book, whose ideas come from the ancient Toltec wisdom of the native people of Southern Mexico. The Toltec were 'people of knowledge' - scientists and artists who created a society to explore and conserve the traditional spiritual knowledge and practices of their ancestors. The Toltec viewed science and spirit as part of the same entity, believing that all energy - material or ethereal - is derived from and governed by the universe. Don Miguel Ruiz, born and raised in rural Mexico, was brought up to follow his family's Toltec ways by his mother, a Toltec faith healer, and grandfather, a Toltec 'nagual', a shaman. Despite this, Don Miguel decided to pursue a conventional education, which led him to qualify and practice for several years as a surgeon. Following a car crash, Don Miguel Ruiz reverted to his Toltec roots during the late 1970's, first studying and learning in depth the Toltec ways, and then healing, teaching, lecturing and writing during the 1980's and 90's, when he wrote The Four Agreements (published in 1997), The Mastery of Love (1999), The Four Agreements Companion Book (2000), and Prayers (2001). Don Miguel Ruiz survived a serious heart attack 2002, since when his teachings have been largely channelled through seminars and classes run by his followers, notably his sons Don Jose Luis and Don Miguel Ruiz Junior. Like many gurus and philosophical pioneers, Ruiz has to an extent packaged, promoted and commercialised his work, nevertheless the simplicity and elegance of his thinking remains a source of great enlightenment and aspiration. The simple ideas of The Four Agreements provide an inspirational code for life; a personal development model, and a template for personal development, behaviour, communications and relationships. Here is how Don Miguel Ruiz summarises 'The Four Agreements':

Agreement 1

Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Agreement 2

Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Agreement 3

Don’t make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Agreement 4

Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

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Shamanism - Michael Harner

The word "shaman" in the original Tungus language refers to a person who makes journeys to nonordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. Adopting the term in the West was useful because people didn't know what it meant. Terms like "wizard," "witch," "sorcerer," and "witch doctor" have their own connotations, ambiguities, and preconceptions associated with them. Although the term is from Siberia, the practice of shamanism existed on all inhabited continents.

After years of extensive research, Mircea Eliade, in his book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, concluded that shamanism underlays all the other spiritual traditions on the planet, and that the most distinctive feature of shamanism—but by no means the only one—was the journey to other worlds in an altered state of consciousness.

"...in our culture many consider it avant-garde if a person talks about the mind-body connection, but the fact that the brain is connected to the rest of the body is not the most exciting news. It's been known for hundreds and thousands of years. What's really important about shamanism, in my opinion, is that the shaman knows that we are not alone. By that I mean, when one human being compassionately works to relieve the suffering of another, the helping spirits are interested and become involved."

Shamans are often called "see-ers" (seers), or "people who know" in their tribal languages, because they are involved in a system of knowledge based on firsthand experience. Shamanism is not a belief system. It's based on personal experiments conducted to heal, to get information, or do other things. In fact, if shamans don't get results, they will no longer be used by people in their tribe. People ask me, "How do you know if somebody's a shaman?" I say, "It's simple. Do they journey to other worlds? And do they perform miracles?"

Is shamanism a religion?

The practice of shamanism is a method, not a religion. It coexists with established religions in many cultures. In Siberia, you'll find shamanism coexisting with Buddhism and Lamaism, and in Japan with Buddhism. It's true that shamans are often in animistic cultures. Animism means that people believe there are spirits. So in shamanic cultures, where shamans interact with spirits to get results such as healing, it's no surprise that people believe there are spirits. But the shamans don't believe in spirits. Shamans talk with them, interact with them. They no more "believe" there are spirits than they "believe" they have a house to live in, or have a family. This is a very important issue because shamanism is not a system of faith.|

Shamanism is also not exclusionary. They don't say, "We have the only healing system." In a holistic approach to healing, the shaman uses the spiritual means at his or her disposal in cooperation with people in the community who have other techniques such as plant healing, massage, and bone setting. The shaman's purpose is to help the patient get well, not to prove that his or her system is the only one that works.

Global

Conscious Consumerism - Environmentally Sustainable, Fair Trade

Pure Wellbeing emraces the philosophy that the earth is a living organism, a concept that James Lovelock popularised with his “Gaia theory”. This is a concept that is at the heart of many of the indigenous cultures around the world. This philosophy creates an immense respect for our environment and our own physical bodies as part of that environment.

Eating foods, in their pure, minimally processed states that are grown organically in a sustainable way, is one of the most significant ways in which we can live this philosophy. Not only are we nurturing our own health and wellbeing but we are also nurturing the health and wellbeing of our planet.

Pure Wellbeing supports the conscious consumer movement by sourcing products that are produced according to specific environmental and social standards. Where possible we aim to work directly or import products from those who work directly with indigenous grower associations around the world and our goal is to inform end consumers of the environmental, social and cultural context in which the products are produced.

Following are the standards that guide how Pure Wellbeing sources products:

Environmental Conservation

    Produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, or chemical pesticides and herbicides.
    Cultivated in such a way as to help restore native ecosystems, prevent erosion and support water conservation.
    Utilize integrative crop management systems and where possible are shade grown using native canopy species.

Community Development:

    Are produced according to Fair Trade standards, that involve producers and workers being paid a Fair price.
    Create healthy environments in which producers and their families live and work.
    Re-invest in community infrastructure such as educational, health and other essential services.

Indigenous Growers - Products of Origin

A key part of our mission at Pure Wellbeing is to source products from the Indigenous communities where they originated. This supports these unique and special indigenous communities in maintaining their cultural integrity. Most of the functional foods that we source have played a central role in the cultural heritage of the indigenous communities that have cultivated and/or harvested them from the wild ecosystems in which they live.

They are foods that have held special sacred significance for these indigenous cultures due to their life enhancing qualities. By sourcing these products from the indigenous communities, that have cultivated them for thousands of years, we provide an environmentally sustainable source of income that also maintains the rituals and way of life that often revolves around the production of these products. Our objective is also to bring these foods to you in their cultural context, in the sense that we aim to share with you the great stories associated with each food.

Environmental Policy - Packaging & Recycling

Pure Wellbeing works with suppliers to minise the use of non-recycable packaging materials.

    All orders are sent using as much recycled materials as possible.
    We compost all juicing & food wastes.
    We recycle all other materials that can be recycled

Global Environmental Support

We support the following organisation:

Greenpeace: www.greenpeace.org.nz

Social Responsibility

 We sponsor a child with World Vision:   www.worldvision.co.nz

As we become more established we will be setting up our own program of support.