Rawsome Article Library

All my life, seeking to understand "energy," this strange force that seems to power everything, has moved me to study and share. As early as my first dollar-a-day work as a docent at the Dey Mansion in Wayne, New Jersey, I discovered a talent for learning and a knack for explaining things . . . as if the walls were telling me about the days when George Washington slept there.

Brenda at Yayasan Widya Guna Orphanage in Bali

A trip to Yugoslavia at sixteen gave me the travel bug; a few days of homesickness, then I made friends, and it was all good. I love seeing and knowing about people's daily lives in different places. When my family moved to California, I took work as a tour guide for the Queen Mary, then launched myself into the travel industry, leading "Out West" tours for adventurous Europeans. When the West's natural beauty sharpened my disaffection for cities, my husband and I established a rural escape in the Sierras, where I could feel myself stretching out and healing.

Guiding adventurers around my beloved Pacific Northwest, I decided I needed to create a more authentic, energy-wise lifestyle. A job in the education department at Real Goods plunged me into learning and teaching. My students, mostly established adults, came searching for understanding of the energy in their lives: electricity, plumbing, light, power . . . the practical energy flows that modern civilization hides and mystifies. My co-teachers, masters in their narrow fields -- photovoltaics, water management, permaculture -- were as lost as their students when it came to the bigger meanings of energy, that everything is interconnected. I refined my skill for simple explanations and memorable lessons, for being the catalyst who helped my students learn and apply their new knowledge to reshape their lives. Success with this challenge, to take on an unknown discipline and make it my own, increased my confidence.

Brenda and Tyler

In the mid-1990s I got a chance to study with animal communicators Carol Gurney and Penelope Smith, then started practicing. I felt my energy being drawn to this study, and it has always been my goal to follow such energy. In late 1990s I pursued my interest in bioresonance, where substances, entities, and even places are thought to have characteristic vibrations; when toxic or damaging resonances are detected, a counter-resonance may be applied that allows the body to heal. Curious to explore the confluence of disciplines, I discovered an ability to correct otherwise unexplainable dysfunctions in dogs and horses. Many of my clients were plagued by stresses associated with living at odds with where they lived. Such geopathic stresses undermine our health and block our ability to heal ourselves.

Right timing has two sides, and for me the downside came toward the end of 2006. My work was slowing down, as if I had reached some sort of completion. I have learned not to push when facing a setback. Be patient, and await the next wave. In January, 2007, I awoke with my hand in an uncharacteristic position, and beneath my fingers, a lump. My diagnosis was confirmed by my doctor, and my full time job became regaining my health.

Within less than a day of my diagnosis, after freaking out, I accepted that cancer was to be an important part of my story. "I have it," I thought, "so what do I do with it?" Following the energy, I looked with new focus at the limitations of natural remedies, and determined that my personal road led to integrating conventional therapies (radiation and chemotherapy) with careful nutrition. I was never sure how this chapter would end, but I was always willing to follow the path that offered itself.

My cancer journey taught patience! Unfailingly, I was often led to a choices that did not make sense, or were dissonant. To survive, I knew I needed to keep my chi -- my life force -- moving, using every available tool. Microscopically critical, I examined each offering, making sure it felt right. Conventional therapies "required" medications to combat nausea and fight infection, but I discovered these were more destructive than the symptoms they were meant to combat. I managed the nausea with acupuncture, and maintained my health by eating natural and raw plant-based foods. . .

. . .Leading inevitably to the work I do today. Raw foods helped me counteract the poisons that beat my cancer. Now, healthy, I crave raw foods because my body tells me they're what I need. Rather than obsessing, I seek to balance the energy that flows around me. I find that keeping my balance allows me to clear my mind, feel healthy and at the top of my game, always ready to present the Brenda Show!

• Tips for successful almond milk
• Bali Raw Food Restaurant Scene - Updated 2014
• A Visit to Bob's Red Mill
• Getting to Raw : toward better eating habits
• Raw on the Road Tips
• Vote for Full Food Ingredient Disclosure
• PEEETS: More about Continua and Low-hanging Fruit
• Low Hanging Fruit: Sweeteners
• Learn About Raw Food at a Local Potluck
• My Hero Robin Lim is CNN Hero of 2011
• Food Fight
• Label Reading 101
• Letter from Kumi Hachiya
• Christine's Report from Sendai, Japan
• Brenda Hinton: a Life Seeking Energy's Raw Forms
• St Helena Star: Brenda Hinton puts the 'awesome' in raw food
• Yoga By Candace: Brand to Know