Author(s)
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Guy Vantresca
In health, focus on the benefit, not the inconvenience. Modern convenience, that we take for granted, comes at the price of our health. That is no bargain.
My early New York life revolved around two B's: Brooklyn and Beacon (and within Brooklyn, it was Bay Ridge, so there is a third B). My father's Italian family settled in Beacon, my mother's Lebanese family in Bay Ridge, and I was shuttled back and forth between divorced parents, from ages 4-14. The lure of travel was ingrained in my routine. Later, I realized an advantage over other city kids who didn't get enough fresh air. And I benefited from growing up eating the two best cuisines in the Mediterranean (sorry, Arianna). While in university, I craved adventure, challenge, and a chance to manifest my leadership abilities in service to others (later, having read Joseph Campbell's work on Mythology, I realized I was following the Hero's Journey). So the month after Saigon fell in April, 1975, I signed the contract to become a US Army officer, effective upon graduation in 1977. Everyone was running away from the Army, I figured it was a good time to join. Since I missed the first two years of ROTC, I had to complete the same basic training course as regular recruits. The Army was desperate for new officers, and, for the first time, integrated men and women in the same cadet officer training (it took West Point another year to follow suit). The strongest lesson learned that summer, in the blazing heat of Fort Knox, Kentucky, was how to work together with men and women of different skill levels, abilities, origins and geography. My assignments led me first to Ft. Hood, Texas, then to Germany, as a Tank officer at the height of the last phase of the Cold War, when Ronald Reagan increased spending, which accelerated tensions with the Soviet Union. While never engaged in actual combat, our training was so rigorous and dangerous (The M-60 tank is a 52 ton steel monster), i was almost killed multiple times. Despite this, the European lifestyle was so appealing, I resigned as a Captain with an overseas separation, and found a job in the emerging I.T. industry with an American firm in Germany. This was a time of heavy infrastructure building as traditional Data Processing became Information Technology, and crossed over with the Telecommunications industry, providing me a base knowledge of all communications technology which became critical in understanding EMF exposure, the subject of my first two articles. I spent a total of 12 years in Germany, living in Berlin when the Wall fell. This was the beginning of my interest in Natural Health. I started meditating, doing Yoga, eating a balanced diet, and taking supplements. 30 years later, it's safe to say I have benefited greatly from the integration of Mind, Body, Spirit and have chosen a path of Healing as my life purpose. After serving as Executive Director of the Global Health Institute in NYC in 2016-17, I served as board member of the Institute for Spirituality & Healthcare in Princeton, NJ for 2018.