foster: To help grow or develop.

(See also: Foster, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

ÁR NDRAÍOCHT FÉIN (“Our Own Druidism”): A Druid Fellowship founded in 1983 by P.E.I (Isaac) Bonewits, former Archdruid of several groves in the Reformed Druids of North America.

Ár Ndraíocht Féin is an American based neo-pagan Druid religious fellowship. It has no direct links to the ancient Druids but is a reconstruction of Druidic and Indo-European pagan rituals and religions. It integrates religion with alternate healing arts, ecology-consciousness, psychic development and artistic expression. It is organized in groves, many of them named after trees. They have eight seasonal High Days (celebrated on the same dates as the Sabbats) and they conduct regular study and discussion groups in addition to a wide range of artistic activities.

(See also: ÁR NDRAÍOCHT FÉIN, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

family life:

See: grihastha ashrama, extended family, joint family.

(See also: Family life:, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

far-seeing: Duradarshana. Having the power of clairvoyance, also known as divyadrishti, "divine sight."

See: clairvoyance, siddhi.

(See also: Far-seeing, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

funeral rites:

See: cremation, bone-gathering, samskaras of later life, funeral rituals.

(See also: Funeral rites, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

firewalking: The trance-inducing ceremonial practice of walking over a bed of smoldering, red-hot coals as an expression of faith and sometimes as a form of penance. Participants describe it as a euphoric experience in which no pain is felt and no burns received. Many lose body consciousness during the walk.

Firewalking is associated with folk-shamanic Shaktism and is popular among Hindu communities inside and outside India.

See: folk-shamanic, penance, Shaktism.

(See also: Firewalking, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

five acts of Siva: Panchakritya. Creation, preservation, destruction, veiling and revealing.

See: Nataraja, Parameshvara.

(See also: Five acts of Siva, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

folk narratives: Community or village stories which are passed from generation to generation through verbal telling-often a mixture of fact and fiction, allegory and myth, legend and symbolism, conveying lessons about life, character and conduct.

The most extensive and influential of India's folk narratives are the Puranas. While these stories are broadly deemed to be scriptural fact, this contemporary Hindu catechism accepts them as important mythology-stories meant to capture the imagination of the common peoples and to teach them moral living.

See: fable, katha, mythology, Purana.

(See also: Folk narratives, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

folk-shamanic: Of or related to a tribal or village tradition in which the mystic priest, shaman, plays a central role, wielding powers of magic and spirituality. Revered for his ability to influence and control nature and people, to cause good and bad things to happen, he is the intermediary between man and divine forces. The term shaman is from the Sanskrit shramana, "ascetic," akin to shram, "to exert."

See: Shaktism, shamanism.

(See also: Folk-shamanic, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pushan (Sanskrit). A Vedic deity, the real meaning of which remains unknown to Orientalists. It is qualified as the "Nourisher", the feeder of all (helpless) beings. Esoteric philosophy explains the meaning. Speaking of it the Taittiriya Brahmana says that, "When Prajapati formed living beings, Pushan nourished them". This then is the same mysterious force that nourishes the fœtus and unborn babe, by Osmosis, and which is called the"atmospheric (or akasic) nurse", and the "father nourisher". When the lunar Pitris had evolved men, these remained senseless and helpless, and it is "Pushan who fed primeval man". Also a name of the Sun.

(See also: Pushan, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Tau (Hebrew, Jewish). That which has now become the square Hebrew letter tau, but was ages before the invention of the Jewish alphabet, the Egyptian handled cross, the crux ansata of the Latins, and identical with the Egyptian ankh.

This mark belonged exclusively, and still belongs, to the Adepts of every country. As Kenneth R. F. Mackenzie shows, "It was a symbol of salvation and consecration, and as such has been adopted as a Masonic symbol in the Royal Arch Degree ". It is also called the astronomical cross, and was used by the ancient Mexicans - as its presence on one of the palaces at Palenque shows - as well as by the Hindus, who placed the tau as a mark on the brows of their Chelas.

(See also: Tau, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

facilitated communication (FC, Facilitated Communication therapy, facilitated communication training [FCT]): A means of helping persons with severe communication deficits (e.g., due to autism or cerebral palsy) to communicate. Rosemary Crossley, Ph.D. - the author of Facilitated Communication Training (Teachers College Press, 1994) and Speechless: Facilitating Communication for People Without Voices and the coauthor of Annie's Coming Out - originated FC in Australia in the 1970s.

The facilitated communication practitioner, called a facilitator, maintains physical (typically manual or digital) contact with a hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder of his or her disabled partner while the latter person's index finger is applied to a communication aid, such as the keyboard of a computer.

(See also: Facilitated communication, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Feeling Light: Holistic approach to wellness and weight management. It encompasses ear acupuncture, Qigong, tai chi, and the use of flower essences (see flower essence therapy).

(See also: Feeling Light, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Feldenkrais Method (Feldenkrais technique): Mode of bodywork originated in Israel by physicist and engineer Moshe Feldenkrais, D.Sc. (1904-1984). It is a form of movement reeducation whose results include increased levels of vital energy (renewed inner vitality). The method has two aspects:

(1)           private, one-on-one instruction (Functional Integration), and

(2)           group instruction (Awareness Through Movement).

(See also: Feldenkrais Method, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Ferreri Technique (Applied Kinesiology (Ferreri Technique), AK/F): Variation of applied kinesiology developed by Carl A. Ferreri, D.C.

(See also: Ferreri Technique, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

firewalking (the firewalk): Centuries-old practice of walking barefoot across:

(a)           a bed of hot cinders (usually coals) or stones, or

(b)           (b) a pit of fire.

Firewalking is typically a religious ritual (e.g., a test of faith or mystical hunt) and is comparable to self-healing. Roots of the ability to accomplish the firewalk include a personal bioelectric field, deities, and supernatural forces.

(See also: Firewalking, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Fit for Life program: Variation of the dietetic component of Natural Hygiene developed by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. On page 120 of Fit for Life (1987), Harvey Diamond stated that every bodily cell possesses its own intelligence, and that the body effects whatever the conscious desires.

(See also: Fit for Life program, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

FITONICS (Fitonics for Life): Mind-body-spirit program expounded by married couple Marilyn H. Diamond, the coauthor of Fit for Life (1987), and Dr. Donald Burton Schnell in Fitonics for Life (1996). Schnell obtained his Master of Science and doctoral degrees from nonaccredited organizations. Diamond originated Fitonics; Schnell named it. Fitonics includes BODYTONICS, Hypno-Meditation, and MINDTONICS. Its theory posits a radiant soul.

(See also: FITONICS, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Five Animal Frolics: A form of dong gong.

(See also: Five Animal Frolics, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

form drawing: Therapeutic artistic activity of anthroposophy. A consequence of form drawing is tracery of archetypes and unseen dimensions.

(See also: Form drawing, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

The Forum (Landmark Education's The Forum): Successor to est. Werner Erhard (John Paul Rosenberg) founded it in 1985.

(See also: The Forum, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)