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Dear healthwellness82@gmail.com, It’s smart to diversify your investment portfolio beyond stocks and bonds. A unique and surprisingly good investment may be to add a good piece of art or two. You can’t afford Picasso? New York City professional art collector and adviser Barbara Schwartz shares the secret to finding still-affordable works of art that are likely to appreciate in value -- and give you the pleasure of enjoying them. It seems like we’re always searching for ways to reduce stress and relieve pain -- and sometimes the tried-and-true natural therapies work the best. Aurora Ocampo, RN, and clinical nurse specialist at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, tells about a decades-old therapy that’s proven to promote profound relaxation and ease pain. All the best,  Jessica Kent Editor BottomLineSecrets.com  Oil Shock: Claim Your Share of Obscene Energy Profits Soaring demand for new energy sources -- and explosive growth in emerging markets -- has created a once-in-a-lifetime profit scenario for individual investors. This special video presentation shows you how to use a powerful -- and relatively new -- investing tool to claim your share of staggering energy profits... while at the same time minimizing your risk. Plus... you’ll also learn about 5 blockbuster energy investments that -- if you act quickly -- could provide explosive returns in the weeks ahead. You... An Art Collector? Barbara Schwartz Whether you consider art an investment or something simply to be enjoyed, it’s sensible to buy pieces that are likely to increase in value in case you or your heirs wish to sell them later. Works by established artists tend to appreciate by about 10% per year, on average. But over the past few years, art prices have declined sharply. That decline has created a buying opportunity, but most people who would like to own art cannot afford the tens of thousands of dollars or more that are still required to obtain a single work by an established artist. Great alternative: Buy affordable art created by up-and-coming artists for a few thousand dollars. Not every artist you choose will become "known," so your pieces might not appreciate in value -- but at worst, you will own unique art that you enjoy. How to identify affordable unknown artists most likely to become well-known and collectible... FIND THE RIGHT GALLERIES There are wonderful galleries in almost every major US city that regularly or occasionally feature the still-affordable works of up-and-coming artists. You can go in person to buy art or buy through their Web sites. Culver City in Los Angeles County has more than 25 galleries featuring established and emerging artists (www.CCGalleryGuide.com). Examples in New York City: Sue Scott Gallery (212-358-8767, www.SueScottGallery.com)... Eleven Rivington (212-982-1930, www.ElevenRivington.com)... and Caren Golden (212-727-8304, www.CarenGoldenFineArt.com). Ways to find galleries in other areas showing promising new artists... Join your local modern art museum. Approach the curator, and ask which nearby galleries featuring up-and-coming artists he/she holds in the highest regard. Read the art reviews in regional newspapers and art magazines. Patronize the gallery that receives the most consistently positive reviews for shows featuring new artists. This strategy is most effective in regions where the quality of the art journalism -- and thus the reliability of art reviews -- is highest, such as New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Type the name of the most prominent contemporary artist in your region into a search engine, along with the word "Gallery." Repeat this with the names of other established, successful area artists. If several of them got their start at the same local gallery, that gallery could be the place to look for today’s promising up-and-comers. Helpful: If you’re not certain who your region’s prominent contemporary artists are, ask at a local art museum. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS At a gallery, ask the following before buying. Also ask for a biography of the artist and a press release. Has this artist sold at auction? Auction results are a way to gauge the esteem in which collectors hold an artist. A young artist’s work might not yet have sold at auction, however. Has this artist been in any museum group shows? It’s a very positive sign if a little-known artist already has been included in a museum show. Where was this artist educated? Holding a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from a top institution, such as Yale, Columbia or California Institute of the Arts, increases the odds that the artist will be discovered. What other galleries are showing this artist? It’s a big plus if an artist is shown in more than one major US city and ideally in Europe, too. When an artist is known in more than one region, there’s a larger pool of collectors willing to bid up his/her work in the future. Most artists whose work still sells for a few thousand dollars or less will be shown only in one region, however. Is there a discount? It’s not uncommon for art galleries to offer a 10% discount to buyers who know to ask, so don’t be shy. In this economy, buyers sometimes can get even larger discounts, perhaps 20%. Respond to the initial discount offer with, "That’s a little over my budget. Is it possible to get a larger discount?" LOOK ONLINE Check online for works by the artist you are interested in, and you may learn prices that his/her works have sold for. Web sites of the major auction houses -- Christie’s (www.Christies.com), Sotheby’s (www.Sothebys.com) and Phillips de Pury (www.PhillipsDePury.com) -- all list auction results. Also, galleries maintain excellent Web sites showing artists’ works. Another resource is www.Pierogi2000.com (click on "Online Flat Files"). You can view works by artists in your price range, including works for under $400. Helpful: When dimensions are given for a piece of art, the first number is always the height. Example: A 4' x 6' painting is four feet high, six feet wide. ARTISTS Examples of affordable artists... Jim Gaylord creates stunning abstract paintings and drawings based on scenes from popular action movies. His works range from $3,000 to $10,000. (212-989-0156, www.BaileyGallery.com) Shane McAdams makes beautiful mixed-media abstractions in the $3,000-to-$4,000 range. (212-727-8304, www.CarenGoldenFineArt.com) Maureen McQuillan specializes in photograms, which start at $1,400. A photogram is a photographic image created without a camera by placing objects directly onto a photosensitive surface. (212-989-5467, www.McKenzieFineArt.com, click on "Artists.") Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Barbara Schwartz, based in New York City, who has more than two decades of experience as a professional art adviser. She also is a noted art collector, whose personal collection features many pieces of museum-quality art, which can be viewed on her Web site. http://BarbaraSchwartzArtAdvisor.com  Loved Ones Need Not Suffer Mental Decline -- Not Anymore! Reiki: The Energy That Heals Aurora Ocampo, RN, CNS Reiki (pronounced RAY-key) is a healing art traced to spiritual teachings from Japan in the early 20th century. The name combines two Japanese words, rei (universal) and ki (life energy). Reiki practitioners often use the technique to help ease clients’ anxiety and stress... chronic or postsurgical pain... menopausal hot flashes... menstrual cramps... migraines... and nausea and fatigue from chemotherapy. How it works: The traditional principle is that the practitioner taps into a universal life energy that exists within and around us... then channels this energy to the client, enhancing the body’s innate healing abilities. The modern scientific theory is that reiki promotes profound relaxation, increasing levels of pain-relieving, mood-boosting brain chemicals called endorphins. What to expect: During a typical 60-minute reiki session, the client (fully dressed) sits in a chair or lies on a massage table. The practitioner places his/her hands, palms down, on or just above a dozen or so different spots on the client’s body, holding each position for several minutes. Clients become deeply relaxed, and some perceive sensations of warmth or tingling at the spot being treated. Cost of treatment: About $75 to $100 per session. How to find a practitioner: Reiki has no formal licensing process, so locating an experienced practitioner is largely a matter of word-of-mouth. Helpful: Get a referral from a local hospital that has an integrative medicine center. Bottom line: While no large-scale clinical trials on reiki have yet been done, studies show benefits from various touch therapies. There are no negative effects from reiki. If you have a serious health problem, try reiki as an adjunct to standard medical treatment. Some people say that reiki works only due to a placebo effect -- and that may be so. However, practitioners often encounter clients who are skeptical at first... but who, after experiencing reiki firsthand, report that the therapy has helped them. Bottom Line/Women’s Health interviewed Aurora Ocampo, RN, CNS, clinical nurse specialist at The Continuum Center for Health and Healing, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City. www.healthandhealingny.org Delicious 'Wonder Drug' for High Blood Pressure Praised by Harvard Researchers Important: Help your friends get much more out of life -- forward this E-letter to them. Better: Send it to many friends and your whole family. This is a free weekly e-mail service of BottomLineSecrets.com and Boardroom Inc. Boardroom Inc. 281 Tresser Boulevard Stamford, CT 06901-3229 ATTN: Web Team You received this e-mail because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as healthwellness82@gmail.com. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. Disclaimer: Bottom Line Secrets publishes the opinions of expert authorities in many fields. But the use of these opinions is no substitute for legal, accounting, investment, medical and other professional services to suit your specific personal needs. 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