I am so excited that the concept of holistic healing is becoming very popular. Most people seem to know what that means--that more than the physical body has to be treated for healing to occur. We are multi-faceted beings, with minds, bodies, and spirits that all need to be in alignment for vibrant health to be experienced.
In my practice, I address physical and mental ailments with Pranic Healing and, in addition, place importance on healthy food and lifestyle choices in order to prevent illness and maintain health. (I will complete my nutrition consultant program by the summer and add this officially, including nutrition protocols to heal particular ailments.)
The first step is healing from present ailments, and the second is to prevent any more from occurring. However, there are several parts to each of these steps.
The first part of holistic healing is to heal past psychological trauma. This may involve blockages, specific traumatic events, chronic negative thinking, negative attachments, and unhealthy patterns. By releasing past negativity, a person is immediately freed to move forward, live in the present, and be fully empowered. Pranic Healing is a brilliant modality which heals even severe trauma in a fraction of the time it would take with conventional talk therapy. Forgiveness is absolutely key in this process, as lack of forgiveness can manifest as severe health ailments, and complete forgiveness is a requirement for total healing and moving forward. One must be completely ready and willing to Let Go.
Next is to heal any mental ailment (ex: depression), chronic pain, sickness, or other physical ailment. This can be done with Pranic Healing and nutrition therapy. Emotional issues could potentially surface again at this point, as disease is often a manifestation of our mental state. All processed foods must be eliminated and only whole foods, preferably organic, should be consumed. This means the body is getting real nourishment, allowing it to carry out its natural and powerful healing processes which are so often hindered by our food choices. Balanced nutrition is also key to emotional and mental health.
Fasting might have a place as cleaning the body and purging obstructions is very influential in allowing flow and also proper assimilation of nutrition. Again, emotional issues can come up during fasting as emotional experiences are stored in the body. This new freedom and emotional clarity can even be scary at times, but is necessary for health, a sense of well-being, and true personal power.
Other targeted therapies might be useful or required such as massage, chiropractic, or others.
The third part is to permanently alter lifestyle habits over a transition period. This allows a person to stay healthy and prevent future mental or physical illness. The point is to become as independent as possible in staying healthy and healing oneself. Health is our natural state and should not require frequent and regular intervention from healers.
At-home, from scratch, whole food preparation for 90% or more of meals is necessary. Purchasing pre-prepared meals, whether from grocery stores or restaurants means consuming substances which are not actually food and shouldn't be put into our bodies in the first place. Or, it means consuming excessive amounts of salt, oil, and other things which should be consumed in a moderate balance. Only by making your own food will you have control over your health.
A WIDE variety of plant foods should be eaten and raw dairy is preferable over pasteurized for much easier digestion. Meat must be hormone and antibiotic-free, free range, and beef should be grass-fed. Sugar should be practically eliminated, as sweets can be made at home easily without it. Pranic Healing is fabulous for food addiction healing, whether due to the physically addictive nature of sugar and caffeine or from the emotional addiction aspect of eating. An exercise and meditation routine has to be established as well, even if it only starts with just once a week for each. These might be dramatic changes for many people, and they won't happen overnight, but the goal is total health freedom, and these are, therefore, all essential.
Coping techniques for stress may be required for some, as well as overall stress reduction in general. Certain lifestyle changes could be required, perhaps as small as turning off the TV or as large as changing jobs. Life balance in all areas is required for peace, health, and sanity. Are you doing what you love? Do you at least have time for your hobbies, or time to yourself? Relationship assessment is also important, including family, friends, co-workers, and romantic relationships: toxic relationships do to our energy what toxic food does to our bodies. Energetic hygiene using Pranic Healing techniques is always taught: saltwater baths, cord-cutting, and keeping the home environment clean.
These elements combined will truly treat the whole person and make them health-independent, as every person has the natural right to be. Our culture has somehow gotten so far off track that such a system is even required, when all this should be natural. It is the right of everyone to feel vibrant, alive, peaceful, and fully healthy all the time.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Toxic Bodies, Toxic Minds
A suddenly major interest among health-conscious people is detoxification. The fact that we are toxifying our bodies in the first place is a subject worth serious consideration and is usually skipped over in the conversation about detoxing. Why should detoxification be necessary at all? Why do we have to "clean up after ourselves"? What are we putting into our bodies in the first place?
What is a toxin? In general, the word toxin refers to something chemical, not considered food or nourishment, and which does not belong in our bodies. Toxins can be chemicals in the air, water, beauty products, and food which we ingest or which are absorbed through the skin. Toxins are, in part, stored in the tissues and lymph fluid.
Toxins are not stored intentionally--why doesn't the body just get rid of them? The body does get rid of plenty of junk we ingest, however, not everything can be eliminated easily. The way that toxins end up stuck in the tissues and lymph is due to a simple process of diffusion. Immediately after eating cooked food, the blood becomes thick. This is the reason one cannot eat 8 hours before surgery: the blood is too thick for surgeons to safely operate. Due to this thickness, toxins diffuse into the lymph which is thin and light in comparison. When fasting or eating raw food, the blood becomes thin and toxins naturally diffuse out of the lymph fluid and into the bloodstream. Then they are eliminated.
More complicated than that, however, is toxic residue. Toxic residue is basically a layer of junk lining the intestinal tract. This junk inhibits proper absorption of nutrients, which is the purpose of the intestines. This reduces the nutrition we can get from our food, even when we are eating what we should in the first place. Where does this come from? Cooked food, especially animal products, which are difficult to digest and do not "burn" cleanly. Toxic residue keeps us out of touch with our bodies. Many people believe food cravings are messages from the body, and sometimes they are, but often we are just craving what we are addicted to. This layer of junk is a barrier between the real messages of our body and our awareness, and our bodies cannot communicate through it. Until you have detoxified, you will not hear very well your body's real messages.
This junk stuck in the intestinal wall can actually ferment by being stuck in the gut for too long, hence becoming toxic. This buildup does also leak continuously into the bloodstream and cause problems, however, as illustrated by Gabriel Cousens, MD in his book Conscious Eating:
"Many people think that the phrase 'toxins in the body' is just some jargon of food faddists. Research over the last 100 years shows that these bowel toxins actually exist. Not only do they exist, but they also have a tremendous negative impact on mental and physical well-being. Toxins usually come from a process called 'intestinal toxemia,' an overgrowth of putrefactive intestinal bacteria in the small and large intestines. These toxins are then released into the blood stream and from there affect both our mental and physical functioning. Intestinal toxemia is predominately caused by a high-protein and low complex carbohydrate diet. Intestinal toxemia not only has been associated with severe mental symptoms such as psychosis, but with a variety of mental imbalances.
As early as 1917, Drs. Satterlee and Eldridge presented 518 cases at an American Medical Association conference that had mental symptoms which were cured by removing the intestinal toxemia. The reported symptoms of intestinal toxemia which are familiar to many people: mental sluggishness, dullness, and stupidity; loss of concentration and/or memory; mental incoordination, irritability, lack of confidence, and excessive and useless worry; exaggerated introspection, hypochondrias, and phobias; depression and melancholy; obsessions and delusions; and hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, delirium, and stupor. Senility symptoms are also common with intestinal toxemia."
Gee, does anyone here know any Americans that seem excessively anxious, stupid, or sluggish??
I'm going to make the bold statement that toxemia is rampant in this country. I do believe that our food HAS made us dumb and complacent, quite easily managed and manageable by the so-called powers that be.
The long-term solution is to eat more raw food and less cooked food, especially less animal products. Eat lots of raw leafy greens and fruit which contain fiber. For a more sudden and possibly slightly painful detox process, you can do a fast which will rather quickly and dramatically release toxins into the bloodstream and then out of the system. This might put you through some unpleasant symptoms as all this garbage comes out from its hiding place. It can be mild to severe, from a headache or a little crankiness to getting a cold or major aches and pains in the body. However, I have heard of wonderful benefits to doing this such as lasting weight loss, disappearance of minor health problems, especially digestive problems, among other things.
The question in my mind is: if we are meant to eat meat and cooked food, why does it leave us with a ton of toxic buildup that causes mental disorders and requires a dramatic fast to get rid of? And then, as popular raw food author, Shazzie, points out: "detox to retox?" because it sounds good to do these fasts or detox diets for anywhere from 3-30 days, but if you're going to go back to your old diet again...? Well, still way better to do a twice yearly fast than none at all.
What is a toxin? In general, the word toxin refers to something chemical, not considered food or nourishment, and which does not belong in our bodies. Toxins can be chemicals in the air, water, beauty products, and food which we ingest or which are absorbed through the skin. Toxins are, in part, stored in the tissues and lymph fluid.
Toxins are not stored intentionally--why doesn't the body just get rid of them? The body does get rid of plenty of junk we ingest, however, not everything can be eliminated easily. The way that toxins end up stuck in the tissues and lymph is due to a simple process of diffusion. Immediately after eating cooked food, the blood becomes thick. This is the reason one cannot eat 8 hours before surgery: the blood is too thick for surgeons to safely operate. Due to this thickness, toxins diffuse into the lymph which is thin and light in comparison. When fasting or eating raw food, the blood becomes thin and toxins naturally diffuse out of the lymph fluid and into the bloodstream. Then they are eliminated.
More complicated than that, however, is toxic residue. Toxic residue is basically a layer of junk lining the intestinal tract. This junk inhibits proper absorption of nutrients, which is the purpose of the intestines. This reduces the nutrition we can get from our food, even when we are eating what we should in the first place. Where does this come from? Cooked food, especially animal products, which are difficult to digest and do not "burn" cleanly. Toxic residue keeps us out of touch with our bodies. Many people believe food cravings are messages from the body, and sometimes they are, but often we are just craving what we are addicted to. This layer of junk is a barrier between the real messages of our body and our awareness, and our bodies cannot communicate through it. Until you have detoxified, you will not hear very well your body's real messages.
This junk stuck in the intestinal wall can actually ferment by being stuck in the gut for too long, hence becoming toxic. This buildup does also leak continuously into the bloodstream and cause problems, however, as illustrated by Gabriel Cousens, MD in his book Conscious Eating:
"Many people think that the phrase 'toxins in the body' is just some jargon of food faddists. Research over the last 100 years shows that these bowel toxins actually exist. Not only do they exist, but they also have a tremendous negative impact on mental and physical well-being. Toxins usually come from a process called 'intestinal toxemia,' an overgrowth of putrefactive intestinal bacteria in the small and large intestines. These toxins are then released into the blood stream and from there affect both our mental and physical functioning. Intestinal toxemia is predominately caused by a high-protein and low complex carbohydrate diet. Intestinal toxemia not only has been associated with severe mental symptoms such as psychosis, but with a variety of mental imbalances.
As early as 1917, Drs. Satterlee and Eldridge presented 518 cases at an American Medical Association conference that had mental symptoms which were cured by removing the intestinal toxemia. The reported symptoms of intestinal toxemia which are familiar to many people: mental sluggishness, dullness, and stupidity; loss of concentration and/or memory; mental incoordination, irritability, lack of confidence, and excessive and useless worry; exaggerated introspection, hypochondrias, and phobias; depression and melancholy; obsessions and delusions; and hallucinations, suicidal tendencies, delirium, and stupor. Senility symptoms are also common with intestinal toxemia."
Gee, does anyone here know any Americans that seem excessively anxious, stupid, or sluggish??
I'm going to make the bold statement that toxemia is rampant in this country. I do believe that our food HAS made us dumb and complacent, quite easily managed and manageable by the so-called powers that be.
The long-term solution is to eat more raw food and less cooked food, especially less animal products. Eat lots of raw leafy greens and fruit which contain fiber. For a more sudden and possibly slightly painful detox process, you can do a fast which will rather quickly and dramatically release toxins into the bloodstream and then out of the system. This might put you through some unpleasant symptoms as all this garbage comes out from its hiding place. It can be mild to severe, from a headache or a little crankiness to getting a cold or major aches and pains in the body. However, I have heard of wonderful benefits to doing this such as lasting weight loss, disappearance of minor health problems, especially digestive problems, among other things.
The question in my mind is: if we are meant to eat meat and cooked food, why does it leave us with a ton of toxic buildup that causes mental disorders and requires a dramatic fast to get rid of? And then, as popular raw food author, Shazzie, points out: "detox to retox?" because it sounds good to do these fasts or detox diets for anywhere from 3-30 days, but if you're going to go back to your old diet again...? Well, still way better to do a twice yearly fast than none at all.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Getting "High"
One thing I wish I knew when I was in college is that putting toxic substances into your body is only one way to get high and, by far, the most painful.
Being "spiritual" sounds pretty dull to most people. In most religious traditions, it involved going off to live in a nunnery or maybe be a celibate priest. One was supposed to renounce earthly pleasures.
Modern spirituality has a different approach, however, and does not require anyone to ignore the fact that part of our existence is physical (the other part being energetic). In fact, I would say success is measured, in this system, by how much fun you are having.
I realize how completely hilarious this sounds, but experiencing regular meditation and spiritual growth is as close to living on the edge as you can get. Ha! There, I said it.
Think of a time when your mind was totally blown open. Maybe you read a book that blew the lid off your previously-held beliefs. Or you watched an incredible documentary. Or you traveled to another country and saw a completely different way to live. These examples are pale comparisons to what it is like to experience the metaphysical-and magical-reality we all live in. Meditating can be like learning half a book of new and incredible information without having to read, and a book that might never have been written, at that. For the rest of the day, things come into your mind from nowhere, making you laugh out loud or stop dead in your tracks.
Drugs and alcohol are toys compared to what every human has the capacity to experience. I have, more than once, gotten to work, having meditated right before I left (I work at a restaurant) and found it difficult to get oriented to even do my job.
Spiritual people love getting high! We've just noticed that messing up your body and going through the side effects of hangovers, comedowns, depression, exhaustion, sleep interruptions, bad dreams, regrets, and bar tabs is a terribly ineffective way to do so.
Being "spiritual" sounds pretty dull to most people. In most religious traditions, it involved going off to live in a nunnery or maybe be a celibate priest. One was supposed to renounce earthly pleasures.
Modern spirituality has a different approach, however, and does not require anyone to ignore the fact that part of our existence is physical (the other part being energetic). In fact, I would say success is measured, in this system, by how much fun you are having.
I realize how completely hilarious this sounds, but experiencing regular meditation and spiritual growth is as close to living on the edge as you can get. Ha! There, I said it.
Think of a time when your mind was totally blown open. Maybe you read a book that blew the lid off your previously-held beliefs. Or you watched an incredible documentary. Or you traveled to another country and saw a completely different way to live. These examples are pale comparisons to what it is like to experience the metaphysical-and magical-reality we all live in. Meditating can be like learning half a book of new and incredible information without having to read, and a book that might never have been written, at that. For the rest of the day, things come into your mind from nowhere, making you laugh out loud or stop dead in your tracks.
Drugs and alcohol are toys compared to what every human has the capacity to experience. I have, more than once, gotten to work, having meditated right before I left (I work at a restaurant) and found it difficult to get oriented to even do my job.
Spiritual people love getting high! We've just noticed that messing up your body and going through the side effects of hangovers, comedowns, depression, exhaustion, sleep interruptions, bad dreams, regrets, and bar tabs is a terribly ineffective way to do so.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Reflections on Raw Food
It's been about two weeks of eating almost 100% raw. I am committed to being fully honest and cannot say that I have not had a bite of cooked food. I have essentially eaten three raw meals per day the entire time--it's just that in between those meals have had either bites of other peoples' food, a snack while going out with a friend, and a soy chai twice at a coffee shop.
Which doesn't sound bad at all, I know, but I definitely hoped for "perfection" on my two-month commitment. The tough thing about raw food is that by being "perfect" and keeping absolutely any cooked food away from your mouth, you experience that over-the-top healthy feeling. For me, I don't seem to get it until I have been absolutely strictly raw for about a week. Seeing as I have not been so strict, although I notice changes, they are not the dramatic ones I enjoyed the last time when I did this diet for a month. Which THEN tends to make you less motivated....which is kind of where I am at at the moment.
The positive changes I have noticed are:
no interest in alcohol
no interest in sugar, cheese, or bread
absolutely loving all the raw meals I eat without missing anything
calmer mind
never heaviness after any meal
less hungry and less appetite--small meals will fill me for hours
no obsessiveness/cravings/compulsive thoughts about food
sleeping very well
much more energy in meditation
What I got the last time around (when I was strict) but not this time:
much less sleep needed--2 hours less per night
no negative thoughts/feelings
constant happy "buzz"
And this doesn't make it sound like I am missing out on a lot, but those three that I am not experiencing this time around are some big ones.
And, about that happy buzz, I have to mention a couple of powerful off-setting factors: it's winter (and feeling like a very long one to me), and my husband has been gone a week now on his 4-week contract job in Indiana, leaving me kind of lonely/bored. So part of that lack could be due to circumstance.
I think I am also not noticing as much drastic change because since doing raw last summer, I have added a lot of raw food into my life. It's been my habit for months to eat several raw meals per week, and I've been drinking green smoothies for months now. Before I ever tried raw food, I was eating zero and then went to 100% almost overnight. That exciting, drastic change probably won't be felt by me again unless I go back to eating significantly worse than I have been for the past 9 months. I am probably feeling 10 times better than a year ago but don't notice because I have added raw food gradually over a long period, so this 90% raw food diet of the last two weeks was just one or two steps upward.
I am reading lots of raw food dieting accounts online and it's kind of giving me an inferiority complex! Everyone seems to be doing a perfect job of it and having a fabulous time! This amazes me because the first time I ever did this, it was EXTREMELY difficult. I was tortured, craving my regular foods night and day for the first week. Then there was immense frustration in making the recipes which really took practice (as well as learning to avoid the difficult ones--and knowing in advance which ones will be difficult!). I am having a much easier time the second time around with no cravings and no difficulty making the recipes. I am just, somehow, not motivated to be super strict and I don't know why.
One important difference between me and a lot of people who start this diet is that I don't have any health concerns, nor am I overweight. Almost everyone who decides to do this who I have ever read about has health problems or weight problems. These are obviously enormous motivating factors for people. Who wants to go back to their old foods if they will be 50+ pounds overweight or suffer extreme pains or illnesses? I already rarely get sick in the first place. So for that reason, it's hard to be a perfectionist.
I think for now, I will accept taking my goal down to a 90-95% raw food diet for the remaining six weeks. This percentage is pretty comfortable and natural for me. Maybe I will change my mind and choose to be more strict later, but I am happy with this for now.
Which doesn't sound bad at all, I know, but I definitely hoped for "perfection" on my two-month commitment. The tough thing about raw food is that by being "perfect" and keeping absolutely any cooked food away from your mouth, you experience that over-the-top healthy feeling. For me, I don't seem to get it until I have been absolutely strictly raw for about a week. Seeing as I have not been so strict, although I notice changes, they are not the dramatic ones I enjoyed the last time when I did this diet for a month. Which THEN tends to make you less motivated....which is kind of where I am at at the moment.
The positive changes I have noticed are:
no interest in alcohol
no interest in sugar, cheese, or bread
absolutely loving all the raw meals I eat without missing anything
calmer mind
never heaviness after any meal
less hungry and less appetite--small meals will fill me for hours
no obsessiveness/cravings/compulsive thoughts about food
sleeping very well
much more energy in meditation
What I got the last time around (when I was strict) but not this time:
much less sleep needed--2 hours less per night
no negative thoughts/feelings
constant happy "buzz"
And this doesn't make it sound like I am missing out on a lot, but those three that I am not experiencing this time around are some big ones.
And, about that happy buzz, I have to mention a couple of powerful off-setting factors: it's winter (and feeling like a very long one to me), and my husband has been gone a week now on his 4-week contract job in Indiana, leaving me kind of lonely/bored. So part of that lack could be due to circumstance.
I think I am also not noticing as much drastic change because since doing raw last summer, I have added a lot of raw food into my life. It's been my habit for months to eat several raw meals per week, and I've been drinking green smoothies for months now. Before I ever tried raw food, I was eating zero and then went to 100% almost overnight. That exciting, drastic change probably won't be felt by me again unless I go back to eating significantly worse than I have been for the past 9 months. I am probably feeling 10 times better than a year ago but don't notice because I have added raw food gradually over a long period, so this 90% raw food diet of the last two weeks was just one or two steps upward.
I am reading lots of raw food dieting accounts online and it's kind of giving me an inferiority complex! Everyone seems to be doing a perfect job of it and having a fabulous time! This amazes me because the first time I ever did this, it was EXTREMELY difficult. I was tortured, craving my regular foods night and day for the first week. Then there was immense frustration in making the recipes which really took practice (as well as learning to avoid the difficult ones--and knowing in advance which ones will be difficult!). I am having a much easier time the second time around with no cravings and no difficulty making the recipes. I am just, somehow, not motivated to be super strict and I don't know why.
One important difference between me and a lot of people who start this diet is that I don't have any health concerns, nor am I overweight. Almost everyone who decides to do this who I have ever read about has health problems or weight problems. These are obviously enormous motivating factors for people. Who wants to go back to their old foods if they will be 50+ pounds overweight or suffer extreme pains or illnesses? I already rarely get sick in the first place. So for that reason, it's hard to be a perfectionist.
I think for now, I will accept taking my goal down to a 90-95% raw food diet for the remaining six weeks. This percentage is pretty comfortable and natural for me. Maybe I will change my mind and choose to be more strict later, but I am happy with this for now.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Middle Road?
One of the most common things I hear when I tell people I'm only eating raw food for a certain duration is that I shouldn't be too extremist and moderation is best.
My question is, what is moderation?
In a raw food book written by two siblings brought up on raw food (Victoria Boutenko's kids), they were visited by a child services worker at the door once. Some school kid's parents thought they were suffering from child abuse because of the strange lunches they brought to school. They asked the kids what they had for lunch today, and, knowing what this child services worker wanted to hear, they said "we ate McDonald's." The person was satisfied and left.
Eating pizza and burgers is considered moderation today, an average middle-of-the-road diet. Wasn't it just 50 years ago that people commonly had 3-martini lunches? Old movies just crack me up because there's barely a scene where the characters aren't drinking straight whiskey, bourbon, or scotch every time they're home. That was moderation.
Then you tell someone you're going to eat an incredible variety of plant foods and not cook them, and they think you've fallen off the deep end. But slicing potatoes and deep-frying them in grease--that makes sense. The only nutritional concept they're familiar with is protein--that's in meat!! But ask them where they're getting the maybe two dozen required vitamins and minerals, and they probably can't identify where to find even one of these nutrients--let alone tell you how THEY are fulfilling these requirements for themselves.
The extremists are the average Americans.
As I read in one of my favorite books, most people take better care of their cars than their bodies. The mechanic has a tizzy if you wait an extra month before getting your oil changed. But the doctor doesn't really mind what you do, there's always a pill!
The middle road isn't the sum average of what everyone in your culture is doing. We are blessed to have some pretty sophisticated techniques now to understand what happens when we do certain things to our bodies. It's time to let science rather than the overwhelming number of unhealthy grocery and restaurant chains guide our idea of "moderation." Culture and popularity so often reign in these decisions such as what we should eat. And Americans pride themselves so much on their freedom, their open-mindedness, and their individuality.
So let those values run free a little!
My question is, what is moderation?
In a raw food book written by two siblings brought up on raw food (Victoria Boutenko's kids), they were visited by a child services worker at the door once. Some school kid's parents thought they were suffering from child abuse because of the strange lunches they brought to school. They asked the kids what they had for lunch today, and, knowing what this child services worker wanted to hear, they said "we ate McDonald's." The person was satisfied and left.
Eating pizza and burgers is considered moderation today, an average middle-of-the-road diet. Wasn't it just 50 years ago that people commonly had 3-martini lunches? Old movies just crack me up because there's barely a scene where the characters aren't drinking straight whiskey, bourbon, or scotch every time they're home. That was moderation.
Then you tell someone you're going to eat an incredible variety of plant foods and not cook them, and they think you've fallen off the deep end. But slicing potatoes and deep-frying them in grease--that makes sense. The only nutritional concept they're familiar with is protein--that's in meat!! But ask them where they're getting the maybe two dozen required vitamins and minerals, and they probably can't identify where to find even one of these nutrients--let alone tell you how THEY are fulfilling these requirements for themselves.
The extremists are the average Americans.
As I read in one of my favorite books, most people take better care of their cars than their bodies. The mechanic has a tizzy if you wait an extra month before getting your oil changed. But the doctor doesn't really mind what you do, there's always a pill!
The middle road isn't the sum average of what everyone in your culture is doing. We are blessed to have some pretty sophisticated techniques now to understand what happens when we do certain things to our bodies. It's time to let science rather than the overwhelming number of unhealthy grocery and restaurant chains guide our idea of "moderation." Culture and popularity so often reign in these decisions such as what we should eat. And Americans pride themselves so much on their freedom, their open-mindedness, and their individuality.
So let those values run free a little!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Meditation: a health requirement
today's lunch: marinated portobello mushroom sandwich with avocado, lettuce, and tomato on raw sprouted grain bread...delicious
I know it can be tiring to hear about all the new things they have to do every day in order to be healthy. It IS a lot of work when you grow up in a modernized society where we are supposed to work at least 40 hours/week, go drinking with your friends, get enough sleep, etc. All these obligations take time.
However, nothing is more important than health. If you are in pain or unable to enjoy life with others, little else will really matter to you.
When I hear people say they don't have time for such things, what I automatically want to ask them is, "how many hours of TV do you watch per week?" Exercise can only take 3-4 hours per week, and meditation as little as 1-2 hours per week. Can we not eliminate a few of our favorite programs to lengthen our lives and dramatically improve our quality of living?
If you don't make your health a priority, this so-called civilization WILL drag you down and you will be sucked into reality shows, potato chips, and a half-asleep, sedated kind of awareness.
So, yes, no one else may be doing it, but: you have to exercise regularly. You just do. You have to eat foods in their whole, original form. You may not buy things that come in boxes. You may not eat at a fast-food restaurant. You may not eat un-organic meat or dairy products. Yes, I am issuing an ultimatum.
So this one more thing... You have to do it too. You have to meditate.
Let me say right away that meditation does not necessarily equal keeping the mind silent for a certain duration. This may be one type of meditation, and it seems to be meditation's definition to most people. However, I expect this to be a huge deterrent to an otherwise interested person--this the hardest meditation technique out there!! Meditation can be extremely simple and easy.
First of all, what is meditation? There are a lot of ways of looking at this word. Meditation can be a quiet walk in the park and it can be an 8-hour marathon during a retreat. My definition of meditation is a state of receptivity and quiet where you stop doing or thinking about any physical or worldly matter.
What generally happens during meditation, when your intention is set, is divine energy comes down through the top of the head. Energy is simply your life force. It keeps you alive and "energized" when, without this energy, the physical body would die. When we quiet ourselves, we open ourselves to this divine energy.
We are all already connected to it. Every living thing has what is called a spiritual cord going out from the top of the head to this infinite source. In the average person, this cord is very thin, like a thread. In a regular meditator, it is wider. In a saint or highly developed teacher, it can be much wider than the physical body. The larger your cord, the bigger the supply of steady energy. During meditation, the cord expands and then partially retracts again afterward. It's one of your spiritual muscle, and you want to make it as strong as you can.
So you don't have to have a perfectly quiet mind to let this energy in. You just have to be still and set the intention to meditate, to be in a state of relaxation and peace and to receive healing and rejuvenation. Set this intention or ask for it specifically...and I promise you will be heard.
Meditation is your metaphysical daily exercise routine. Remember, healing can be done on a physical or energetic level or both. Energy healing can often be faster than physical. If you are already charging up your energy body daily, you are healing yourself energetically daily. This is extremely powerful.
You will notice significant changes over time if you make this a regular practice. I can tell you what you might expect, or you can just try it yourself. There's already enough written on this topic. Everyone is different, and there's no need to believe what I am saying. Just try it for yourself and prove or dis-prove it.
One thing I've noticed with myself is that if I go a long time without meditation, I start to get slightly depressed. The world also starts looking very one-dimensional, dull, depressing, linear, and also infuriating. Everything is infused with energy and has its own "magic." You will have very little sense of this truth if you have no energetic healing or meditation experience to expand yourself. Meditation gives me a sense of excitement.
So, yes, robust health does take time. But your meditation doesn't have to take longer than 15 minutes a day. And at least you don't need to pay for a gym membership....
P.S. At pranichealing.com you can purchase the CD for the Meditation on Twin Hearts. It takes 20 minutes and is extremely powerful. It is designed to flush out the energy body of negativity and congestion and then powerfully energize it.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Nobody's Perfect
Today's raw dessert: a banana smothered in raw chocolate sauce, peanut butter, and a little berry smoothie...SOooo good
I had too much to drink last night.
I know--horrible! After making the biggest commitment to my health possible, I not only indulged but over-indulged. It amounted to 3 glasses of sangria and then one glass of wine we split which doesn't sound like that much, but my tolerance is pretty low these days. Which I am proud of, by the way!
As I wrote to Elizabeth who made a comment asking whether wine was pasteurized, it's uncertain. I cannot find that information anywhere on the internet--just a lot of speculation. I am guessing some is pasteurized and some isn't, but it's not something written on any label. I have read in one of my raw food books that organic wine is not pasteurized, and in another raw food book, there are recipes containing wine plus a delicious-looking recipe for sangria. A lot of raw foodies don't drink alcohol which makes the most sense to me, but I am not ready to cut that out 100% yet.
My goal was to occasionally indulge in only one glass per "occasion." And to have as few of these occasions as possible. Right now, though, I feel like swearing off the stuff for the whole 2-month period.... but I really don't want to make promises I can't keep. For now, I'll leave that one open.
Burdened with guilt as I am, and keeping in mind one other significant food slip-up two days ago, I am starting the two months over. The whole point of this way of eating is to FEEL GOOD!!! I should be feeling amazing by now and woke up feeling so far from that, it was ridiculous.
Taaaaaake 2!
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