Mind and Body Are Intimately Spliced….You Cannot Separate Them
Yesterday I found myself talking to an elderly lady about digestion telling her how important it was for health.
"For optimal health, we have to have an optimal digestive fire," I began.
"But the intriguing thing about digestive fire, from an energy viewpoint, is that if we cultivate a rich digestive fire to digest broccoli, that same digestive fire helps you digest what I am saying right now!"
Amazing. So if I ramp up my digestive enzyme system by using a churan(collection of spices that improves digestion) it also improves my ability to digest thoughts?
Most certainly. From an energy science view, the mindbody are intimately spliced. We cannot separate them. What improves the mind, improves the body and what improves the body improves the mind.
It's important I think to note that the matter science model that is used today for healing when we go to the allopath MD cannot make this connection with its healing techniques
So if I digest broccoli better, I digest thoughts better. It is a conclusion that I naturally must come to if I adhere to the concepts of energy science.
Anybody for some churan? Go to foodsheal.com to find out how to make it Love DrBill
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Agni and Its Importance
Agni is an important concept in the energy medical discipline of Ayurveda In this short video I'll discuss the important take home points about this biological energy topic There are other videos that talk about the fundamental Ayurvedic principles at my YouTube Channel at this link
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Spices as Medicine: How to Use Them Effectively
The use of spices is the same as the use of herbs in the energy science model of nutrition and health A spice is considered a herb but not all herbs are spices The spice cabinet in your kitchen can be a medicine cabinet full of energetic remedies if you want to see it that way But just as medicines can help us, some can cause us dis-ease so we need to learn how to use spice for our benefit
Because most spices are used to help the digestive fire That is spices make it stronger so that our own digestive process is more effective in breaking down food, absorbing it, and assimilating it into our bodies as organ(eg, liver and brain) and tissue cells(eg muscle and blood)
Spices....Cooling or Heating?
Most of the commonly used spices in recipes today are heating Mediterranean recipes call for hot spices such as oregano, garlic, rosemary, and thyme These spices are not only heating but have the taste of pungent which is composed of the qualities of hot, dry, light, mobile. sharp, and rough This heating group of spices is particularly good during winter time when our mindbodies need extra heat for digestion of foods
However when your mindbody already shows signs of excess heat as in condition such as the IC bladder pain syndrome where the symptoms of the hot quality are present the above heating spices can be very problematic as most with IC can attest to
14 Cooling Spices
Among the spices there are a group that can be cooling and because of this can be medicinal when too much heat is present You're interested in improving your digestion, absorption, and assimilation but not at the expense of worsening your IC symptoms and risking a flare
There are 10 spices or herbs that you can use all the time and not risk too much heat They are balancing for everyone with high Pitta or too much heat
Use all the time
Cardamom Coriander Cumin Dill Fennel Mint Rosewater Saffron Turmeric Vanilla Do some of these sound familiar? Our common medicinal CCF tea is made from the cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds Furthermore they are medicinal to the urinary tract Other herbs you may recognize are mint, dill, rosewater and vanilla Turmeric is on of the most powerful antiinflammatories in this group and saffron even though expensive can be another great alternative in this cooling group
Cooling but use with self evaluation
Cinnamon Fresh basil Fresh ginger Neem leaves Parsley These spices can be heating and cooling so should be used with some caution and awareness, testing the spice to see what effects it has on your own energetic physiology For example fresh ginger due to its liquid quality(dry ginger is really hot and should not be used) can have this heating quality reduced So ginger tea made with fresh ginger can be medicinal for some but in some situations with Pitta really out of whack, even fresh ginger can be too hot This is also true of fresh basil Of the group parsley is the hottest and probably least tolerated
Remember parsley's look a like in the store Cilantro which is an excellent cooling veggie since it is fresh coriander leaves
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Meditation and Cancer
In November 2014 Canadian researchers reported that there are changes to DNA after just a 3 month period of practicing regular meditation This shouldn't really be surprising to us as other genetic studies involving lifestyle behavior patterns have shown shifts in multiple sites of the genetic material
What is interesting is that the changes noted in this study happen to be associated with longevity...that is those with cancer who were meditating for this brief period of time showed signs of increased longevity The tacit conclusion is that meditation can be good food for us and that taking time regularly as part of our daily schedule can have life sustaining benefits
Things to Know About Meditation
Meditation is a tool to quiet the mind You don't need any special gadgetry or tapes Just the ability to sit somewhere and close your eyes
You will have lots and lots of thoughts when you begin That's normal That's why you're meditating You can have 3 and only 3 types of experiences during meditation
Lots and lots of thoughts As above this is normal Recognize that these thoughts are meaningless and are releases of pentup stress which is good to be relieved of Whenever you find yourself on thoughts just gently bring yourself back to your technique, mantra or SoHum or the breath Whatever is your chosen vehicle simply return to the vehicle If you chose not to go back to the vehicle then you've decided to stop meditating
Fall asleep This just means that the mindbody needs rest
Experience silence Of course as soon as you become aware that your mind is silent, you're no longer silent These periods of silence between thoughts become longer and longer in the growth of meditation
To gain benefits from this type of behavior like any health promoting pattern of behavior means to do it and be pretty consistent with it It's been shown that DNA changes occur immediately but that the real changes occur after about 8 weeks in laboratory animals
Link for the cancer article http://goo.gl/v2tMJT
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Detoxification and Pranayama
Last week I discussed why pranayama or breathing exercises can be helpful as part of the energy science solution in helping with all diseases As I have explained in the past, in contrast to the matter science approach to disease, the energy science approach uses a multimodality approach in treating all the qualitative imbalances such as mobile(V), rough(V), hot(P), dull(K) and often times heavy(K)
Pranayama as I explained last week burns ama which is a result of poor agni These breathing techniques each build on one another to enhance the agni of every tissue level in the body When ama is released from the tissues then the qualities can move back to the GI tract for elimination through various methods
The Pranayama Sequence
The sequence is important as it progressively mobilizes Kapha and ama by increasing tissue agni or heat in the tissues from the grossest(bone muscle) to most subtle tissue layers(nervous) Due to the removal of ama this sequence becomes a form of detoxification For those of you familiar with pranayama practices these terms will be familiar but the sequence and how the pranayamas are done is what makes this sequence energetically medicinal For those unfamiliar with these there are places on the internet you can view them or if interested we could set up a demonstration to get you started Start low and gradually build to maximum number
Bastrika forceful inhalation forceful exhalation 10-100(5 min)
Kapalabhati passive inhalation forceful exhalation 100-1000(10 min)
Anulom villom forceful inhalation forceful exhalation using alternate nostrils 10-60(5 min)
Agni sar retention with abdominal pumping 5-10 reps
Bhramari known as bumblebee breath this is done with a specific mudra to enhance attention and the process 5-17 reps
Utjayi inhalation with right arm raising coupled with forceful exhalation using only the chandra channel 5-17 reps
Shitali Shitkari breath to cool particularly the nervous system down after heat generation of the above 5-17 reps
Utgeet breath to seal the practice 5-17 reps
If you want a demonstration DVD you can get it at this link http://goo.gl/mO6BbT
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