The Neti Pot
Some of you may have used the neti for clearing mucous for the common cold which energetically is a Kapha release Kapha is the energy pattern of stability in the physiology It is composed of the qualities of heavy, slow/dull, cool, slimy/smooth, liquid, dense, soft, hard, static, and sticky The mucous of the common cold during its course exhibits many of the qualities of Kapha which supports bodily structures
When Kapha becomes excessive in the physiology it brings the static and heavy qualities in excess which block the lighter qualities of Vata and Pitta In the diagram one can see that the columns of Vata and Pitta get blocked by Kapha but when Kapha becomes less then Vata and Pitta can flow once again
The Kapha energy pattern is involved in the many disease processes and one of the simplest ways to deal with this imbalance is to use the neti pot in order to remove excess Kapha from the sinuses and remove excess Kapha from the body particularly when neti is followed by a breath technique of kapalabhati followed by oil drops in the nose(nasya) which will gradually and slowly loosen Kapha's blockage in the physiology
Releasing this blockage allows Pitta and Vata to move once again and unblock the channels in the body leading to improvement in symptoms
To do neti one needs a good sized container...500cc available on Amazon If you'd like more information I can send you more on request
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The Energetic Truth About Food Allergies
Energetically food allergies or sensitivities are a result of poor digestion This is difficult to understand from a molecular approach to dis-ease since the current health care model sees molecules and our reactions to them as the problem in allergies Find the offending molecule, avoid the molecule, and the problem is solved
This is frustrating to patients seeking to understand food allergies and how to treat it because the offending molecule can be difficult to figure out And it sometimes leads a real difficulty in choosing foods thinking that perhaps the symptoms are related to their "food allergies" so they are fearful of eating anything Often times elimination diets are used to try to sort it out but usually come up with equivocal solutions
The Dis-ease Origin Is the Same
With a different way of seeing the mindbody from an energy science viewpoint rather than the currently used matter science discipline it becomes clear that food allergies are interrelated with IC Why is this so?
Dis-ease or lack of harmony in the mindbody begins in the gastrointestinal tract(GIT) and when there is too much of the hot quality it leaves the GIT to be eliminated through the urinary tract The GIT is not healthy enough to deal with the excess hot quality
Food allergies that occur in the GIT leads to distress as well but the energy science explanation is due to lack of digestive strength The same lack of digestive strength leads to two seemingly different forms of dis-ease
Lack of Digestive Strength
Digestive strength from a matter or molecular science approach is not enough digestive enzymes to do the job Because of this toxic debris builds up much like a cold campfire has unprocessed charred remains Acute symptoms occur after eating such as:
Poor appetite Coated tongue Nausea Bloating
Belching with smell of previously eaten food
Weakness and fatigue Foul gas or flatus; bad-smelling feces Unhappiness Constipation or diarrhea
Abdominal pain and/or distention Bad breath Bad taste in the mouth Restlessness
Heaviness after food
Congestion Excessive sleep
These signs and symptoms represent poor digestive strength but as you can see could be interpreted as "food allergy"
Then chronic signs and symptoms may occur over years of poor digestion strength:
Tissue emaciation Malabsorption Emotional eating Food cravings Food allergies
Insomnia Poor visual perception Poor circulation Abnormal color and complexion
Lack of luster(skin rashes)
Fear Grief, sadness, and depression Confusion Apathy, repulsion Shortened life span
Aggressiveness
Indecisiveness and lack of discrimination Lack of intelligence(loss of clarity) Impatience
Improper direction and inappropriate goals
Isn't it interesting that fear, confusion, apathy, aggressiveness occur in this list of chronic symptoms? The reason for this is that there is a mindbody connection What happens in the mind happens in the body What happens in the body happens in the mind
From an energy science view mind and body are intimately spliced You cannot separate them Mind is in every cell of the body So we see that if the GIT is effected with dis-ease or disharmony then it will register in the mind and these psychological manifestations will be apparent
3 Things to Do to Improve Digestive Strength
As I have said in previous blogs eating according to your mindbody energy makeup is the most important thing along with avoiding poor food combinations But here are some other general things you can do as well
1 Use a green composite protein recipe
2 Use of cooling spices such as cumin coriander fennel seed mint cardamon tumeric and fresh basil and avoidance of other heating spices These will aid in digestion
3 Use a probiotic and make fresh homemade yogurt...dilute 80% water with 20% yogurt to make a probiotic drink Drink after the noon meal
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Healing with Multiple Ways: An Energy Science Approach
In the energy science world of healing it's not just one thing that you do that brings about healing but rather a multiplicity of therapies done over a period of time that leads to results
Foundational Work
Healing is just like building a structure....it begins with a good foundation
1 Doing a Day in Balance...this means going to bed early and getting up early, eating your biggest meal at noon, and having some set routines in the morning such as scraping the tongue, kevala(oil pulling), white sesame seeds, pranayama(specifically kapalabhati), neti pot use
2 At the very least eating a nutritional format appropriate for you energy constitutional makeup
3 Avoiding incompatible food combinations
4 Meditation helps calm the mindbody to do this work Otherwise the mind will be fretful, anxious, fearful, and will throw in the towel early on
Beyond Foundational Work
The above work sets the stage for more advanced work We need to set the mindbody up for success in the process of releasing imbalanced qualities, ama(unprocessed undigested food that clogs the channels), and toxic ama called amavisha The latter is particularly toxic because when released it is hot and can produce lots of various problems(eg skin rashes and conditions, sensed excess heat, diarrhea or change in bowel pattern)
When the bowel is prepared properly with appropriate nutrition and therapies are added then the mindbody will be able to tolerate the toxic download without a detox crisis Having said that, even with the best laid plans, detox crisis can occur but that can be managed What are basic advanced therapies?
1 Green composite protein recipe sets the stage for healing the GIT(gastrointestinal tract)
2 Use of nasya which is supportive of the process, clears mental ama and amavisha, and directly effects positive mental changes
3 Use of transdermal creams applied to marmani(acupuncture points without the needles)
4 Use of herbal memory nectars Similar to herbal tinctures that have alcohol, nectars do not They bypass the digestive process and by their energetics create favorable physiologic effects for healing
5 Continual improvement of the disturbed GIT with various teas(eg CCF or CF teas)
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Healing Emotional Trauma
In contrast to the matter science discipline the mind and body are intimately spliced...what happens in the body happens in the mind and what happens in the mind happens in the body There is really no difference between mind and body In the matter science(molecules) mind is located in the brain but the mind has escaped according to the energy science Mind is located in every cell of the mindbody
For many these days the emotional traumas or hurts are thrown into a big black bag that we carry around with us so we don't have to look at them In the energy science that big black bag where we throw our undigested, unprocessed, thoughts, feelings, and emotions is the subconscious and the physical space anatomically where our subconscious is located is the fascia, a vast supporting connective tissue network of the body As we accumulate more and more emotional "garbage" our fascia becomes tight, dense, inflexible, and rigid It is no wonder that as we age we get more and more inflexible and stiff because we don't process all of this undigested, unprocessed emotional "stuff"
Dealing with Emotional Hurts
This has enormous implications in healing emotional and/or psychological trauma because counseling can only go so far with the deep seated emotional problems that we are hiding from And then there is the mind's ability to deny that anything is wrong anyway The mind and more specifically the ego actually averts our attention away from trauma we have experienced in the past
Simple day to day emotional hurts can be related to longstanding issues that we have never looked at before And the first step in the process is complete and total acceptance of what is
Doing physical work deals with mind problems
The energy science model allows us to treat this in a number of different ways....marmani, meditation, pranayama, mantra, and herbs
As we have talked about in the past the marma system of the Ayurvedic discipline is analagous to the acupuncture system in the Oriental medicine discipline Marmani are localized concentrations of mind topographically located on the skin in specific locations of the mindbody Since they are mind localized to specific points we can use them to treat the mind using herbs
Meditation is important to quiet the mind so we can get to acceptance and be able to look at the emotional hurts in a more objective way without fear, criticism, judgement, anger, or passivity The use of mantra(an instrument of the mind) can also help settle the mind
Pranayama is the use of the breath for healing and can be meditative but also can be used to support improving the heart's agni or ability to digest unprocessed, undigested thoughts, feelings and emotions
All of this takes time and discipline but real healing always requires this of us
What does this have to do with chronic disease? Amazingly those imbalances that are causing any disease are the same imbalances that are causing the emotional hurts...deal with one and you'll deal with the other
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Marma and Yoga Therapy
At times people attempt yoga but due to specific areas of tightness of the fascia they don't make progress What would it be like to wash away that fascial tightness and become more flexible and more successful in your yoga practice?
In the energy science disciplines of Ayurveda and traditional Oriental medicine(TOM) the use of topographical points on the skin are used for treatment of various disease states In TOM these points are called acupuncture or acupressure points In the energy science of Ayurveda these points are called marma points There is some variability in terms of location and what they represent but the utility of use is undoubtedly valuable The whole body has lots of marma points and the ones depicted in the diagram are three around the ankle
In conventional medicine today the use of transdermal therapies has had a wide application utilized mostly as a delievery system These pharma systems are designed to get molecules into the body that would otherwise be digested in the gastrointestinal tract(GIT) and rendered useless A good example is that of the testosterone molecule that is digested in the GIT Because of this no functional hormone support can be acheived by taking it orally But with the use of the transdermal delivery system testosterone can be effectively absorbed across the skin to provide its physiologic benefits
In chronic diseases such as chronic prostatitis, IBS, GERD, and fibromyalgia we can make use of marma points to deliver herbs into the mindbody for healing
Marma and Transdermal Creams
There are specific marma associated with organs such as the liver, lungs and nerve plexi associated with disease in these organs From an Ayurvedic point of view all diseases can be affected and treated because neurological involvement of the nerve plexi is the rule This nervous tissue is invaded by imbalancing qualities that move to various parts of the mindbody and energetically affect the functioning of these plexi
Transdermal creams can be made so that they can take the herbs across the skin and deliver their effects to target tissues of the mindbody The carriers are energetic vehicles move the finest of vibrational frequencies of the herbs to the respective locations in this case the pelvic plexus The carries move through the nadis and hair follicles of the skin and attach to the synapses of nerve endings leading to distant effects
The point is that the nerves essentially carry the vibrational frequencies
Uses of Transdermal Creams
cont1 Pain rol There is no pain without the mobile energy pattern of Vata which is most expressed in the the nervous system So when we use transdermal creams and affect the nervous system directly we have the chance to change pain
2 Therapy for conditions Conditions for chronic diseases will best respond to the the use of transdermal creams because they address the chronic imbalances that occur in tissues
3 Bringing overall balance By affecting the tissues and eliminating imbalances we have the chance to reverse disease
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Meditation and Chronic Pain
Probably one of the most challenging clinical conditions in medicine are those where physical pain plays a role in the chronic disease Although there is always a psychological or emotional component to this pain, it is the physical pain that becomes so daunting This is the case in any chronic disease associated with pain But what makes it so challenging? Is it really the pain? Or is it something else?
Anybody confronted with chronic pain will attest to the fact that it's the continuous physical discomfort that doesn't go away that leads to the challenge But what if the person is given things to do to help with the pain but won't do them because they make the assumption that it won't work This becomes a problem
Case Study
Let's talk about a middle aged woman with high Vata energy who has a 4 year history of sharp burning electrical pelvic symptoms that move up toward her head But over the last 6 months these pelvic symptoms progressed to severe bladder symptoms with burning pain during and after urination to the point of incapacitation so she cannot work or do normal daily activities She's given specific therapies that will indeed help her with the pain but is unable to do even a small part of them because she believes that they are making her symptoms worse In the end her mind is so strung out that she becomes confused with loss of ability to maintain direction in helping herself with healing
I know there will be some who would argue that this is just part of the problem and that is indeed true But what we have here is a mind that is interfering with the person getting better by preventing her from even using the therapies to begin with Physical pain freaks the mind out It produces enormous unsettling so that there is confusion, disarray, loss of ability to maintain direction, and lack of faith in any process
Role of Meditation
Obviously meditation does not eliminate pain but it has one very important attribute It settles the mind so that there is a potential for faith to peek its head in the door and nuture some calmness to the freaked out mind
We see a lot of people in the clinic with chronic disease who have perhaps underlying psychological or emotional pain but not obvious physical pain and so these people can also benefit from meditation
But it's one thing to deal with helping people with chronic disease but quite another to try to help those with chronic disease who have chronic physical pain
Meditation does not eliminate the pain It helps settle the mind so that it is not so anxious and is able to accept suggested therapies without freaking out There are times when pain is so commanding of our attention that a trial of a particular approach freaks us out Everything is uncertain and we just want the pain to go away This is specifically a very bad place for people with chronic disease
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