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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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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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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Detoxification and the Breath
The use of breath exercises or pranayama is a longstanding health technique in the yoga tradition that is one of the fundamentals to help improve one's health And these breath techniques can even be foundational before beginning asana or posture practice that are guided by yoga teachers in studios across the country The question from an energy science perspective is how can breathing exercises give us such a physiologic advantage
The Elements and Tissue Layers
All the ancient healing traditions saw the mindbody as an energy field and spoke of the 5 great elements that were observed in Nature....space, air, fire, water, and earth Energetically the energy of space is nuclear energy, air electromagnetic energy, fire radiant energy, water chemical energy, and earth mechanical energy Each of these energies in the energy science of Ayurveda become Vata(space and air), Pitta(fire and water), and Kapha(water and earth)
The tissue layers are composed of these 5 elements in varying degrees...so the nervous tissue of the mindbody is mostly space and air while the muscle layer is mostly fire water and earth and the bone tissue is mostly earth due to its solidity So when you clear toxic load from the elements themselves you clear the toxicity from the elements that make up the tissues
Improving All Agnis Improves Detoxification of All the Tissues of the Mindbody
There is no energy science technique that can do so much for the overall health of the physiology than pranayama simply because there is no known technique available that can induce detoxification like it does for all the tissue layers This is due to its overall effect on agni
Not nutrition, not herbs, not changing lifestyle, not even panchakarma over time can beat the daily consistent practice of pranayama
Consistency in Practice Develops Strength Stamina and Endurance
Done on a consistent basis these breathing techniques gradually and slowly enhance the strength and stamina of the physiology One starts out with difficulty maintaining good posture during and creating strength during the exercise that gradually improves as one maintains consistency
Consistency also leads to better lung capacity and better posture This is played out over months of practice but the results can be nothing short of a miracle Another interesting thing that happens is that flexibility occurs particularly in the back muscles because fibrosis or scar is lost from around these particular muscles hence leading to better overall strength, better posture, and more ease at doing simple daily tasking
Done properly the techniques can lead to weight loss, reduction in cravings, improved mental clarity, and clearance of toxic load from the physiology leading to lightness and improved energy This is because each technique in this sequence improves the agni of each tissue layer of the mindbody Hence each tissue layer gets cleared of ama or toxic load This sets the stage for real healing to take place
Next week I'll cover the sequence that can change your life forever
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The Heavy Feeling and Toxicity
Have we ever felt physically heavy, sluggish, and just not wanting to move? And that's the groundstate for depression, isn't it? Because depression actually means to not move. Our mindbody energy has slowed down. When these qualities are felt they indicate either a buildup of the Kapha energy pattern or toxicity or both.
Energy that doesn't flow in the mindbody becomes like stagnant 
pools of water in a mountain stream or lake. The mobility of water is almost imperceptible. With less and less flow through the pool life begins to spawn. Small fish find a home, vegetative growth becomes obvious, and the quality of slow/dull overcomes the vibrational frequency of sharp/penetrating. The static quality has become more dominant over the mobile quality. And the pools of water become have less clarity and become cloudy because of the growth. So stagnant(static) energy in the mindbody promotes growth of debris.
"OK, so my mindbody energy flow is like a mountain stream. I can relate intellectually, but what is that like experientially? What does it feel like to have the mobile quality?"
In the realm of biological energy it's all about feeling. We feel slow/dull. We know our energy mindbody has become relatively reduced in mobility.
So mobility is sensed when we feel tingling in mindbody parts such as the extremities and we feel bright, "energized", and alive. Have we ever felt like that after a vigorous massage? The mindbody feels crisp and alert. Ask someone to give you a brisk massage and see if you can sense it.
As healing occurs stagnant pools of energy in the mindbody that have gone into a deep Rip VanWinkle sleep over literally years become awakened and alive again. To have mobility energetically is to be alive, rejuvenated, and participate.
Here's the deal. We can never know mobility unless we know static. So be grateful for those slow/dull times so you can feel the exhiliration of mobile and sharp/penetrating. But become addicted to neither. It's about balance. To good health DrBill
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IC and the Flow of Prana
What is matter is energy and what is energy is matter A molecule is both a particle(matter) and a wave(energy) And so biologically we simultaneously coexist as both a matter/molecular field and an energy field We know this from E=mc2 and the energy science of Ayurveda gives us a vocabulary by which we can talk about our mindbody as an energy field
Quite simply whenever we become sick there is an improper flow of energy to parts of the body caused by qualities that interfere with the flow of energy through those tissues This is what happens in any disease where the free flow of energy becomes disrupted in the tissue
The Flow of Biologic Energy and Spontaneous Remission From Cancer
When we hear the words prana, chi, qi, ru,and ruha they are expressing the biologic energy field Numerous healing traditions over the past 1000's of years have understood this of the human biology
You may have heard of people having spontaneous remissions from cancer There is actually an international registry of such cases where there is good documentation of a diagnosed cancer going away spontaneously without any therapy There is no molecular explanation but from an energy science view the reason is clear
For some reason and there are many the flow of biologic prana becomes established again And because the matter/molecular model cannot explain the phenomenon, the word miracle is used But energetically the flow of prana is reestablished
5 Ways to Reestablish Pranic Flow
All of the energy science tools that I have mentioned through the years are to help reestablish the flow of biologic physiologic energy At times the biologic energy is particularly stuck or stubborn in the process of movement but by and by it moves and the reestablishment of pranic flow occurs Whether it's CCF tea, yoga asana, breath exercises called pranayama, herbs, basti, or meditation the tools help reestablish pranic flow
Here are some basic things to begin fixing pranic flow
1 Eat according to your nutritional energy pattern
2 Avoid incompatible food combinations
3 Improve your agni
4 Utilize pranayama breath exercises
5 Fit your daily schedule into the rhythms of Nature
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