The Gut and Imbalances that Create Dis-ease
The energy science of Ayurveda describes the gastrointestinal tract(GI tract or gut)as the place where health begins and ends.
Think about it. The gut interface is where our food choice becomes us. If we choose broccoli, our gut has to change it into our brain, heart, and lung cells. What happens if the gut isn't up to it? What happens if it's sick and in poor health? The rest of the mindbody suffers.
Then what happens to the broccoli? From an energy view, it becomes stagnant energy layering in the GI tract not going anywhere.
Year after year, decade after decade, the gut gets sicker and sicker until we get so out of balance that we have no retrievable dis-ease.
The take home message. The gut is the center of dis-ease not just a mechanical tube. And the choices made by the mind that puts the food there is another integral part of dis-ease because they produce either harmony or imbalance. If gut is healthy it burns up the mistakes. If it's sick, it's trouble.
So here's to a healthy gut!
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Commitment and Healing
Commitment creates a new space within you in which you can live unencumbered by your past That is tremendously liberating Amrit Desai
Yesterday I saw a diligent patient interested in doing the energetic nutritional work to improve her health. She had found since I last saw her that her abdominal pain had resolved and was feeling well when......she went on vacation. While on vacation her efforts gradually succumbed to her old habits and her pain returned. When she came to see me she was happy to report that she was getting back on track with her energy nutrition and again her pain was gone.
This clinical scenario is not uncommon and it shows how energetic healing time to change our habitual tendencies. And it's totally OK to do this because energetic healing is a learning process. It requires the process of trial and error. It requires us revisiting old habits and seeing the effects of them on our physiology. It is to recognize that we are human after all.
Energy healing is not rapid as it is when we take a pharmaceutical or have that operation that changes the body's anatomy. Energy healing is subtle and slow like a tortoise but it is long lasting and forever if we want it to be because it's up to us.
Yet when we shed those old habits and take on new ones that are more supportive, we need to begin with commitment that we are in this for the long haul not the short term. This is a little onerous at first because it requires an element of faith. Fortunately the process builds trust which gives us some more trust as we move along in our journey
As we grow in this blogging experience together I hope to share other personal and patient stories that will help underscore the real nature of healing.
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Body Odor and Flatulence
A patient was relating to me that when he talked with a matter field gastroenterologist about his problem of odorous flatus he got the response, "Oh everyone has a problem with that every once in a while."
While that may be true in part, the energy sciences have a lot to say about flatus and body odors for these symptoms are signs of energy stagnation in the mindbody.
And energy stagnation is a serious problem whether transient or constant. When energy becomes stagnant bacteria begin growing in these stagnant fields and produce noxious gases that then become manifested. Whether this is in the mouth with resultant halitosis, in the gut, or urinary tract with urinary tract infections, stagnant energy is a symptom that should not be dismissed.
So energy stagnation is a serious symptom of dysfunction and illness of the GI tract that can then disseminate to all areas of the mindbody physiology. Once this stagnation begins to disseminate to the far reaches of the tissues it is very difficult to eradicate.
And swallowing deoderant is not an option with odorous GI elimination.
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The Mind and Body: An Energy Science Concept
The mind is energy Regulate it by paying attention to what the bodily sensations tell you
The energy medical sciences tell us that both the body and mind are energy fields. Hence there is room for mind in the energy physiologic model of healing. And in the energy model, mind and body are not separate; they are intimately spliced. Mind and body are one. What happens in the body, happens in the mind. And what happens in the mind, happens in the body.
The mindbody concept is impossible to understand from a matter field medical perspective. Although talked about in matter field circles of healing, by the very nature of the way the body is perceived, the matter field model cannot include mind easily. This is because the molecular way of conceiving of the body cannot address the mind.
From an energy medical disciplinary approach, mind and body are intimately spliced. Mind is in every cell of the body's matter field because it is all energy to begin with. You see, if mind is an energy field, that is, a subtle energy field of matter that is not matter ( I can't wet a thought with water), then mind cannot exist in the matter field model. Mind is not molecular; it is an energy field!
Any energy that comes in contact with our own personal energy field has the potential to influence it either positively or negatively. Herbs are fundamentally energy medicines and affect both the mind and the body simultaneously. They have stood the test of time in their actions and have the unique capability of causing the mind to have insights as to what is next best thing to do with respect to the healing that needs to be done.
Foods are also essentially mindbody medicines. Although we don't consider hot pungent spices as anger provoking, nonetheless they do, when associated with other cumulative nutritional effects. Bitter causes mind to become introverted and averse to desire but in excess can make a person cynical and boring. And the astringent taste is supportive and grounding but when in excess causes the mindbody to be anxious and scattered
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Value of Detoxification: An Energy Science Perspective
In the last couple of months I have written intermittently to you about the energy science's understanding of toxic load(called ama) that occurs with all disease Since this kind of thinking is completely foreign to those of us following the matter science medical model, it represents a radical departure as to how we think about the origin and treatment of disease
As I have said from an energy science perspective ama or this toxic moribund substance is the byproduct of poorly functioning metabolism Again the energy science describes poor metabolism as a result of low agni(digestive strength, power, or fire) This agni is in part the digestive capability of the entire GIT that we are all familiar with The agni in this part of the body is comprised of all the enzyme systems from the mouth to the rectum including all the bacterial systems as well
But there are other agnis in the body that are involved with the metabolism of the tissues and excretory functions And most importantly agnis that help us digest thoughts, feelings, and emotions When you digest well psychologically the result is mental clarity
From an energy perspective the primary purpose of any detoxification protocol is to improve agni or the capability to digest(physical food, thoughts, feelings, emotions)
Physical Detoxification
If you're tired you rest IF you're listening to your body As you know there are many people who don't listen to their bodies and that's literally the first step to disease Eventually you have to listen because the body essentially gives out with resultant disease
If your agni is laboring, not up to par, and as a result your body is producing ama, then it makes sense that one of the first things to do is to give your agni a rest One of the simplest things to do is a monodiet
A monodiet is a certain type of food that is done over a period of time The type of food chosen for the diet is not as important as the consistency to do the monodiet for the period of time Some would call this a "fast" and it is in the loosest sense of the term but it's essentially giving your digestive system rest Why? Because you're using only one group of enzyme systems to digest the same thing over and over again The monodiet could be fruit, could be rice and yogurt, could be fruit juice The point is that it doesn't matter what the monodiet is, as long as it's repetitive for a period of time
How long? It depends If you are Pitta Vata at most 7 days If PK then 14 days
Psychological Detoxification
I've divided the body and mind apart for discussion purposes but we should be clear here that from an energy science perspective the mind and body are intimately spliced They're one and the same What is mind is body and what is body is mind You can't separate them As a matter of fact detoxification of the physical body does psychological detox and psychological detox does physical detox That's how intimately spliced we are
Detox of the mind reduces mental ama and involves a form of monodiet as well But this monodiet is in the form of reducing mental activity The energy science is very clear that in order to remove mental ama some form of activity that reduces mental activity is most important
Why? Since we want to improve psychological agni we want to fast from thoughts The best way to do this is by meditation There are many ways to meditate The simplest is probably the most effective and involves watching the breath If you want you can add a mental instrument to trap the mind's attention using SO HUM SO on inhalation and HUM on exhalation
Breathing exercises can be meditative as well as yoga posture practice if done properly
The Benefits of Detoxification
When we improve agni there are great gifts Probably the most important is mental clarity and therefore peace, less emotional turmoil When the GIT is given some time off there is improved digestion and elimination We simply digest food better Here are some benefits from doing detoxification
Loss of cravings Feeling of lightness after eating Good taste perception
Steady weight Normal GI elimination Vigor vitality strength stamina
Healthy glow Mental clarity Sound sleep
Alertness Discrimination, intelligence Direction determination courage
Joy cheerfulness Contentment Affection enthusiasm
Patience Longevity Confidence
All because we have given our mindbody a break and improved our agni
To Health as a Skill DB
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Genetics and Nutrition
Most matter field science has looked at the nervous system as a fixed physiologic and anatomic structure. But that concept is being challenged with a new concept called neuroplasticity. Now researchers are witnessing people who have had strokes and paralysis who are able to recover some function and in one reported case complete recovery.
Now another concept is beginning to emerge to challenge another medical sacred cow. That genetic expression is a fixed, unchanging and unyielding blueprint. In a journal article in September 2005, Dr Dean Ornish reported that patients with prostate cancer changed their genetic expression to tumor by altering their nutrition. Not only did their genetic expression turn off repressor genes but turned on important genes to combat tumor. Furthermore these patients increased their T killer cell response to tumor cells eight fold.
So a new biological concept is potentially emerging-genetic plasticity. And the remarkable cause of this genetic shifiting event was a change in nutrition!!
This molecular evaluation points to what the energy medical sciences have held for thousands of years. That one of the main pillars to health is nutrition and they built elaborate sophisticated systems around nutrition. This means not just what we eat but when we eat, where we eat, how we eat and why we eat. That is the interrogatories of eating.
This concept of genetic plasticity is just one more reason why we need to take a very hard look at how we deal with nutrition. And the energy medical sciences can give guidance to the matter field medical sciences as practiced today.
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