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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Seafood and Freshwater Fish
Freshwater fish will pacify everyone's physiology and promote energetic balance because the meat has not lived in salt water all its life Now shrimp is an exception to the saltwater rule but what if there were freshwater prawns Wow that would be hitting a home run! All of us could benefit from this novel animal food since freshwater fish can be used by everyone regardless of their energy pattern
A patient of mine told me about freshwater prawns that are farmed here locally. "What a great idea!", I said Then I began thinking of possible problems They'll probably have a weird taste "No", my patient explained, "they taste even better than the saltwater prawns." They're probably hard to find, I thought. "And they are locally available just off Lake street" My mindbody began searching for other possible reasons but having no more objections, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to try them
The next day I found myself ambitiously getting ready for my sojourn to the store to try this new found possible taste thrill "Maybe I won't have enough time," I thought to myself Nonsense, just go get them and if I don't like them, my daughter will eat them
So I get the prawns and they're delicious! And now I noticed the same process that my mindbody goes through when confronted with something new There is hesitancy about what might happen if I do something out of the ordinary Something that's not in my realm of comfort. I'll have the saltwater prawns, thanks very much
What gives? Why do I get so resistant to trying something new? I think the simple answer is the fear of the unknown The uncertainty of predicting what lies ahead prevents us from moving off center and doing something different For some the acceptance of change may be easy, for others it may be more difficult And for all of us, there will be guaranteed issues that we balk at and say to ourselves, not today
Freshwater prawns may be easy but perhaps changing our whole nutritional pattern may be something else But the key to any change is realizing the fear and stepping through it Everyone has their pet ways of resisting change Predominant Vata people run away from fear, Pitta criticizes and becomes judgmental, justifying their resistance by talking themselves out of whatever they're fearing to change And Kapha simply resists by inertia-just not going to do it. A sense of complacency becomes overwhelming
Knowing this resistance to the uncertainty and realizing that we will always express our resistance is unique ways allows us to watch ourselves in the midst of our resistance and perhaps walk through it But if not, it's OK There will always be another day
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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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Detoxification and Lifestyle Behavior Patterns
When we discuss the energetic management of a disease process, a different world of healing is entered We leave behind our thinking about the body as a collection of molecules that can be manipulated by surgery and Pharma and begin seeing our mindbodies as energy fields This has great value since all disease begins in the energy field way before it becomes manifest in the world of molecules
The energy science of Ayurveda not only gives us a vocabulary(Vata, Pitta, Kapha, agni etc) by which we can talk about our mindbodies as energy fields but it also gives us lots of ways to take care of our energy mindbodies When's the best time to get up in the morning or to go to bed, what's the best time to eat our biggest meal....all based on the concept that we are energetic expressions of Nature Herself The icdiet and the VPK nutritional formats are based on this energetic concept
5 Fundamental Energy Daily Practices
These practices could be called "healthy" lifestyle behavior patterns because they induce detoxification of the energy mindbody
1 Get up with Nature and go to bed with Nature This means we should be getting up early(between 5 and 7a) and go to bed between 930 and 11p
2 Biggest meal at noon Nature's most active time of the day is at noon and this is when our digestion is the strongest(even if it's lousy it will the least lousy at noon time) and so we should take advantage of this simple concept
3 Improve your digestion Using foods that are energetically suitable for us; avoid snacking(fruit is an exception); avoid incompatible food combinations; only consuming what you can hold in your 2 hands at any one meal; using CCF tea and other spices routinely Also using that aid in detoxification such as tapioca and arrowroot
4 Have a morning routine Splash cold water into the eyes(wakes up the nervous system) do a sesame oil swish(draws Kapha energy in the form of mucous from the nasal passages), use of a neti pot to draw Kapha energy, brush the teeth, and every 2 weeks place garlic oil in the ear canals to prevent wax accumulation Then number 5.....
5 Exercise daily This improves our digestive strength and enhances the upward and downward energy of the mindbody Kapalabhati is a specific energy breathing technique that is very powerful 10 pushups(improves upward moving energy) and 10 situps improves downward moving energy
The Biological Energy Science: Changing the Way You Think
So there is a deeply rooted understanding of our relationship with Nature and this then helps direct our choices This is what is fundamentally missing with our current matter science discipline of healing.....a lack of philosophy...that is, a way of thinking The energy science of Ayurveda is part of a greater system of thinking which is a philosophy of life
It defines our relationship with that which is around us, that is, our world According to this way of thinking we are part of Nature Herself and Nature is discussed in terms of energy patterns of VPK Then we understand that everything is defined in the visible and invisible world as VPK(that is, there are VPK times of day, VPK seasons, and VPK institutions and companies.....because they are nothing but collections of VPK)
This makes the energy science system of healing different than today's way of healing
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5 Ways To Make Lifestyle Changes Happen
Anything that we want to achieve in life....getting in better physical condition, losing weight, improving people's lives by working in a business or profession, changing a lifestyle pattern of behavior like smoking etc....requires that some form of structure be put into place so that a pattern of behavior is done over a period of time Hopefully the change is the pattern of behavior causes the desired change
So for example in the case of chronic disease in order to cause a physiologic shift toward balance and improvement in your symptoms, you undertake certain things that you think will make a shift
Life and Its Distractions To Healing
But let's face it even with good intentions life goes on and requires our participation and so distractions arise The deadline at work, finishing work projects, the upcoming holidays, getting the right Halloween costume...these sometimes get in the way of our healing intentions
In other words life's distractions affect how we heal They directly impact our ability to follow through with our intentions to heal
I believe that this is the major problem in healing chronic disease Healing any disease is doable with varying levels of difficulty based on length of disease and number of energy patterns involved but it requires time to do the things necessary In the energy science discipline it's not just one thing that promotes healing but rather a multiplicity of things that bring about physiologic change
This multimodality energy science approach begins with lifestyle measures focused on nutritional formats as discussed in the past but there are other things that can be done to support this approach
5 Ways to Create Structure
1 Overcoming inertia is the biggest challenge and keeping up with it is the next biggest hurdle
2 Use a calendar (here's a downloadable calender you can use on your computer) and mark down what's needed to create the change that you want to see happen....then check it every day
2 Expect it to be awkward at first...kind of like finding your groove You may forget and that's what the calendar is for
3 Daily do that activity at specific times of the day marking your items on the calendar
4 The more things you do to effect the change the better the chances of getting the desired result of healing
5 Make it a set of activities A morning routine has a set of things to do and these all work together to set the tone for the day as well as each activity supporting each other
It takes about 6-8 weeks for the change to be made Then you can move on to add more new activities to advance your healing journey
And sometimes it means deleting behaviors that don't serve us well.....for example going to bed earlier sets up the morning times to do some activities
Having a coach to support and help produce structure is valuable in these efforts You can make an appointment for a free consultation to get started
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Fresh Water Prawns
A patient of mine told me about freshwater prawns that are farmed here locally. “What a great idea!”, I said. All of us could benefit from this novel animal food since freshwater fish can be used by everyone regardless of their energy pattern. Freshwater fish will pacify everyone’s physiology and promote energetic balance Salt water seafood is potentially Pitta provoking so having a freshwater alternative sounded like a great alternative
Then I began thinking of possible problems. They’ll probably have a weird taste. “No”, my patient explained, “they taste even better than the saltwater prawns.” They’re probably hard to find, I thought. “And they are locally available just off Lake street.” My mindbody began searching for other possible reasons but having no more objections, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try them.
The next day I found myself ambitiously getting ready for my sojourn to the store to try this new found possible taste thrill. “Maybe I won’t have enough time,” I thought to myself. Nonsense, just go get them and if I don’t like them, my daughter will eat them.
So I get the prawns and they’re delicious! And now I noticed the same process that my mindbody goes through when confronted with something new. There is hesitancy about what might happen if I do something out of the ordinary. Something that’s not in my realm of comfort. I’ll have the saltwater prawns, thanks very much.
What gives? Why do I get so resistant to trying something new? I think the simple answer is the fear of the unknown. The uncertainty of predicting what lies ahead prevents us from moving off center and doing something different. For some the acceptance of change may be easy, for others it may be more difficult. And for all of us, there will be guaranteed issues that we balk at and say to ourselves, not today.
Freshwater prawns may be easy but perhaps changing our whole nutritional pattern may be something else. But the key to any change is realizing the fear and stepping through it. Everyone has their pet ways of resisting change. Predominant Vata people run away from fear, Pitta criticizes and becomes judgmental, justifying their resistance by talking themselves out of whatever they’re fearing to change. And Kapha simply resists by inertia-just not going to do it. A sense of complacency becomes overwhelming.
Knowing this resistance to the uncertainty and realizing that we will always express our resistance is unique ways allows us to watch ourselves in the midst of our resistance and perhaps walk through it. But if not, it’s OK. There will always be another day
Read More
