Your Body Heals Itself

You’re already healing yourself. Fine tune it.

  Placebo

A beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug, treatment or even statement which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient’s belief in that treatment.

  Nocebo

The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. It describes a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to a belief that the intervention will cause harm. It is a sometimes forgotten phenomenon in the world of medicine safety. The term nocebo comes from the Latin ‘to harm’.

  Spontaneous remission 

Spontaneous remission, also called spontaneous healing or spontaneous regression, is an unexpected improvement or cure from a disease that usually progresses. These terms are commonly used for unexpected transient or final improvements in cancer.[1] Spontaneous remissions may concern cancers of the haematopoietic system (blood cancer, e.g. leukemia), while spontaneous regressions concern palpable tumors; however, both terms are often used interchangeably. It’s basically US medical system’s explanation that they don’t know but we have a name for it.

  Homeopathics 

Homeopathy is a healing system based on the understanding that the body can heal when a very small amount of substance sends a message to the body. Those who practice it use tiny amounts of natural substances, like plants and minerals. They believe these stimulate the healing process. It was developed in the late 1700s in Germany. Widely available and inexpensive including on Amazon. Used extensively throughout the world including Europe. Largely dismissed by US medical system

  Programming first 7 years

When it comes to child development, it’s been said that the most crucial milestones in a kid’s life occur by the age of 7. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.”

  Genetics v epigenetics

Genetics is the idea that genes determine things like inherited disease. Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence. Largely dismissed by modern science.

   Biology of beliefs, Bruce Lipton

The grand daddy of the alternative treatment movement is a highly respected biologist, researcher and professor. His theories are largely dismissed in the US medical system. This alone should be reason to understand his ideas.

   Conscious v subconscious mind

The subconscious state may have millions of bits of information present. Yet the conscious state is able to process but 100 or so bits of information at any given time. This is the basis of the belief that 95% of behavior, health and well being is dictated by the subconscious.

  Quantum Physics 

The behavior of particles is changeable depending on the observer. A wave observed by one  may be observed as a particle bt another.

The Matrix movie. It’s actually a documentary. Watch it

I had Covid19 which resulted in surprising positive changes

I was prepared. A month after my dad passed, I got covid19 the variant. I choose not to be vaxed so at some level, I was fully prepared to become infected. I have been interested in alternative healing for 30 years and have been intensely studying systems for over a year. I was prepared with a bevy of homeopathics both to treat the illness and recover from the after affects. I am in excellent health and I believe my immune system is good. I speculate however that my immune system was compromised from the stress of caring for my dad. I was his sole caregiver and for the last couple of years of his life, caring for him was no picnic.

 I’ve developed a real empathy for people who are really sick. My first week of illness was pretty bad with fever and intense headaches. It was worse than the worst flu and bronchitis I’ve experienced. I barely ate for 3-4 days which concluded in losing about 17 pounds. The second week wasn’t much better but the headaches declined. I experienced a general sense of hopelessness and despondency. I speculate that this is in part due to my dad’s passing. I’ve cared for 4 children, 3 granddaughters, my mom until 13 years ago and my dad. Now I am no longer a caregiver but what is my purpose now? Do I even have a purpose? Is there a reason to get out of bed anymore? I was 4 days into fasting as I had no appetite and I knew I was only a short few weeks from ending my life if I continued to fast. I’m not really too attached to this body in the first place. But I started eating so I must not be done with life yet. 

 In week 3 I saw my naturopath. Dr Sahni is an incredible healer and in addition to what I call voodoo, she administered several homeopathics and five nutritional supplements which I’m still taking. I had already begun a homeopathics regimen to respond to general fatigue and congested lungs. BTW there is no regimen for recovery from after affects available from your local medical doctor or hospital. None!

 During this time I began thinking of people who experience truly debilitating long term conditions like lime disease, lupus and other immune disorders. They must feel like I did and much worse but with no end in sight. How they can go on is beyond my imagination. And then the really big ones like cancer. How do people who are so sick continue day to day? Truly they have far more courage than I would have if I were in their shoes. Death to me would be a relief but then I don’t believe there is death, at least not in the way of ordinary thinking. I have developed a tremendous amount of empathy and sense of admiration for people who suffer long term diseases and manage to keep going. That I believe is a pretty good thing.

 Fatigue and congestion continued for over 3 weeks after the fever stopped after the first 2 weeks. I tested negative for Covid and among the prescriptions by Dr Sahni was deep breathing, and fresh air walks. I also returned to dancing and found I was winded in an hour or so. Finally in week five, my trademark grin was back so I knew my mojo had returned! I’m now back to dancing sometimes for 3 or more hours at a time with no fatigue.

 My biology changed? The loss of taste was mostly experienced with a sense of everything tasted too salty so I couldn’t eat restaurant food. I began craving more fruits and vegetables so I started cooking vegetable soups with a little meat in it. Very little salt was added. I began tasting the subtle flavors of foods. I started eating breakfast (break fast) sometimes as little as a banana. I rarely ate breakfast in the past and now continue to do so. I’ve experienced that if I eat breakfast I don’t overeat other meals. I continue to eat much healthier and smaller meals. Dr Sahni told me to cut out sugar which I did for 4 weeks but I’m now back to satisfying my sweet tooth.

 I lost 17 or so pounds and I’m at the weight I’ve longed for for many year. I haven’t weighed this level for 25 years. I’d already lost about 8 pounds already from dancing so the new trim version of this body feels a lot lighter to drag around.

 I stopped drinking alcohol, it just didn’t seem tasty anymore. I had a glass of wine during week six and it tasted awful. I had a few sips to be polite to the hostess but quietly poured it into the sink when no one was watching. I did finally have a gin and tonic yesterday and it tasted pretty good but in general, my appetite for alcohol seems to have disappeared. Prior to covid19 I drank alcohol 2-3 times a week.

 I don’t recommend getting covid19. Seriously that would be stupid. But for me there have been positive outcomes. I feel healthier overall now and I have a developed great empathy and compassion for people who experience serious illness, way more serious than covid. Having to stay home has made me less restless. I find myself enjoying being alone, more contemplative and introspective. Other than going out to dance, I might be becoming a hermit. Which would be really weird for an extrovert like me. 

Today, week 7 I feel 100%. Even though I believe I now have good natural biologic immunity against covid19. I continue to take the zinc and B complex Dr Sahni prescribed and have added vitamin C. I’m not excited about repeating this experience. P.S. I really don’t need advice on getting the vax.

Mindlessness Meditation; the great reset

 

The human system is organized for well being! Let that sink in for a moment. You are programmed for well being! Do you want to be happier? Meditate. Do you want more health? Meditate. Do you want better relationships? Meditate. Do you want more abundance? Meditate.  

What do you do when your phone, your computer or your modem isn’t working properly? You turn it off, then on, right? You are restarting or resetting the system and most of the time, this gets it working properly again. Meditation does exactly the same thing, it resets your system. Deep inside of you there is a wellspring of well being. You might even say that your are that wellspring. In meditation, you are able to touch that place which is most profoundly you. Touching that most authentic part of you restores your system for optimal functioning.

Unfortunately, too many meditation ideas have been clothed in mystery, in religion or in secret handshakes. It’s really none of this. It’s simply quieting the mind. Some of you may have heard of mindfulness meditation. The idea of mindfulness has always seemed silly to me. How can one empty the mind and practice mind full ness at the same time? I know that there is an explanation for this but why should something as simple as meditation be defined by confusing terms? So I call this Mindlessness Meditation. Perhaps I should ™ this. To be clear meditation is simple but it is not easy as it takes practice.  The very nature of mind is thoughts. Just like the nature of the heart is beating. Try to keep you heart from beating for even just a moment. Not possible. Stopping the mind from thinking is equally difficult. The difference is we do not pay attention to the beating of the heart. We do however pay excessive attention to thoughts. We think so much of thoughts that we believe we are the thoughts. And of course we are not our thoughts. If you watch your thoughts for a while, you’ll discover they are random, repetitive and seem to come out of nowhere. Meditating is simply to avoid paying attention to the thoughts and instead focus attention elsewhere.

Meditating is the practice of focusing your attention. The thoughts will continue but you will exercise your power of concentration to avoid paying attention to them. You will fail often but don’t worry and don’t give up. You CAN do it. When you find your mind wandering just refocus. And don’t beat yourself up about it. PLEASE don’t beat yourself up!

Here are a couple of ideas on where to focus. With eyes closed focus on a rhythmic sound such a the drip of a faucet. I like to listen to heartbeat sounds which I find on YouTube. With eyes open, watch the flame of a candle. The key is to pay attention to only the sound or the sight. If you can work your way up to 10 minutes of doing this, your life will begin to change.

There are basics that almost any teaching of meditation will include. 1. Do it every day. The benefits of meditation are cumulative. 2. Do it at the same time each day, first thing in the morning is best. 3. Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight. 4. Wear comfortable loose fitting clothes. 5. Choose a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. 6. Using your breath to calm your body can be equal counts in, then out. I like to use 10 counts in, hold for 4 then 20 counts out. A good visual is to simply observe your breath as it enters your nose, fills your lungs then exits the nose. Another good one is to visualize the breath entering your nose then expelling it out through your heart. 7. With eyes closed focus attention on the forehead between the eyes.

There are many ideas of how long you should meditate but I think if you can work your way up to 15-20 minutes daily, you can decide for yourself if you want to go longer.

I recently heard a great story on the importance of meditation. You are preparing for a road trip. It’s a long trip of over 100 miles and it’s time to go but you can’t find your car keys. You decide that it’s a waste of time to keep looking for your car keys and decide to start walking instead. Silly right? Well not making time to meditate is equally silly.

By sitting quietly for a few minutes each day, you are resetting your system. Your system is programmed for well being. But constant disturbance creates ill balance and your system cannot do its job efficiently. Resetting your system by meditating restores balance.

You cannot fail. You can only fail by not trying.

Americans are cool

I am a first generation immigrant. I was born in Indonesia and immigrated to Holland when I was two. It was in Holland where I had first contact with Americans. We would go to one of the military bases on fourth of July for the festivities. The Americans were cool. They drove big cool cars. They had a swagger. They were friendly. They were welcoming. They had big fireworks. They were just cool.

In 1960 at the age of 9 my family immigrated to the US. I loved everything about the US. Everyone had a lot of stuff. And the people who welcomed us here gave us stuff. It was overwhelming. Potlucks at the Lake Grove Presbyterian church were fabulous. Jello salads with every imaginable and unimaginable addition. Casseroles of all sorts. And hide and seek after. My first trip to the local Piggely Wiggely was over the top. So much stuff. I had a quarter to spend and I recognized Chicklets. They were 25 cents back in Holland. I gave the cashier my quarter and happily headed for the exit. But she beckoned me to come back. It was a bit scary since I didn’t speak English. She put some coins in my hand. It turns out the Chicklets were only a nickel. I was dumb founded. Clearly I had the good fortune of landing in the land of milk and honey.

I had lots of friends and a great life. There were some things that happened that in our modern PC world would be considered offensive. In junior high some of my friends named me Chocolate. Sometimes they even called me dirty Puerto Rican. I really didn’t care. They were my friends. I loved them and they loved me. I don’t think they even knew what a Puerto Rican was. I certainly didn’t.

Recently my sweetheart Margaret and I went to New York. We wandered all over Manhattan. We got around by subway. Every time we asked for help New Yorkers, including cops would go out of their way to be helpful. A woman who led us to our transfer subway line remarked that we were so nice and friendly. I thought she was nice and friendly. I’m told that New Yorkers can be rude. I didn’t see this.

Americans are still cool. Since the presidential election, some people on both sides of the divide are behaving like idiots. Americans being cool has nothing to do with politicians. Politicians in the final analysis have to bend to the will of the people. They often don’t want to but they always have to. They don’t lead, people lead. They follow. They’re irrelevant. I think we get what we expect. I expect people to be loving and kind. I expect people to be helpful. I expect Americans to do the right thing. And usually this is my experience. This doesn’t mean that America is the greatest country. I think most people think where ever they live is pretty great. What makes America great is the people. And I still believe Americans are cool.

Yoga and Donald Trump

My Guru Sri M of Madanapalle India was recently in the US. He gave a talk to the mindfulness group at Yahoo corporate headquarters. M loves to tell stories and the story he delivered was from the Bhagavad Gita, one of the holiest books of Hinduism. The Gita story takes place on a battlefield with Lord Krishna talking with the warrior Arjuna. Krishna asks Arjuna  who is the greatest yogi? Now we here in the west think mostly of yoga as the pretzel variety or asanas (postures). While asanas are a part of yoga, it is a very very small part.

The answer may surprise you.

1. A yogi is one who has his senses under control. Life is pleasure, life is pain. One feels a whole range of emotions, happiness, anger, fear, lust but we do not have to let these feelings get the better of us. In the bigger picture, they are all part of earthly existence. We can choose to control these feelings.
2. A yogi remains tranquil under all circumstances. OK so there are few Hillary Clinton supporters who are yogis. But is it possible? It’s not easy is it? Someone cuts us off in traffic and we get angry. Someone calls you an idiot and you’re angry. Someone says you’re very intelligent and beautiful and you might feel full of yourself. We ascribe so much meaning to words. We are so conditioned to believe the actions of others affect us. Our state of well being or lack thereof is under constant attack. You can control your reactions, but do you want to try? You can control your reactions, but you don’t want to try. You can control your reactions!
3. A yogi has the welfare of all beings in his heart. Not just human beings but all of life.

So a great yogi is one who possesses these 3 qualities. One can also say that such a person is also a great bhaktar. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion. So a great yogi is also a great devotee of the Lord.

M spent several years of his young adult life with his Master in the Himalayas. One day when M was meditating, his master asked him on what was he meditating? Clearly his master was able to see deeper than outward appearance. M explained that there was a person in his youth who tormented him. His hatred for him was still present. One who has hatred can not be a meditator. It’s just not possible. So M was told to conjure up an image of his tormentor.  He was to bow down before this imaginary image each day for 30 days. Those who torment us can be our greatest teachers and M was instructed to thank his tormentor for coming into his life to teach him. Finally an imaginary flower was to be placed at his feet each day. The first few days were very difficult. M was so angry. But after a week, the hatred and torment vanished.

I first learned of this great yoga from another great master, Satuguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami of Kaua’i. He says to place a picture of your tormentor on your altar or another special place and place a real flower in front of it for 30 days.

You too can be a great yogi. Or as M adds you can become more Christ like. Can you do this with Donald Trump?

I choose happy

One of the great sages of modern times, Satguru Siva Yogaswami of Jaffna, Sri Lanka declared “It takes great courage to always be happy”. The other day I was talking with a Tibetan Buddhist friend and told him this. I added, “and perhaps a little foolishness”. That is certainly the case for me. So I try to be happy and most of the time I succeed.