Listening inwards vs. Listening outwards

A Tibetan Singing Bowl - a musical and healing tool for the soul

Why are we not (as a rule) playing our true role in this world? Why are we sick? How can we eat junk food without feeling bad on the spot?

Its all about how well we listen inwards and how pre-occupied we are with what we hear from without.

As children we are in tune with ourselves. It is during this time that we start training ourselves to be out-of-tune. We do it to please others (Our parents, elders and friends). We do it to please ourselves (First taste of chocolate is usually enough ;) ). We learn from our teachers the values of discipline - to dogmas that we are taught, not to what our soul requests. We dream of being something exciting and end up "doing the right thing"...

It is all in the training. We train ourselves not to react badly to things we would rather not give up. Tasty and unwholesome foods are a good example. It may give us a stomach ache at first - but who would give up on a craved desert just to prevent an ache? We train ourselves to be good workers - at a job we would rather not work at. We argue that having a job in today's economy is nothing short of a miracle so who are we to be so thankless? We train ourselves to ignore the minor discomforts that are our body's way of signaling that we are living wrongly. After all, it's not like a little headache ever killed anybody? We are too busy to stop and ask - why is my head hurting? And so we train ourselves to ignore this. Eventually the body will rebel at this habit but by then we will be really sick...

Habits are a seriously hazardous tool. We tend to grow into habit and then find it very hard to break it. We can cough a little bit when we start smoking but everyone knows its just till you get used to it... Getting used to bad habits doesn't mean not paying a regular price for this adaptation process. We do. Eventually the price is high enough for the body to start shouting again.

So what am I suggesting?

I believe it is about time we grew up a little as a race and took on the challenge of listening inwards. Listening to the minor aches and pains, to the instinct that says - its a bad idea, to our soul. Logically, we know what to eat and what not. Its time to adhere to that and then listen again. Not all that is healthy as a rule is good for us. Each of us is an individual and thus prone to reacting differently to common "Generally regarded as Healthy" foods. Its time to listen to the body's requests regarding physical activity, sleeping habits, furniture choices, work load and all the other habitual elements in our life.

More challenging but not less important: It's time to listen to our soul's voice in regards to our calling. Our profession is a crucial choice in life - are we listening now? Are we doing what our soul desires? Are we fulfilling our Dharma? Our destiny? Our happiness and our health depend on it. Our world too. If we work in the wrong profession we are rarely satisfied and it shows...

The art of Living Peacefully

This is the cover for my new Digital book just out "Learn peace in an Hour", seek it out in Amazon Kindle.

Hi again,

Today I will discuss a subject I consider essential to modern Human living. Stress. Living peacefully sounds almost alien to most people I know. It is almost as if such an idea belongs in a fairy tale...

How have we become so Stressed out as a culture? Why is Modern Living considered synonymous with Stressful living? The most important question I raise here is- is it truly a must? How can we live a modern life and still live a peaceful life?

As a therapist living in Israel I have the "pleasure" of seeing a whole lot of stressed out people every day. Almost everyone coming into my clinic has a side-order of stress with every meal and every moment. They ask for help with their Illnesses (Varied reasons) and yet behind it all I see one common denominator: Stress. Though it is true more for Middle Eastern countries, I believe you will agree it is also true (even if to  a lesser degree) of everywhere else.

So how HAVE we become so stressed as a culture?

The intensity of modern living, the ever changing reality we live in, the need to be at work for so many hours and many others symptoms of modern living create a basic reality which is very intense, This part we all share to an extent. Many suffer from lack of resources. This can add even more stress, Others suffer illnesses- today more then ever, and other suffer socially. It used to be possible to really take a break from living by choosing a lower lifestyle. Today most people find such an option comes with too dear a price. This means once you are in the rat-race you're in it for the long haul.

When I said most people I am guessing you thought I meant "all but the rich". Sadly, in today's world, that is often not true. Those who do not suffer are the rare minority who have discovered the secret to peaceful living. They already know how to de-stress to the point where the stresses of life cease to accumulate and thus are usually calm and peaceful- even in the face of hardships. A more advanced option is that the rare few learned not to accumulate stress by shifting their mindset radically.

Having found a way to peacefulness I have been teaching people this  technique for many years here in Israel. I even wrote a Digital book on the matter several years back (In Hebrew).

Now (27 Dec 2013), after several years, I have come to the conclusion that this knowledge is needed not only in Israel but around the world and I am glad to announce that is has just been published in English as well!

So what am I offering in my Digital book? Well let me share some of the secrets right here:

What is stress? Stress is what comes of coping with change. Any change. Positive, negative and neutral. Whatever the outcome. Do you remember things changing in your life? I'm guessing the answer is: Of course! Every day! All day... And you can't really avoid change either. So what can you do?

I divide the answer in two:

1. Develop a "no stress" attitude. Choose to be positive and translate change into challenge rather then into pain and suffering.
2. De-stress faster then you can accumulate stress on a daily basis.

Of course most people will agree that no. 1 above is not easy a habit to form. It requires learning new skills and practicing them under stressful conditions... It is the better long run option but for most it is at first impractical. They are too stressed to begin with.

The latter (no. 2) is quite easy to accomplish once you know how to do it. This is what my book is about.

I took the know how, spelled it out for all to understand. Both about stress and about De-stressing. Learning to live in Peace is all about removing the stress factor from the picture. And so at first it is all about taking out more stress then you take in.

The first phase is all about taking charge of your stress. Collecting 50 De-stress ideas. Pre-occupations that will leave you less stressed once done. For example- Listening to music. When chosen right, music can help you reduce stress in a very effective a joyful manner. Can you come up with 50 unique ideas?

The second phase is about dividing the De-stressors into 3 categories: Physical, Mental and Emotional. By doing so we can choose our De-stressors for the day according to the stressful categories in our life that day. 

The Third Phase is about making time daily for De-stressing. Turning it into a routine. Not is our most stressful moments but rather when it is comfortable. It is much harder to De-stress in super stressful moments.

The forth and last phase is about making sure that you De-stressed more then you accumulated every day. This is the control system for the process and is the heart of my system. Once you learn to choose the most fun and efficient tools for your De-stressing and make sure you use them in a way that makes sure you are less and less stressful each day- you know you have won!

In the book you will find explanations and in depth descriptions of the above phases and much more.

You will also gain access to my Inner Sanctum where I share regular tips and secrets with my readers and where I am open to discussions about the book and about life. 

Of course, you can always ask me question right here in the blog and your comments will be gladly reacted to.

In health and in Peace,

Chen

Gall Stones - a Holistic Perspective

NOT gallstones ;)

If you are a practitioner of Naturopathy / Chinese Medicine / Holistic Nutrition and other close subjects this article may be of extra interest to you:

It was some 18 years ago that I turned yellow. Friends were laughing at me that I was taking my Chinese Medicine studies too seriously. It was obvious that my bile ducts were blocked since I was not feverish and was showing no other signs of hepatitis. I am not one to run for surgery and so I went searching for alternatives.

I posted a website that challenged people to share with me their solutions with the prize being - everlasting glory. A page on my site.

If I told you half the weird things that were suggested to me at the time you would be shocked I'm sure. The last thing that was suggested came with the name of a book and a photo of several gallstones that, according to the writer, were his stones, removed with a simple protocol taken from that book.

The book was called "Cure for all disease" By Hulda Clark. The name of the book troubled me some but the story was compelling and the procedure sounded safe. After reading the book I realized two things:

1. The book read as the title felt

2. The gallstone removal protocol was not Hulda's but borrowed.

So I went ahead and tried it on myself. It was a little scary because no-one locally could back me up with experience. The results left me caucasian and with a collection of bilious stones. The largest was over 15 mm in diameter.  

Today, 22 years later and with thousands of patients of experience to our name. My wife, Shanni, and I are experienced authorities on this subject. We have upgraded the original protocol and have found many important points that require attention before and after the procedure in order for the patient to achieve the full benefits from the protocol.

In this article I would like to share some of our perspective and experience with the medical and holistic community for the benefit of future patients. I believe that the future of gallstone therapy should be an integrated one. An integration of Naturopathic Nutritional counseling and herbology, Chinese Medical herbology, Acupuncture and Conventional Medical Diagnostics and surgery (when all else fails). For such a future to emerge more Holistic therapists need to learn and use our upgraded protocol and Conventional Doctors need to be introduced to this doctrine - and convinced to research into it.

Background

Conventional Perspective

I find this perspective to be commonly known. For those not aware of it Wikipedia is as good a source as any (Though the holistic versions mentioned there are hardly researched in depth)

Gall Stones !

Holistic Perspective

Why gallstones?

Bile is a mixture of many things. It is both a secretion of toxins (End result of the liver's role as a detoxification organ) and of emulsifiers for fats and oils  digestion. For this reason the bile is actually not a very homogeneous substance. It can be thick and sludgy or watered down, full of minerals or not. It is always rich in cholesterol.

When people don't drink enough they contribute to gallstone formation. Another common reason for gallstone formation is low levels of Taurine, an amino acid. Taurine takes a part in creating the Tauro-cholic acid. One of the bile acids that help keep the bile fluid. The most common reason for this is late pregnancy and lactation. Taurine is an important ingredient in forming mothers milk. This is one of the reasons pregnancy is considered a gallstone factor.

A point to remember: Most gallstones are formed in the liver. They then drop into the ducts and from there to the gallbladder. Liver stones can never grow too big because the bile ducts in the liver are quite narrow. Still, they grow large enough so that they can sometimes block the common bile duct when they move out of the liver. This fact is important when considering the reasoning for gallbladder removal by surgery. People assume it will end the risk for gallstone-attacks but in fact that is not always true. There will not be any more gallbladder inflammations but the risk of a clogged up CBD and pancreatitis is still there.

There are other Holistic aspects that relate to gallstones. The Chinese have a saying that the liver is the general and makes the plans, it is the gallbladder that sees the plans carried out. people that have a problem living their dreams or have them in a drawer will tend to form a gallstone for every dream stashed away. Frustrations are also correlated with gallstone formation. When people try to convince others of their beliefs and are not willing to accept no for an answer, they often hold their stomachs in a highly tense way. From my experience it is very often precisely the gallbladder area that is tensed up. This may well lead to poor evacuation of the bile and to bile-stasis which in turn can lead to gallstone formation. Deficiency in magnesium seems to go hand in hand with gallstone formation though I have yet to find a reason for that. It may just be two very common occurrences that simply happen often enough to seem to correlate.

So what is our solution?

The solution we found and then upgraded is rather simple. A short description would be: Prepare, then avoid all fats for three days, then introduce a lot of fat to the system at once. The result is a process where in the three days with no fat the gallbladder and liver accumulate bile with no outlet. Ingesting plenty of fat at this point causes the bile to be forcefully injected into the bile ducts from both organs. The hydraulic force pushes any objects in its way out from the live, gallbladder and ducts and right into the small intestines. This is of course a very coarse picture.  The complete process adds many factors that help soften the stones, relax the ducts and sphincters, and prepare the body for the ordeal. All this in order to raise the safety level of the protocol and to make it less weakening and not painful.

The point in all this is that it is possible to remove the gallstones from both liver AND gallbladder without having to surgically remove the gallbladder and with very little risk. As a matter if fact in the past 22 years we have NEVER had to rush any of our patients to the hospital in the middle of the night during the protocol due to stone getting stuck in the ducts! We have encountered people who had recurrent gallstone attacks before our liver flush ( and one that had some after the flush and before the second one) but never during. And remember- we had this protocol done to thousands of people.

There are limitations to the protocol. Stones 3.5 centimeters in diameter came out (!!!) but 4.5 did not. I am not sure if it was because of its size or because of the fact that it was glued tight to the gallbladder wall but since that time we consider 3.5 centimeters our maximum size. Another lesson learned was when a patient had the flush done successfully but then went back to a horrendous diet only to come back in pain several years later. His pain was relentless for three days prior to coming to us and no amount of therapy would help. We sent him to the hospital knowing he will most likely lose his gallbladder but it felt too choked up with sludge and stones for the flush to work. Some patients lose patience after the first flush or during the preparations for the first flush.

We make a point never to rush. In the few times we allowed ourselves to be manipulated by patients in a hurry we had the displeasure of seeing the price quite clearly. In one case a woman was adamant that we move on to the protocol before we deemed her ready. She was too weak for this, and we were trying to convince her to wait but to no avail. When she was done with the protocol her digestive system was too weak to hold her food and she was diarrhetic all the time. It took several weeks of tonifying Chinese herbs to put her right. Since that case we learned never to rush this. When done right and prepared right patients report that it was mostly easy and that we must have exaggerated our horror stories 😉. We like it that way.

There are many other limiting factors we discovered over the years. We made a point of close observation and careful monitoring so as to improve the protocol over the years. Over the recent years the cases of complications of all kinds have dropped to zero. The only sad cases are the ones where the oil refuses to go down. Seeing as how we are talking about 3/4 cup full of olive oil that is not too surprising. Still, the few cases where this happens can be uncomfortable and some people just won't throw up (A simple solution and when the timing is right one that will not prevent a successful protocol). Those find the protocol last night to be quite tedious. over the last few years even this has dropeed close to zero after changing another parameter.

How do we prevent all the complications from occurring?

To begin with, the first issue we find crucial is vitality level. Exhausted people can't really deal with this protocol as is. The tool we use to determine vitality level is Chinese diagnostics. The Chinese Pulse is quite a good determining tool for vitality as is the Chinese Tongue diagnosis.

Once we determine this we know if the patient can go ahead to the next phase or otherwise needs to be prepared using tonifying tools such as Chinese Herbs / Vitamins / Acupuncture etc.

Preparing a patient can take 3-6 weeks though at time it will take longer. This is a vital phase and often helps the patient deal with other issues as well.

Making sure the patient is not lacking in any important nutritional element is crucial to the safe success of the protocol. For example- magnesium deficiency has caused in a couple of cases that the Epsom salts used in the protocol had no effect. No diarrhea and very likely less stones expelled.

Making sure the patient is ready psychologically is quite important as well. Patients lacking in confidence in the protocol may have a much harder time. This we resolve most of the time simply by supplying names of previous clients to talk to (After getting those patients' consent of course).

In the complicated cases (Heart disease background for one example) we make sure to either use alternative means to the protocol or if we are sure it will be ok we make a point of personal tight supervision. This is true of elderly patients (86 being our oldest I believe) etc.). In some cases we make of point of waiting a while (Postpartum for one example).

Even doing our best- we are always on the alert for more issue not encountered before. This is the only way not to get caught off guard.

A futuristic view of this protocol should be one of integration. Practicing this protocol with a Naturopathic AND a Conventional staff on hand. Making the most of both ancient and modern means. Having an Ultrasound machine at hand and a lab to analyse the results would be some of the benefits. I was once approached by a doctor who was intrigued but never came through with his suggestion for a research done together.

The future today

Seeing as how this protocol has prevented much suffering and surgery. On top of this our work over the years has made this protocol a very safe and viable tool. I believe our experience should not be available only to the people of Israel. It should be out there for all the world to benefit from. We intent to make our knowledge and experience available to as many serious and professional therapists as we can.

If you are a therapist - with background either in Naturopathy or Chinese medicine. And even if only in part of the Naturopathic tools (Wholesome Nutrition for one), You are welcome to send us our resume and we will be in touch.

Passive vs. Active

How Passive becomes active - when one is at peace

Over the years I have been observing that life tends to take turns and twists in what seemed like a random pattern. Once in a while I got a glimpse of what looked like a pattern. It was different every time...

My clinic would be full one month and only half full the next. This seemed random. Till I learned that it had to do with my state of mind. When I was tired people would cancel- it was so considerate of them :). When my mind was not focused or I filled the calendar too much- same effect.

It seemed like there are many lessons here to be learned and seeing as I was working on being attentive- I searched for lessons and learned as best I could.

One of the most important lessons I learned from this attentive period is that a lot depends on whether we choose to be active or passive (Or reactive as passive is often seen). When we choose to be passive or as most people experience it - reactive, we are busy responding to what life throws at us. So busy in fact that people will often say they have no time to take their lives into their own hands. Constant battering of external origin is usually the result of us not taking preventative measures due to the passive nature of our behavior. In other words, by our very choice to be passive or lack of choice to be active we allow the world to be active for us and very often complicate our lives... When we choose to be active or proactive we dictate the way our life flows and the amount of battering subsides and eventually goes away.

If you feel that your life seems to be governed by external forces it may be time to choose to be more active. Going out there and making a stand about how we want our lives to be, what we want to do for work , how our relationships look like, what kind of communication we have with other people etc.etc. All these examples are the way successful people choose to live and one of the main reasons for their success is in fact their level of pro activity.

One classical aspect of this can be found in the financial arena. We find ourselves constantly dealing with debt. More bills and more bank statements and not enough income to handle the payload. If we only resort to putting out the fires and going from one crisis to another, responding to alarm bells, we will not see a change. All we need to do is stop, take a deep breath, and then take the time to understand the current state of affairs. After this we can choose a proactive approach. Change our working habits, choose another job etc. Go proactive. By choosing this attitude we will start to change the balance of our income-expense ratio and at the same time change the way the world sees us. This change will often make others more willing to help us or join us in ventures which will again help us balance the equation.

Where are you being passive in your life today? Where have you chosen to be active? When? Share this with me below and all the other readers can learn from your success or help you with your needs. 

In health,

Chen

Jan. 2014

How to Shrink Wrap yourself and why

We are all emphatic beings. We feel one another through senses we are not trained to use. It is an intuitive process and so developed to a different extent in different people. Some people have built a barrier to not-feel others while other people have simply chosen to stay away from people or at least crowds to avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Have you ever walked into a room occupied by other people only to "know" at once what the mood they are all in ? When Israeli Prime minister Rabin was killed I remember feeling it in the air... It was like someone added an amplifier to other people's emotions and all of the sudden I could feel them all. It was very powerful and hard to bear. Instinctively I chose to use a tool I had learned many years back to temporarily shut down my emphatic hyper-sensitivity so as to prevent an overload on my part.

Over the years I have found that many people (Especially the very sensitive ones) are not coping too well with their empathy and are choosing the easy way out. Whether its to shut down their empathy or to shy away from crowds. I began to teach them this technique and they found a new social life they had missed or could get back to healing people using the empathy they had "lost" before.

I have recorded it on video so I can teach online and I will endeavor to describe the  idea for you in words as well.

We all have auras. Energetic fields that surround us. When we learn to consciously manipulate the auras we can choose to widen or narrow down our fields. When we narrow them down to include only ourselves (and instead of the classical egg shape aura we choose to "shrink wrap" ourselves in it) we feel a liberating sensation of nobody-in-our-field-serenity. Choosing this mode as a default means you are never exposed to other peoples emotions and energies without a conscious choice. No flooding of emotions in crowds, nobody draining you in a social gathering (You know the types that can leave you exhausted after 10 minutes of talking with you...). This is a healthier state of being for most people. It doesn't mean you detach and stop interacting with people (Most often it works quite the opposite) just that they don't invade your inner sanctum un-invited.

When you want to be in an emphatic state with someone (while treating them or loving them etc.) you can widen the field to include them. You can choose to envelope the world if you want. Its up to you. 

Another trick I found very useful in some cases is to envelope other people but not in a common circle rather using the shape of an 8. One circle of the 8 is then left around us and the other we draw around someone we are interacting with. This way he or she is within out aura but not invading it and cannot draw on our energy and drain us nor are we effected by ill or poisonous energies. When done interacting with this person we simply "pop" the second circle leaving the energy that person brought to the meeting out of our field.

Keeping the Shrink Wrap on in hard moments of intimacy with your partner or other family members can make tough arguments easier to bear and resolve. The same goes for hard meetings with your boss...

Basic human needs - Nourishment part I

Will you give me what I need?

What do we all need to survive? What constitutes the very basic human needs?

Ask anyone on the street and you will get to a very different list... Each will give you his or her list of habits and some basic biological needs. Not all will agree on the degree of importance of each need.

I will address this question from both a Naturopathic point of view and a personal spiritual one.

Naturopathically speaking, our biological primal needs can be summed up in four lines:

1. Nourishment

2. Removal of toxins and waste

3. Motion

4. Vitality

Remember that each of the above needs has to be supplied on all the human planes of existence - physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and ecological. From the single cell to our environment - everything needs the above list.

If we take a baby,Our beginning, the needs are:

Physical Nutrition: We all need the basic suckling, mothers milk but it starts even earlier - during pregnancy, we need the sustenance that comes from our mother. If our mother is under-nourished, we suffer for it. During both pregnancy and nursing the mother is in charge of double feeding for them both. My experience here shows that good quality wholesome foods help a lot and that a good supplement regimen (Consisting of a very good multi-vitamin + personal adaptations) makes the difference between a reasonable pregnancy and nursing phase and superb ones. I have never had a patient truly eating well and on supplements from the pre-pregnancy phase that suffered pre-ecclempsia or diabetes or any other radical complication (And I've professionally supported very many pregnant woman over the years). When a baby does not get breast fed it still needs this nourishment. It can be raised on alternatives but I would suggest home made after learning the formula from a Naturopath. I have treated many babies fed on industrial alternatives and they all needed support due to this fact. It just doesn't come close to real food.

Emotional nutrition: During pregnancy and nursing the emotional nourishment is just as important as the physical one. A classical (and sad) research with gorillas discovered that a gorilla baby fed with its mothers' milk but without her touch and presence will die ! The value of balanced emotions on the mothers part during pregnancy and between the parents and the baby once it is born is beyond critical. It gives us our emotional-base.

Spiritual nourishment: We live at an era that people rarely appreciate the value of spiritual living. Many people go to work for the financial sake and have no feeling of self realization in their work. This vibe is an under-nourishment factor on the spiritual level. Not only do THEY feel under nourished - they vibrate spiritually on an under nourished vibe and this is what their children take from them on this plane.

[End of part I]

Basic Human Needs - Vitality part I

The word Qi in Chinese

The fourth part of our basic needs according to the Naturopathic perspective is Vitality. 

Can being tired be resolved? What do I need to do to feel livelier like 10 years ago?

Chinese call this Qi, in Ayurveda it is called Prana and the more common name in most modern cultures is Life force. We all know what it feels like to be low on vitality; it is our most common state... Most do not know what it is and what makes it tick.

The Chinese say that there are three sources to our vitality;

1. Internal: We are born with a basic "Qi Battery" - when it runs out, we die...

2. Air: when we breath in air we take some of the Heavenly Qi into our body (aka Oxygen ;) )

3. Food: Nourishment gives us not only building blocks for our body, it gives us the materials for creating our vitality.

To this basic formula one can add emotional and mental vitality and of course spiritual vitality. Another aspect is motion as a source of vitality (We all know that being physically active makes us more vital).

A tool that is important to understanding vitality is sleep. We all need sleep. Sleep is the mode of consciousness most useful for regenerating vitality. Without enough sleep we are like an uncharged battery - with potential vitality that is unavailable for long...

Naturally, our vitality depends on both how much we charge up as well as how much we discharge / use up as we go about our lives. Spending our vitality wisely is crucial for at times we can have great vitality building habits and still feel exhausted because we spend it all and more on a daily basis...

The above may seem rather simple - and it can be. Then again we tend to make our lives a lot more complicated then they need to be - and with vitality more than ever. My goal in this blog entry is to clarify some of the above so as to help you understand the basics. I hope that after reading this you will know where to turn to next time your feel tired.

The first thing I ask a tired person is: "How many hours of night sleep do you get?" And "When do you go to sleep?". 

The Chinese claim that sleeping 23:00-3:00 is crucial thus going to sleep at 22:00 makes for a good night. Sleep studies show that most adults need around 8 hours of sleep. My simpler answer to this is - sleep till you don't need an alarm clock! For many this solution sounds hilarious - they just go out on the town at 22:00 so how can they possibly get to bed by then? Others claim they only get their children to bed by 21:00 so this leave only an hour with their husband or wife. Bottom line is simple - either you sleep well and enough or the quality of your life drops accordingly since your vitality drops. It's all about prioritization.

The funny thing is many tired people say they have no idea why they are so tired and then tell me they sleep 5-6 hours a night......

The second thing I pay attention to with tired people is to how they breathe. Very few people breathe optimally now-a-days. It's amazing how shallow and erratic the average breath taken is. And worst - people don't normally notice it! Exercising your breathing muscles is just as needed as any other muscle. More so, no other exercise is efficient when you breathe badly.

The third aspect I focus on is food. Nourishment allows for vitality. It is the basic relationship between the basic human needs. Each sustains the others. What people eat today on average has very little vitality in it. It is overly processed, made from low grade materials and the additives that are inserted take away the last of its value. Whole grains, unrefined oils, non-roasted nuts and seeds, fresh vegetables, sprouted legumes - all these are examples of wholesome foods that, when prepared wisely, can contribute a lot to our vitality.

Food preparations can radically alter the vital value of our foods. Steaming, gentle cooking and stir frying are all good examples of food preparation that retains a lot of the vitality. Raw is very often the best but here there is a catch - digesting raw food consumes more energy by the digestive system then cooked food. If our vitality is low this can actually cause us to feel more tired and even at times to fail with the digestion all together. Such situations benefit from gentle cooking more. The opposite can be said about the following cooking methods: Deep frying, microwave cooking, grilling over live coals (Barbecue...) and the likes. These techniques kill the food vitality leaving it devoid of any real value and otherwise damaging our health. A simple alternative for barbecue is using a stone based gas grill. Heat up the stones well, turn off the gas and barbecue to your hearts delight :) .

A lesser known aspect of food and vitality is food intolerance. If we over consume foods (Like we often do with wheat) our body can develop food intolerance to it. It is not the classical allergy response but behaves somewhat similarly by creating a myriad of symptoms in response. The most basic common response is low vitality. Varying your eating habits and going to a professional Naturopath or Holistic Nutritionist for an elimination diet can save you from this predicament.

We don't have to be tired. If you are tired (Or if someone says you are - but that's for the next blog post) go through the check list and do something about it. Your life is never going to be the same again.

[End of part I]

Basic Human Needs - Detoxification part I

One of the classical tools to aid detoxification - Organic juices

The second part of our basic needs according to the Naturopathic perspective is the removal of toxins and waste. 

Remember how you felt when you were young? You were more  vibrant, your skin unblemished, your breath sweet etc... One of the reasons we loose all of this as we age is because we accumulate toxins.

Can it be reversed? To a great degree - yes !

It's spring time and the body feels as vibrant as it can for all the amazing spring energy in the air. This is the best time for a good clean up program ! I am not going to give you specific instructions in this blog and for a very good reason - detoxification is a challenging thing even when tailored by a pro. Alone, without a personally tailored program you may well come out of such an effort feeling worst then you came in. Do yourself a favor and go see a Naturopath.

What do I want to share with you in this blog post? Perspectives. On how to know if you need a detox, on the rules of detox and tips that may improve the process.

So... Do I need a detox?

If you do you may be suffering from one or more of the following:

1. Bad mouth odor or body odors
2. Lots of gas in your digestive tract
3. Skin eruptions
4. Allergies
5. Difficulty digesting fats
6. Foul smelling urine (Even when you drink enough)
7. Excessive weight (Whether you are stuck or more so if you are in the process of loosing it fast)
8. Recurrent headaches
9. Bad habits such as smoking or excessive alcohol consumption
10. Strange reactions to mild alcohol consumption (Falling asleep / pain in joins etc.)

And when in doubt - detox :)

How about the rules of safe Detoxification?

When going through a cleanse it is imperative that you do it right. The toxins that are cleared during this kind of a process may have accumulated throughout your life and on the way out, when in the blood, they can make you feel quite bad. If the organs of elimination are not functioning well or your vitality is low you might suffer quite a bit during the detoxification with less then optimal results.

1. Make sure you rest well during the detox
2. Make sure a health professional (Naturopath or Chinese Medicine practitioner) checks that your elimination organs are functioning well enough for the detox (Live & Kidneys mainly) and that your vitality is up to par.
3. Find the Detox most suited to your needs - there are many.
4. Do not undergo a water based fast for more then 3 days in a row without professional supervision.
5. When in doubt stop the program. Some symptoms are a sign that the detox is happening but some mean that your body is not up for the task.

Remember - a safe detox is a good detox !

Tips for a really good detoxification process:

• Combine several tools of different orientation (Nutrition / massage / Sauna when appropriate / Classical Hydrotherapy / Trampoline / Physical exercise / Herbology / Aromatherapy etc.) - not all at once of course.
• Cleanse the mind not just the body (More about this in a future post).
• A professional enema can upgrade the detox when relevant.
• Keep yourself  warm - especially during fasting if applied.
• Brush your skin regularly (e.g. With a natural loofah during the shower).
• Breathing exercises raise your vitality and improve the detox.
• Physical exercises are usually a must - but find your dose and don't over do it.
• Make sure you are not deficient in vitamins and minerals.

Have a colourful and radiant spring !

Basic human needs - Nourishment & Vitality part II

What makes for Physical nourishment ?

Food, drink, sleep and of course breathing. Most people tend to take breathing for granted. It is automatic and therefore taken care of by the body. The truth is slightly different. Breathing is a semi automatic function. This means we have control over it to an extent. Enough to make a crucial difference in the quality of out lives when we invest some time to learn and practice better breathing.

Most of us breathe just enough not to die. is that enough to supply us with optimal oxygen levels? The more stressed and unaware we are the less we breathe. This can easily be proven by practicing Yogic breathing techniques. For one thing, many people find themselves dizzy from hyper-oxygenation at first. Their brain is so not used to reasonable oxygen levels it gets shocked... Another way to prove this is simply by practicing breathing techniques. After a short time it becomes very obvious that this is improving the quality of your life.

I used to find this fact quite flustering. If breathing help one relax, why do people in distress choose to breath less ? It seemed paradoxical. Thinking this through I remembered that our stress response is primordial. It comes from a period of survival-ism. Which would you prefer if you were faced with a raging lion in the night (That hasn't noticed you) - being quiet or loud? Breathing can become somewhat loud when we breathe rapidly as we often do when stressed (Unless trained) and so breathing in such moments can be dangerous... It is of course only a theory but the fact remains - when stressed we breathe less. When stressed for long periods of time we train ourselves to breath less on a regular basis. The price being insufficient oxygenation for optimal living.

The results of inadequate breathing are:

1. Low vitality

2. Less than optimal brain function (Concentration, memory, cognitive abilities etc.)

3. Higher stress levels

4. Lower emotional control

5. Higher acidic tissue levels (From accumulation of Co2 = higher tendency to 

    inflammations, allergies and cancer)

And much more.

If you wish to lead a healthy, vibrant and alert life - learn to breathe !

In the following video I will be sharing the first of several breathing techniques I employ for my own well being as well as for my patients and students. I call it 1:4:2. The brief instructions for this exercise follow.

1:4:2 - how to

1. Exhale fully and slowly

2. Inhale to the count of 5 (X1)

3. Hold your breath to the count of 20 (X4)

4. Exhale to the count of 10 (X2)

5. Repeat 10 times morning and evening

If 5:20:10 is too hard (Go for 70% effort, no more) reduce the count to 4:16:8 or even 3:12:6 - over doing it is in efficient to advance. When you find it too easy you can advance to higher counts (The highest in the textbooks being 16:64:32).

Who are you ? Part I

One of the oldest philosophical arguments is the one over the question: Are we born Tabula rassa (Blank slate) or are we pre-molded to some degree?

This question is a very important one if we want to fulfill our destiny in this world (Our Dharma as the ancient vedas call it -  assuming we have one of course). 

I have been studying this question for many years and my answer is: We are far from Tabula rassa... We come with many lives worth of experience and perspective and with a pre-formed notion of who and what we are. It is not that we lack free will to choose our profession and path in life. We are simply more ready for a certain path and so will more likely succeed in it better and with less effort.

How did I come to these conclusions? Well, it all started with my son when he was 5 minutes old 😊 . I chased after him from the cesarean to the ward where they let him rest for the first time. He was crying loudly till I reached him, then grabbed my two fingers strongly, looked me right in the eyes, stopped the crying and I could almost hear him say "What took you so long?'... The depth in his eyes in that moment did not seem to belong to a 5 minute old baby. It felt more like a 70 year old man looking at me right then.

A few years later, I realized another point that made my argument above stronger: Everyone knows what they are not. Ask anyone if they would like to be a profession they are not and in the majority of the cases you will get a very clear "no!". They never tried it out, have no experience with it very often and yet it is clear to them they are not this. Ask them what they are (And not right now - their optimal choice of profession) and they will more likely then not remain silent. Once in a blue moon I run across someone that is living his or her dream. Working in just the right profession and feeling realized and fully alive. Most people we all know work in the wrong profession and are either bored or they hate their job.

With this information in hand I have searched for the answer of "Who am I?" for many years. My own personal journey has helped me as well as several teachers. Each contributed a piece to the puzzle. 

The first challenge was to find a way to get to this hidden information. Asking the question directly did not seem effective so I chose to look for the symbolic counterpart. Within each of us are one or more archetypes by which our essence is defined and from which we can deduce our profession. Using archetypes instead of common professions removes the blocks from our psyche. They make it possible for us to face our true nature without the masks or social dictum or other blocks that may hinder it otherwise. Even with archetypes as a guide to the truth it takes some trickery to remove the final resistance from our mind. 

This I found can be achieved in several ways:

1. Going back to cavemen era. This era was populated by archetypal professions. You had a cook (Not a hundred derivatives of the cooks as in modern times), An artist, a healer etc. Those were simple times and this was reflected in the list of professions. Finding yourself in the era using guided imagery is much simpler then trying to deduce your profession from a long list of "google professions page".
2. In the same manner, any age past can be used. Each with unique professions at their best or correlated in our personal minds to a profession we own. As an example, thinking of the Artist most people today are concerned with not being able to make a living and so most deny this archetype. Send such a person to discover him or herself in the renaissance period and they will most likely be thrilled to be called artists.
3. Another way is to seek inspiration out side. In characters from books, moves, theater and life. Everyone has such images in his mind. Saved in there to inspire us. Those who inspire us by doing in the content of what they do (No in the "how" they do it) reflect archetypes within us.
4. The fourth and Last of my main tools (Though some endeavor to invent other tools of their own). Seeking moments in our past when we felt that a certain chore or challenge or action fit our bill. Reflected our essence. While we were engaged with this task we felt that it was an accurate place for us to be. Remembering those moments can help us glean archetypes that have thus shown their faces.

Focusing your life

How focused are you?

How many times of late have you realized your thoughts are chasing their own tails? Jumbling and confusing you or just shifting your attention one way when your intention is trying and failing to think of other things? Can you keep a line of thought through? How about when you are tense or tired?

More and more children and adults are given drugs to help them concentrate. Is there an alternative? Are we malfunctioning or simply lacking the tools to live out a focused life?

There are many tools out there that claim they can help with ADD and other "syndromes" of attention issues. In order for one to know which are effective and good and which are detrimental there are two ways to go: Try them out or ask the right questions and you will know in advance...

Let me suggest a few questions :)

1. Are you living right? is your lifestyle promoting focus or disrupting it?
2. Are you toxic? Lead poisoning (for example) can lead to deteriorated attention capacities.
3. Are you in the habit of promoting your attentive abilities naturally? For example are you meditating regularly?

Many more questions can be asked here and every question above raises ten more on the same issues. Allow me to suggest a few ideas on the matter:

A. When you are tired, undernourished, toxic, stressed out (etc.) you are bound to have  

     issues with you focus.

B. When you tire your mind out but don't take the time to give it a good rest (a.k.a. 

     meditation) your mind is bound to function less efficiently...

A is easy to understand - If you are tired from lack of sleep your mind is less effective. Deficiency in vitamins and minerals cause dysfunctions depending on the deficiency but as a rule effect the mind greatly. My blog series on basic human needs covers this well.

B is somewhat illusive to the western mind. In the east it is common knowledge. So what is it about meditation and other mental practices that can make the difference so much?

Meditation practices are numerous and can be divided into two for the sake of this explanation: Mindful meditation that observes the mind and thoughts and Zen like meditations that seek to achieve a quiet mind. Achieving the goal of a focused and clear mind can be done using both types for different situations but my experience shows that for the main goal of focusing and clarity the Zen type is stronger. It helps us connect with the here and now and put aside the past and the future. It stops the noise of relentless thinking and allows for our thoughts of choice to emerge unhindered and clear.

Whether you are a teenager mid exams or a college student - your studies will improve greatly with a healthy lifestyle combined with meditation training and habit. It is just as valuable to any adult coping with financial / marital / social ordeals. As a matter of fact anyone will benefit from this combination.