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I’ve wanted for the longest time to write about the connection between our health as individuals and the health of the whole world. Now that I’ve seen The Story of Stuff, I don’t have to try to write about this complex and important question. I can just urge you to watch this 20 minute video (free at this link) and see the essence of how our consumer culture works and the impact of its unsustainable and toxic practices. Not only does it affect individual health (though environment toxins, for example), it puts the health of the entire planet in a very precarious state.

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When I first heard about The Story of Stuff, I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it. I didn’t want to see a doom and gloom video that would only serve to depress me. But The Story of Stuff is not at all depressing — alarming, yes, but not depressing. It’s worth seeing for so many reasons. It presents facts and information in such clear terms. It ingeniously summarizes the history and current state of our consumer culture in such a clear, compelling way. It is clever, creative and actually entertaining to watch. After watching the video, you can click through to 10 steps you can take. It’s energizing and inspiring to see what we can actually do to change this situation. And my sense is that taking these steps will be an essential part of a true and lasting economic recovery.

Deciding who to listen to when it comes to diet, exercise, treatment choices, etc. can be confusing at best. Currently I have been reading about solutions for chronic back pain. Each book I read enthusiastically promotes its ideas, with lots of impressive testimonials to boot. As I read many of the books, I find myself thinking — oh yes this makes so much sense, this is the final answer. And yet, many of them disagree on even the most fundamental recommendations. Any suggestion, from how the pelvis should be tilted to whether back pain is related to physical abnormalities or stress, will have an opposing view.

I’m finding in my own healing journey that I learn a little bit of value from each book I read and every therapist I see, even if it is what doesn’t make sense for me. Every idea can trigger an insight for me, as I put together what works for me. It’s ultimately my own insights and observations about what works for me that I’ve come to rely on. How many times has a recommendation for health been made by a major authority, only later to be withdrawn as faulty? How many times have you followed a piece of advice simply because it came from an “authority”, only to later realize it wasn’t helpful at all, maybe even quite the opposite of helpful. I feel it’s vital that we view everything in the light of common sense and our own intuition. The best advice comes from what our bodies tell us, our inner knowing and testing things out for ourselves. At the very least, if someone says “always do this”, “never do that”, “eat this”, “don’t eat that”, etc., actively search out the opposing viewpoint and weigh the options for yourself.

Perhaps conflicting viewpoints are most obvious when it comes to diet. You can find an overwhelming number of conflicting theories and recommendations about food. Some say eat only raw food, others say eat only cooked food. Some say a food is wonderful for you that someone else says is toxic to eat. I’ve been very interested in Ayurveda for years. Ayurveda contains an extensive list of what foods are good for what types of people (which is a big improvement over recommending the same foods for everyone as is done in most systems). Many of these recommendations are consistent among Ayurvedic experts, but even there you can find differing viewpoints.

I always get a chuckle when I remember how someone reconciled opposing viewpoints about whether to eat tomatoes and/or potatoes. One vaidya (Ayurvedic physician) said eat potatoes but don’t eat tomatoes. Another said eat tomatoes but don’t eat potatoes. Someone made an amusing remark — my conclusion is that I can eat both tomatoes and potatoes to my heart’s content! Someone else would have avoided both “just in case”. The ultimate test, of course, would be to see how your own body responds to eating both. And always, moderation goes a long way to negate the possibility of eating the wrong thing. “Eat a little of everything” might be the best advice if you are unsure.

To say that we must be our own authority on our health doesn’t mean not to consult experts. But it does mean to ask questions, educate ourselves about what they are recommending, listen to alternative viewpoints, and ultimately make the decision what makes the most sense for us.

Since I feel that I need to be my own authority, I feel it’s important to develop certain skills. I spend time learning about anatomy and how my body works, noticing the sensations and signals my body sends me, observing how my emotions affect my body, and being thoughtful about the choices I make. I spend time clarifying my values and what is important to me. Being my own authority means being willing to rely on my own common sense and intuition in spite of what the outcome will be. There are never any guarantees for outcomes in life, but we can make sure that we make the best decisions possible and that we honor ourselves and our own inner knowing in the process.

I remember once giving a stress management seminar to a busy staff and spending at least half an hour talking about the need to visit the bathroom when nature calls. Almost everyone admitted to feeling too busy to stop what they were doing to go to the bathroom, take a drink of water, stretch their bodies. Sometimes people were so absorbed in what they were doing that they didn’t even notice the signals of hunger and thirst. When they were aware of them, they couldn’t tear themselves away from what they were doing to take the necessary break. Some even felt guilty about taking the time away from their desk.

How often do you ignore basic needs? Do you rest when you are tired? Do you get as much sleep as you need? Do you eat when you are hungry, and stop eating when you’ve had enough? Do you drink when you are thirsty? Do you even notice? Our bodies tell us what they need to be balanced. Our job is to listen.

We can go a lot further than paying attention to these most basic needs. The need for sleep can be a “loud” signal from the body, but we can start to notice “softer” cues that our bodies give us as well. As we increase the awareness of our body’s signals, we get a lot of valuable information about how to keep it in balance.

The more we can perceive about what is going on in our bodies and emotions, the better. If you start to notice more subtle messages from your body, you can become aware of an imbalance before it manifests in a disease. You can notice when you begin to get tired and take a meditation break or a catnap. You can feel discomfort in your body before it screams in pain from a repetitive motion injury. You can notice things early and nip problems in the bud.

Of course, awareness is only the first step. Once you are aware of what your body is telling you, you need to follow through the action to bring it in balance. It can be difficult to form this habit. You may feel you don’t have the time, but in the long run a little time and attention here and there to care for your body can help avoid spending a lot of time having to heal something, not to mention avoiding unnecessary pain.

We created the Body Awareness Meditation specifically to help develop awareness of the body’s signals. It helps you to slow down tune in to your body, so that you can be sensitive to your body’s needs. Even beyond that, it is relaxing and grounding. Listening to the body isn’t just a way to avoid future pain. Much of life’s pleasure comes through the body. The sense of connection with the body is satisfying and worth cultivating for its own sake. Start paying attention to your body. It will thank you for it!

I came away from my first visit with the physical therapist (Dawn) with a clearer understanding of what was going on with my back, and most importantly, what to do about it than I’d ever had. I’d picked up bits and pieces of information here and there in the past and understood quite a lot about the spine, nerves, muscles, etc. I knew about the benefits of stretching, and stretching had made a big difference for me. But the session with Dawn made everything fall into place.

I’d had various evaluations before, but Dawn’s seemed more comprehensive. She seemed to hone it on exactly what was happening with my back. She evaluated areas of weakness, muscles that needed stretching and others that needed strengthening. Above all, she communicated what she found in such clear terms and gave me stretches and exercises that are very specific to my back and spine (which has a mild scoliosis). 

Even though I’ve had an understanding of proper body mechanics and posture in the past, Dawn was able to help me experience it in my own body. She helped me to feel in no uncertain terms what “neutral” is for my spine (with the lumbar area neither too concave or too flexed). She watched me do every stretch and exercise making sure I was doing it properly.

I walked out of the session feeling that I was given what I needed in terms of understanding the situation with my back and a clear plan of action to follow. Because Dawn explained everything so clearly and her instructions made such perfect sense as remedies for my problem, I’ve been highly motivated to follow them.

Finally, what made the session with Dawn so valuable is that is was completely geared to my own self-care. Although physical therapists do provide treatments through manipulation and other means, Dawn’s focus was to show me what I needed to do to get stronger. I’ve long ago become disillusioned with repeated trips to practitioners like chiropractors who would make an adjustment which would then go out and required re-adjustment a short time later. The most valuable thing a practitioner can give us is knowledge of how to take care of ourselves. 

Of course, only time will tell what impact this will have for me. The most important ingredient in achieving a healthier back will be my follow through, and this is true of any healing program. It’s our own self-care that brings success. 

When I’ve had a kind of “breakthrough” session like this, I always have to ask the question as to whether it happened because the practitioner had the right training and skills or whether I was simply ready to more forward. Certainly the many experiences of the past and what I’d learned from them, as well as various ways in which I’ve grown, created a readiness to take a leap forward. Perhaps some other kind of practitioner could have done it for me. But given the experience of my friends with PTs and my experience with Dawn, I’d encourage anyone with back (or knee or neck) problems to give physical therapy a try.

I continually ask the question — what is healing? At this point, the word has almost lost its meaning, as I see all of life as a process of “becoming whole”. Unless I am using the word in a very narrow way to refer to the healing of an injury or illness, I can’t really say anymore what healing is. This is a very interesting state of affairs for someone who has a website called “Heart of Healing”!

When I first started the work I called Heart of Healing, I was very focused on making things better. I certainly haven’t lost my interest in better physical, psychological and spiritual health, but what I’ve discovered to be the most healing is the growing acceptance of life just as it is. An intensive focus on healing can result in the kind of goal orientation that makes it impossible to relax and enjoy what you have right now. I haven’t in any way abandoned my focus on health and healing — it’s a way of life for me, but I have been learning to let go of the outcome of my efforts. This kind of acceptance, for me, has become the ultimate meaning of healing.

If I look at my own life, I see plenty of examples where thinking did not make it so. Years ago I when I got pregnant I held the idea firmly in my mind that I was going to have a model pregnancy. Everything about the pregnancy and birth was going to be perfect. I simply wouldn’t allow any thoughts to the contrary to take root. What happened couldn’t have been further from my imaginings. I ended up with a very rare disease of pregnancy and almost lost my life. I contrast that with the fact that I tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac and have imagined myself with all sorts of diseases that I’ve never gotten. If thoughts came true, I wouldn’t be here writing this newsletter! One final example concerns my mother. She had a long held belief that she would not live to an old age. She was unwavering in this conviction, and yet she lived to be 93.

Take a look at your own life and see if there’s any evidence that you thought yourself into illnesses you’ve had. Chances are there are times when your thoughts corresponded with what happened and other times when they didn’t. I’ve seen people become fearful when a “negative” thought appears and quickly replace it with a positive affirmation. This seems like such a struggle to me and I don’t think that changing the content of our thoughts makes a difference to our health.

I do feel, however, that emotions affect our health. Chemical correlates to emotional states such as fear have been clearly demonstrated. All we have to do is tune into our own bodies to be aware of the powerful impact of emotions. My sense is that the emotions that accompany our thoughts are what can affect us, and it is our emotional states that we need to address. To simply try to replace negative with positive thoughts is too superficial an approach.

What do you think? What has your experience been?

I was first exposed to triphala when I was being trained as an Ayurvedic technician and walked into a kitchen where a strong smelling potion was simmering on the stove. It was being prepared for someone to take as part of a cleansing routine. I prepare it that same way for my own use, but most people would prefer to take it in tablet or capsule form as it has a very strong, bitter taste.

Although I began using triphala for its laxative properties, I have learned that it has a whole host of other uses. In addition to being a bowel regulator, triphala is said to:

• improve digestion
• reduce serum cholesterol
• improve circulation
• have a cardioprotective effect
• reduce high blood pressure
• improve liver function
• have anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties
• assist internal cleansing
• have antioxidant properties
• cleanse and strengthen the urinary tract

There has been a lot of research on triphala’s many benefits, including some which indicates that triphala may be able to help combat cancer. A BBC news article recently reported research at the University of Pittsburgh which confirms what Indian scientists have long proclaimed — triphala has been shown to have anti-cancer effects. They found that extracts of triphala slowed the growth of human pancreatic tumors grafted onto mice.

Although you need to do your own research, triphala seems to me to be one of the most beneficial formulas you can take for overall health. It’s relatively inexpensive and I haven’t found anything to indicate there’s any risk in taking it. You can consult one of the many good books on Ayurveda on how to use it.

Wishing you well!
“You don’t have a mother? Don’t worry, as long as you have Triphala in your life!”

In the past week I’ve received dozens of emails from friends and colleagues identifying the FDA as the enemy who is threatening our health freedom — freedom of access to alternative therapies and products of our choosing. The email contains a message from Rima E. Laibow, MD stating that: “The FDA is using legal maneuvering to end your access to natural health products… and natural health therapies of all sorts.” She states that this is being done through the FDA’s Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. She asks that you take action through her website using the following link: http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc. There you can sign a message to the FDA.

I wonder how many people visited her Natural Solution Foundation’s website and signed their name to the message without reading the message and without ever reading the FDA document to which the message refers. How many were willing to take the word of the Natural Solutions Foundation at face value without ever investigating the issue themselves?

I am a passionate advocate of health freedom (freedom of access to products and therapies of our choice, whether they be conventional or alternative). I have reservations about the FDA making decisions about the usefulness and safety of many alternative therapies, and I don’t have much trust that a medication is safe because the FDA has approved it. At the same time, I don’t think the FDA is out to deprive us of all access to alternative therapies. Therefore I read the Guidance myself. (You can read the Guidance itself at this link: http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/06d-0480-gld0001.pdf.)

I couldn’t find justification for many of the Natural Solution Foundation’s statements in the FDA document. For example, they state that “their (the FDA) ploy is to declare the therapies are “Medicine” so any non-physician who uses them will be practicing medicine without a license.” I don’t see anything like that in the Guidance. People have jumped to all sorts of conclusions about the what the Guidance is saying and what the implications of it are that I simply can’t see there.

The other day a friend expressed her upset about what the FDA is supposedly doing — “no one will be able to do Reiki if they aren’t a doctor”. As complicated as the FDA Guidance is, it’s quite clear to me that it does not mean that. There is specific reference to bodywork practitioners who manipulate the bodies of their clients without use of equipment not being subject to the FDA’s jurisdiction. If bodywork is exempt, certainly Reiki, in which the practitioner doesn’t even manipulate the body, would be exempt. Having not read the Guidance herself, my friend had jumped to conclusions based on a message in an email containing someone else’s interpretation of the Guidance.

The point of my post is not to try to analyze the FDA Guidance or Laibow’s position. To do justice to that I’d have to do a lot of reading and study. What I want to focus on is my concern that the same bipartisanship that we see in national politics is being reflected in the realm of health politics. There’s a tendency in many of us (including myself) to want either alternative or conventional medicine to be all right or all wrong. This kind of thinking doesn’t allow us to work together to find the best solutions. These issues are very complex and not subject to simplistic solutions.

There is also a tendency to rely on the opinion of experts and authorities. What’s interesting is that even those of us who feel we’re liberated because we don’t follow the advice of a doctor blindly, are still willing to follow the advice of an alternative “expert”. We find a new authority and don’t even recognize that we are still not thinking for ourselves. The willingness to look into the complexities of an issue and form ones own opinions, as well as the willingness to live in the “grey area” where there are no simple solutions, isn’t easy. But I feel we need to develop this willingness to really progress.

What happens when the emotions cannot be experienced in this way? My sense is that not only would the obstructed energy impact the body, but we would also experience it subjectively in the form of “moods”. For example, I feel that depression can sometimes be accounted for by the inability to feel sadness and grief fully. The energy that would have been felt as sadness accumulates when it is repressed and is then experienced as depression. In this model, sadness would be a primary human emotion and depression would be a mood.

I first began to think in terms of moods and emotions when I attended a workshop several years ago with a physician who studied with David Berenson, MD. Berenson trained as a psychiatrist and family therapist and has spent many years developing what he calls the “Map of Emotions”. He distinguishes between true human feelings and moods which are thoughts permeated with feeling. The Map of Emotions details which emotions are the foundation for which moods and names the various moods and emotions we experience in great detail. The essence of the workshop was that healing requires that we be able to experience the pure emotion all the way through in order to allow the moods to be resolved. We worked with a simple process in pairs to allow this to happen.

I haven’t been able to find anything in writing about Berenson’s work and certainly don’t feel I can represent his thinking. The distinction between moods and emotions, however, has stuck with me.

It can be very useful to learn to distinguish emotions and moods in ourselves. The mood can be resolved by locating the raw emotion within it. If moods are “thoughts permeated with feeling”, we can disentangle the feeling from the thought by bringing our awareness to the feeling. Simply experiencing the feeling all the way allows it to move through and the mood can be resolved.

Moods extend in time and they color our perceptions and evaluation of things. Mental involvement with the emotion keeps the energy from being released. The key to a healthy emotional life is the ability to allow the emotions to be experienced freely. To do this, we need to let the mind take a back seat and trust the natural flow of life as it expresses itself in emotion.

(I’ve created a guided meditation on my Meditation Oasis podcast called “Emotional Ease” which is designed to help the emotions to flow freely. You can hear it at iTunes or by following this link.)

I saw a tee shirt once that summed up this shift in perspective so perfectly. It depicted someone in a crowd of people who was obviously startled by the revolutionary thought — “What if I’m not the main character?” When we become aware of how our entire understanding of life and its meaning revolves around the sense that we are the main character and it really dawns on us that obviously we are not, it can create a radical shift in our perspective.

What if, instead of being the owner of planet earth, we are owned by her. What if we are simply cells in the larger organism of the planet? What if my individual preferences are actually draining the energy and vitality of the whole? Certainly the phenomena of global warming is challenging us to look at the impact our individual choices are having on the life of the planet. Hopefully it is causing us to recognize that our own individual well-being is dependent on the health of the whole.

It’s become obvious to me that to be truly holistic, holistic healing needs to expand to include the consideration of the health of humanity and the planet as a whole. In the more narrow consideration of upgrading our health care system, the addition of the holistic approach is an important step, but it doesn’t go far enough. To lead truly healthy lives, we need to experience see own well-being as inextricably bound up with the well-being of others. It can’t just be a concept, it has to be something we feel. It’s something that goes far beyond just what happens in the offices of doctors and holistic practitioners. It involves our choices and strategies on all levels — politics, economics. It’s about our choices in every aspect of our lives in every moment.

I wonder how well we will be able to thrive, or even survive, without an evolutionary leap in consciousness and perspective. Some feel this is happening. I hope so. I don’t really know. I do, however, find some peace in the realization that my one life and even the life of this planet is a tiny blip in space and time. I can’t pretend to understand how my life and that of this planet fits into the whole. It’s a mystery and surrendering to that brings peace. Nevertheless, my passion for healing will undoubtedly continue and so will the prayer in my heart that this wonderful planet will grow and thrive.