Meditation and Prayer on the same page sounds like a recipe for heated debate. Those that believe in meditation often think that praying is just religious dogma. These folks haven’t found the essence of meditation. Those that pray, er, religiously may think that meditation is just some new-age nonsense. But they too, have misunderstood one important concept. When meditation and prayer are both thoroughly understood, they are nearly identical. Don’t agree? Then which of the two are you missing out on?
Meditation is really about observation, not relaxation. It is the most important part of the yoga tradition, and it is practiced by people from all religions. Even people that have never heard or spoken the word “meditation” have practiced this art. By opening your mind to the truth, you evolve your consciousness. And as your consciousness evolves, you see things clearer than before, little things and big things. You catapult your understanding of yourself and of the universe.
Do you really want to know the truth about yourself and the universe?
That is the only question that you must ask yourself before you can take your meditation to the next level.
IF THE ANSWER IS NO, then you might as well move on to a different page, because no printed or spoken word will help you to evolve your consciousness if you are happy to go on collecting tidbits of data, chunks of knowledge ad infinitum.
IF THE ANSWER IS YES, then you must be ready to challenge your own beliefs. You must question whether your eyes and ears are capable of showing you reality. They are able to show you but a tiny part of reality.
You do not need to join a class to learn to meditate. From my experience, most meditation classes offer a relaxing atmosphere, positive affirmations and a whole lot of unecessary gimmicks like incense and soft music. There things are all fine, but they are not required for meditation.
You may enjoy and truly benefit from regularly meeting with a particular group of compassionate people. But I believe that you should not wait for the meditation clock to begin. You should start now, and never stop. Firmly ressolve to make meditation your lifestyle. Always be open to the truth, and you will automatically let go of the falsehoods that previously seemed true from a narrower vantage point.
Meditation Myths: Don’t be Fooled by the Fluff
The soft music that is often sold as “meditation music” is great for relaxation, but will not help you meditate. Reality includes many sounds. There is no “magic” music that will increase your consciousness. Simply observe with an open mind, and you will gain more consciousness. Perhaps you will become more sensitive to annoying high-pitch sounds of countless appliances around you. Shut these off and move on with life.
Incense has become ubiquitous in meditation circles. It seems these groups are unaware that breathing in smoke is unhealthy. Vaporized (steamed) essential oils are a much better option for aromatherapy, but they are not essential for meditation.
If you do opt for taking meditation lessons, find a mentor that will phase himself out within three sessions. You learned to drive from an instructor, but quickly dismissed him when his usefulness expired. Merge your practice with your life. Observe everything more profoundly, always. Don’t expect your co-pilot to do it for you.
Famous postures are overrated. Never allow the most trivial aspects of life to keep you from expanding your consciousness. Some yoga instructors can’t see the forest for the trees.You can wave your butt in the air like a dog anytime you want, but that won’t be an exercise in loyalty. Dressing up like a king or a beggar won’t give you the consciousness of these men either. Learn to be loyal, benevolent and free, and you’re more of a yoga master than most yoga instructors. You needn’t curl your legs into the “Lotus Position” to meditate. If you are flexible enough, that position will let you sit for a long time. But if you learn to observe and expand your consciousness in any position, you will soon master The Lotus Lifestyle.
If you lie down, you may fall asleep, but that’s ok too. Your consciousness can expand even faster if you integrate your sleeping time and waking time through meditation. The practice known as “Yoga Nidra” (literally, the yoga of dreams). When your spirit returns from its voyage through dreamland, honour your spirit’s voyage by observing it profoundly upon awakening. In this way you can leverage the power of your dreams to cultivate your consciousness.
The Union of Meditation and Prayer
Growing up as a catholic boy, a few of the sermons were a bit confusing. We are told to live a life of prayer. But we are also taught that in prayer, we should ask God for anything that we need. But can you imagine spending all day, every day, constantly asking God for more and more. Surely that is not what is meant by “a life of prayer”.
For that phrase to make any sense, I first had to find a better way to pray. In my opinion, the best prayer is one where I say nothing, because The Almighty does not need for me to speak. My life is my speech to the the Almighty. If you do wish to speak to God directly, I humbly suggest these three words or less: “God, I’m listening” followed by silence. These three words will open your mind to hear God’s voice in your own heart. You are opening your mind to the truth. And if you spoke those three words sincerely, then you will find the truth.
But beware of the Almighty B.S. detector… if instead of truly listening for the heavenly guidance, you are secretly thinking about that neverending laundry list of your wishes, other humans won’t know the difference, but the Divine Consciousness cannot be fooled.
So, you see, whether you believe in meditation or prayer, you are right. Learning to meditate correctly means to be willing to observe the truth at all times. And learning to pray correctly means the exact same thing.
Try as you may, you cannot avoid all toxins. They are everywhere: in the air, in the water supply, and in your food. Yes, even organic farmers use regular tap water to feed their crops. Tap water typically contains fluoride, a dangerous neurotoxin, and even bottled water is somewhat unsafe, because the plastic can leach into the water, especially since the bottles are likely to be subjected to heat at some point between the filling factory and the supermarket… think of all the time your bottled water must spend in trucks and shipping containers.
It is certainly wise to reduce your toxic intake as much as you reasonably can. But that’s not enough. You must also be pro-active in eliminating the toxins that snuck into your system. Don’t stress over the inevitable. A healthier attitude would be to mentally picture the toxins going into your body each day, and the ones that you are flushing out. If you take in more than you flush out, then the toxins will accumulate over time, and serious health problems can set in down the road.
Detoxification Methods
The body uses a variety of tools to expel toxins on a daily basis. Just because these methods are automatic doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about assisting these systems to literally increase their output.
The body’s natural detoxification methods are: respiration, perspiration, urination and defecation.
1. Respiration
Each time you breathe, your body takes in oxygen from the air and expels carbon dioxide, a by-product of burning sugar. But for optimal performance, your breath should be deep and slow. If you forget to do this, your body will continue breathing anyway, but the inattentive breathing is typically shallow and fast, which will leave some cells without oxygen, and carbon dioxide will build up in your system.
2. Perspiration
The skin is the largest organ and luckily it is an eliminative organ. Profuse sweating will help the body rid excess toxins, certainly the ones at and near the skin, but internal toxins will be purged also, little by little. The easiest (and perhaps most enjoyable) way to achieve maximum detoxification through sweating is to use a sauna or in a steam bath. Remember that the skin not only expels toxins, but it also absorbs any toxin that comes into contact with it. Therefore, when laying in the sauna, wipe the sweat constantly with a towel to prevent re-absorption of the toxins. If you are in a steam bath, rinse yourself with chlorine-free water and send those toxins down the drain. For added benefits, use essential oils, either in the water that you pour over the sauna stones, or dropped directly onto the steam head. Also remember to breathe slowly and deeply, pulling the warm air deep into your lungs.
3. Urination/defecation
These methods of natural detoxification are helped by drinking plenty of water, and by eating a plant-based diet. Additionally, certain herbs have known diuretic properties, meaning that they increase the passing of urine. This should be used occasionally at most. A proper diet should eliminate the need for this. I have also found that exercise and certain types of healing massage can also assist both urination and defecation.
4. Movement
Movement helps your body to eliminate toxins, especially those that were hidden in stagnant tissues. When you re-mobilize these tissues, some toxins could be released into the blood providing the kidneys a second chance to eliminate them.
a) A good yoga class will increase the overall energy flow quite effectively. (Most classes will provide physical exercise, guided breathing and will often make you perspire.)
b) With passive yoga, a facilitator will assist you in obtaining the desired benefit, with a lowered risk of personal injury. The facilitator must find the stagnant energy and gently release it, such that energy flow is restored.
5. Fasting
An extended water fast is the king of all detoxification methods. I listed it last because it is used infrequently, but make no mistake, this is the most powerful way to allow your body to detoxify itself.
Fasting has been well-known for thousands of years. There is a very good reason that it is included in all religions: when you fast, your body gets rid of loads of useless “clutter”. And since your body, mind and spirit are one, the physical lightening has a direct positive effect on your mind, and brings both body and mind back in line with spirit.
A water fast can be for an arbitrary number of days (usually between 3 and 40 days), or you can decide at any moment that you’ve had enough. There are fasting centers (such as Tanglewood Wellness Center in Costa Rica) that receive guests from all over the world and provide a quiet, peaceful place to rest while fasting.
During the first 24-48 hours, the stomach still has acid in it due to the food consumed before the fast. This explains any feeling of “hunger”. Simply dilute the acid by drinking water, and the pain will go away. After two days, you will experience no further pain as an empty stomach is a relaxed one. If you had any ulcers before the fast, these will soon heal.
There are plenty of books and Web sites written about various cleanses and “juice fasts”. The use of the term “fast” right next to “juice” is misleading. To gain the benefits of a fast, one must abstain from ingesting nutrients other than pure water. There are definitely benefits from drinking cleansing (diuretic) herbal teas and plenty of juices from vegetables and fruits. But strictly speaking, this is not a fast and I would prefer to deal with this in my section on nutrition.
I will breifly mention that I have had good results from “the lemonade cleanse” and I know others that are fond of the “apple juice and olive oil” cleanse. But I would not necessarily recommend either of these extreme diets. In general, when you are eating, eat well. When you are fasting, you refrain from all nutrients except water, so that the body can play catch-up with all of the toxins that it didn’t yet have a chance to eliminate. Since we tend to eat and drink nutrients every day, our digestive system is always busy, and the body never switches into full detox mode until you are fasting.
Almost any physical activity will give you multiple benefits in your body, mind and soul. These benefits include strong muscles, weight control, increased self-esteem, balance and flexibility. Since your skin is an eliminative organ, any profuse sweating will purge environmental toxins through your skin.
To ensure that these benefits are life-long, choose a sport that you love to practice. But recognize that some sports are taxing on certain body parts while neglecting others. And some demand brute strength and lineal movements instead of fluid movements, with balance and flexibility. In other words, some forms of exercise will make you stronger, but less wiggly.
Among the best forms of exercise are swimming, yoga and martial arts such as tai chi and karate. With its thousands of postures, yoga will not neglect a single body part. It will promote strength, control and flexibility in all of your muscles, including the small stabilizing muscles, and importantly the heart and respiratory muscles. Martial arts will do the same, but with the added advantage of extra calories burned and (if it includes sparring) you will quickly learn to overcome stress.
Exercise is not the only way to get wiggly, but it is the one way to take charge of your own wiggliness.
The other option is a system that I developed to heal physical, mental and emotional illness without any effort on the part of the patient. Essentially it is a system of passive yoga, wherein I stretch, twist and wiggle the entire body to a very specific pulse. My system is highly effective against conditions like migraines, insomnia and anxiety. Very often, long-lasting results can be achieved in just one or two complete sessions.But for many people that live far from me, the treatment that I developed is not a feasible option. I therefore encourage you to try your best to get wiggly on your own. One final note on wiggliness: wiggly does not mean weak. It means that energy can pass freely throughout your body. Think of how a garden hose would react to your wiggling one end of it. In the relaxed state, your body should do roughly the same. If instead your body moves like a stick, then you have an energetic blockage that needs to be removed for optimal wellness.
You need some unblocked sunlight on your body every day, so don’t use any sunscreen for the first 15-30 minutes outside. If you want to stay out longer than your required 30 minutes and you want to avoid getting burned, then you should use coconut oil to reflect the ultraviolet rays. Plus, the coconut oil will provide some wonderful nutrients as well as moisture for your skin.
The reason that you require unfiltered sunlight on your skin is so that your body can produce an optimal level of vitamin D, which in turn protects you from cancer and a host of other diseases.
You can check www.mercola.com for dozens of articles relating to the need for unfiltered sun rays on your body, and on the dangers of commercial (chemical) sunscreens. (Hint: using some brands of sunscreen may actually cause cancer.)
Dr. Mercola has correctly pointed out that large studies have confirmed that the further you are away from the equator, the greater your chance of developing cancer (both skin cancer and other cancers). Dr. Mercola suggests that the reason for this increased risk for those living in colder climates is that they do not receive enough sunlight to produce the required vitamin D.
Mercola insists that ‘getting some sun’ means exposing as much of the skin as possible. Just exposing the face and hands won’t allow you to absorb enough sunlight to create enough vitamin D. So don’t be shy. But do realize that some can handle more sun than others, so if you venture out with a partner, one may opt for a shadier position than the other.
In addition to absorbing the sun’s healthy rays through your skin, you would ideally absorb some of its rays through your eyes within an hour of sunrise or sunset. This process is known as “sungazing”, which assists the neurological development of the mind.
While you are sungazing or sunbathing, you should ideally absorb the Earth’s natural vibration by being in direct contact with the Earth. That means standing barefoot in the dirt or on a sandy beach. Sitting or lying on the beach is also good, but standing is the ideal way to “suck up” the Earth’s healing vibes from your feet, all along your spinal column, and all the way to your brain, as water through a straw. This process is called “grounding”. In addition to the vibration of the Earth, you are also allowing your body to pull some electrons from the Earth to replace any that you may have lost while living in the “modern world”, which is not always in harmony with nature.
Food really is medicine, but it’s a lot more than that. If you consider that the average person may enjoy upwards of 100,000 meals in her lifetime, it is easy to see that food just may be the one thing that motivates us most, that evokes more emotions and unites more people than anything else. So it should come as no surprise that there are more than a few opinions on what you should eat. In fact, it is rare that any two experts would fully agree on what constitutes the ideal diet. Undoubtedly, experts that disagree with me will be just as sure that their ideas are correct, as I am confident of my own carefully-balanced views. I have studied nutritional textbooks, reviewed medical journals, and scoured the Internet, and I’ve found parts of the truth in all of these places. But my own experimentation has revealed other portions of the truth that appear to be absent from all of the literature. So I give you this page, a short summary of my views with links to lots more information from others that are extremely knowledgeable about nutrition. I encourage you to go for the essence of each person’s message, rather than worrying about following any particular diet precisely and fanatically.
A crucial step in The Lotus Lifestyle is to eat the right foods. But attempting to write the ideal diet that every person should eat to gain optimal health would be unrealistic. Trying to follow such a utopian diet may result in arguments between loved ones, feelings of guilt when one fails to follow the plan to the letter, and undue stress in finding and preparing all of the right ingredients in a world where unhealthy items are much more ubiquitous. Instead, I encourage you to relax, both while reading this page and afterwards, while selecting, preparing and sharing your food with the people most important to you (and even those that you don’t personally know). The videos below offer suggestions for selecting a nutritional strategy. You will also find a short list of some of the best and worst foods and recipes for tasty, healthy foods.
The Best Concepts for Nutrition
1. Navigating the maze of Conventional (pesticide-ridden) Farming Techniques vs. GMO’s vs. Organic Foods
a) Conventionally-Farmed Foods
The word “conventional” should not be misunderstood as “traditional”, since the latter implies that a particular method has been handed down many generations, presumably without any major known complication. Conventional, on the other hand, refers to the most common method of today. And in the case of farming, most farmers today slather their crops with a cocktail of herbicides and pesticides and inorganic growth stimulants. Benign-looking produce may actually be harmful if it is covered with carcinogenic (cancer-causing) pesticides, so avoid these whenever possible.
With the recent addition of genetically-modified organisms, (GMO’s) to the playing field, the general food supply is becoming increasingly dangerous every day. One can no longer live by the adage that an apple a day will keep the doctor away. Eating an apple that was engineered by the evil Monsanto each day may in fact lead you to attract an entire team of doctors and specialists. In the United States and Canada, GMO’s do not require special labeling and already they are practically everywhere. It is disturbing that these bastardized “foods” are allowed to be sold after hardly any human testing at all. In fact studies in several species of animals show serious problems including grotesque mutations, tumors, and mass sterility. Yes, that’s right, animals that eat GMO’s (some downright refuse to eat them, and it would be wise for us to do likewise) typically have more of their babies dead on arrival, and by the third generation, the animals are completely unable to reproduce. To find out if this will happen to our descendents would require waiting about 85 more years, since humans take much longer to reproduce than most animals. The most reasonable approach would be to avoid GMO’s completely until there is conclusive evidence that they are safe. So I’m going to pencil it in my planner for the year 2098 before I’ll consider feeding GMO’s to my family, just to be on the safe side. It sure seems to me, that even the bubonic plague is less dangerous than GMO’s, albeit its effect is immediately visible and deadly in a full two-thirds of those infected.
c) Organic Foods
Truly organic foods are, by definition, completely free of pesticides, herbicides, toxic additives, and they must not ever be genetically-modified. Therefore, this is the only completely safe option for your family.
2. Alkalize and Detoxify
Many popular foods cause an acidic reaction in the body that leads to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, to name but a few of the major consequences of not paying proper attention to your body’s pH, which stands for “potential of hydrogen”. The pH scale goes from 0-14, with lower numbers being more acidic, 7 being neutral, and higher numbers being alkaline. Your body needs to be alkaline before it can properly detoxify itself. Most vegetables, especially dark green vegetables, will provide a high number of nutrients and will produce the desired alkaline reaction. As for fruits, some produce an acidic reaction, while others produce a healthy alkaline reaction. Grains, meats and dairy, as well as coffee and most drugs, are purely acid-formers. The idea is not that you must never eat anything that produces an acidic reaction, simply that you make an effort to lean more towards alkaline than acidic, since the consequence of not doing so is the accumulation of toxins that will give rise to innumerable symptoms.
3. Prefer Plant Sources over Animal Sources
There are a multitude of reasons why you should eliminate animal products from your diet. Others focus on the moralistic reasons for doing so (and they are right) but I prefer to focus more attention on the health reasons. Plant-based products are MUCH healthier than their animal-based counterparts. It may be hard for some to believe that this is especially true with proteins. Yes, ALL plants have proteins, which are the building blocks of life contained in all living organism. It so happens that the proteins in plants are much more easily absorbed by the human body than are animal-based proteins. To get the same amount of digestible protein, you would have to eat a lot more meat, and this means that meat-eaters will inevitably have to waste a great deal of their energy digesting the meat products. And even then, a percentage of the meat will stay in your intestines forever, unless you find a clever way to expel them, such as a lengthy water fast or the unthinkable colonic enemas. And for fats, the saturated fats in animals are perfect for them, but really bad for us. And they are so bad, that saturated fats in plants have unfairly received a bad reputation, when in fact they are perfectly healthy. The most obvious example is that of coconut oil. It is a saturated fat, meaning that it is solid at about room temperature. But it is a perfect fuel for humans, and has been shown to promote weight loss (no foolin’!) and some studies show that it can even reverse brain diseases like alzeimer’s! All while tasting great and giving you plenty of energy that will never lead to diabetes or obesity, as is the case with energy in the form of simple sugars.
The following three short videos may give you some good reasons to try plant-based.
In the first video, Julieanna Hever discusses the many benefits of plant-based foods by comparing them to a magic elixir that has the potential to eliminate most disease, as well as world hunger and animal cruelty.
In the second video, Oprah interviews Alicia Silverstone, who is not necessarily a nutrition expert, but her argument is nonetheless valid. Alicia does not boldly request that all people immediately become vegan. Instead, she suggests that all people should be interested in health, and this interest should prompt them to “flirt” with veganism, to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
The third video provides some direct scientific evidence to debunk many popular myths about vegetarianism. It also provides many colorful images of appetizing vegetarian meals, and a few pictures of meat products that are decidedly less appetizing than the former. While some of the delicious vegetarian meals presented in this third video may not be very healthy, the video seeks to convince you that you do not require meat in your diet to eat delicious food.
One final video will eliminate any doubt that you may have about physical performance on a plant-only diet. The shaolin monks are among the top physical performers in the world, and they are strict vegans.
http://youtu.be/eZwmluSn_T0
Some of the Best Foods
The following is a short list of some of the best foods, followed by some of the worst. Take a look at my food glossary for a more complete listing. Keep in mind that almost anything can be considered medicinal at some dose and toxic at another. I therefore prefer not to create green lists and red lists, white lists and black lists. Conveniently, human beings are so evolved that we can digest just about anything, even toxins. Our organism constantly eliminates toxins through respiration, perspiration, urination and defecation. Common sense would suggest that reducing toxic intake and increasing toxic elimination will lead to more health.
Basil
According to Tuleina, the medicine of the Kuna tribe of Panama, basil is everyday medicine for everybody. Basil has the highest level of iron of any food item. Some of its amazing health benefits may be obtained simply by smelling its wonderful fragrance. Basil contains about 35 times more iron than red meat. I have watched at least one basil miracle… a 70-year-old friend was written off for dead by the doctors and hospital staff that explained to me that his hemoglobin level was beyond rescue. I called all of the organic farmers that I know and asked them to give me all of the fresh basil that they could. All were amazed that my friend’s hemoglobin shot back up and within days he signed himself out of the hospital. A year later, he is still as strong as ever.
Lemons
Lemons are among the best cancer-fighting foods in the world. Despite the acidic taste, lemons will help eliminate acidity from your system. Pure lemon juice can be used on salads instead of vinegar, and it can be added to almost any recipe. I do not recommend drinking pure lemon juice as it can harm the enamel of your teeth. Instead, dilute it with mountain spring water or filtered tap water, and enjoy it unsweetened or with stevia, the herbal sweetener that will not cause diabetes.
Aloe Vera
Aloe is a miracle plant that has an infinite number of medicinal and culinary uses. It is among the most perfect foods available, although it is rarely offered as food. The yellow oil called Aloin is present near the skin, and tastes bitter. But there are two ways to get Aloe’s healing benefits running through your system without the bitter taste: 1. Baby aloe plants may be eaten whole (without the roots). 2. You can remove the skin of a very large aloe plant. The clear “meat” of the leaves has a very mild taste and can be prepared with other ingredients, as sort of a vegetarian sushi.
Garlic
Garlic has amazing curative properties. Garlic’s sulfur-containing compounds helps protect us against oxidative stress and inflammation. Garlic may also be used as an organic pest-control method… instead of spraying your crops with chemical pesticides, garlic juice will obtain similar results without harming your health.
Oregano
A flavorful healing herb. The oil of oregano is quite powerful against colds, the flu, sore throats, and a large number of other bacterial and viral infections. You can buy oregano oil in a small jar at your favorite health food store. At the first sign of any illness, swallow about six drops of oregano oil, either alone or diluted in water.
Cannabis
Cannabis was once the largest crop in the world. It is a vegetable when its leaves and flowers are eaten in salads or juiced along with other essential nutrients. Its active ingredients, cannabinoids, may be concentrated into capsules and are prescribed by doctors and dispensed by pharmacists as medicine for cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, glaucoma, chronic pain, insomnia, anorexia and many more diseases. Its non-medicinal cousin, hemp, has been grown to produce fuel, clothing, paper and ultra-strong ropes. Cannabis has been outlawed as an illegal recreational drug in some countries during the last century. The author of this site does not promote the illegal use of any prohibited substance.
Cacao, and natural chocolate
Cacao has long been considered “food of the gods” and was used as currency by the Kunas (their abundant gold was used as a mere decoration as it could not be as valuable as that which produced health). Modern scientists are re-discovering the many medicinal uses of antioxidant-rich cacao, including its ability to fight cancer and heart disease. Chocolate may be even better for mental health issues including depression. Several woman have told me that they were able to avoid PMS by indulging in chocolate therapy a few days prior to the expected onset of the monthly symptoms. Take a look at my food glossary for a more complete listing.
Some of the Worst Foods
Avoid sugar, sweets and grains whenever possible
Sugar is a highly addictive substance that causes a great deal of illness, including cancer, diabetes and the condition we know as “aging”. Avoid all types of sugar, even brown sugar, and even try not to go overboard eating fruits that are high in fructose. Other things to avoid: alcoholic beverages, animal products, brewers yeast, carbonated soft drinks, coffee or products containing caffeine, dressing with vinegar, energy drinks (Red Bull, Cyclone, Gatorade, Koolaid or similar), flour or cereal products made with it, fried food of any kind with any kind of oil except coconut oil, gelatin and puddings, legumes or beans of any kind (lentils, peas, chickpeas, broad beans, black eye beans, others), ice cream, junk food (gum, candy, potato chips, etc.), ketchup, lecithin, mayonnaise, peanuts in any form, pickled olives, popcorn, smoking (cigar or cigarette), soy or soy milk, vinegar, wheat and wheat gluten. For more complete details, take a look at my food glossary and glossary of toxins.
Drink plenty of pure water. Preferably mountain spring water.
Mountain spring water provides a tri-fold benefit:
The pure water molecules themselves are used by every cell in the body, and are especially useful in eliminating toxins from the body;
Trace minerals from the earth can help your body in other ways. Tap water typically contains dangerous toxins such as chlorine and fluoride, which pose multiple risks to your health.
Mountain spring water is alive. That is to say, it is charged with the natural vibration of the Earth, which revitalizes us. Bottled water is dead by comparison. The book entitled The Secret Life of Water by Japanese Doctor Masaru Emoto, is filled with fascinating information and images. Dr. Emoto photographed water molecules under a microscope to show us how water from different sources may look the same to the naked eye and may even feel the same on the tongue, but the energy that each holds is dramatically different. If you don’t live near a mountain spring, the next-best-thing is to buy an excellent filter. The best ones will remove the chlorine and fluorine from your tap water, thereby eliminating the need for constantly consuming plastic bottles, which pollute the earth and can leach toxic chemicals into your body.
Coconut Water
Coconut water is one of nature’s most perfect beverages for humans. Coconut water is highly alkalizing. If you are able to get it straight from the coconut (especially the young, green ones), this may be even more beneficial to your health than drinking pure water. The reason is that although this may seem quite disturbing to consider, drinking pure water may not be able to increase your body’s overall hydration level. As Loren Lockman explains, “we are designed to get our water directly from raw vegetables, herbs and fruits”. Loren has spent three decades researching this subject matter. I asked him dozens of questions before I was able to come up with this synopsis: Human babies are born with about 80 percent water content. Then, little-by-little, as the child eats dried and cooked foods (which have a less than optimal water content), the body is systematically dehydrated as the organs of the body generously “donate” some of their water to allow the dried foods to be eliminated. So, over the years and decades, the overall percentage of water that makes up your body drops from eighty percent down to between fifty and sixty percent. If an adult can claim an overall hydration of 70%, she or he would be considered among the healthiest people alive. But that still falls short of the optimal hydration level. And unfortunately, even by drinking ten gallons of water per day, the overall hydration level will not increase. According to Lockman, the only way to effectively increase our water content is to first fast for a longer period (perhaps 45 days). This will allow the plaque in the intestines to be expelled. Only after the intestines are clean will they once again be able to absorb the water from the raw fruits and vegetables that we consume. Any cooked or dried foods that we eat will restart the process of dehydrating the body.
Your life begins with an inhalation and ends with an exhalation. Throughout your life, the breathing cycle continues, night and day, through all your ups and downs. It would seem as though your breath is on auto-pilot, since it does not require your constant attention to continue breathing. However, neither the speed nor the depth of your breath remains constant.
If you were to look back on your life, and closely examine your breath during the times of great peace and joy, and also the times of fear and anxiety, you would notice a remarkable correlation between your breath and your mood. Indeed, the best moments in life are usually the same moments that your breath is slow and deep. Short, shallow breaths may keep you alive, but they produce more angst than relaxation.
There is some great science behind this phenomenon: the deeper your breath, the more completely you are able to oxegenate and detoxify your body and your mind.
An integral part of the lotus lifestyle is to breathe deeply and slowly, and as consistently as is reasonably possible throughout your life. I also highly recommend breathing the cleanest air possible. Clean air is charged with pure life force energy called prana. This is your number one nutrient, above water and way above food. If you attempt to breathe some dirty, toxic, smoky air, your lungs will send a “panic” signal to the brain, ordering you to shorten your breath to minimize the damage. But neither your brain nor your lungs would like for you to continue taking shallow breaths of dirty air. The idea is to remove yourself from the contaminated area as soon as possible, and resume breathing slowly and deeply.
