One of my family’s all-time favourite desserts is Strawberry-Rhubarb pie, but it turns out that rhubarb combines well with lots of other fruits and berries too. In this recipe, I’ve blended two stocks of rhubarb with a handful each of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, and I tossed in one medium-sized mango just for fun.
The first step is to soak one cup each of almonds and pecans in one bowl, and two cups of cashews in another bowl, for at least a few hours (but preferably overnight) to remove as much of the phytic acid and enzyme-inhibitors as possible. After straining the water that’s filled with anti-nutrients, you’ll be left with just the best part of the nuts: healthy fats and protein, with vitamins and minerals.
The next step is to toss the almonds and pecans in a food processor with about a cup of pitted dates and maybe a half-cup of shredded coconut and process for about twenty seconds. Take the sticky, grainy mixture out of the food processor and push it into a glass pie plate.
Next, squeeze out about half a cup of lemon and lime juice, separating the seeds for planting if possible. Pour the juice into a Vitamix or Blendtec blender along with the rind of half a lemon and half a lime. Add in two stocks of rhubarb, three handfulls of berries and one mango, minus the seed. Add the strained cashews and two heaping spoonfulls of coconut oil… blend until smooth, and pour it into the crust.
Decorate your pie with a few extra berries and refrigerate for a short while… the coconut oil will quickly firm up the creamy filling in the fridge. Your pie is ready. Enjoy sharing it with loved ones.
A summary of yoga’s physical, mental and spiritual benefits, and a primer on the many lifestyle options that help you to achieve those benefits and, preferably, to share the benefits with others.
The Benefits of Yoga
Recognizing Yoga (oneness) offers physical, mental and spiritual benefits.
Among the physical benefits are, a stronger, more toned and more balanced body that is free of pain. In addition, yoga prevents and cures* innumerable diseases including stomach acid, cancer, heart problems, anaemia, appendicitis, arthritis, asthma, backache, high or low blood pressure, loss of memory, breathlessness, bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, cold, cough, colic, colitis, constipation, coronary thrombosis, diabetes, diarrhea, dilation of heart, dysentery, dyspepsia, epilepsy, fatigue, flatulence, gastritis, gout, halitosis, insomnia, menstrual disorders, migraines, nervous debility, obesity, polio, paralysis, piles, pleurisy and pneumonia, rheumatic pains, sciatica, sterility, thrombosis of the legs, tonsilitis, tuberculosis, tumour of the stomach, gastric and duodenal ulcers and varicose veins. (Source: items listed in bold are from my own experience. Other conditions are listed in the book “Light on Yoga” by B.K.S. Iyengar. * A disease can be cured when its root cause is correctly identified and eliminated. Simply joining a yoga class is unlikely to give you this result. It is wise that you do search for the real cause of your imbalance/illness rather than simply masking symptoms. Welcome to discuss this with your doctor, too.) As for the mental benefits, yoga eliminates stress and leaves you relaxed so that you can live and sleep in peace. The final goal of yoga is the most profound benefit, that of recognizing our total union with God and all of creation. This union is already a given… but recognizing it fully will bring supreme lasting joy.
Yogis, instructors and masters
A yogi is someone that is searching to know himself more deeply, such that he is able to recognize the unity of body, mind, spirit and universe. An instructor is one that helps another in the search for this discovery of truth. Every yoga instructor is also a yogi or a seeker until the moment he attains the final goal, the moment that he becomes a yoga master. A yoga master is one that has attained the goal of total awareness of oneness with God and with the entire creation. A master then guides others towards the goal using old methods or new ones specially adapted to eliminate the specific blockages in the path of the individual. Although realized yoga masters are few and difficult to find, each one of us has a yoga master deep within ourselves.
The many paths of yoga (ways of becoming more aware of oneness)
The interrelation of the many paths of yoga
Any method or system is called yoga when it helps a yogi to develop consciousness, such that he can better know his true essence, where his body, mind and spirit dance freely, and work together synergistically.
There are many known yoga systems for getting closer to the final goal. But it is always possible for someone to reach the final goal with or without a proven (old) system. The dedicated work in one’s self-invented system should be considered a “new yoga” from the moment of the achievement. The following fields and disciplines are some of the known (old) yoga systems:
Karma Yoga
Karma is the law of action/reaction. It is impossible to avoid karma because every action generates at least one reaction. Good actions lead to favourable reactions. Giving and receiving are inseparable. The yogi that gives unselfishly generates good karma. If you believe that your current situation is unfavourable, you may wish to analize the specific steps you took to get into that situation. Thinking about “past lives” is usually nothing more than a cop-out, which incorrectly blames the distant past thereby allowing the person to elude his or her direct responsibility for recent actions. It is foolish to speak of “having bad karma” without doing anything about it. More intelligent would be to trace your current position back just a few steps to determine the precise reason that you are now experiencing discomfort. This will surely help you avoid repeating those steps and hence the discomfort.
Bakti Yoga
Bakti means devotion (to God, to the Lord, or to one’s guru). Religious persons (of any religious belief) frequently practice bakti yoga, although they may not call it by this name. Devotion to a job, a boss, a partner or a child could (on rare occasions) be considered bakti yoga but only when the yogi fully recognizes the divine in the object of devotion.
Jnana Yoga
Jnana Yoga is yoga of the intellect, great for lawyers, judges, scientists, linguists and anyone that enjoys digging deeper into life, to examine its essence, and to find the appropriate words to explain that essence. In particular, one must differentiate between that which is real/eternal, and that which is merely a temporary manifestation. That which we observe through the five notorious senses falls into the second category.
Hatha Yoga
Ha-tha means “sun-moon”. Here, sun and moon are referred to, metaphorically, as polar opposites. (Of course, the moon is not really the opposite of the sun, but we get the image of a day-night continuum so the metaphor is somewhat useful.) Hatha Yoga is one of the newest of the proven (old) yoga systems. Its earliest document is from the 11th century, a yogi called Gorakh, who sometimes lived like a king and sometimes like an ascetic, two “opposite” ends of a social continuum. Today, most people use the term “Hatha Yoga” to refer to a system of bodily postures and breathing techniques to heal and balance the body, such that the (indivisible) bodymind becomes a “better” vehicle for the soul. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (died in 1989), Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar are the prominent authors of this “modern” style of Hatha Yoga.
Chakrasana
The asanas or postures at once stretch and strengthen all of the muscles and tissues while purifying them of toxins.
Hatha Yoga can be gentle or intense to adapt to the level of each individual. The practice implies the observation of both extremes of the duality of tension and relaxation. That is to say, that the yogi achieves the desired relaxation through the excercises that stretch and tense the muscules. The breathing exercises help the yogi to control her or his energy level since the air is charged with prana or pure energy that we can store for later use.
Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga is an eightfold path that includes the disciplines of hatha yoga (asana and pranayama), and six more disciplines: yama, niyama, pratyahara, darana, dhyana and samadhi.
Yama means control or observation. When used by itself, it refers to observing the universe, in general. One can observe areas of “peace” and “non-peace” for example. We humans do love to categorize! We observe that peace is “better” than non-peace. This is a judgement. Despite the bad stigma that people often attach to this word, there is no reason to eliminate judgements altogether.
Niyama is “control or observation towards oneself“. It refers to personal discipline, including hygiene and purifying the body and the mind by eliminating physical toxins and emotional toxins like hatred and pride, passion, anger, greed and delusion. The yogi observes that these emotions are useless and hurtful and replaces them with a greater dedication to that which brings wellbeing and happiness.
Asanas are as mentioned in the section above, hatha yoga.
Pranayamas are also as mentioned above.
Pratyahara is the state that is achieved when one is no longer a slave to his or her five nototious senses, namely, touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. These normally dominate us through their frequent requests and complaints. The pleasure that we receive through these five senses is temporary and therefore these senses represent traps in the path towards perpetual joy. (The sixth sense, intuition, does not require disconnecting.) The yogi finds within himself a joy to which he or she always has access, including when the five senses would otherwise signal a lacking.
Darana – concentration. This can be used as a “platform”, from which one can more easily “climb” to a state of meditation.
Dhyana – meditation. Meditation more closely resembles “observation” than “relaxation” although there are many meditacion groups that focus on the latter.
Samadhi – superconsciousness achieved through profound meditation.
Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini Yoga is a system to awaken and to raise the energy up along the spinal column. The practitioner feels a strong and unique sensation each time the energy bursts through another chakra (imagine an orgasm in the heart!). The chakras are energy wheels, similar to the roundabouts that connect several high-traffic city streets. The energy spins around instead of stopping and starting, as at a traffic light.
Tantra Yoga
Tantra is the highest form of cultivating the energy within for its healing effects on the self and others. In Kundalini Yoga, the healing energy is awakened and circulated. In Tantra Yoga, the healing energy is multiplied and transformed into all other energies. Tantra is often marketed as a sexual practice. This is an aberration to say the least. While learning Tantra Yoga will undeniably help your love life in countless ways, you’ll find even more benefits in all other areas of your life. And, although yoga is essentially about “uniting”, there are many Tantra practices that can be practiced even without a partner.
Where to practice yoga, and with whom?
You can practice yoga (oneness) on your own at any time, without the need of an instructor. Oneness is your essence, and the essence of the entire universe. Therefore you needn’t go anywhere to find an example of oneness. If you want to practice physical postures, there are yoga schools on almost every street corner in many parts of the world (USA and Canada, for example), and in other countries where yoga schools are not so ubiquitous, there are still several options. These schools will likely focus almost entirely on physical posture and breath. To enjoy the class, fully, understand where most teachers and students are coming from… it is decidedly unwise to challenge them on any concepts mentioned during the scheduled class. Despite a general view that yogis tend to be “open-minded”, the reverse is often the case when a learned yogi is challenged on his acquired knowledge. If you are inclined to challenge someone, please challenge someone that will not be offended by this. Like me, for example. If you have a partner or a group, you can share the experience and benefits of yoga, by practicing partner yoga. Posing together is not only an artistic thing to do, it also provides additional support and challenges in a way that increases the benefits for all involved.
Martial Arts and Yoga are two popular systems that go beyond physical exercise to encompass mental and physical exercises, cultivating balance and generating consciousness. Both systems are based on the timeless principle of observing and controlling the flow of energy. A true master of martial arts and/or yoga is a master of living. Sadly, many modern schools go overboard on the specific techniques and foreign jargon, such that students feel they cannot become masters. This is the exact opposite of what should be done.
Grand Master Albert Mady
If you spend some time observing a master like Albert Mady, it will change your life for the better. Albert is a true master of his own style of mixed martial arts including Isshinryu Karate, Muay Thai and tameshiwari, wherein he converts himself to dynamite and explodes through and pulverizes concrete like it were a vanilla wafer. Mady’s full contact, bare-knuckle kickboxing class is a mix of women and men and there are classes for kids. Mady is equally committed to his world-champion students and the regular people wanting to learn life-saving self-defense techniques. And the lives he has saved are many. Despite his innumerable honors and achievements, he remains down-to-earth, extremely generous, and a loyal friend to many. In my book that makes him a yoga master too. He has trained many bodies, and many minds to follow the invincible spirit at the heart of every student.
Yoga
Yoga is oneness. It is the reality inside you and in the entire universe at the same time. It is not necessary to “do something” to unite the universe. All that appears to be separated, is in fact connected, and always has been connected. The last stage of human evolution is to recognize this truth…when you discover oneness in your own heart, then you will automatically act in accordance with this consciousness. Yoga is the key to real, lasting freedom… from needless pain, from useless worries, from pointless repetition.
The Benefits of Yoga
Recognizing Yoga (oneness) offers physical, mental and spiritual benefits. Among the physical benefits are, a stronger, more toned and more balanced body that is free of pain. I have frequently applied yoga techniques to address the root cause (thereby initiating the reversal of symptoms) of the following conditions: stomach acid, cancer,heart problems, anemia, arthritis,asthma,backache, cold, cough, constipation,diabetes, insomnia, migraines, obesity and other conditions. As for the mental benefits, yoga eliminates stress and leaves you relaxed so that you can live and sleep in peace. Yoga’s spiritual benefit refers to the individual’s finding of her or his “earthly mission” such that the body and mind can work harmoniously to fulfill the deepest desires of the spirit, those of love and unity and lasting joy.
Yoga
Simply joining a yoga class is unlikely to give you this result. But yoga’s benefits are well within your reach! Commit yourself to searching internally, and you will surely find within yourself that which limits your holistic advancement. Others, such as your doctor, or perhaps a yoga instructor or a healer, may help you remove the impediment, and it is certainly possible to remove it on your own, without assistance. But this phrase “without assistance” should not be taken too literally. For if you always select “I” over “we“, then you’ll select illness over wellness.
Love is the most important thing in the universe. In the unlikely event that one could exist without love, to put it lightly, such a life would be unpleasant. Love is the foremost emotion; it puts your energy in motion. Love is the action that creates the feeling known as love. This key point proves that love is sustainable. And yet Mother Teresa noted “There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread.”
And she reminds us that there is no excuse for not loving:
“The success of love is in the loving – it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.”
In The Art of Loving, Fromm writes:
The most fundamental kind of love, basic in all types of love, is fraternal love. By this, one understands a sense of responsibility, care, respect and knowledge with respect to any other human being, the desire to promote his or her life… if I have developed the ability to love, I cannot avoid loving my brothers… this is based on the experience that we are all one. The differences in talent, intelligence and knowledge, are negligible compared with the identity of human essence that is common to all men.
Love is not essentially a relationship with a specific person; it is an attitude, an orientation of the character that determines the type of relationship that a person has with the entire world, not with a single “object” of love. If a person only loves one other person and is indifferent to the rest of his fellow men, his love is not true love, but rather a symbiotic relationship, or an amplified selfishness.
The Chemistry of Romantic Love
Helen Fisher of Rutgers University in New Jersey distinguishes three chemical stages of romantic love: lust, attraction and attachment.
Lust is driven by testosterone and oestrogen. Testosterone is important in both men and women.
Attraction brings an intoxicating cocktail of neurotransmitters called ‘monoamines’. In love, one prefers their partner over food, over sleep, over air. The most reserved individuals stay one step shy of mental madness. Dopamine is also activated by cocaine and nicotine. Norepinephrine, also known as adrenalin, turns up the heat to induce sweat and gets the heart throbbing. Serotonin induces a kind of temporary insanity.
Attachment is a bond that keeps couples together for the purpose of raising to have children. Two hormones, Vasopressin and Oxytocin are involved. Oxytocin is released by the hypothalamus gland during child birth and also helps the breast express milk. It helps bond mother and child. It is also released during orgasm and creates an intimate bond. More intercourse; deeper bond.
On Giving and Receiving
Fromm may have said it best:
Giving produces more happiness than receiving, not because of deprivation but rather because in the act of giving is the expression of my vitality… In the sphere of material things, giving signifies being rich. He that has a lot is not nearly as rich as he that gives a lot.
But Osho says we need to re-wire ourselves to love, because we all started as a needy baby. As he says in varying degrees it is the problem of everybody. Everybody wants to be loved, that is a wrong beginning.
The first experience that settles deep in his unconscious is that he has to get love… And everybody has the same urge to get love… So all are asking… and there is nobody to give because everyone was brought up in the same way. SO START GIVING LOVE.Forget about getting, simply give — and I guarantee you, you will get much. But you are not to think about getting. You are not even indirectly, by the side, to watch whether you are getting or not. That much will be enough disturbance. You simply give, because to give love is so beautiful that getting love is not so great. And this is one of the secrets.
Osho says ‘Be An Emperor, Not a Beggar’
GIVING LOVE IS THE REALLY BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE, because then you are an emperor. Getting love is very small experience, and it is the experience of a beggar: Don’t be a beggar! At least as far as love is concerned, be an emperor, because it is an inexhaustible quality in you. You can go on giving as much as you like. Don’t be worried that it will be exhausted, that one day you will suddenly find, “My God! I don’t have any love to give anymore.”
LOVE IS NOT A QUANTITY; IT IS A QUALITY — and a quality of a certain category that grows by giving and dies if you hoard it. If you are miserly about it, it dies. So be really spendthrift. Don’t bother to whom — that is really the idea of a miserly mind: “I will give love to certain persons with certain qualities.”
You don’t understand that you have so much… YOU ARE A RAIN CLOUD. The rain cloud does not bother where it rains — on the rocks, in the gardens, in the ocean — it doesn’t matter. It wants to unburden itself. And that unburdening is a tremendous relief. So the first secret is: Don’t ask for it, and don’t wait, thinking that you will give if somebody asks you. Give it!
Sleep is important for several reasons, the majority of which are well-covered by medical experts. Dreaming is the most important benefit of sleep, yet it is largely forgotten by the medical community.
The Lotus Lifestyle includes adequate sleep and that sufficient importance be given to one’s dreams.
The Importance of Dreaming
Dreaming and mining one’s dreams for consciousness is useful in accomplishing one’s earthly mission. Working with dreams is also called Yoga Nidra. While you dream, your spirit is freed from the control-freak brain and obedient body, which chases after the every whim of the brain while ignoring the desires of the spirit. The deep desire of the spirit is the reason that you are here.
The Importance of Sleep
A good night’s sleep is often credited with a host of physical and mental health benefits. Among these benefits are restoration, energy conservation and avoiding the dangers of the night.
Bodily Restoration / Re-energizing
Studies suggest that sleep replenishes our energy and helps us to restore our health. But energy replenishment and health restoration also occur while you are awake. I suggest that proper breathing (while insisting on pure air) is the best way to recharge your body, and one should learn how to avoid wasting energy, such that the surplus can accumulate.
Every time you inhale, the lungs take in some vitally-charged oxygen, and other gases including toxic carbon monoxide gas. The purest air that’s highest in oxygen, as well as deep, belly-breathing will optimally recharge your energy level, and full exhalations will maximize the expulsion of toxins from the cells and through the lungs.
If one largely breathes “on autopilot” during the day, their daytime detox and recharge will be mediocre or poor. Sleeping would give slightly better results and conscious re-energizing breathing techniques would create the best results.
Energy Conservation
While you are sleeping, energy usage is minimized. According to Harvard Medical School, the metabolism may slow down as much as ten percent. Although this is statistically significant, ten percent less energy usage does not seem important enough to be the prime motivator of sleep. But even a modest savings of energy, when coupled with the slow re-charging effect of breathing while sleeping,will produce a positive net energetic effect.
It is certainly possible to minimize energy waste while awake. Fasting saves the energy that would be invested in digestion, but most people are not willing to forgo the pleasure of eating… this luxury has been taken for granted by most cultures for many years. Other ways to conserve energy are by observing your posture, your thoughts and other habits. Taoist and tantric masters know the value of retaining vital fluids including semen and blood.
Avoiding the Dangers of the Night
Our ancestors may have needed to avoid being eaten by lions, whereas in modern times man is his own hunter. Police and hospital statistics indicate that most accidents and violent crimes happen at night, which may give early sleepers a better shot at surviving in an increasingly dangerous world.
In practical terms, most people have certain bad habits that, were they to continue uninterrupted by sleep, their health would be in serious jeopardy. For example, the habitual smoker or drinker, if sleepless, would likely continue intoxicating himself all through the day and night. Sleep thus functions as a kind of insurance policy that protects us from perpetually repeating our bad habits.
Dreaming is the Key to Good Sleep
If we could all learn to breathe better during the day, to observe our posture and its effect on our energy, and to eliminate all bad habits that cause disease, then we could strike those three reasons from the list of reasons why we need sleep. But we would still need to sleep. Why? Because dreaming is the key to good sleep…
If you get a reasonable amount of sleep, and yet still feel tired, you may be able to solve this problem by learning to work with your dreams (yoga nidra). And if you do not get enough sleep, then it is very likely that you are missing out on the invaluable benefits of dreaming.
Yet studies, articles and books on sleeping frequently understate or ignore the importance of dreaming. Most studies relating to sleep will focus on measurable data like the number of hours or minutes one is alseep, or the release of certain hormones such as melatonin, cortisol, human growth hormone (HGH) and serotonin. No study that I am aware of has properly considered the importance of dreaming. And it is for an obvious reason: the value of the dream is immeasurable!
Sleep (or Dreaming) is Necessary to Maintain Sanity
One study nearly identified the value of dreams. A group of people volunteered to ‘sleep’ in a special sleep laboratory. Then, as each one dozed off, the scientists would promptly wake them back up to ensure that they could not properly get into the dream state. Within two weeks, all of the subjects went insane. The scientists concluded that sleeping and dreaming are both necessary to maintain sanity.
The problem with the study is that the generous volunteers that lived as laboratory animals for two weeks were at once deprived of their sleep, their dreams, and in effect all of their freedom.
Freedom is indispensable to maintain sanity. And dreaming is among the surest ways to free the soul.
Sleep inspires insight.
The above is the title of a 2004 german study that would be more aptly named ‘dreaming inspires insight’.
Baby dreaming
So What Happens While You Dream?
When you lay your body down to sleep, your mind goes with it. In fact, your body and mind go everywhere together. These two are married. That is to say that they are connected ‘until death’. But this marriage is not complete without the soul. In fact, this ‘third member’ should be considered the most important part of the marriage. Unfortunately, the soul is often considered a ‘third wheel’ in the ultra-exclusive relationship between body and mind. The soul is ignored during all waking hours. To keep the Universe in balance, the body and mind necessarily must lay down together so that the soul can ‘fly solo’ for a while. During this solo flight, the soul is unrestrained by the normal limitations of the body. There is no logistical problem in getting from place to place, and there is no lineal time. This means that in a 5-minute nap, your soul can have the experience of having traveled to another continent (and maybe even another planet!). To get a similar experience that includes the body would require first buying a ticket, driving to the airport (or rocket launch site), hours of waiting, hours of flying… time and money and the coordinated effort of many people! But despite the great cost of the voyage, the benefit is usually greater than the cost. Claiming such an experience in a 5-minute siesta sounds to me like the epitome of efficiency!
Yoga Nidra
The healthiest relationship between your dream state and your waking state is that one is a continuation of the other. Imagine a dolphin swimming near the surface of the ocean towards the sunrise… the dolphin may jump in and out of the water but the overall direction is fairly consistent. Compare this against a circular system where the dolphin jumps out of the water towards the sunrise then switches directions upon re-entering the water. This dolphin exerts the same energy but does not advance. Such is also the case for humans that spend their days not following their dreams.
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.
