hundred feet away. Ax and I were the only ones who heard the screams. Ax sprang into
action. He put on his face piece, went on air (we all carry bottles supplying
forty-five minutes of air so we can breathe during the worst fires), grabbed
a rack line (a preconnected two-hundred-foot hose), and scrambled up a
ladder. Right behind Ax, I also went on air, then steadied the ladder for him,
although he was too preoccupied to realize I was watching his every move. Ax reached the window’ s edge, opened the hose, and sprayed torrents of
water into the left side of the apartment, the heart of the flames. Then he
hung the hose’ s nozzle on the ladder ’s top rung and entered the window,
disappearing into the inferno. All I could think was: I have to protect him. So I climbed the ladder and
looked in the window. It felt as if I were peering at a secret passage intoHell. A friend of mine once served as the medical director at Yosemite
National Park, where, a few years ago, a lunatic had beheaded several
women. My friend went out to locate the victims, but all he found was one
headless body. At that point his reality changed; he’d come to believe in
true evil. That’ s how I felt then, seeing the fiery monster raging, laughing at
us: “I’m loving this, and you guys are screwed.”
Because it was dif ficult to see, I had no idea who was trapped inside the
apartment. Later we discovered it was Fire Captain John Butz. John
belonged to the first-arriving ladder company, which was responsible for
search and rescue. John had entered the apartment with his crew, but as they
had for gotten to bring a fan along to ventilate the room, he’d sent them back
to get it and had gone in alone—even though we’re always supposed to
bring a partner and a char ged hose line (one that holds water at the
appropriate pressure). Before John had had time to exit the room he was investigating, the
living room next door flashed (anything reaching 1,000 degrees or higher
will burst into flames). If John had been inside, he would have died on the
spot. Instead, the explosion threw him to the ground, where he lay
paralyzed and could only scream for help. The flames and smoke were so
dense that Ax couldn’ t find John until he spotted his flashlight at the end of
the bed. Ax knelt down and asked, “Can you make it to the window?” John
whispered, “I’ll do what I can.”
Ax turned around, trying to orient himself amid the smoke and flames. At that moment I entered through the window, waving my arms—Ax saw
my silhouette and headed for it. Later he called me his angel. The distance from the floor to the bottom edge of the window was four
feet, so the two of us began struggling to raise John’ s limp 300 pounds up
and over the sill. (John weighed about 225 pounds, but was also wearing 75
pounds of equipment.) Meanwhile, the freezing rain was still falling, and the smoke was
impairing our vision. I slipped on the ladder, John’ s helmet fell of f, and we
still couldn’ t pull his limp body past the windowsill. Finally, we got the front half of his body to dangle over the sill. Ax
yelled, “Do you have him?”
“I got him,” I yelled back, yanking John as best I could out and over the
window so I could lower him. At this point I wasn’ t sure if he was stillalive. I bear -hugged the ladder with my left arm, lowering John until my
right arm was fully extended, and then let him fall. He dropped eighteen
feet to the ground, missing an enormous air -conditioning unit by inches. Next, I climbed back up the ladder looking for Ax, who, in the
confusion, I mistook for my friend Josh Miller—at this point I was so
befuddled I didn’ t know who was who. But I was not going anywhere
without the other firefighter, and because I was convinced he was inside, I
was about to reenter the room. Then something inside me said, “Look down
and see what’ s on the ground.”
I did, and lying eighteen feet below were both John Butz and Ax. Their
bodies were smoking. At this point I had no idea how Ax had landed there. I later learned that
he was so hot, and suf fering from such severe injuries, that to save his own
life he had dived over the ladder and fallen to the ground. I had been so
busy wrestling with John’ s body that I didn’ t see him. I made my way down the ladder to Ax and John. Incredibly, both were
still conscious. Ax had third-degree burns to his calf, hands, and neck. John
was not as lucky; third-degree burns covered close to 70 percent of his
body. People seldom live if more than 65 percent of the body is burned. Finally, the fire was contained. John was taken by ambulance to
Brackenridge Hospital, then airlifted to Brooks Army Burn Center in San
Antonio, where he spent almost a year in recovery. Shortly afterward, he
was promoted from captain to battalion chief. He is lucky to be alive, and
he knows it. Although two later sweeps of the apartment revealed no other victims,
the third sweep found a man dead in the bathtub. The shower curtain had
melted over his body, which was barely recognizable as human. The
apartment had been his, and his little hibachi had caused the deadly blaze. That fire’ s fury spooked me to the core. In the short time all these events
took place, I realized how fleeting our time on earth is. Since that night,
I’ve appreciated the importance of my job, as well as the other firefighters
with whom I work, more than ever before. I never take a single shift for
granted—and after twenty-four hours, when we’re relieved by the next
crew, I heave a sigh of relief knowing that we’ll all go home safely. That terrible fire also confirmed my belief that we can’ t take anything
for granted—especially our health. Obviously, preventing and staying away
from fire is one way to stay healthy. But the most basic, profound, andpowerful way to take care of your health on a day-to-day basis is to eat a
healthy, plant-based diet. This regimen is the best way to fight the
dangerous fires raging inside us—fires that create all the chronic Western
ailments including heart attack, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer ’s disease, and
diabetes. That’ s why I created the Engine 2 Diet, and why I wrote this book. OceanofPDF.com2
MY STORY
All my life I’ve been intrigued by health, performance, and diet. As
long as I can remember a chin-up bar hung on the door of my bedroom,
where I worked out religiously several times a day. In the sixth grade, I set
the school record with twenty-two. At the age of twelve, after watching the
movie Rocky, I immediately came home and downed a glass filled with raw
eggs. At thirteen, my father bought free weights, dumbbells, and a
Universal weight-lifting machine for the family playroom. They were well
worn within a few years. While in school, athletics were my stage. I set many high school
swimming records (and still hold a national record in the 200-meter medley
relay); I was the top player on my high school tennis team and co-captain of
the water polo team. As a young athlete, I lived on bacon, steaks, and triple cheesebur gers,
thinking that such a diet was good for me and my performance. But that all
changed in 1986, once I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin
(where I was a three-time All-American swimmer and an Olympic trials
qualifier in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke and freestyle events). Within
six months I was competing as a professional triathlete and fueling my body
with healthy foods that were a far cry from what I had known. This shift was inspired by my father ’s groundbreaking research on plant-
based diets, about which you will soon be reading, as well as by many great
athletes who relied on a vegetarian diet for optimum performance, including
six-time Hawaii Ironman champion Dave Scott, famed 400-meter hurdler
Edwin Moses, and tennis great Martina Navratilova.As a professional triathlete, I competed around the world in the Olympic
distance triathlon (a 1-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike ride, and 6.2-mile run),
and for many years was ranked as one of the country’ s top ten triathletes—
and for most of that time, the sport’ s preeminent swimmer. Throughout this
period I maintained a plant-strong diet in order to enhance my recovery
between two and three daily workouts, and to give me an edge on race day. The diet worked: I took first place in many major events, including the
world’ s largest athletic competition, the Police and Fire World Games, in
2001. I’ve also won the Capital of Texas triathlon eight times, and have
been the leader or top-three finisher at many televised events


 K R A
V i s h u d d h a
ELEMENT :  Space (Akasha)
COLOR:  Sky Blue
MANTRA SOUND:  HUM
he fi fth chakra, which is the firs t chakra totally on the spiritual plane,
is located in th e throat and governs communication and cr eative
verbal e xpression such as singing, chanting, reading poetry out loud, and
recitation. Whe n the fifth chakra is illuminated, all the low er chakras
transcend their limitations. The anatomical  region of the fifth chakra includes the throa t, neck,
shoulders, thyroid, parathyroid, mouth, tongue, jaw, larynx, and vocal
cords. The sense is hearing, and the sense or gans are the ears. The San skrit wo rd V ishuddha  mea ns “ purity,” and I love this translation
because it captures the true essence of the fifth chakra. Its p urity comes
from speaking the truth that resides in our hearts. Pur e  me ans uncontaminated, clear, innocent, clean, or impeccable. When y ou reach  this level of consciousness, you are exploring the part of
you that is pure. Y ou have reached the level of spirit th at is unadulterated. From the heart chakra you come to a place where you are awakened to
truth. Th at is such a beautiful realization. All the debris has been swept
aside. In  the lower chakras you  had to sift through such debris to see thetruth in everything. Now the only thing you see is truth, and it feels clear. There is liberation in seeing truth. V ishuddha is like looking into the Caribbean Sea and not seeing the
bottom of it. One year I took a trip to Jamaica. I had always seen pictures of
the Cari bbean w ith its crystal-clear turquoise waters and its white sands as
far as the eye can see. When I arrived in Jamaica I didn’ t see what I had
imagined. Aroun d my hotel all I could see was lots of seaweed, rocks, and
sand. I was so disappointed because I wanted to experience the beauty of
the c lear waters like I had seen in the pictures. In order to see this, I had to
travel far by bus to find it. When I arrived, it was well worth the trip. Y ou hav e traveled up four chakras to find the clarity of the fifth. The
debris o f deception, lies, and c onfusion has drifted away, and you never
again have to live in darkness. The A yu rvedic d osha that rules the fifth chakra is V ata. The tw o gunas
that rule this chakra are rajas and sattva. The color we attribute to the throat chakra is cerulean blue. The mantra,
or bija (seed) sound, we vocalize for the fifth chakra is HUM. Fifth Chakra Ailments
Ailments of the fifth chakra include diseases of the throat and the thyroid
and parathyroid glands, neck and  jaw problems, speech impediments, colds,
and hearing problems. From a psychological standpoint, imbalances can
include unexpressed grief, sadness, anger, judgment, and feelings of
depression. Fifth Chakra Energy
The pow er that lies within the fifth chakra is the power to trans cend space-
time. Communic ation enables us to transcend space as sound w aves travel
through phone lines, cell towe rs, and internet connections. W e can be
virtually presen t in another place — through audio and mo re recently
through video — without leaving our physical location. Communication happens on m any levels, not only the physical. W e
communicate through words and sounds, facial expressions, body language,
thoughts (also known as telepat hy), and vibration. A thought is a vibrationon a subtle level, which will be  explained in more detail in the chapter on
the sixth chakra. The or gans and body parts in the fifth chakra allow us to
create and absorb the vibrations of sound. Sound can be used to harm or to heal. The voice of a loved one can be
used to say, “I love you,” or it can be used to say, “I never want to see you
again.” When used for unkind intentions, such as in rap lyrics filled with
words of hate, s ound creates separateness and dissonance. How ever, when
harnessed as a powerful expres sion of beauty, as in Mozart’ s  Forty-First
Symphony or Beethoven’ s Fifth, it creates harmony, entrainment, and
synchronization. W ords have the power to heal when you speak inner truth to yourself. Y our inner and outer dialogue about yourself determines how healthy you
are. If you repea t to yourself dai ly, “I’m so fat and I’ll never get thin,” those
words h ave the power to become your reality. However, if you t ell yourself,
“I’m wo rking on  getting healthier each and every day,” you will have quite
a dif ferent outcome. W ords from others also have the power to heal. When a
child fal ls and skins his knee, he will heal faster if his parent says, “Y ou’re
all right. Get up and go play.”
When I was in F rance around 2006, I went to the eye doctor because I
was having trouble reading. I was thirty-five years old at the time and
thought my age was contributin g to the fuzzy words I was seeing. I shared
this thou ght with the doctor, who told me it had nothing to do with age and
that I had some sort of eye dis ease that would cause me to need stronger
and stronger prescriptions as the  years went on. He was very ela borate as he
spoke ab out my future with certainty and conviction. I was taken aback that
he, a medical doctor, could “read” into my future and dared say so with
such doom and gloom. Luckily, I was already on a spiritual path of knowing
that we create our own destiny,  so I brushed it of f as ignorance. However,
his w ords did have power becau se I remember them to this day. Now at age
forty-six, eleven years later, my sight isn’ t a whole lot worse. My
prescription has changed once, but I’m optimistic about my vision staying
the same or getting better over the next decade or more. Can you  see the potential damage in the words you or others  speak? Had I believed the doctor and taken his words to be reality,  I probably
would be blind by now. His words were not truth, but a potential truth.On the positive side of words, h ave you noticed that when you talk to a
person y ou’re close to, your speech patterns tend to mimic each other ’ s? W ords connect in fluid harmony people who like to be together. Y ou can
notice th is best in teenagers. Listen to the way they speak. They  create their
own language with words that o nly they seem to understand. If  you have a
teenager, you know this. And the language changes quickly,  every few
years or  so. W ords such as sick  to  describe something awesom e or LOL,
taken fr om text-speak to mean “laugh out loud,” are already outdated,
according to my teenager, when his siblings used those word s only four
years ago. Singing and chanting are ageless forms of sound vibration. Singing has
been use d for thousands of years to band people together with a purpose. Song has the power to transcend. Much of today’ s soul music originated
from music sung by enslaved Africans in the Americas. They used songs to
strengthen community and tran scend the conditions in which they were
living. T hey also used song to connect with God, which brought them to a
state of transcendent bliss. Singing and chanting can be used unconsciously for brainwave
entrainment. People with close relationships entrain, which means their
bodily rhythms work together in synchronistic harmony through sound. Mothers chant or sing to their babies to soothe their cries. When my
children were babies and they were fussy or I was trying to get them to
sleep, I used to hum a simple,  repetitive tune to them. I’m not sure if I
spontaneously made it up or if perhaps it was hummed to me when I was a
baby. I only hummed it to each of them for their first year of life or so,
when ba bies need the most soothing. The strange thing is, the o ther day my
youngest son, who is now thirteen, told me of the tune I hummed to him as
a ba by. He hummed it back to me and said, “Mom, I loved i t when you
hummed that tune to me. I remember it well.” He couldn’ t have been more
than a year old when he last he ard it, being that he is the youngest. How
could he remember it now, twelve years later? I believe the power of that
sound created synchronization in  his brain that signaled well-be ing. So now
as a young man, when he has a s ense of well-being, in particular around me
as h is mother, that sound comes  to mind as one of his earliest memories of
well-being.Y


 mean that it flowed naturally from his or
her feeling; nothing stood in the way. There was no struggle between mind
and heart. Inspiration is that state in which mind and heart ar e connected. The following exercises show you how to summon inspiration and make
it your own long before you reach the end of the path. PART ONE: AN INFINITE  MOMENT
Every spiritual master has declared that the present moment is the home of
spirit; nothing to be attained in the form of wisdom, love, and vision has to
be postponed Y et we all postpone the day when we will be loving, wise, and
inspired by our own vision. This implies that the present moment is a very
difficult place to reach, despite the obvious fact that we are already there. Every second is a door to eternity. The door is opened by per ception. What makes each second infinite is its potential; what makes it finite is
your view of that potential. Think of an inspired moment in your life, when
you made the perfect move, said the perfect thing, had the perfect idea. What made you so dif ferent in that moment. You were open to something new. You weren’ t reliving the past or anticipating the future. You felt optimistic and open; you were not defended. You let it happen, whatever it was. You felt connected. Now ask yourself if you feel that way now. If you did you would be in a
very simple, though extraordinary state: you would be in the moment. The same preconditions take everyone into the moment, whether
Leonardo, William Blake, or just an ordinary person like me or you. A
genius like Blake may see “infin ity in a grain of sand,” whereas an ordinary
person might only feel uplifted and carefree. The differences, however, are
much less important than the similarities. If you doubt that you could
actually see infinity in a grain of sand, try the following medita tion (which
can be. done imaginarily without sand, in case none is handy). Hold a grain of sand—ordinary  aquarium or beach sand will do—in the
palm of your hand and let your eye rest upon it. Notice its color  and facets,
any hint of glitter, the sharpness of its edges. Roll it between your fingers;
hold it up to your tongue to taste if there is saltiness or earthiness in it. This
is the grain of sand presented to you by your five senses, and most people
would say that there is not much to see in this humble object. Now think of your grain of sand as a point surrounded by space. How
much space can you imagine. There is the room you are sitting in, whichexpands out into your house, the house into your neighborhood,
neighborhood into town—allow your mind to see this expansion suddenly
explode. Now there is the space of the whole planet, the solar system,
galaxy, and blackness beyond. Let this space also expand,  and allow
yourself to see that there is no edge to outer space, no boundary in time. Space cannot have a boundar y because the cosmos is expanding at a
tremendous rate, hundreds of thousands of miles per minute, which is
barely slower than the speed of light in human terms. You cannot take a
stop-motion picture of the cosm os to find out where it is right now, because
at the leading edge of expansion, the universe curves back onto itself. It
must do this; otherwise there would be something outside  space, which
cannot be. This means that your grain of sand is the center of the universe. Now repeat the meditation using time instead of space. Look  at your
grain of sand and check the exact time. Imagine the earlier part of the day
stretching befor e and the rest of the day stretching after. Now expand the
time frame to include a day before and after, a week, a month, a year. See
time as an expa nding circle and allow it to expand as fast as it wants. Is
there a limit to this acceleration. In your mind you can instan tly envision
the moment of the Big Bang; I don’ t mean the literal event, which is beyond
mental compreh ension, only the time it takes you to bring the event to
mind. Likewise, if you want to imagine a star as it exists 10 billion years
from now, your mind can go forward to that point instantly. Your grain of sand is the center of time, expanding infinitely in all dir ections. If time and space both are centered on one grain of sand, then you have
seen infinity—o r as close as your present perception can carry you. The
next step is to perform this meditation without the idea of time and space. Let your mind go blank and allow the sensation of time and space, a single
expanding circle, race away from  a point. Hold in your mind both extremes
—the point and the circle —without letting go of either. Don’ t strain or try
to visua lize too hard; this shou ld be as natural as possible. Let the circle
race away from the point until it disappears and you can no longer hold
both things in your awareness. Sense the state of your mind:
Is it open, watching, and alert. Is it reliving the past or anticipating the future. Is it undefended. Did you let your meditation happen, without turning it into something. Do you feel connected. You may notice  any or all of these things—or none. This isn’t a test but a
way to go beyond boundaries. The value of seeing infinity in a grain of sand
is personal: you may feel like laughing or you may feel profoundly quiet,
you may have a beautiful imag e come to mind or a silky emptiness, you
may be ecstatic or inspired. Give it some time—this meditation opens the
mind, easing your old ego boundaries without your having to address them
psychologically. The grain of sand is important. You are using this point of focus to slip
out of the net of time and space. Beyond the net lies openness, which is
pure potential. In that potential everything is possible. It is the door of the
present moment, which leads to eternity. PART TWO: THREADS IN THE  FABRIC OF  LOVE
On the path to love, inspiration  grows. The moments of insigh t that mark
the early  stages of the path are not as profound as those that come with
mature vision. This reflects a change of consciousness, but at the same time
there is a change of reality. Being infinite, spiritual reality is infinitely
flexible. It can accommodate any perspective. All perspectives are valid, yet
those that approach nearer to God contain more of His qualities: truth,
compassion, acceptance, and love. Your consciousness is your contribution to r eality. What you per ceive as r eal becomes r eal. When two people come together in love, they weave a fabric of
consciousness. If the fabric is strong, then both lovers have made it so; each
loving thought and action is a thread added to the fabric. In Sanskrit the
word for “thread” is Sutra,  which also has a metaphysical meaning. A sutra
is an aphorism or formula that expresses some fundamental truth about
consciousness. When Rumi says, “Love is the sea where intelle ct drowns,”he is uttering a sutra. It expresses a truth from his level of aware ness, and at
the same time it weaves truth by adding a thread no one else has added
before. In a mom ent of clarity and insight, Rumi felt within himself that his
intellect no longer struggled against love but was absorbed into it, as if
being drowned in the sea. His sutra reflects that experience and at the same
time evokes it in us as we read it. You and your beloved have privileged moments in which you understand
what your love is. No one else has ever had exactly the same revelations,
because you are unique people. Your inspirations are yours alone, even
though similar insights have been occurring for thousands of years. To
make your revel ations your own is important. You need to know what you
believe, how far you have come on the path together, how much growth you
have shared. Sutras can tell you all these things. The exercise here is to write down your inspirations as they come to you. Love grows the more you talk about it, think about it, and express it. Even
though moments of insight last only an instant, they are touchstones of
something eternal, the relations hip between self and Self. At this moment
your Self wants you to know about love but also about truth, compassion,
trust, acceptance, and devotion. These are the threads from whic h the fabric
of consciousness is woven. Writing sutras. Get yourself a notebook in which you will put your sutras, as well as
record those of others that inspire you. Do not wait to enter only your
inspired thoughts. At any moment spirit is ready to teach you about itself;
you only have to set aside some  time when you feel receptive— taking five
or ten minutes in the early morning works for most people. Sit down  with your pen and paper, and let your mind relax. Do not force
yourself into a state of inspiration, but have the intention to express what
you know. I don’t mean the information in your brain but what you know
from your heart—a spark of truth, a message from your Self. If words don’t
come so easily at first, you may want to start with a standard


personal component. He argued that becoming a cancer patient is
the end product of neurotic mechanisms that go back to childhood. LeShan was also among the rst to use psychotherapy as a means to
revive the cancer patient’s buried instincts, particularly the instinct
to heal. LeShan found that he had to begin by turning the methods of
conventional therapy on their head. If a breast cancer patient goes
to a conventi onal therapis t, he would focus primarily on her
symptoms. Confronted with her psychological pain, he would try to
identify the precise source of that pain and reduce it. LeShan, on the
other hand, attempts to make cancer a turning point, with the aim,
not of reducing symptoms,  but of pushing the patien t to new
heights. He focuses on the patient’s uniqueness and individuality: a
breast cancer patient coming  to him would be told that she has “a
special song to sing in life,” a source of joy that belongs only to her. On the rst day of therapy, when LeShan looks at his patients and
announces this goal, he very often gets a blast of hostility and
rejection in return. The following are some typical responses, taken
from his book Cancer as a Turning Point:
“If I found my own music, it would be so discordant that I
wouldn’t like it, and no one else could stand it either. My
own ‘natural’ way of being is ugly and repellent. I learned a
long time ago not to express it if I wanted to have any
relationships with others or to be able to live with myself. ”
“If I found my own song and tried to sing it, I would nd that
there is no place in the world for anyone like me. ”
“My own song would have such contradictions built into it
that it would be impossible. ”
In their acute distress, these patients feel the therapist’s helping
gesture as a huge threat. They reject his “impossible” goals and hold
on desperately  to the “unselsh” values they were taught as
children. These  values include being modest and polite, never losing
one’s temper, deferring to the wishes of others, and so forth. In our
society, every good child has learned them. Yet from the mouths of
LeShan’s patients, these values sound dreadful, as if someone’s soul
has been stied. Most of us accept the same values, however, and to some extent
we, too, do not feel that the world wants to hear our music—our
most personal expressions of feeling and desire—just because it is
ours. A profound lack of self-acceptance is being revealed in this
attitude. But since we are healthy enough to stay out of therapy or a
cancer ward, we have no occasion to defend our vulnerability quite
so nakedly as these women. Whenever people actually nd their own song to sing, their deep-
seated sense of self-doubt begins to be released, leaving a space for
creativity to ll. The song turns out to be beautiful; people nd that
they can sing it without being punished and even earn a living being
themselves. “In addition,” LeShan notes, “in every case the song was
socially positive and acceptable. I have never seen an exception to
this. ” Beneath the fear of being unique, each of us has a powerful
craving for as much uniqueness and specialness as possible. In essen ce, LeShan is simply asking his patients to be themselves. Why is that prospect at rst so horrifying. Deep down, as much as
we might deny it, all of us have been hurt by having our childhood
wishes trample d on, but we accepted it “for our own good. ” A child
needs and demands to be respected as a unique person,  but being
small and helplessly attached to his parent’s approva l, he will
sacrice his own feelings to win the reward of their love. For most
of us, our parents fed us their own concept of “being good,” and we
conformed to that even if it rankled our still-selsh childi sh egos. As
the noted Swiss psychoanaly st Alice Miller points out, we were all
taught to be good before we wanted  to be good. This may sound like a ne distinction, but in later life it makes all
the dierence between freedom and slavery. As an adult, I may be
rmly habituated to being good. Whenever I give to others, I feel
superior for being able to give and sorry for anyone who cannot. Yet
the acid test is how I feel when I am doing the giving. Am I joyful
about it or merely self-righteous. Do I expect something  in return,
such as gratitude, deference, and respect. Or do I let the other
person feel what he feels, whether it is anything or nothing. Giving
can be a mark of genuine freedom, the willingness to do with less so
that someone else may have more. But a person who has learned toput on a mask of giving is in total slavery. To what. To the memory
of what he must do to make his parents happy. Beginning with our desire to please our mothers, we have learned
to read like perfect scholars the faintest hints of acceptance and
rejection in other people. As we subtly mold ourselves to this
outside pattern, it becomes second nature, a kind of false self. A gap
is created between true and false emotions, between what I should
feel and what I actually feel. The process is subtle but treacherous. If
it goes on long enough, one forgets what it is like simply to be, to let
happiness and sadness come when they will, to give or keep as the
moment dictates. For the false self does not really feel; it calculates. A life lived truly is the joining of heart and mind. As feelings
come, the mind approves and delights in them. It is not dicult to
test if someone is leading such a life, because he will readily tell you
that the best time he has ever spent is the present. This is a sure sign
that the mind is not running ahead of the heart in anticipation or
lagging behind in nostalgia. The Chinese poet Wu-Men counsels:
Ten thousand owers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
A cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter—
If your mind is not clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life. If the balance between heart  and mind is disturbed, especially if
the subtle feeling level has been destroyed, there begins a process
we call rationalization. Why am I not happy at this very moment. “I’m too busy now. I’ll be happy when I’m successful. ”
“Today’s not a good day; I’ll be happy tomorrow. ”
“I can’t be happy with you, you’re not up to my standards. ”
“Others need me so much that I have to be responsible. ”
“Life is less risky if you are good and measure up to the
norm. ”
“I’ll be happy when I get what I want. ”In each phrase  one hears the victory of the head over the heart. Being happy is no longer immediate; it has become a distant or near
prospect, an idea rather than a feeling. In meditation the yogi tries
to clear a path for feeling, removing “unnecessary things ” from his
mind so that he can actua lly experience the bedrock of inner
satisfaction that all the ancient scriptures declare to be our
birthright. Whenever a person succeeds in joining head and heart,
that is Yoga. The reward of this union is immense: every moment
will become the best in the person’s life. A yogi balance s the qualities of intellect and feeling, but I often
think of him as a protester on behalf of the heart. Surrounded by
people (even in India) who pursue achievement without gaining
fulllment, he chooses fulllment rst. He will not let the mind rob
him of the subtle feelings of joy that come as freely as leaves blown
by the wind and are as easily swept away. The Mystery of Elaine
I sat on the edge of the emergency stretcher looking down at
Elaine in baement. It was midnight, and we had just had her
rushed from our clinic to the hospital with uncontrollable vomiting
and severe abdominal bleed ing. The crisis had erupted with little
warning. When Elaine became my patient two weeks earlier, her complaint
had been menorrhagia, or excessive menstrual bleeding. This
condition, which caused acute pain during her periods and lasted
for as long as fteen days a month, had persisted for more than a
decade. There was also a secondary complaint, which, combined
with the rst, made her mysterious in my eyes. Althoug h she had
never given birth, Elaine spontaneously secreted milk from her
breasts, a condition called galactorrhea. Medically speaking, these two symptoms are contradic tions of
each other. A particular pituitary hormone, prolactin, could have
caused her milk secretions, but another major eect of prolactin is
to stop the period. To compound matters, Elaine’s tests failed to
reveal any abnormalities in her hormone levels. I had beenpondering various explanations for her condition when she suddenly
suered this midnight


 digest pasteurized cows milk, which is what most people use because they have been ma de
to fear cow -transmitted diseases and/or they are forced to use pasteurized dairy products by health authorities. I suspect drinking
pasteurized milk or eating cheese made from pasteurized milk is one of the reasons so many people develop allergic reactions to
milk. Yet many states do not allow unpast eurized dairy to be sold, even privately between neighbors. To explain all this, I first
have to explain a bit more about protein digestion in general and then talk about allergies and how they can be created. Proteins are long, complex molecules, intricat e chains whose individual links are amino acids. Proteins are the very stuff of life. All living protoplasm, animal or plant, is largely composed of proteins. There are virtually an infinite number of different proteins
but all are composed of the same few  dozen amino acids hooked together in highly variable patterns. Amino acids themselves are
highly complex organic molecules too. The human body custom -assembles all its proteins from amino acids derived from
digesting protein foods, and can also manufactur e small quantities of certain of its own amino acids to order, but there are eight
amino acids it cannot make and these are for that reason called essential amino acids. Essential amino acids must be containe d in
the food we eat. Few proteins are water s oluble. When we eat proteins the digestive apparatus must first break them down into their water -soluble
components, amino acids, so these can pass into the blood and then be reassembled into the various proteins the body uses. Th e
body has an interesting mechanism to digest proteins; it uses enzymes. An enzyme is like the key for a lock. It is a complex
molecule that latches to a protein molecule and then breaks it apart into amino acids. Then the enzyme finds yet another prot ein
molecule to free. Enzymes are efficient, reusable many many times. Enzymes that digest proteins are effective only in the very acid environment of the stomach, are manufactured by the pancreas  and
are released when protein foods are present. The stomach then releases hydrochloric acid and churns away like a washing machine,
mixing the enzymes and the acid with the proteins until everything has digested. So far so good. That's how its supposed to be. But. Dr. Henry Bieler, who wrote Food Is Your Best Medicine, came up with the
finest metaphor I know of to explain how protein digestion goes wrong. He compared all proteins to the white of an egg (which is
actually a form of protein). When raw and liquid, the long chains of albumen (egg white) proteins are in their natural form. Howeve r, cook the egg and the egg white both solidifies and becomes smaller. What has happened is that the protein chains have
shriveled and literally tied themselves into knots. Once this happens, pancreatic enzymes no longer fit and cannot separate a ll the
amino acids. Cooked proteins may churn and churn and churn in the presence of acid and pancreatic enzymes but they will not
digest completely. Part becomes water -soluble; part does not. But, indigestible protein is still subject to an undesirable form of cons umption in the gut. Various bacteria make their home in our
airless, warm intestines. Some of these live on protein. In the process of consuming undigested proteins, they release highly  toxic
substances. They poison us. What is true of the white of an egg  is also true of flesh foods and dairy. Raw meat and raw fish are actually easily digestible foods
and if not wrongly combined will not produce toxemia in a person that still has a strong pancreas. However, eating raw meat a nd
fish can be a dicey propositi on, both for reasons of cultural sensibility (people think it is disgusting) and because there may be
living parasites in uncooked flesh that can attack, sicken and even kill people. It has been argued that a healthy stomach co ntaining
its proper degree of  acidity provides an impenetrable barrier to parasites. Perhaps. But how many of us are that healthy these days. Cooked flesh and fish seems more delicious to our refined, civilized sensibilities, but are a poor food. In my household we have no moral obje ction to eating meat. We do have an ethical objection in that meat eating does not
contribute to our health. But still, we do eat it. A few times a year, for traditional celebrations we may invite the childre n over and
cook a turkey. A few times for Thanks giving when the children were going through their holier -than-thou vegetarian stage, I
purchased the largest, thickest porterhouse steak I could find at the natural meat store and ate it medium -rare, with relish. It was
delicious. It made me feel full for hours and hours and hours. I stayed flat on the couch and groggily worked on digesting it all
evening. After that I'd had enough of meat to last for six months. When milk is pasteurized, the proteins in it are also altered in structure. Not so severely as  egg white is altered by cooking because
pasteurization happens at a lower temperature. But altered none the less. And made less digestible. Pasteurizing also makes m ilk
calcium far less assimilable. That's ironic because so many people are drinking milk b ecause they fear they need more calcium to
avoid osteoporosis and to give their children good teeth. What pasteurized milk actually does to their children is make them
calcium deficient and makes the children toxic, provoking many colds, ear infections, si nusitis, inflammations of the tonsils and
lung infections, and, induces an allergy to milk in the children. The Development Of Allergies
There are three ways a body can become allergic. (1) It can have a genetic predisposition for a specific allergy to s tart with. (2) It
can be repeatedly exposed to an irritating substance such as pollen when, at the same time, the body's mechanism for dealing with
irritations is weakened. Generally weak adrenals causes this because the adrenal's job is to produce hormone s that reduce
inflammation. Once the irritating substance succeeds at producing a significant inflammation, a secondary reaction may be set  up,
called an allergy. Once established, an allergy is very hard to get rid of. (3) in a way very similar to the sec ond, but instead of being irritated by an external substance, it is irritated by repeatedly failing to
properly, fully digest something. Pasteurized milk for example, basically impossible to completely digest even in its low -fat form,
often sets up an alle rgy that applies to other forms of cows milk, even raw, unpasteurized cows milk or yogurt. Eating too much
white flour can eventually set off a wheat allergy. My husband developed a severe allergy to barley after drinking too much h ome-
brewed beer; he also  became highly intolerant to alcohol. Now he has allergic reactions to both alcohol and barley. And gets far
sicker from drinking beer (two separate allergies) than from wheat beer, hard liquor or wine (only one allergy). Eating too much of any single foo d, or repeatedly eating too much of an otherwise very good food at one time, can eventually
overwhelm the body's ability to digest it fully. Then, the finest whole food products may set up an allergic reaction. Worse,  this
allergic reaction itself subseque ntly prevents proper digestion even when only moderate quantities are eaten. An allergy may not be recognized as an allergy because it may not manifest as the instant skin rash or stuffy nose or swollen
glands or sticky eyes. that people usually think of when they think "allergic reaction. " Food allergies can cause many kinds of
symptoms, from sinusitis to psychosis, from asthma to arthritis, from hyperactivity to depression, insomnia to narcolepsy –and
commonly the symptoms don't manifest immediately after  eating. Frequently, allergic reactions are so low grade as to be
unnoticeable and may not produce an observable condition until many years of their grinding down the vital force has passed. When the condition finally appears it is hard to associate it wit h some food that has been consumed for years, apparently with
impunity. Thus it is that many North Americans have developed allergies to wheat, dairy, soy products (because many soy foods are very
hard to digest), corn and eggs. These are such common, wide spread, frequently found allergies that anyone considering a dietary
cause of their complaints might just cut all these foods out of the diet for a few weeks just to see what happens. And indivi duals
may be allergic to anything from broccoli to bacon, stra wberries to bean sprouts. Unraveling food allergies sometimes requires the
deductions of a Sherlock Holmes. However, food allergies are very easy to cure if you can get the suffered to take the medicine. Inevitably, allergic reaction s vanish
in about five days of abstinence. Anyone with sufficient self -discipline to water fast for five days can cure themselves of all food
allergies at one step. Then, by a controlled, gradual reintroduction of foods, they can discover which individual items cause
trouble. Se e Coca's Pulse Test in the Appendix where you'll find step -by-step instructions for allergy testing that are less rigorous,
not requiring a preliminary fast. Flour, And Other Matters Relating To Seeds
One of the largest degradations to human health was ca used by the roller mill. This apparently profitable machine permitted the
miller


 rest there is to fail to understand the cause of peptic ulcer. It is said that something happens to the internal chemistry of the body to cause the gastric juice to
digest the stomach; it is believed, by some, that emotional stresses may be the cause of this
chemistry change. Once the
 membrane collapses, so the theory runs, the stomach juice certainly
acts on the tissues and extends the ulcer, often eating through the wall of the stomach or duodenum
(perforation) with fatal results. It is significant in this connection that this digestion that is assumed to be certain is an
exceedingly slow process, often requiring years for its climax. Yet this self-digestion does not occur in the healthy stomach, no matter how much acid may be
secreted. Hydrochloric acid is a normal secretion of the glands of the stomach, a necessity in the
digestion of protein foods. To believe that it is disease-building is not rational. An excess of acid
secretion due to some evanescent cause may give rise to discomfort and distress, but there will be
no digestion of the lining membrane of the stomach. There may be a flow of the contents of the
stomach back into the gullet, resulting in the symptom commonly called “heart burn,” but this will
not result in any damage to the membrane. Long-continued suffering with heart burn (most often seen in those who overeat on sugars and
syrups and those who wrongly combine their foods, and who drink liquids with meals) may result
in sufficient irritation of the lining of the esophagus and stomach to cause inflammation, but up to
this point, at least, there will be no digestion of the walls of the gullet and stomach. The acids of
decomposition, resulting from overeating and imprudent eating, are the acids that complicate
gastric and duodenal ulcer. Experimentally, fresh tissue from other parts of the body, when sutured to the gastric wall, is not
digested and this suggests that the walls of the digestive tube are not digested by the gastric juice. But I think that an even stronger reason to doubt the role of the digestive juice in producing peptic
ulcer is the fact that ulcers develop in many other part of the body—the nose, sinuses, mouth,
tongue, throat, colon, bladder, womb, cervix, vagina, gall bladder and upon the surface of the
body, as in varicose ulcer— without the digestive action of the gastric secretion. There is in ulcers, in each of these other locations, a preliminary and persistent inflammation
with hardening and a subsequent breakdown of tissue. The evaluation of ulcer of the esophagus,
stomach and duodenum out of chronic irritation and inflammation and hardening seems to be as
certain as its evolution out of these pre-ulcer states in other locations. The history of cases of gastric and duodenal ulcer reveals that very early in life, the patient had
developed gastro-intestinal irritation and inflammation. The mode of living and eating that resulted
in the irritation continued, added to, intensified, and the recurring discomforts were palliated with
drugs, until the patient passes through the already indicated stages of pathological evolution—
irritation, inflammation, a gradual thickening of the mucous and sub-mucous tissues (hardening),
and, then, ulceration. The increasing hardening chokes arterial circulation, cutting off oxygen and the food supply, so
that the tissues break down, giving rise to an open sore or ulcer. Cancer may be the final ending in this evolution. It is one of the endings of a chain of symptoms
starting with irritation, and passing through inflammation, thickening and swelling (hardening or
induration), ulceration (ulcer formation), and fungation (cancer). 98The same chain of causes and effects may precede both endings or cancer may evolve out of the
ulcer. It should be understood that both of these diseases—ulcer and cancer—represent end-points
in a process of pathological evolution that had simple beginnings and became more complex as it
developed. This is the reason why the search for a specific cause for cancer has been so
disappointing. All of the cancer-producing (carcinogenic) agents so far discovered are causative in only a
certain percentage of cases—in those in whom the ground has already been prepared for cancer
development. Ulcer, like cancer, is an ending in a chain of symptoms that begins far back of the evolution of
the ulcer itself. Repeated stomach crises (gastritis) end in ulcer. The ulcer develops after scores of
gastric crises that have occurred frequently in infancy, childhood, youth, and maturity. Ulcer is
classed as an organic disease, which means that abnormal changes have taken place in the structure
of the wall of the organ affected. Organic changes follow in the wake of vascular (artery and vein) degeneration and hardening. Indurations (hardenings) wait upon circulatory changes, particularly asphyxiation of the tissues. Ulceration may be said to be an active degeneration from cell apoplexy; cancer is passive
degeneration from cell asphyxiation. The beginning of both these forms of disease is irritation. All
chronic forms of inflammation begin as irritation and are followed by ulceration and, if the
location favors stasis (stoppage of the blood flow), induration and cancer will follow. The major links in this chain of pathological evolution are enervation, intoxication, irritation,
inflammation, induration, ulceration and fungation. That last is cancer. Should cancer be the only
unknown element in this pathological composite? Concomitant with the gastric ulcer is a chronic state of excessive acidity of the stomach, a
condition known as
gastric hyperacidity. The common belief is that the excess stomach acid is a
purely local condition. It is not recognized that this hyperacidity is symptomatic of the systemic condition of the
sufferer. This is the reason that treatment is only local; whereas, if it were recognized that the local
state is but a phase of a constitutional state, a more rational and more successful plan of care could
be instituted. If the gastric irritation and inflammation continue, and they will if toxemia is not eliminated and
its causes removed, the inflammation will extend to the gall duct and gall bladder and even into the
liver itself. Or it may extend up the pancreatic duct into the pancreas. As the patient’s mode of
living is not corrected and the systemic condition back of the irritation
and inflammation is
increased and intensified, the disease spreads from membrane to membrane and new diseases
develop. Feeding the ulcer patient is a difficult problem. Not only is there a greatly impaired ability to
digest food, but there is the irritation of the ulcerated surface that is occasioned by so many
different foods. What a life one leads when reduced to the necessity of conforming to the requirements of a
capricious stomach! In peptic ulcer, due to the secretion of too much acid, it is customary to feed
small, frequent meals of bland foods. These are intended to use up the acid and to reduce, as much
as possible, the mechanical irritation of the ulcer. But feeding the patient every three to four hours, sometimes oftener, and even at night, means
that the patient is continually overeating. The very feeding program causes the excess secretion to
be continued and helps to perpetuate the same condition it is intended to palliate. Using food as a
99palliative is certainly not a correct dietary procedure. There are many different diets that are prescribed for ulcer patients and there are various plans
of treatment. Each has its own advocates, but the results of each plan of care and feeding are far
from satisfactory, for the reason that they ignore cause. Milk diets, cream diets, sippy diets, bland
diets, frequent small meals, and similar feeding programs are all intended to palliate symptoms. These diets cause less immediate irritation of the ulcerated surface, but they remove no cause,
hence health is not restored. This is not a valid plan of feeding and it defeats its own purpose by
adding to the systematic impairment that is back to the ulcer. Drugs are also used to palliate symptoms—drugs to relieve pain, tranquilizers for depression,
drugs to “coat the stomach.” antacids to counteract the acidity. Other drugs employed in ulcer
cases are intended only to provide short periods of relief from symptoms. They remove no cause,
hence they restore no health. Even the latest method of freezing the glands of the stomach is but a
palliative measure. It makes a digestive cripple out of the patient, but removes none of the causes
of peptic ulcer. Operations for peptic ulcer continue to be performed. And they are still very unsatisfactory. The
wall of the stomach in gastric ulcer is pretty generally irritated and inflamed. In this broad field of
inflammation the ulcer develops at the most inflamed point. This means that the part in which the
greatest pathological change has occurred must ulcerate. Removing the ulcer does not remove the
field of inflammation. Another point of the inflamed surface breaks down and another ulcer results. This simply means that removal of an ulcer leaves the field open for the evolution of another
ulcer and recurrence is the rule. Recurrence is due to the fact that the cause of the ulcer is
untouched by the operation. Indeed, if the stomach is removed, and the cause untouched, trouble
will evolve elsewhere out of the same causes. Surgery does not and cannot restore
health. It is a
means of palliating symptoms and rarely anything more. Anemia is a frequent aftermath of removal


 Ida knew all about my interest in her. "On Sunday it is my turn to clean up, polish and straighten up
everything about the place," she explained. "I thought maybe you
would walk home with me sometime after Sunday School and I did
not want you to find everything all messed up." Much to my surprise, I bantered:
"Well, let's go right now and see what kind of a housekeeper you
are." After that pleasant visit I went with Ida regularly to whatever
young people's gatherings there were. I liked the community and was
enjoying life as I never had before. When I revisited Alabama in May,
1949, I learned from Dr. Ogletree, a fe llow dentist, that his sister, Ida,
a great grandmother now, was living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. My work on the farm was not too hard but before long my old
discontent was urging me to move on to greener pastures. I had heard
my mother and uncle talk a lot about Judge T. A. Street, who ran a
large farm on the banks of the Tennessee River in Marshall county. Judge Street was mother's second co usin. Before the War between the
States, he had owned slaves and run a large cotton plantation. So I
made up my mind to visit Judge Street at Beard's Bluff. In August crops were laid by and farm work was light. One day I
caught a ride with a neighbor who was driving his wagon to
Guntersville. From there it was only three miles to Judge Street's
house. It was past dinner time when I arrived, hot, tired and hungry, at
the Street house on Beard's Bluff. The family had never heard of me
but they knew my mother's brother, their kin. They received me kindly and scared up some lunch for me. I stayed all night and the next
morning rode to town with Judge Street in his buckboard. During that
ride he and I made a trade. I was to return at New Year's, January 1,
1888, and run his farm. In Guntersv ille I caught a ride back to Andy
Cash's house with another neighbor. So that night I was back on the
old job, jubilant over the prospect of a new start in life for the year to come. CHAPTER 4. I ACQUIRE A HUNGER FOR
KNOWLEDGE

On the last day of December, 1887, I arrived at the Street home
to begin my job with the new year. Since leaving Judge Street in August I had not once thought of writing to him. Until then I had received little schooling and no social training. But I found my job
waiting for me. That was the first responsible position I had ever held. I was to
take care of the livestock, keep fires going in the big house, cultivate a
one acre garden and grow a corn crop on the bottom land along the
river. In later years I was to realize that was the luckiest break of my
life. The Streets were counted am ong Alabama's finest families and
they took me in as one of them. The Street home stood on Bear d's Bluff overlooking Tennessee
River. The farm, where before the war, slaves had cultivated cotton, lay spread out in the valley below. Strung along the bluff were numerous slave cabins. Some of Judge Street's former slaves lived
there. Aunt Dinah, the cook, had been a slave in her young days. When I went there share croppers ha d taken over most of the cabins,
but I lived with the family. My two year stay with the Streets was the
best education I ever received. At the outset I became aware of my lack of booklearning. Everyone in the household was a booklover and
read after supper. There was nothing for me to do till bedtime but read
also. Kindly Judge Street helped me to get started. -. "How far did you go in school, George?" he asked me. "Through
the blueback speller and McGuffey's 5th Reader." "Well, then, maybe
you would like this book." Judge Street reached into the well-filled bookcase and pulled out
"The Life of David Crockett." Soon I was lost in the book. Its pages
recreated my own boyhood. You ng Crockett had a bringing-up
strikingly like my own. Then I realized for the first time how much
alive a book could be. After that, I devoured "Daniel Boon e," a history of the late war,
lives of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two or three of Amelia
Barr's novels and ever so many more whose authors and titles have
slipped my mind. At the outset my job consisted mainly of getting wood chopped
to keep several big fireplaces supplied, and to see that the numerous
horses, mules, work oxen, beef steers, yearlings, milk cows, sheep and
hogs on the place were fed regularly. Like all the farm people in that
country, the Streets ran their hogs in the Tennessee river hollows and
swamp to fatten them on the mast, as the abundant crop of acorns,
hickory nuts, beechnuts were called. Just to keep the hogs tame, I
would ride into the woods once a week to feed them a sack of corn. At
first I'd call "Co-pee, pig-ope," and that would bring all the hogs
within hearing. To avoid having to feed the neighbors' swine, I used a
trick which my father had taught me. He would yodle to his hounds to
call them from a fox chase and put them on a hotter trail without
calling the other hounds. As I dished out corn to the Street hogs, that I
could tell by the crops in their ears, I made up a call of my own and yodeled it—a long, low chant that would rise to high C, then drop to a
deep bass, with weird, wavering notes strung between. Pretty soon,
when I'd go back to that spot and start my call, I'd hear a chorus of
grunts and a roar over by the river and a bunch of hogs would come
running. Over the hill to the right a big boar would let out a snort and bring in his troop. None but the Street hogs would answer my call—I had taught them the yodle when no other hogs were near. At corn-planting time in April and May, T. A. Street, Jr.,
(Atkins), then 16-years old, was home from school. Though five years
younger than me, Atkins proved to be one of the best teachers I ever
had. Until he was quite a big boy, Atkins himself had no teacher but his mother; but, in that day, Julia Ann Street, one of State's Pioneer College Women, was counted among Alabama's most efficient
teachers. When one of her sons, E. C., the youngest now in Waco,
applied for admission to the University of Alabama, the examiner had
said to him:
"I do not know anything about Scotsboro Academy where you
attended, but anybody who has passed Julia Ann Street's tutoring can
enter this university." Two older brothers had graduated at the
Politecnic. Years later one of his old school mates told me about Atkins' first
day at the boarding school in town. Atkins did not know how to act and was laughed at for his awkwardness until he walked up to the blackboard and demonstrated a theorem in geometry. This occasion
was his first school. All his life he had been a great reader and he
never forgot anything. Now young Atkins was to take me in hand and teach me, as his
mother had taught him. That spring he and I took two big mules, he plowed one and I the other. We plowed long rows of bottom land for
planting corn. As we walked side by side behind our plows, Atkins
would tell me a story, like that of Joseph. I never had heard of Joseph...... "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was
the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors".... and so on till Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh's dream. "Now you tell me the story," Atkins would say to me. I'd begin with, "Israel loved Joseph..." and repeat the story of
Joseph complete. Then Atkins, well pleased, would tell me:
"You didn't skip a single point, George. You have a wonderful
mind. All it needs is cultivating." After that from his well-stored memory, Atkins would pour out
tales endlessly and have me repeat them. When I told my young tutor
one day that I had never looked inside a grammar, he began drilling
me in the naming and using parts of speech: "The red bird sings in the sweetgum tree." "Bird is a noun, sings a verb, the and and red are adjectives... now you tell me." In that manner, as we walked behind our plows day after day
lessons would go on. My young teacher worked with me patiently, and
with utmost tact, corrected my errors. He took keen delight in seeing
me pick up grammar just from this 16-year old. Along in my second year with the Streets, after the crops had
been laid by in August, I suddenly decided to visit home. I had been
gone almost three years. During my  visit


 into practice for 2 to 3 weeks. Y ou will find a
program specific  to your BOL T score, exercise history, and state of health
in P art I V of this book. T wo or  three weeks is a relatively short period of
time in the grand scheme of th ings, and most individuals will experience
positive benefits  within a few short days. As you experience the positive
benefits, I am i n no doubt tha t you will be happy to incorporate these
principles into your life, for the rest of your life. For exam ple, wh en I first learne d to unblock my nose and switch from
mouth to nasal breathing, I imm ediately felt tension lifting from my head,
and desp ite havi ng wheezed my way through the previous twenty years, mysymptoms reduced by as much as 50 percent within the first day, simply by
breathing calmly through the nose. Even if you are unwilling to make a 100 percent change to nasal
breathing during  your peak seas on training, bear in mind that whatever you
do t o incorporate the Oxygen Advantage program into your routine will
provide a return. Ultimately, your success depends on your ability to
improve your BOL T score—each 5-second improvement will cause the
benefits to accumulate. In Part IV I have outlined a series of dif ferent programs to suit
individuals according to their current training, BOL T score, age, and overall
health. Choose the one that best matches your fitness level and abilities and
move on  when you feel you ha ve accomplished as much as po ssible from
each program. W ould Y ou Do Me a Favor? I am  ver y optimistic that if you follow the principles outlined in this book
and work toward increasing y our BOL T score, your health and sports
performance will improve in many ways. Since 2002, I ha ve observed tremendous improvements in the sporting
ability of both amateur and p rofessional athletes who have applied the
concepts of the Oxygen Adva ntage program. I have also wi tnessed the
negative ef fects on respiratory, mental, and cardiovascular health from
chronic overbre athing. It is my  aim to spread the word of t hese simple
techniques to provide an easy and ef fective way of improving the health and
well-being of readers. And you can help me to generate awareness! I w ould  appreci ate it greatly if  you would try out these practices and
then spr ead the word to your frie nds and family who are interested in health
and sports, or who suf fer from any of the problems described i n this book. Y ou could also help by writing a review of The Oxygen Advantage  on
Amazon.com. Also, please share the book with anyone you think may benefit from the
techniques within the Oxygen Advantage program.Finally, if you have any question s, or would simply like to tell me about
your personal experience with the Oxygen Advantage program, please drop
me a line. I would love to hear  from you. Y ou can contact me directly at
patrick@OxygenAdvantage.com. Best wishes and thanks again,
Patrick McKeown
Galway, IrelandP A R T  I V
Y o u r  O x y g e n  A d v a n t a g e  P r o g r a mS u m m a r y  a n d  G e n e r a l  P r o g r a m  B a s e d  o n
B O L T  S c o r e  a n d  H e a l t h
E ach time I work with a client, I design a program of breathing exercises
and lifestyle guidelines to help him or her reach goals safely and in the
shortest time possible. When de ciding on a program, it is necessary to take
into considerati on each individual’ s health and BOL T score. Having an
insight into a pe rson’ s lifestyle is also useful, as exercises can be tailored to
cause minimal disruption to work schedules and current training routines. I
fully understand the challenge of making time in a busy life to exercise,
which i s why the Oxygen Ad vantage program of fers quick, easy, and
achievable techn iques that can f it around any existing routine. There is no
doubt th at a low BOL T score can result in fatigue, reduced co ncentration,
and poor productivity, so by allocating just a half hour to one hour each day
to practice these exercises, your  BOL T score will increase alon g with your
ener gy levels, well-being, and  performance. I have seen th e proof in
thousands of clients that spendin g a little time to improve body oxygenation
is a hugely beneficial investment. The best  way to approach the O xygen Advantage program is to view it
as a lifes tyle cha nge and something to be incorporated into your way of life
as o pposed to a set of exercises practiced formally throughout the day. This
way it will become part of your daily routine rather than a regular chore or
duty.Q u i c k  R e f e r e n c e  S u m m a r y  o f  t h e  O x y g e n
A d v a n t a g e  P r o g r a m
H abitual overbreathing involves breathing more air than your body
requires during rest and exercise. Overbreathing leads to:
•  A reduction of the gas carbon dioxide in the blood
•  Mouth breathing and underutilization of the gas nitric oxide
•   Impai red rele ase of oxygen from red blood cells ( see the Bohr
Ef fect.) •   Cons triction of the smooth muscle in the blood vessels an d
airways
•  Adverse ef fects on blood pH
•   Reduced oxygenation of working muscles and or gans,
including the heart and brain
•  Increased acidity and fatigue during exercise
•  Limited sports performance
•  Negative ef fects to overall health
Benefits of practicing the Oxygen Advantage program include:•  Improved sleep and ener gy
•  Easier breathing with reduced breathlessness during exercise
•  Naturally increasing the production of EPO and red blood cells
•  Improving oxygenation of working muscles and or gans
•  Reduction of lactic acid buildup and fatigue
•  Improved running economy and VO 2  max
•  Improved aerobic performance
•  Improved anaerobic performanceO x y g e n  A d v a n t a g e  E x e r c i s e  S u m m a r y
T he fo llowing BOL T measuremen t and exercises are explained in  detail in
earlier chapters. Body Oxygen Level T est (BOL T)
1. Nose Unblocking Exercise
2. Breathe Light to Breathe Right
3. Breathe Light to Breathe Right—Jogging, Running, or Any Other
Activity
4. Breathing Recovery, Improved Concentration
5. Simulate High-Altitude T raining—W alking
6. Simulate High-Altitude T raining—Running, Cycling, Swimming
7. Advanced Simulation of High-Altitude T raining
Body Oxygen Level T est (BOL T)
Y our pr ogr ess  c an be determi ned by a reduction to breathlessness during
physical exercise, how you feel, and your BOL T scor e  as follows:1. T ake a  small, silent breath in through your nose, and allow a
small, silent breath out through your nose. 2. Hold y our nose with your fing ers to prevent air from entering
your lungs. 3. Count the num ber of seconds until you feel the first definite
desire to breathe. 4. At the  first definite desire to b reathe in, you may also feel the
first involuntary  movements of your breathing muscles. (Y our
abdomen may jerk and the a rea around your neck may
contract.) 5. Release your nose and breathe in through it. 6. Y our inhalation at the end of the breath should be calm. Y our BOL T  score is the length of time in seconds that you are able to
hold you r breath  until you feel the first physical signals to take a breath. T o
increase your BOL T score, it is necessary to:
•   N ose-breathe at all times, in cluding during physical exercise
and sleep. •  A void taking lar ge breaths while sighing, yawning, and talking. •   Practice Oxygen Advantage exercises appropriate to your
health and fitness.By incorporating the Oxygen Advantage exercises into your routine,
your BOL T score should increase by 3 to 4 seconds during the first week. After co ntinued practice for a n umber of weeks, you may find your BOL T
score remains stubbornly at ab out 20 seconds. Continue to p ractice and
incorporate breath holds into your physical exercise to increase your BOL T
score above 20 seconds. It can take 6 months for an individual to reach a
BOL T s core of 40 seconds, but  by then your health and fitness levels will
be at a totally dif ferent place than before. Enjoy the journey! 1. Nose Unblocking Exer cise


 chart on this page. Because deterioration starts out so slowly, people usually do not begin to
notice there has been any decline until they reach their late 30s. A few fortunateones don’t notice it until their 40s. A few (usually) dishonest ones claim no losses
into their 50s but they are almost inevitably lying, either to you or to themselves,
or both. Though it might be wisest to begin combating the aging process at age19, practically speaking, no one is going to start spending substantial money onfood supplements until they actually notice significant lost function. For non-athletes this point usually comes when function has dropped to about 90 percentof what it was in our youth. If they’re lucky what people usually notice with thebeginnings of middle age is an increasing inability for their bodies to tolerate insultssuch as a night on the town or a big meal. Or they may begin to get colds that justwon’t seem to go away. Or they may begin coming home after work so tired thatthey can hardly stay awake and begin falling asleep in their Lazy Boy recliner infront of the TV even before prime time. If they’re not so lucky they’ll beginsuffering the initial twinges of a non-life-threatening chronic condition like arthritis. The thinnest line demonstrates the worst possible life from a purely physical
point of view, where a person started out life with significantly lowered function,lost quite a bit more and then hung on to life for many years without the mercy ofdeath. If one can postpone the deterioration of aging, they extend and hopefully
square the curve (retard loss of function until later and then have the loss occurmore rapidly). Someone whose lifetime function resembled a “square curve”(thethickest, topmost line) would experience little or no deterioration until the veryend and then would lose function precipitously. At this point we do not know howto eliminate the deterioration but we do know how to slow it down, living longerand feeling better, at least to a point close to the very end. Vitamin supplements can actually slow or even to a degree, reverse, the aging
process. However, to accomplish that task, they have to be taken in amounts fargreater than so-called minimum daily requirements, using vitamins as though theywere drugs, a therapeutic approach to changing body chemistry profiles andmaking them resemble a younger body. For example, research gerontologists likeWalford reason that if pantothenic acid (vitamin B
5, in fairly substantial but quite
safe) doses can extend the life and improve the function of old rats, there is every
indication that it will do a similar job on humans. Medical researchers andresearch gerontologists have noticed that many other vitamin and vitamin-likesubstances have similar effects on laboratory animals. Some will object that what helps rats and mice is in no way proven to cause
the same result on humans. I agree. Proven with full scientific rigor, no. In fact, atpresent, the contention is unprovable. Demonstrable as having a high likelihood’sof being so, yes. So likely so as to be almost incontrovertible, yes. But provableto the most open-minded, scientific sort—probably not for a long time. However,the Life Extension Foundation is working hard to find some quantifiable method ofgauging the aging process in humans without waiting for the inarguable indicator,death. Once this is accomplished and solidly recognized, probably no rationalperson will be able to doubt that human life span can be increased. Experiments work far better with short-lived laboratory animals for another
reason; we can not control the food and supplement intakes of humans as we canwith caged mice. In fact, there are special types of laboratory mice that have beenbred to have uniformly short life spans, especially to accelerate this kind ofresearch. With mice we can state accurately that compared to a control group,feeding such and such a dose of such and such a supplement extended the life-span or functional performance by such and such a percent. A lot of these very same medical gerontologists nourish their own bodies as
thoroughly as the laboratory animals they are studying, taking broad mixes of foodsupplements at doses proportional to those that extend the life spans of theirresearch animals. This approach to using supplementation is at the other end ofthe scale compared to using supplements to prevent gross deficiencies. In the lifeextension approach, vitamins and vitamin-like substances are used as a therapyagainst the aging process itself. Will it work. Well, some of these human guinea pigs have been on heavy
vitamin supplementation for over thirty years (as of 1995) and none seem to be
suffering any damage. Will they live longer. It is impossible to say with full
scientific rigor. To know if life extension works, we would have to first determine“live longer than what. ” After all, we don’t know how long any person might havelived without life extending vitamin supplements. Though it can’t be “proven,” itmakes perfect sense to me to spend far less money on an intensive life extensionvitamin program than I would certainly lose as a result of age-related sickness. Besides, I’ve already observed from personal use and from results in my
clinical practice that life extension vitamin programs do work. Whether I and myclients will ultimately live longer or not, the people who I have put on theseprograms, including myself and my husband, usually report that for several yearsafter starting they find themselves feeling progressively younger, graduallyreturning to an overall state of greater well-being they knew five or ten or fifteenyears ago. They have more energy, feel clearer mentally, have fewer unwantedsomatic symptoms. Sometimes the improvements seem rather miraculous. After a few months on
the program one ninety year old man, an independent-minded Oregonian farmer,reported that he began awakening with an erection every morning; unfortunately,his 89 year old cranky and somewhat estranged wife, who would not takevitamins, did not appreciate this youthfulness. A few months later (he had a smallfarm) he planted a holly orchard. Most of you won’t appreciate what this meanswithout a bit of explanation, but in Oregon, holly is grown as a high-priced andhighly profitable ornamental for the clusters of leaves and berries. But a slow-growing holly orchard takes 25 years to began making a profit. A few older clients of mine reported that they noticed nothing from the life
extension program, but these are unique people who have developed the ability todominate their bodies with their minds and routinely pay their bodies absolutely noattention, driving them relentlessly to do their will. Usually they use their energiesto accomplish good, Christian works. Eventually, these dedicated and high-tonedpeople break down and die like everyone else. Will they do so later on life
extending vitamins than they would have otherwise. I couldn’t know because I
can’t know how long they might have lived without supplementation and sincethey refuse to admit the vitamins do them any good, they won’t pay for them. Many on life extension programs experience a reverse aging process for
awhile. However, after the full benefit of the supplementation has worked itselfthrough their body chemistry, they again begin to experience the aging process. Ibelieve the process will then be slowed by their vitamins compared to what itwould have been without supplements. But I can’t prove it. Maybe we will havesome idea if the program worked 20 to 40 years from now. At this time I know of only two companies that make top quality life extension
vitamin supplement formulas. One is Prolongevity (Life Extension Foundation),the other, Vitamin Research Products. I prefer to support what I view as thealtruistic motives behind Prolongevity and buy my products from them. Unfortunately, these vitamin compounders can not put every possibly beneficialsubstance in a single bottle of tablets. The main reason they do not is fear of thepower-grabbing Food and Drug Administration. This agency is threateningconstantly to remove certain of the most useful life-extending substances from thevitamin trade and make them the exclusive property of prescription-writingmedical doctors. So far, public pressure has been mobilized against the FDAevery time action was threatened and has not permitted this. If some productwere included in a mix and that product were prohibited, the entire mixed, bottledand labeled batch that remained unsold at that time would be wasted, atenormous cost. Were I manufacturing my own life extension supplement I would include the list
shortly following. By the way, to get this all in one day, it is necessary to take 6 to12 large tablets daily, usually spread throughout the day, taken a few at a timewith each meal. If you compare my suggested formulation to another one, keep inmind that variations of 25 percent one way or another won’t make a significantdifference, and adding other beneficial substances to my recommendations
probably is only helpful. However, I would not want to eliminate anything in the
list below, it is the minimum:
Beta-Carotene 25,000 iu Selenium 100 mcg
Vitamin A 5,000 iu T aurine 500 mg
B1 250 mg Cyctine 200 mg
B2 50 mg Gluthaianone 15 mg
B3 niacinamid 850 mg Choline 650 mg
B5 750 mg Inositol 250 mg
B6 200 mg Flavanoids 500 mg
B12 100 mcg Zinc 35 mg
PABA 50 mg Chromium 100 mcg
Folic Acid 500 mcg Molybdenum 123 mg
Biotin 200 mcg Manganese 5 mg
Vitamin C 3,000mg Iodine (as kelp) 10 mg
Vitamin E


. Step 10: Stay in a state of gratitude. Be thankful for even being able to
contemplate your purpose. Be thankful for the wonderful gift of being able
to serve humanity, your planet, and your God. Be thankful for the seeming
roadblocks to your purpose. Remember, as Gandhi reminded us: “Divine
guidance often comes when the horizon is the blackest.” Look at the entire
kaleidoscope of your life, including all of the people who have crossed your
path. See all of the jobs, successes, apparent failures, possessions, losses,
wins—everything—from a perspective of gratitude. You’re here for a
reason; this is the key to feeling purposeful. Be grateful for the opportunity
to live your life purposefully in tune with the will of the Source of all. That’s a lot to be grateful for. It seems to me that searching for our purpose is like searching for
happiness. There’s no way to happiness; happiness is the way. And so it is
with living your life on purpose. It’s not something you find; it’s how you
live your life serving others, and bringing purpose to everything you do. That’s precisely how you fulfill the intention that is the title of this chapter. When you’re living your life from purpose, you’re dwelling in love. When
you’re not dwelling in love, you’re off purpose. This is true for individuals,
institutions, business, and our governments as well. When a government
gouges its citizens with excessive fees for any service, they’re off purpose. When a government pursues violence as a means for resolving disputes, it’s
off purpose regardless of how it justifies its actions. When businesses
overcharge, cheat, or manipulate in the name of profit-making, they’re off
purpose. When religions permit prejudice and hatred or mistreat their
parishioners, they’re off purpose. And it’s true for you as well. Your goal in accessing the power of intention is to return to your Source
and live from that awareness, replicating the very actions of intention itself. That Source is love. Therefore, the quickest method for understanding and
living your purpose is to ask yourself if you’re thinking in loving ways. Do
your thoughts flow from a Source of love within you? Are you acting onthose loving thoughts? If the answers are yes and yes, then you’re on
purpose. I can say no more! OceanofPDF.comIT IS
MY INTENTION TO:
BE AUTHENTIC AND
PEACEFUL WITH ALL
OF MY RELATIVES
“Your friends are God’s way of apologizing for your relatives!”

— Wayne W. Dyer
Somehow we allow the expectations and demands of our family members
to be the source of so much unhappiness and stress, when what we want is
to be authentically ourselves and at peace with our relatives. The conflict
seems too often to be a choice between being authentic, which means no
peace with certain relatives, or having peace at the price of being
inauthentic. Making the connection to the power of intention in regard to
being around your relatives may sound like an oxymoron to you, but it isn’t. Being peaceful and authentic can define your relationship with your
relatives. First, though, you may have to assess your relationship with the
closest relative of all—you. How others treat you, you’ll discover, has a lot
to do with how you treat yourself and thereby teach others to treat you.You Get Treated the Way You Teach
Others to Treat You
In an earlier chapter, I urged you to notice your inner dialogue. One of the
greatest obstacles to connecting to intention are your thoughts of what
others want or expect from you. The more you focus on how upsetting it is
that your family doesn’t understand or appreciate you, the more you’ll
attract their misunderstanding or lack of appreciation. Why? Because what
you think about expands, even when you think about what you find
unnerving, and even when you think about what you don’t want in your life. If you’re attracted to this intention, then you most likely already know
which family members push your buttons. If you feel as though you’re
unduly influenced by their expectations, or you’re a victim of their way of
being, you’ll need to begin by shifting from thoughts of what they’re doing
to what you’re thinking. Say to yourself, I’ve taught all these people how to
treat me as a result of my willingness to make their opinions of me more
important than my own. You might want to follow this up by emphatically
stating, And it’s my intention to teach them how I desire to be treated from
now on! Taking responsibility for how your family members treat you helps
you create the kind of relationship with all of your relatives that matches up
with the universal mind of intention. You may be asking yourself how you can possibly be responsible for
teaching people how to treat you. The answer is, in large part, your
willingness to not only put up with listening to those familial pressures—
some of which are long-term traditions running back countless generations
—but also with allowing yourself to disconnect from your divine Source
and indulge in low-energy emotions as humiliation, blame, despair, regret,
anxiety, and even hatred. You and only you taught your kin how to treat you
through your willingness to accept critical comments from that well-
meaning, but often interfering and bothersome, tribe. Your family relationships are in your mind. When you close your eyes,
your family disappears. Where did they go? Nowhere, but doing this
exercise helps you recognize that your relatives exist as thoughts in yourmind. And recall that God is the mind with which you’re thinking. Are you
using your mind to process your relatives in harmony with intention? Or
have you abandoned or separated yourself in your mind by viewing your
family in ways contrary to the universal Source of intention? These people
who are related to you are all ideas in your mind. Whatever power they
have, you’ve given to them. What you feel is wrong or missing in these
relationships is an indication that something is amiss within you, because
broadly speaking, anything you see in anyone else is a reflection of some
aspect of you—otherwise you wouldn’t be bothered by it, because you
wouldn’t notice it in the first place. In order to change the nature of family relationships, you’ll have to
change your mind about them and do a somersault into the inconceivable. And what is the inconceivable? It’s the idea that you are the source of the
anguish in your relationships, rather than the individual whom you’ve
pegged as the most outrageous, the most despicable, or the most infuriating. Over the years, all of these individuals have been treating you exactly as
you’ve allowed them to with your reactions and behaviors. All of them exist
as ideas in your mind that have separated you from your source of intention. This can miraculously change when you choose to be at peace with
everyone in your life—most particularly, your relatives. If the focus of your inner dialogue about your family members is on what
they’re doing that’s wrong, then that’s precisely how your relationship with
them will be experienced. If your inner speech centers on what’s annoying
about them, that’s what you’ll notice. As much as you’re inclined to blame
them for your annoyance, it’s yours, and it’s coming from your thoughts. If
you make a decision to put your inner attention, your life energy, on
something quite different, your relationship will change. In your thoughts,
where your family relationships exist, you’ll no longer be annoyed, angry,
hurt, or depressed. If in your mind you’re thinking, My intention is to be
authentic and peaceful with this relative, then that’s what you’ll experience
—even if that relative continues to be exactly the way he or she has always
been. Changing your mind is changing your relationships. Being authentic
and peaceful with your relatives is only a thought away. You can learn to
change your thoughts by intending to create authentic and peaceful feelings
within yourself. No one is capable of making you upset without your
consent, and you’ve given your consent too frequently in the past. When
you begin practicing the intention to be authentic and peaceful, you
withdraw your consent to be in the lower energy. You connect to peace
itself, and decide to bring peace to your relatives, thereby immediately
gaining the power to change the energy of family gatherings. Think of the relatives whom you’ve blamed for your feelings of anxiety,
annoyance, or depression. You’ve focused on what you disliked about them
or how they treated you, and your relationship has always had an
uncomfortable edge to it. Now imagine yourself doing this from a new
point of view: Rather than reacting to their low energy of hostility or
bragging with a hostile or bragging reaction of your own—lowering the
energy field for everyone involved—you instead bring your intention of
peace to the interaction. Remember, it’s the higher energy of love that can
dissolve all the lower energies. When you react to low energy with more of
the same, you’re not being peacefully authentic or connected to the power
of intention. In the low energy, you say or think sentences like, I disrespect
you for being so disrespectful. I’m angry at you for being so angry at the
world. I dislike you because you’re such a braggart. By putting your attention on what you intend to manifest rather than on
the same low energy that you encounter, you make a decision to connect to
intention


 determined this is the cause, try whipping up this soothing drink.Rice Water
-Water
-White rice
-A pot1. Cook the rice in twice the amount of recommended water, and just as
it starts to become tender, remove it from the heat. Drain the water and
drink warm, or let it come to room temperature. Save the rice for a bland
meal later on. 120Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com NauseaY ou will need… DirectionsThis may seem like a cop out on a natural remedy, but it is the farthest thing from it. I used to have an intense
fear of getting sick to my stomach in a place where I had nowhere to go-think on an airplane, on a bus, in a
lecture-pretty much any place very public. So intense was this fear that I would make myself feel quite sick over
the thought of it alone, and a viscous cycle began. With the use of deep breathing and meditation, I trained
myself to be able to let go of the gripping fear that made me sick. At the onset of nausea, a tingle of fear that
you may throw up can exacerbate it terribly, but being able to use your mind to work around it is one of the most
effective, and safe, ways to help yourself.Mind Control & Lying Face Down
-A cool, quiet, place
-Patience1. Practice meditation once a day, nauseous or not, and deep breathing. Focus on being able to let go of a thought when it pops into your head-
this is key in being able to let go of nervous thoughts that can make you
feel even sicker. 121Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com NauseaY ou will need… DirectionsMaking a blend of essential oils is an invaluable way to fend off nausea, and this blend of soothing aromas will
help clear your mind and settle your tummy. Just keep a little bottle on hand to use when you may need it.Tummy Time Blend
-6 drops of peppermint oil
-5 drops of lavender
-3 drops of pine needle oil
-6 drops of lemon oil
-1 tablespoon of any liquid oil
-A small, dark bottle1. Mix up your blend and store in a dark glass bottle to preserve it. When
needed, rub a dab behind each ear, above the navel, and on each
temple. Breathe deeply. 122Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com NauseaY ou will need… DirectionsPlaque Psoriasis, although it’s a common skin disease (and the most
common of all types of Psoriasis,) isn’t fully understood. It is thought
to be related to a flaw in the immune system, where a white blood cell
called a T lymphocyte (T-cell) behaves abnormally. T cells usually float
throughout the body detecting and fighting off infection. With psoriasis,
the T cells mistakenly attack healthy skin cells, like they are fighting
off infection or trying to heal something. The result is skin cells that go
through their life cycle over the course of several days, rather than a
month, building up quickly on the surface of the skin and forming itchy,
red, dry patches and silvery “scales.” There is no cure, but there are
natural remedies you can try at home to relieve the discomfort and
reduce the appearance of it.Psoriasis
-Try keeping a humidifier in the
house to prevent your skin from
drying out. -Avoid dyes, fragrances, and
anything else along those lines in
your shampoo, lotion, etc. -Take a warm soak with Epsom
salts daily, pat skin gently dry, and
moisturize. -Drink lots of water to keep skin
hydrated from the inside out. -Keep a little log book of your
outbreaks, and see if you can
track your triggers. 123Copyright 2014 everydayroots.comTips & TroubleshootingAloe vera gel has long been associated with relief from various skin conditions from dry skin to sunburns. Those with psoriasis have also found it helps relieves discomfort, and provides some much needed moisture to
irritated patches of skin. * Combine this with the healing, wholesome, properties of omega-3 fatty acids found in
fish oil, and you have a pleasant rub that can help clear up plaques. While it may not sound all that pleasant to
apply fish oil topically, the smell of the aloe helps it dissipate. Using free form fish oil (that is, not in capsules) also
has less of an odor. If the smell offends you, mix in 1 or 2 drops of orange essential oil.Aloe Vera Fish Oil Body Rub
-1/2 cup of aloe vera gel
-1 teaspoon fish oil
-Glass container1. Combine aloe vera gel and fish oil, blend thoroughly. 2. Apply several times throughout the day as needed. If possible, take
a warm bath free of any sort of soap before bed. Pat your skin dry, and
apply the mixture. It should keep refrigerated up to 3 months in a glass
container. 124Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com PsoriasisY ou will need… DirectionsThis can be used on the body as well as scalp. Avocado oil is rich and penetrating, providing moisture for the
dry skin. Tea tree oil, while typically used for fungal or bacterial based conditions, has been reported to help
some affected by psoriasis (particularly psoriasis of the scalp. )Avocado Oil & Tea Tree Oil Rinse
-2 tablespoons of avocado oil
-20 drops of tea tree oil
-1 cup of water1. Mix avocado oil with the tea tree oil, and then combine with water. 2. Pour over your hair using an old cleaned out shampoo bottle, or spray
on with a spray bottle to ensure you get most of it on your head. 3. Massage in well, gently but firmly rubbing in circular motions with your
fingertips. Let it sit for 2-5 minutes, then rinse. Y ou can also apply just
the oils to patches on your body, diluting the tea tree with 1 tablespoon
of avocado oil first. Y ou can stick to just the avocado oil if you prefer. 125Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com PsoriasisY ou will need… DirectionsHoney, when combined with olive oil and beeswax, has been shown to help reduce inflammation and help the
itching and irritation that comes along with plaque psoriasis. While the studies have been somewhat limited,
anecdotal evidence is strong. This balm will have a wonderful aroma-mildly sweet and warm with a hint of floral
honey.Honey & Olive Oil ‘Balm’
-1/2 cup of raw, organic, honey
-4 tablespoons of grated
beeswax
-1/2 cup of jojoba oil or any
liquid oil1. In a double boiler, melt beeswax and olive oil together. 2. Remove from the heat and let it cool, gently “whipping” it with a fork
or a whisk to keep the beeswax from totally freezing up. After it’s cooled
some, about 3 minutes or so, beat in the honey. 3. Apply as needed. This will keep in an airtight container in a cool dark
place for up to a month. 126Copyright 2014 everydayroots.com PsoriasisY ou will need… DirectionsSeasonal rhinitis is a fancy way of saying seasonal allergies-rhinitis
referring to the inflammation or irritation of the mucous membranes
inside the nose. While many people often call their allergies “hay fever”
that technically means that only grass or hay pollen is responsible. The
proper term for allergies caused by pollens from any plant is “pollinosis.”
When a person who has a sensitized immune system breathes in certain
allergens, such as pollen, it triggers the production of an antibody, also
known as immunoglobulin. The antibody is a protein that counteracts
a foreign substance upsetting the immune system. In this case, the
immunoglobulin released is known as immunoglobulin E, or IgE. The
IgE binds to certain cells that then release histamine, triggering an
inflammatory response and causing sneezing, itching, watery eyes,
swelling of the nasal passages, and a boost in mucous production. Though you may be miserable, your body really has good intentions
when all of this is going on. It is, after all, attacking what it perceives as
something harmful. Well intended or not though, this often leaves you in
need of some relief. I myself didn’t suffer from seasonal allergies until later in my teenage
years, and then I finally understood why everybody made such a big
deal out of them. They’re awful. When the warm weather rolls around
all you want to do is frolic in the outdoors, but the stuffy nose, itching,
watery eyes, and constant sneezing make it very hard to enjoy being
outside. This is especially heinous in Minnesota, because the majority of
the year we’re locked in a freezing ice-land and have a very limited time
frame in which we can enjoy warm weather anyways. I have to say that
with consistent use natural allergy remedies seem to work quite well. I’ll
take my honey and leave the stuffy nose to wintertime!Seasonal Allergies
-Avoid using window fans, which
can pull allergens into the house
and circulate them through the air. -Boost your vitamin C intake,
which has been shown to ward off
allergy symptoms
-T