 forher many beneficences.
THE POETRY OF EATING.
By Russell H. Chittenden.
" With the mind in a state of pleasurable
anticipation, with freedom from care and worry,which are so liable to act as deterrents to freesecretion, and with the food in a form which,appeals to the eye as well as to the olfactories,its thorough mastication calls forth andprolongs vigorous salivary secretion, with whichthe food becomes intimately intermingled.Salivary digestion is thus at once incited, andthe starch very quickly commences to undergothe characteristic change into soluble products.As mouthful follows mouthful, deglutitionalternates with mastication, and the mixturepasses into the stomach, where salivarydigestion can continue for a limited time only,until the secretion of gastric juice eventuallyestablishes in the stomach-contents a distinctacid reaction, when salivary digestion ceases
through destruction of the starch-convertingenzyme. Need we comment, in view of thenatural brevity of this process, upon thedesirability for purely physiological reasons ofprolonging within reasonable limits the intervalof time the food and saliva are commingled inthe mouth cavity? It seems obvious, in view ofthe relatively large bulk of starch-containingfoods consumed daily, that habits of thoroughmastication should be fostered, with thepurpose of increasing greatly the digestion ofstarch in the very gateway of the alimentarytract. It is true that in the small intestinesthere comes later another opportunity for thedigestion of starch ; but it is unphysiological, asit is undesirable, for various reasons, not totake full advantage of the first opportunitywhich Nature gives for the preparation of thisimportant foodstuff for further utilisation.Further, thorough mastication, by a finecomminution of the food particles, is a materialaid in the digestion which is to take place in thestomach and intestines. Under normalconditions, therefore, and with properobservance of physiological good sense, a large
portion of the ingested starchy foods can bemade ready for speedy absorption andconsequent utilisation through the agency ofsalivary digestion.
" Nowhere in the body do we find a more
forcible illustration of economical method inphysiological processes than in the mechanics ofgastric secretion. Years ago it was thought thatthe flow of gastric juice was due mainly tomechanical stimulation of the gastric glands bycontact of the food material with the lining
membrane of the stomach. This, however, is not
the case, as Pavlov has clearly shown, and it isnow understood that the flow of gastric juice isstarted by impulses which have their origin inthe mouth and nostrils ; the sensations ofeating, the smell, sight and taste of food servingas physical stimuli, which call forth a secretionfrom the stomach glands, just as the samestimuli may induce an outpouring of saliva.These sensations, as Pavlov has ascertained,affect secretory centres in the brain, andimpulses are thus started which traveldownward to the stomach through the vagusnerves, and as a result gastric juice begins to
flow. This process, however, is supplemented byother forms of secretion, likewise reflex, whichare incited by substances, ready formed in thefood, and by substances—products of digestion—which are manufactured from the food in thestomach. Soups, meat juice, and the extractivesof meat, likewise dextrin and kindred products,when present in the stomach, are especiallyactive in provoking secretion. When the latterfoods have been in the stomach for a time,however, and the proteid material hasundergone partial digestion, then absorption ofthe products so formed calls forth energeticsecretion of gastric juice. It is ihus seen thatthere are three ways—all reflex—by whichgastric juice is caused to flow into the stomachas a prelude to gastric digestion. Further, it hasbeen shown by Pavlov that there is arelationship between the volume and characterof the gastric juice secreted and the amount andcomposition of the food ingested, thussuggesting a certain adjustment in the directionof physiological economy well worthy of note. Adiet of bread, for example, leads to the secretionof a smaller volume of gastric juice than a
corresponding weight of meat produces, but thejuice secreted under the influence of bread isricher in pepsin and acid, i.e., it has a greater
digestive action than the juice produced bymeat. The suggestion is that gastric juiceassumes different degrees of concentration, withdifferent proportions of acid and pepsin, to meetthe varying requirements of a changingdietary."CHAPTER VIII
THE THREE  INCHES  OF  PERSONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
The Effect of Prejudice—Professor Fisher's Experiment.
WHILE Professor Cannon was groping about
in Nature's alimentary preserves incomparative darkness, I concentrated myattention upon the first three inches of thecanal which comprise the field of our personalresponsibility, and which has been neglected bymost of the students of the subject.
While the area considered was right out in
front, and open to visual inspection all the time,the opportunity to study its most importantfeatures having to do with nutrition was notcontinuous. Mr. Edison may rivet his attentionon an electrical problem and stick to it for forty-eight hours on a stretch, but Taste is onlyoccasionally on exhibition for observation andcannot be pressed into long service at any onetime. For test of normal Taste only the timerequired for the most economic nutrition is
available. A real body-need with keen appetiteis the first healthy excuse for calling on Taste toperform. Normal appetite, too, being satisfiedwith appetising foods, is of brief duration. Onemay linger over a meal as long as desired,enjoying the intimate memory of the gustatorygratification in leisurely process, but in case of afirst-class labouring man's hunger and theexigency of a railway station dinner in themidst of a desert, industrious application offaithful Fletcherizing for fifteen minutes willusually supply the real needs of the moment foreight hours at least. This estimate involves ahealthy condition of the nutrition department,including an abundance of powerful saliva forthe hastening of the mouth treatment, but sucha beatific facility can be secured in a very shorttime by the faithful and intelligent employmentof all departments of head digestion.
A person who specialises on the mouth end of
the alimentary canal has plenty of time to restbetween inspections. He will naturally watchfor any feeling of results that may happen whileMother Nature is doing her twenty-five feet ofdigestion and absorption, but if his part has
been performed properly, there will be no newsof the process until there is something toexcrete from the material ingested. When thisoccurs, if a microscope is handy for minuteinspection, it will be found that most of theexcreta is composed of what I think of as thedandruff of the alimentary canal. It is composedof shapeless particles of skin which have beendiscarded by the mucous surface of the canal inthe same manner that dead skin is beingcontinually detached from the head and allparts of the external surface of the body.Depending on the nature of the food, there maybe small particles also of indigestible cellulosefrom vegetable foods and the condensed solids ofthe digestive juices when they have been usedand worn out.
THE EFFECT  OF PREJUDICE.
I have noticed that the early prejudices in
favour of or against foods are likely to prevailthroughout life. I have observed this in trying tosecure local appreciation for my own favouriteNew England dishes in foreign countries.Tinning, or canning, science has made it
possible to serve Boston baked beans and brownbread or even an entire Thanksgiving Dinner inJapan or Borneo, but it is impossible to excitenative appreciation for them commensuratewith the cost and trouble of the transportation.In Scandinavia, where they file the appetite tothe keenest of edges with the piquancy of the" Smoer Broed," or " Smoer Goes,"* theAmerican taste for very sweet things is notappreciated. Chocolates for that market aremore bitter than sweet, and so it goesthroughout the world where head digestion isimportant in determining the prescription offoods.
At one time, during a year and a half of travel
in unusual countries where the French, Englishor American menu is not easily available, I
never missed an opportunity to study the effectof head prejudice on digestion. If the fortunateopportunity occurs to sample the sumptuous" ris tavel " of Java, there will be the best ofchances to confirm my observation in this
* Literally " Butter-goose"; a table set apart, with bread and
butter and a variety of snacks.regard. This dish is varied in sumptuousness, or
variety, but the humblest offering of it consistsof a large and deep soup plate piled high in themiddle with snowy rice with each individualgrain unbroken. This, to begin with, is atriumph of oriental culinary art. Surroundingthis rice mountain are dabs of every sort of a" relish " any one ever imagined. You selectthese from tiers of plates borne in each hand byas many as a dozen servants, following eachother in procession, and presentingopportunities of choice amounting to twenty ormore, perhaps even thirty or more inextraordinary cases. Hence it is the privilege ofthe guest to take much or little of any, or all, ofthe condiments according to the state of hisappetite or greed. All the colours and nearly thewhole food kingdom are represented, and thetemptation is


 very effec
tive diet with a more than 6o-year excellent record of helping people with
all sorts of digestive disorders, including such devastating ones as Crohn's
disease and ulcerative colitis. This diet is called Specific Carbohydrate Diet
or SCD for short.
SCD was invented by a renowned American paediatrician Dr Sidney
Valentine Haas in the first half of the 20th century. Those were the good old
days, when doctors used to treat their patients with diet and natural
methods. Carrying on with the work of his colleagues Drs L. Emmett Holt,
Cristian Herter and John Howland, Dr Haas has spent many years
researching the effects of diet on celiac disease and other digestive disor
ders. He and his colleagues found that patients with digestive disorders
could tolerate dietary proteins and fats fairly well But complex carbohy
drates from grains and starchy vegetables made the problem worse. Sugar,
lactose and other double sugars also had to be excluded from the diet.
However, certain fruit and vegetables were not only well tolerated by his
patients, but improved their physical status. Dr Haas treated over 600
patients with excellent results - after following his dietary regimen for at
least a year there was "complete recovery with no relapses, no deaths, no
crisis, no pulmonary involvement and no stunting of growth". The results
of this research were published in a comprehensive medical textbook The
Management of Celiac Disease, written by Dr Sidney V Haas and Merrill P.
Haas in 1951. The diet, described in the book, was accepted by the medical
community all over the world as a cure for celiac disease and Dr Sidney V
Haas was honoured for his pioneer work in the field of paediatrics.
Unfortunately, "happy end" does not happen in human history too
often. In those days celiac disease was not very clearly defined. A great
number of various inflammatory conditions of the gut were included in the diagnosis of celiac disease and all those conditions were treatable by the
SCD very effectively. In the decades that followed something terrible hap
pened. Celiac disease was eventually defined as a gluten intolerance or
gluten enteropathy which excluded a great number of various other gut
problems from this diagnosis. As the "gluten-free diet" was pronounced to
be effective for celiac disease, the SCD diet got forgotten as outdated infor
mation. And all those other inflammatory gut conditions, which fell out of
the sphere of true celiac disease, got forgotten as well. The true celiac dis
ease is very rare, so the "forgotten" gut conditions would constitute a very
large group of patients, which used to be diagnosed as celiac and which do
not respond to treatment with the gluten-free diet. Incidentally, a lot of
"true" celiac patients do not get better on the gluten-free diet either. All
these conditions respond very well to the SCD diet, developed by Dr Haas.
GAP Syndrome would fall into this group.
Following the whole controversy about celiac disease, the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet would have been completely forgotten if it wasn't for,
you guessed it, a parent!
Elaine Gottschall, desperate to help her little daughter, who suffered
from severe ulcerative colitis and neurological problems, went to see
Dr Haas in 1958. After two years on SCD her daughter was completely free
of symptoms, an energetic and thriving little girl. Following the success of
the SCD with her daughter Elaine Gottschall over the years has helped
thousands of people, suffering from Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis,
celiac disease, diverticulitis and various types of chronic diarrhoea. But the
most dramatic and fast recoveries she has reported in young children who,
apart from digestive problems, had serious behavioural abnormalities,
such as autism, hyperactivity and night terrors. She has devoted years of
research into the biochemical and biological basis of the diet and has pub
lished a book, called Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Intestinal Health Through
Diet This book has become a true saviour for thousands of children and
adults across the world and has been reprinted many times. A number of
web-sites and web-groups have been set up to share SCD recipes and
experiences. Dr Gottschall is in her eighties now, still very active and help
ing many people around the world with the implementation of the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet. For the full details on how to implement this diet I
would highly recommend Elaine Gottschall's book.
The diet appropriate for GAPS patients is largely based on the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet. However, there is one issue that has to be taken into
account - the use of dairy products. What about dairy?
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet permits lactose-free dairy products. Lactose
is a milk sugar with a double molecule. It is present in fresh milk and many
commercially available dairy products. According to various sources from
25% to 90% of the planet's population cannot digest lactose due to the lack
of the lactose digesting enzyme, called lactase. Children and adults with
GAPS and people with gut problems most certainly cannot digest it and
have to avoid it. Well-fermented milk products, such as yoghurt, soured
cream and natural cheeses are largely free of lactose because in the process
of fermentation the fermenting bacteria consume lactose as their food.
However, apart from lactose milk contains other substances which GAPS
people have to avoid. The most researched substance is the milk protein
casein. In the previous chapters we have discussed casomorphins - pep
tides with an opiate structure, which are found in the urine of autistic,
schizophrenic, depressed and other patients. Casomorphins come from
misdigestion of milk protein casein. They absorb through the damaged gut
lining into the bloodstream of the GAPS person, cross the blood-brain bar
rier and affect the functions of the brain. And indeed when dairy products
get completely removed from the diet of an autistic child or a
schizophrenic patient we observe an improvement in the clinical picture,
sometimes quite dramatic. There is a debate about what particular form of
casein is the problem. The group of proteins called beta-caseins have
received most attention. For example, Cade and other researchers have
shown that in an unhealthy digestive system they convert into beta-
casomorphin-7 which gets taken up by 32 various areas of the brain, many
of which are responsible for vision, hearing and communication.
Another problem with dairy is its great ability at creating allergies and
intolerances. Real allergy to milk is one of the most common allergies in
existence, because dairy products have a wide range of antigens (various
immunoglobulins). According to various research papers it is the main
reason for infantile colic. Even in breast-fed babies if the mother consumes
dairy products the child may develop colic due to sensitivity to dairy anti
gens being passed through the mother's milk. In many cases when the
breast-feeding mother stops consuming dairy foods the colic in her baby
goes away.
Whether it is lactose or casein or allergies or a combination of factors,
the clinical experience shows that GAPS children and adults should not
consume dairy products until their digestive system is well enough to handle them. The only exception is for the milk fat, which contains virtu
ally no milk proteins or lactose and is generally well tolerated. Pure milk fat
is called ghee or clarified butter. It is easy to make at home from butter
(look in the recipe section). Unfortunately commercially available ghee
often contains preservatives and other additives. To make sure that your
ghee is pure it is best to make it at home. Ghee contains a lot of valuable
nutrients and is excellent for cooking and baking. Some people with severe
dairy allergy can not tolerate even ghee and have to avoid it. However, in
my experience the majority of GAPS children and adults have no reaction
to ghee and can use it in their diet right from the beginning.
The good news about dairy products is that for many patients they do
not have to be out of the diet forever. As the gut lining starts to heal many
GAPS patients are able to re-introduce other dairy products.
The first product to add to their diet is butter. Butter is virtually pure milk
fat and contains only very small amounts of whey, which at a certain stage in
the diet the patients can usually handle. Butter should be bought organic,
because non-organic butter contains a lot of pesticides, hormones and
antibiotics, which non-organic cows consume. I generally recommend to try
introducing butter after 6 months on the diet. It is preferable to have unsalted
butter as a lot of salt products which are used to preserve butter contain flow
agents and other additives. I would like to emphasise here that butter and
ghee contain a lot of valuable nutrition for children and adults and should not
be avoided, unless there is a true allergy. Butter and ghee provide various fatty
acids with important health giving benefits, vitamins A, D, E, beta-carotene
and other nutritious substances in an easy to digest form.
In about a year gradual introduction of protein containing lactose free
milk products is possible: yogh


tempted by such foods, even if during the long treatment they did fantasize about some “forbidden
fruit” or other. Above all, they find anything salty quite distasteful. On the saltless Gerson regime
their taste buds have recovered from the paralysis caused by the highly salty foods of the past;
now they find anything salty unpleasant and even offensive. (Just like former smokers, who find
it impossible to stay in a smoky room, let alone start smoking again.)
Of course once a recovered patient is in a truly good condition, with all systems working
well, it is all right to attend a banquet, a wedding, or a birthday celebration and “binge” a little.
But afterwards digestive enzymes should be taken for a few days, accompanied by a daily enema,
to get rid of the mess and feel good again. Please don’t discard your enema bucket. An “upside
down coffee”, in Gerson parlance, helps if you have a headache, a toothache, even an incipient
cold or a general malaise. Also, hang on to your Norwalk or other juicer, instead of switching over
to bottled juices; they won’t help to keep you well.
Patients who had been very seriously ill must take extra precautions to preserve their new-
found health. We suggest that however long they have been off the therapy, they should go back
on the full intensive program for two weeks twice a year. (Spring and Fall, the times of seasonal
changes are best for the purpose.) During those two weeks they should drink10-13 juices a day,
eat only freshly prepared organic foods, avoid animal proteins and take 3 or more enemas daily.
If this return to the strict Gerson protocol produces a healing reaction, which these patients would
recognize at once, the body is obviously clearing up some fresh damage, and the strict program
should be extended for another two weeks. If, however, no new symptoms pop up, the patient is
doing well and can stop the “refresher course” after two weeks.
The Art of Maintenance
Originally Dr.Gerson suggested that recovered patients should maintain their good health
by ensuring that 75% of their diet consisted of “protective” foods, namely organic fruit and
vegetables high in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and enzymes, to keep the immune system in
prime condition. The remaining 25% of food was to be “at choice”. Unfortunately this division
is no longer applicable, since the freely chosen foods would be far too damaging. We therefore
have to urge former patients to stay with 90% of “protective” foods, and have at most 10% of their
intake consist of freely chosen items.
Even so, they should NEVER return to fast foods, junk foods containing pesticides, food
additives and other toxic stuff, and most certainly not touch items such as hot dogs, spiced
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 164Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.commeats and sausages laced with preservatives, or cheese—the very foods that contributed to the
breakdown of their health in the first place. However, if some serious dietary indiscretion occurs,
it is wise to go back on the full therapy for a few weeks and clear up the body, rather than risk
long-term damage. Needless to say, great care must be taken with alcohol; very occasionally a
little wine may be enjoyed, but only if it is organic. Commercially produced wines, made from
frequently sprayed grapes, are to be avoided.
If you know what to avoid and what to hang on to, maintenance quickly becomes an easy
and pleasant routine. And the answer to the question, “Is there life after Gerson?” is a clear and
resounding YES!
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 165Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comCHAPTER 24
Psychological Support for
the Gerson Patient
By Beata Bishop
Gerson patients and others interested in the therapy often wonder why, apart from one or two
passing references, the psychological aspect of healing does not figure in Dr. Gerson’s
epoch-making book.1  The reasons for this apparent omission are simple. For one thing, Dr. Gerson
wrote his book solely from the point of view of the physician-scientist, excluding all other
considerations. For another, psycho-oncology, a branch of psychology specializing in the care of
cancer patients, did not come into being until the early 1960’s, after Dr. Gerson’s death. However,
by now it has become an important specialty in its own right that needs to be included in any
healing protocol claiming to be holistic.
Holistic medicine is based on the insight that body and mind are two sides of one coin; they
sicken together and must be healed together. Whatever affects the one will affect the other. This
is particularly relevant to the Gerson Therapy, whose powerful effects extend beyond the body to
the patient’s non-physical self as well. While detoxifying the body, the combined impact of the
juices, the food and the coffee enemas reaches the brain and the central nervous system, causing
strong emotional reactions, mood swings and uncharacteristic behavior in the unsuspecting
patient. For that reason alone—and it is not the only one—the psychological side of the healing
journey must be properly understood and adequately handled. Neglecting it poses the risk of
some repressed psychological problem sabotaging the therapeutic process.
Since body and mind interact and influence each other every moment of our lives, it makes
sense to try to ensure that both are in good condition. The therapy works on the body—but what
about the psyche, the inner world of emotions and drives, and is it really important that they, too,
should be in good health? The answer is yes—and here is why:
There is now solid scientific evidence to prove that our moods, emotions and general outlook
have a direct and measurable impact on our immune system. The proof comes from psycho-
neuro-immunology (PNI), a new medical specialty, which has been rapidly developing since
the late 1970s, thanks to a better understanding of brain chemistry and of the subtle connections
that exist on the cellular level of the organism. Put briefly, the limbic system of the brain and the
central nervous system releases certain hormones that fit into receptor sites located throughout the
body, causing them to release other hormones. The quality of these hormones determines whether
the immune system is boosted or weakened, switched on or off; and that quality, in turn, depends
on our emotions, prevailing mood, beliefs and self-image.
Copyright © Charlotte Gerson, 2007.  All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced in any medium, print or electronic without prior written permission from the author.Page 166Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comA positive, hopeful, determined attitude strengthens immune competence, while despair,
negativity and fear weaken it. A traumatic event or lasting depression can overwhelm our cells
and disturb their normal functioning. In that light our every thought and feeling can be seen
as a biochemical happening.  According to neuroscientist Dr. Candace Pert 2, co-discoverer of
endorphins,  “Cells are conscious beings that communicate with each other, affecting our emotions
and choices.” It is equally true that our emotions and beliefs af fect the activity of our cells.
Fear Is The Enemy
As a recovered Gerson patient and practicing psychotherapist myself, I know the devastating
emotional impact of a cancer diagnosis. It is a major trauma, which evokes powerful emotions:
panic, shock, rage—or hopeless resignation and numbing despair. To make things worse, there
is also a sense of isolation, as if having cancer excluded one from the rest of humanity and from
normal everyday life. But the overriding and overwhelming feeling is fear. I know this profound
fear from my own experience, and that of the many patients I have worked with over the past 23
years. Although there are many other life-threatening diseases, probably none of them is able to
induce the same abject, debilitating fear as cancer.
 There are good reasons for this. One is the growing incidence of the disease. Most people
know someone who has died of cancer after much suffering, having endured drastic treatments
with horrendous side effects but no hope of a cure. To find oneself suddenly confronted with
the same fate is truly terrifying for all those who see a cancer diagnosis as an automatic death
sentence. Then there is a non-rational fear, too, that interprets cancer as an intruder, an evil alien
that has breached our defenses, is growing and spreading beyond our control and will eventually
kill us. Panic-stricken patients are in no state to realize that tumors don’t come from outer space
but from their own malfunctioning organisms, where ‘law and order’ on the cellular level has
broken down.
 The shock of the diagnosis is usually made worse by the average physician’s way of
announcing it. Doctors are not trained in the art of communication. They hate to give bad news
and protect themselves by becoming withdrawn, remote and cold, at the precise moment when
the sick person would most need human warmth and support. If the patient then


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 Abraham, G., et al. Orthoiodosupplementation: Iodine sufficiency of the whole human body. Original Internist. December,
2002.
59
 Nolan, L.A., et al. Chronic Iodine deprivation attenuates stress-induced and diurnal variation in corticosterone secretion in
female Wistar rats. J. Neuroend. 2000. Dec; 12(12); 1149-59
60
 Rodzaevskaia, E.B., et al. Age-dependent thymus involution in experimental iodine deficiency. Arkh. Patol. 2002 Mar-
Apr; 64(2):13-6
61
 Rodzaevskaia, E.B. Morphological impairment of oogenesis in experimental iodinedependent thyroid transformation. Arkh.
Patol. 2002. Mar-Apr; 64(2):10-3
62
 Nolan, et al. IBID. 2000
63
 Abraham, G. IBID. 2002Chapter 9
The Importance of Iodine Before Pregnancy
CHAPTER 9: THE IMPORTANCE OF IODINE BEFORE PREGNANCY
For nearly 100 years, it has been known that iodine deficiency is associated with a lowered intelligence quotient (IQ). In fact,
the research has been clear: iodine deficiency can result in mildly to severely lowered IQ levels. Cretinism, the most severe form
of iodine deficiency, was first described in the late 18
th
 century. Cretinism is associated with severe mental deterioration and
significantly lowered IQ levels, swelling of the skin, hair loss, and short stature. Neurological impairment with reduced muscle
tone and slowed reflexes are also present in cretinism.
Unfortunately, cretinism is still present in remote areas of the world.
With the advent of iodized salt, cretin


	Zero	Point	Field—
Akasha—is	more	real	than	the	visible	universe.	Akasha	organizes	and
coordinates	all	the	projections	we	call	time,	space,	matter,	and	energy.	If	this
is	correct,	then	we	have	established	a	foundation	for	several	key	assertions	in
Vedanta:
The	material	world	is	projected	from	a	nonmaterial	source.
The	invisible	world	comes	first.	It	contains	the	seeds	of	time	and	space.
Reality	increases	the	closer	one	gets	to	the	source.To	put	it	in	human	terms,	we	do	not	have	to	fear	that	death	is	a	vanishing
act	because	life	has	always	been	one.	What	we	most	value	in	ourselves,	our
capacity	to	think	and	feel,	didn’t	come	about	from	entering	the	physical
world.	It	got	projected	into	the	physical	world	from	a	source,	the	Zero	Point
Field,	that	is	the	root	of	consciousness,	extending	back	billions	of	years	and
ahead	into	the	foreseeable	future.	Far	from	being	a	religious	vision,	this
model	explains	the	universe	better	than	any	other,	and	gives	us	what	the	rishis
and	modern	physicists	both	demand:	a	bridge	between	mind	and	matter.14
T
HINKING
	O
UTSIDE	THE
	B
RAIN
IF	I	DIE
	and	the	information	contained	in	my	brain	survives,	does	that	mean	I
will	survive?	Survival	means	remaining	intact	at	some	level—mind,
personality,	memory,	or	soul—that	is	“me.”	To	a	materialist,	when	the	brain
dies,	so	does	the	person.	Fortunately,	over	the	past	two	decades	some
ingenious	experiments	have	raised	hope	that	the	mind	extends	outside	the
brain,	and	that	the	qualities	that	you	and	I	cherish,	such	as	love	and	truth,	may
be	embedded	permanently	in	the	field.
The	closer	we	can	get	to	showing	that	the	field	is	intelligent,	the	more
credible	it	will	be	that	our	own	intelligence	can	survive	after	death.	One	way
to	approach	this	issue	seems	strange	but	turns	out	to	be	very	fruitful:	animal
telepathy.	Many	pet	owners	will	attest	to	the	ability	of	a	dog	or	cat	to	know
what	the	owner	is	thinking.	A	few	minutes	before	going	on	a	walk,	a	dog	gets
excited	and	restless;	on	the	day	when	a	cat	is	going	to	be	taken	to	the	vet,	it
disappears	and	is	nowhere	to	be	found.	These	casual	observations	led	the
ingenious	British	researcher	Rupert	Sheldrake,	a	trained	biologist	now	turned
speculative	thinker,	to	conduct	controlled	studies	to	find	out	if	dogs	and	cats
can	actually	read	their	owners’	minds.	One	study	was	very	simple:	Sheldrake
phoned	sixty-five	veterinarians	in	the	London	area
and
	asked	them	if	it	was
common	for	cat	owners	to	cancel	appointments	because	their	cats	had
disappeared	that	day.	Sixty-four	vets	responded	that	it	was	very	common,	and
the	sixty-fifth	had	given	up	making	appointments	for	cats	because	too	many
couldn’t	be	located	when	they	were	supposed	to	come	in.
Sheldrake	decided	to	perform	an	experiment	using	dogs.	The	fact	that	a
dog	gets	excited	when	the	time	comes	to	go	for	a	walk	means	little	if	the	walk
is	routinely	scheduled	for	the	same	time	every	day,	or	if	the	dog	gets	visual
cues	from	its	owner	that	he	is	preparing	to	go	out.	Therefore,	Sheldrake
placed	dogs	in	outbuildings	completely	isolated	from	their	owners;	he	then
asked	the	owner,	at	randomly	selected	times,	to	think	about	walking	their
dogs	five	minutes	before	going	to	get	them.	In	the	meantime,	the	dog	was
being	videotaped	in	its	isolated	location.	Sheldrake	found	that	when	their
owners	started	thinking	about	taking	them	for	a	walk,	more	than	half	the	dogs
ran	to	the	door	wagging	their	tails,	circling	restlessly,	and	keeping	up	this
behavior	until	their	owners	appeared.	No	dog	showed	anticipatory	behavior,however,	when	their	owners	were	not	thinking	about	taking	them	for	a	walk.
This	suggests	something	intriguing,	that	the	bond	between	a	pet	and	its
owner	creates	a	subtle	connection	at	the	level	of	thought.	Polls	show	that
about	60%	of	Americans	believe	they	have	had	a	telepathic	experience,	so
this	result	is	not	completely	startling.	The	next	leap	is	quite	startling,	however.
After	writing	up	his	results	with	telepathic	pets,	Sheldrake	received	an	e-mail
from	a	woman	in	New	York	City	who	said	that	her	African	gray	parrot	not
only	read	her	thoughts	but	responded	to	them	with	speech.	The	woman	and
her	husband	might	be	sitting	in	another	room,	out	of	sight	from	the	bird,
whose	name	is	N’kisi,	and	if	they	were	feeling	hungry,	N’kisi	would	suddenly
say,	“You	want	some	yummy.”	If	the	owner	and	her	husband	were	thinking
about	going	out,	N’kisi	might	say,	“You	gotta	go	out,	see	ya	later.”
Greatly	intrigued,	Sheldrake	contacted	the	owner,	an	artist	named
Aimee
Morgana.	The	situation	he	found	was	remarkable.	African	gray	parrots	are
among	the	most	linguistically	talented	of	all	birds,	and	N’kisi	had	a	huge
vocabulary	of	over	700	words.	More	remarkable	still,	he	used	them	like
human	speech,	not	“parroting”	a	word	mindlessly	but	applying	it	where
appropriate;	if	he	saw	something	that	was	red,	he	said	“red,”	and	if	the	object
was	another	color,	he	said	that	color.	But	Aimee	had	even	more	astonishing
stories	for	Sheldrake.	When	she	was	watching	a	Jackie	Chan	movie	on
television,	during	one	scene	with	Chan	perilously	perched	on	a	girder,	N’kisi
said,	“Don’t	fall	down,”	even	though	his	cage	was	behind	the	television	with
no	line	of	sight	to	the	picture.	When	an	automobile	commercial	came	on	next,
N’kisi	said,	“That’s	my	car.”	Another	time	Aimee	was	reading	the	lines,	“The
blacker	the	berry,	the	sweeter	the	juice,”	in	a	book	when	simultaneously	from
another	room	the	bird	said,	“The	color	is	black.”
Sheldrake	wanted	to	confirm	this	for	himself.	On	his	first	visit,	Aimee
gave	him	a	taste	of	N’kisi’s	telepathy:	she	looked	at	a	picture	of	a	girl	in	a
magazine,	and	with	remarkable	clarity	from	the	adjoining	room	the	parrot
said,	“That’s	a	girl.”	The	next	step	was	to	conduct	a	formal	experiment.	If
N’kisi	could	understand	words	and	also	had	telepathic	abilities,	could	the	two
be	tested	together?	Sheldrake	proposed	that	Aimee	would	look	at	pictures	that
corresponded	to	words	her	parrot	already	knew.	She	would	sit	in	one	room
while	N’kisi	remained	isolated	in	another.	The	bird	would	have	two	minutes
to	utter	a	“key	word”	that	matched	the	picture.	If	he	said	the	word


the digestive tract extracting energy from food, a vast amount of knowledge
is on display. No process is mechanical. The body’ s knowledge is alive,
flowing, and conscious.Royal Yoga aims to bring the body fully into the light. When you
mistreat your body—subjecting your body to stress, bad diet, and poor-
quality sleep—its consciousness is dulled. When you fail to tune into the
signals your body sends to you, you are denying that it is conscious. These
are vrittis  that block the light. Until they are overcome, you won’ t fully
experience freed om, joy, and bliss, because your body is the vehicle for all
higher experiences.
At its most basic, asana, the Sanskrit word for “seat,” teaches you to
settle comfortably into your body as the seat, or foundation, that determines
your place in the physical world. The body in motion is one thing, dynamic
and changeable. The seat is another thing, unchanging, stable, and
continuously present.
BRINGING THE LIGHT TO YOUR BODY
Realize that every cell is eavesdropping on your thoughts,
feelings, and sensations.
See your body as your willing ally.
Drop the habit of blaming or disparaging your body.
Don’t compare your body to an unreachable ideal.
Obey your body’s signals, particularly its need for sleep and
the regulation of stress.
Avoid prolonged sessions of sitting down—move and stretch
for a few minutes every hour.
Look upon your body as new every day.
Make lifelong wellness your goal.
Bringing light and lightness to your body comes naturally once you see
your body as being aware and knowing. The life that flows through every
cell is vibrant. Your role is to let your whole body express this vibrancy.
There are physical, mental, and psychological ways to accompl ish this, but
everything begins with acknowledging the conscious body as your default
attitude.Exercise
Sit quietly with your eyes closed and take a few deep breaths. When
you feel calm and centered, visualize an outline of your body. Keeping the
outline in mind, start filling it in with light. An easy way to do this is to see
light expanding from the center of the image, the heart, and radiating
outward as a soft white glow. Another aid is to feel yourself breathing the
light into the outline.
Continue for 5 to 10 minutes, then relax with your eyes closed. Move
easily back into your daily activity. Notice if you feel more light and
lightness physic ally, which is the goal of this exercise. Don’ t be concerned
if you don’t. Your awareness has lightened your body all the same, and if
you keep this practice up, the experience of lightness will appear and grow
stronger.
TUESDAY
Presence
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I join my body in the present moment.
I join my body in the present moment.
Do you think you are living in the present moment? The concept of the
“power of now” has been wide ly popularized, and so have practices for
living in the present. Yoga looks upon this issue differently. There is no
power in the present moment when you adopt the viewpoint of the timeless.
A moment is a mind-made construct. What matters is presenc e, which is
timeless. Presence comes from the light. Without attaching the word divine
to it, presence is felt as a combination of alertness and openness  that makes
the now feel perfect just by being here.
Without presenc e, the now is a blank. The pathos of the elder ly when
dementia strikes  is that they are present the way a chair or a rock is present,as a passive, inert body in which awareness barely flickers. The infinite
field of pure awareness is the source of presence; therefore, being fully
present is your natural state—babies are fully present, as you can see by the
look of wonder and curiosity in their eyes.
As it was designed, your body is an unfailing guide for living in the
present moment, because that’s where every cell lives—it never loses sight
of the now. Asan a points to the vidya, or “wisdom of the body,” as a given,
yet this wisdom gets distorted and contradicted by the activity of the mind.
The ef fect of this distortion is easy to see.
THE WISDOM OF THE BODY
Every cell in the body knows how to live in peace with every
other cell. It is the mind that has invented violence.
Cells exist to keep the whole body alive. The mind has
invented selﬁshness and separation.
Cells communicate freely. The mind keeps secrets.
Cells trust in a stream of food and oxygen that is constantly
renewed. The mind has invented mistrust.
Cells are born and die without fear. The mind dreads death.
The body maintains itself in perfect dynamic balance. The mind
is driven toward bursts of manic activity and paralyzed
depression.
The body heals itself automatically. The mind struggles to heal
itself.
Absent the vrittis, the body lives  fully in the here and now, aware of
everything it needs to know. Which of us can say the same thing? The
upshot is that the mind needs to be deposed as the be-all and end-all of
human awareness. For most people, no matter how much they blame or
criticize their bodies, it is the body that is ahead in their evolut ion, not the
mind.Exercise
Get in the habit of respecting your body’ s wisdom by listening to what
it is telling you. Take time to sit with your eyes closed and simply feel your
body. Let your attention go wherever it wants to. If you sense discomfort,
tightness, stiffness, stress, or painful sensations, let your awareness rest
there. Take deep  breaths, relax, and notice if the sensation begins to lessen.
Feeling the body is healing the body. We don’t realize this truth because we
are in the habit  of withdrawing our awareness from signals of physical
discomfort, stress, or pain.
One reason that the healing response works while we are aslee p is that
the body is allowed to bring full awareness to the process. Once we wake
up, we tend to diminish the healing response by forcing our awareness
elsewhere. In essence, we deny the healing response an open field in which
to work. Much of this oppositi on happens unconsciously, and feeling the
body is a gentle exercise for replacing your unconscious reaction with a
conscious response instead.
WEDNESDAY
Staying Grounded
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I rest comfortably in my body.
I rest comfortably in my body.
If animals could talk, we don’t know what they’d say, but we can be
certain about what they wouldn’ t say: “I hate my body.” Hating your body
is a uniquely human response and an unnatural one. Royal Y oga holds that a
healthy relations hip with your body begins by being comfortable with your
physicality. The modern term for this is being gr ounded. We say that a
person is ground ed if they are sensible, realistic, reliable, and not given toflights of fancy. Those are good traits, but asana is about being grounded in
yourself, which occurs only as your awareness deepens.
It is peculiar to stand back and discover just how much judgment has
been leveled against physicality  itself, which the body symbolizes. Long-
held religious beliefs denigrate the physical for pulling us down from the
heights of the spiritual. Physicality reminds us of our low, knuckle-dragging
primate forebears. T o be physical is to be brutish; to be spiritual is divine.
Yet as Yoga sees it, one flow of consciousness supports life in every
dimension. There is no reason to denigrate the physical once you realize
how much wisdom ( vidya ) is expressed in every cell, the wisdom of life as
a whole. Yoga takes us beyond the deceptive look of the body—solid,
material, fixed in time and space—to the reality. We aren’ t embodied in a
body; we are embodied in awareness.
What follows are the qualities that represent being fully grounded.
YOU ARE GROUNDED WHEN…
Being embodied brings you joy.
You understand the deep wisdom of your body.
You feel attuned to Nature.
You cherish the Earth for creating earthly existence.
You feel unembarrassed by basic bodily functions.
You appreciate other people’s earthiness.
You feel stable and steady during periods of change.
You experience equanimity in the face of aging and dying.
Your sensual and sexual life is gratifying, without prudery or
shame.
When you watch little children romping in the mud or running around
the hous e unenc umbered, how does your response reflect on you? What we
call the innocence of childhood exists, yes, but it is more appropriately
called being grounded. Children  feel no impulse, unless they are mistreated,to be disembodied. They have no need to renounce or escape their physical
nature.
This naturally grounded state changes as soon as the mind intervenes to
create certain attitudes that drive us to become disembodied—not like
ghosts but as creatures who judge against our physicality.
YOU BECOME DISEMBODIED WHEN…
You don’t feel comfortable inside your own skin.
Your body arouses in you distaste or disgust.
You remember physical experiences that led to humiliation,
guilt, or shame.
You live in your head.
You always choose indoor distractions over going out into
Nature.
You hold negative views of the human


 escape routes, like imagination and
fantasy, which get around the rules by not matching reality. Thereis anoth er escape route, waking up, which allows you to be here
now. In the eternal now the conditioned mind has no place.
YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 12

Virtual reality is a web of relationships.
The physical world is all abo ut relationships. Around them we
create stories. A Christmas tree tells a story; the tree the
ornaments are hung on is re lated to other evergreen trees, which
leads back to the plant kingdom and the origins of life. There is
nothing in the world that can be seen without being embedded in
relationships spreading out in all directions. This web of
relationships is the invisible net that holds everything together.
Tangled inside the web, we create endless stories in an ongoing
movie.
But how do you get out of th e web? Humans dream of a realm
like Heaven that allows the relative world to drop away forever.
Heaven may be a dream, but a world beyond isn’t. By waking up,
you find yourself in that world, which is consciousness itself.
Beyond all created things lies the womb of creation.
For Today
Let your gaze roam the room and pick any object at ran dom.
Now in rapid succession, think of as many words as you can in
thirty se conds that relate to t he object. Let’s say you chose  a table
lamp. Words related to a tab le lamp: light, lightning bug, torch,
Statue of Liberty, lamp beside the golden door, freedom,
immigrants, Germany, Nazism, Hitler, World War II, an d so  on.
Notice t hat the flow of words  spreads out on its own, going in any
and every direction. By a sim ple exercise in word association, you
have woven one strand of the web that creates the known world.YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 13

The mind has entangled us in a virtual reality of our own
making.
In creation myths around the world, God or gods stand apart,
looking down on the world th ey created. For humans, however, we
created virtual  reality and then stepped into it. The pu rpose of
virtual reality was to allow us  a double role, as both the authors of
our own stories and the actors who play them out. The two roles
are mind-created, and keeping them separate is confusing. When
trouble arises, people ask themselves, “Did I do this to myself?”
without being able to answer.
Entangled in virtual reality, w e find it easier to simply go along
and pretend we play only one  role, the actor. Yet the role of author
is fa r more im portant. Unfortunately, how to be an author has
been lar gely forgotten. Life is too confusing already. By waking up,
you clea rly see  your role in the creative process. You are no longer
helpless or a victim, any mor e than Romeo and Juliet are  victims
of Shak espeare. They came to life in their author’s awareness, as
you come to life every day in yours.
For Today
Put yourself back at the creat ive center of things. The next  time
you order food or ask to s ee something in a store, fra me the
situation this way: I had the thought that put this situation in
motion. I put the thought into words. The words caused another
person to undertake a new action. That action prompts another
action by the cooks in the kitchen (or the manufacturer who
made the goods in a store), who are earning a living to create
their ow n stories, and the sum total of these stories is humanhistory. Therefore, at every  moment, my thoughts are at the
creative center of history.
This is more th an a new way  to frame a commonplace act ivity.
It is the truth. You are the creative center of things, ever and
always.
YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 14

The body, mind, and world, when seen directly and
without interpretation, are actually one activity.
Even though we busy oursel ves with a thousand things a  day,
seeing the world as one th ing comes naturally. To a devout
believer, the one thing is Go d’s creation. To most scientists, the
one thing is the physical u niverse. But these are conditioned
responses. Believers cannot consult God to confirm their belief,
and scientists cannot confirm where time, space, matter, and
energy come from. What if you look at the world directly, without
a co nditioned response? Yo u would see that the one thing is
awareness constantly modifying itself. Body, mind, and world are
experiences in consciousness. This alone can be verified.
Experience is the touchstone of reality. When you wake up, it
becomes the only touchston e you need. You join the play of
consciousness and revel in it.
For Today
The play of consciousness embraces all of creation. Today you
can join the game as an enjoyable experience. Take a moment to
do s omething that makes yo u happy—it could be lunch with a
friend, appreci ating the trees and sky, watching children on the
playground. If  your enjoyment comes from eating ice c ream at
midnight, that ’s perfectly fine. Whatever you are doing, re lax into
your en joyment and notice it. Enjoyment is the easiest w ay to be
here no w. Just by noticing yo ur enjoyment, you have put yourself
into the eternal play of consciousness.YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 15

Upon close examination, no external world or physical
body can be found independent of our perceptions.
We are so used  to living with  a divided self that it is a big step
to see beyond it. The divide d self tells you that you live in two
worlds, one “in here” and on e “out there.” But if reality is a single
thing, t his view is mistaken. Consciousness is the one thing. It
unfolds as one reality. Know ing this, you have firm gr ound to
stand o n—your own awareness. The conditioned mind corrupts
and dis torts awareness. It colors your perceptions, forcin g you to
accept t he division between the inner and outer worlds. Waking
up c larifies the truth. All wor lds are experienced in consciousness.
There is no need to prove the existence of the physical world or
not to prove it. You are here now, and that is enough.
For Today
It’s not difficult to merge the  inner and outer worlds into one.
Find a photo of yourself; it can be your driver’s license or a
snapshot. Holding the photo  in your hand, look at yourself in the
mirror. Then look at yourself in the photo, and finally, see yourself
in y our mind’s eye. As you m oved from seeing your physical body
reflected in a m irror, capture d on film, and inside your mind, each
was an experience in conscio usness. On that basis, there w ere not
three different experiences. There was one experienc e being
modified in three ways. Everything in life stands on the same
ground, as experiences that are modified consciousness.
YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 16

Since there is no independent physical world, everyday
reality is a lucid dream taking place in the vivid now.
Dreams aren’t  all cut from the same cloth. Some dream s are
vague, b arely more vivid than having a fleeting memory when you
are awake. At the opposite extreme are so-called lucid dreams.
When you’re having a lucid dream, you have no clue tha t it is a
dream. You are fully immers ed in it and, when you wake up, it’s
hard to acknowledge that the dream wasn’t real. Likewise, virtual
reality is a fu ll-immersion experience. There are few clues to
suggest that you are not fully awake.
For that reason, glimpses of  clarity, moments of joy, creative
insights, and the experience of meditation are precious. They
suggest that you are immersed in a vivid, lucid dream. Waking up
will come as a  surprise—for many people, it’s a shock to  realize
that they’ve been asleep all th eir lives. Every passing moment was
like experiencing the vivid now. Once awake, however, now
becomes a window into pure consciousness. It doesn’t matter what
fills the now. What matters is that you are fully awake to it.
For Today
Moments when  you see through the spell/dream/illusion often
happen sponta neously—they come upon you by surprise. There’s
no set way to bring about such glimpses; the closest you can come
is throu gh meditation. Still, you can prepare the ground today for
the seed of metareality experience. At any time, take a look
around, smile to yourself, and say, “Imagine, this is all a dream,
and I am th e dreamer.” The smile is important. It’s likeanticipating Christmas as a child. You know something good is
coming and, by reminding yourself, you open the way.
YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 17

Now isn’t a moment in time that can be grasped and held.
Now is the rise and fall of awareness.
If you want to  know who enforces the rules of virtual re ality,
the cloc k is a good place to st art. The tick-tock of clock tim e slices


foods	you
eat.	Health	is	a	choice,	and	the	best	chance	to	realize	it	comes	from	making	your
top	priority	to	get	well	and	stay	well.
The	Placebo	Effect
One	of	the	most	familiar	descriptions	of	the	power	of	the	mind	over	the
body’s	responses	is	the	placebo	effect.	This	concept	is	based	on	research	by
Henry	K.	Beecher,	published	in	a	1955	paper,	“The	Powerful	Placebo,”	which
concluded	that	roughly	one-third	of	people	who	receive	medical	treatment	will
show	improvement	simply	because	they	believe	the	treatment	will	work,
regardless	of	how	pharmacologically	effective	the	treatment	is.	People’s
thoughts	affect	their	health—not	exactly	a	news	flash,	but	a	scientific	fact
nevertheless.	When	the	research	was	published,	Beecher’s	paper	made	a	huge
impact	on	the	scientific	community,	and	since	then,	thousands	of	published
studies	on	the	same	topic	demonstrate	clearly	that	what	you	think	affects	how
your	body	functions.
The	term	placebo	refers	to	a	substance,	procedure	or	treatment	that,	when
given	to	a	patient,	produces	a	beneficial	effect	on	the	body	that	is	not	a	direct
result	of	the	placebo’s	chemistry.	Now,	medical	scientists	use	placebos	to
measure	the	effectiveness	of	a	certain	treatment—often	a	medication—	versus
“no	treatment”	at	all.	In	a	typical	study,	for	instance,	one	group	of	patients	is
given	a	drug	and	another	group	of	patients,	unknown	to	them,	receive	pills	that
contain	essentially	nothing—a	placebo.
This	approach	and	the	results	based	on	this	approach,	however,	are	misguided
because	the	placebo—by	virtue	of	positive	thinking—does	have	effects.	Doctors
and	scientists	portray	their	disrespect	for	the	patient’s	power	by	thinking	of	the
placebo	as	something	to	be	“factored	out	of	the	equation,”	as	an	unwanted,	or	atbest,	uninteresting	effect.	More	medical	support	for	this	power	could	go	a	long
way	toward	helping	all	become	and	stay	well.
Scientific	work	with	the	placebo	proves	what	we	already	know	instinctively:
Beliefs,	attitudes	and	patterns	of	behavior	play	a	major	role	in	health	and
disease.	Our	state	of	mind	is	as	much	a	part	of	our	lifestyle	as	our	diet,	amount
of	sleep	or	exercise.	Let	us	harness	the	principles	of	the	placebo	effect	and	use
that	power.	In	a	sincere,	direct	and	informed	manner,	we	can	use	it	more
profoundly.
The	Best	Health	Coverage
The	support,	encouragement	and	good	bedside	manner	of	a	health	practitioner
(be	it	a	modern	practitioner	or	an	ancient	witch	doctor)	can	help	a	patient
recover,	even	if	this	“help”	exists	only	through	the	“effect	of	the	mind.”
Down	through	history,	many	or	perhaps	most	of	the	successes	of	health-care
treatments	have	been	and	are	due	to	behavioral	and	psychological	factors.	A
1993	study	in
Cardiology
raised	the	possibility	that	a	large	share	of	the
presumed	benefits	of	prescription	drugs	actually	results	from	people	believing
they	are	being	helped.
New	York	Times
columnist	Margaret	Talbot	summed	up	this	idea,	noting	that
“the	truth	is	that	the	placebo	effect	is	huge.”	In	studies	of	new	drugs,	she	says,
between	35	and	75	percent	of	patients	benefit	from	taking	a	dummy	pill.	This
“placebo	effect,”	she	writes,	“should	probably	be	put	to	conscious	use	in	clinical
practice,	even	if	we	do	not	entirely	understand	how	it	works.”
Talbot	continues:
For	centuries,	Western	medicine	consisted	of	almost	nothing	but	the
placebo	effect.	The	patient	who	got	better	after	a	bleeding—or	a	dose	of	fox
lung,	wood	lice,	tartar	emetic	or	any	of	the	other	charming	staples	of	the
19th-century	pharmacopoeia—got	better	either	in	spite	of	them	or	because
of	their	symbolic	value.	Such	patients	believed	in	the	cure	and	in	the
authority	of	the	bewigged	gentlemen	administering	it,	and	the	belief	gave
them	hope	and	the	hope	helped	make	them	well.	There	were	exceptions—
remedies,	like	quinine	for	malaria,	the	vaccine	for	smallpox	and	morphine
for	pain	relief,	which	actually	worked.	But	generally	speaking,	if	all	the
drugs	of	the	day	“could	be	sunk	to	the	bottom	of	the	sea,”	as	Oliver
Wendell	Holmes	observed	in	1860,	“it	would	be	all	the	better	for	mankind
—and	all	the	worse	for	the	fishes.”We	need	to	use	the	principles	of	the	placebo	effect	deliberately—	without
trying	to	deceive	the	patient—to	benefit	health	and	performance.	Imagine	the
potential	gains	if	modern	health	care	included	an	educational	and	“coaching”
dimension	as	part	of	a	more	comprehensive	approach	to	healing.	This	rarely
happens.	Modern	health	care	focuses	almost	exclusively	on	diagnosing	and
treating	the	physical	body,	usually	with	drugs	or	surgery,	and	typically	fails	to
consider	the	behavioral,	emotional,	perceptual,	learning,	cognitive	and	spiritual
factors	that	may	be	playing	a	significant	role	in	becoming	sick	or	well.
Believing	that	you	“have”	a	disease	and	playing	the	role	of	a	“sick	person”	is
the	way	to	stay	sick.	By	contrast,	being	healthy	means	believing	that	you	are
getting	well	and	staying	well;	it	means	“playing	the	role”	of	health.
Every
thought	has	a	physical	effect	on	your	cells.
Negative	thoughts,	particularly	about
disease	and	death,	can	literally	kill	you.
An	Infection	of	Negative	Thoughts
Although	we	used	to	think	of	mind	and	body	as	entirely	separate,	the	last
twenty-five	years	of	scientific	research	have	taught	us	a	great	deal	about	the
dimensions	of	mind	and	body	and	how,	together,	they	establish	body-wide
communication	networks.	Our	bodies	create	chemical	messengers	(neuropep-
tides,	neurotransmitters	and	hormones)	that	allow	the	body	to	communicate	with
itself,	to	self-regulate,	to	adapt.	Through	these	chemical	messengers	the	cells
know	when	and	what	to	do.	Cells	throughout	the	body	(not	just	in	the	brain)	both
create	and	are	affected	by	these	chemical	messengers.	All	cells	are	in	constant
contact	with	one	another,	whether	they	are	brain	cells,	muscle	cells,	nerve	cells
or	any	other	kind.
Every	thought	and	emotion	triggers	the	release	of	chemical	messengers
throughout	the	body;	in	other	words,	there	is	no	such	thing	as	“just	a	thought.”
Every	thought	has	a	physical	consequence,	for	better	or	worse.	Feelings	of
anger,	apathy,	gloom	and	resentment	weaken	the	immune	system	and	damage
health.	Positive	thoughts	of	love,	compassion,	joy,	humor	and	the	like	support
good	physical	health.
It	takes	some	effort	and	discipline,	especially	on	the	bad	days,	to	keep	an	open
and	positive	mindset,	but	the	health	benefits	definitely	make	it	worthwhile.	The
goal	of	this	chapter	is	to	explain	how	psychology	affects	health	at	the	cellular
level	and	to


, which are less severe than the above, are not
recognizable at birth and may not be until long afterwards. According to Harris, "During the fourth
week of embryonic life the head, brain and spinal cord are most susceptible to adverse
conditions." He traces the sensitive areas of the various structures through the various weeks in the
embryonic history. The deformities of the face among the primitive races which I have illustrated
extensively frequently are not revealed until the eruption of the permanent dentition and the
development of the adult features. While it is true that many children show deformity in facial7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 226/250development even in babyhood and childhood, those individuals are usually much more seriously
injured when the adult face is developed.
    Bloom (15)  has presented the anatomical and histological characteristics of a defective born to a
mother fifty-one years of age, whose general health was reported as good. The infant's facial
pattern was markedly divergent from normal and practically no brain tissues had been formed. This
expression of an extreme injury was entirely beyond that with which we are concerned in the study
of the mental and the moral cripples who constitute an increasing part of our society. This is
presented to emphasize Nature's inexorable requirement that each parent shall be individually
physically fit for the responsibility of producing the next generation. Several primitive races studied
have realized this responsibility.
    There are some phases of modern physical degeneration in which most of us take part with
remarkable complacency. We would consider it a great misfortune and disgrace to burn up the
furniture in our homes to provide warmth, if fuel were available for the collection. This is precisely
what we are doing with our skeletons by a process of borrowing, simply because we fail to
provide new body repairing material each day in the food. You are all familiar with the tragic
misfortune that overtakes so many elderly people through the accident of a broken hip or other
fractured bone. Statistics show that approximately 50 per cent of fractured hips occurring in
people beyond 65 years of age never unite. We look upon this as one of the inevitable
consequences of advancing age. In Chapter 15 I have referred to the small boy whose leg was
broken when he fell in a convulsion while walking across the kitchen floor. That bone did not
break because the blow was hard but because the minerals had been borrowed from the inside by
the blood stream in order to maintain an adequate amount of the minerals, chiefly calcium and
phosphorus in the blood and body fluids. He had been borrowing from his skeleton for months
because due to a lack of vitamins he could not absorb even the minerals that were present in the
inadequate food that he was eating. The calcium and the phosphorus of the milk were in the
skimmed milk that he was using but he needed the activators of the butter-fat in order to use the
minerals. Simply replacing white bread with these activators and the normal minerals and vitamins
of wheat immediately checked the convulsions.
    We have many other expressions of this borrowing process. Much of what we have thought of
as so-called pyorrhea in which the bone is progressively lost from around the teeth thus allowing
them to loosen, constitutes one of the most common phases of the borrowing process. This tissue
with its lowered defense rapidly becomes infected and we think of the process largely in terms of
that infection. A part of the local process includes the deposit of so-called calculus and tartar about
the teeth. These contain toxic substances which greatly irritate the flesh starting an inflammatory
reaction. Many primitive peoples not only retain all of their teeth, many of them to an old age, but
also have a healthy flesh supporting these teeth. This has occurred in spite of the fact that the
primitives have not had dentists to remove the deposits and no means for doing so for themselves.
Note particularly the teeth of the Eskimos. The teeth are often worn nearly to the gum line and yet
the gum tissue has not receded. Many of these primitive groups were practically free from the
affection which we have included in the general term of pyorrhea or gingivitis. Pyorrhea in the light
of our newer knowledge is largely a nutritional problem. While nutrition alone often will not be
adequate for correcting it, when established practically no treatment will be completely adequate
without reinforcing the nutrition in so far as deficient nutrition has been a contributing factor.
Nutrition plus the frequent removal of deposits, plus suitable medication will check and prevent
pyorrhea but not correct the damage that has already been done. The elements that are chiefly
needed in our nutrition are those that I have outlined as being particularly abundant in the menus as
used by several of the primitive races. These are discussed in detail in Chapter 15.
    Another important aspect of this problem of borrowing has to do with the progressive shrinking
of the skeleton as evidenced by the shortening of the stature. I have measured many individuals
who have lost from two to six inches in height in a decade or two. I have seen a few individuals
who have lost as much as ten inches of their height by this process of borrowing from the skeleton.
Our bodies need a certain amount of fresh minerals every day with which to manufacture blood.7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html#toc 227/250The days that these minerals are not provided in the foods they will be taken from our storage
depots, the skeleton.
    A particularly tragic phase of this problem of borrowing from the bone is seen in growing girls
and is chiefly due to their ambition to avoid enlargement of their bodies to keep down their weight.
The girls deprive themselves of body building material at a time when their bodies are growing and
are requiring considerable new mineral. Forming bone has a prior claim on minerals, which is
sufficiently commanding to induce the individual to borrow from bones that are already formed to
provide for the necessary lengthening and growth. By this process many of the bones of the body
are softened, particularly the bones of the spine. Curvatures develop, one of the expressions of
which may be round or stooped shoulders.
    Among primitive races this type of girl, so commonly seen in our modern civilization, is absent.
Probably not one of these girls has ever suspected the suffering and sorrow that is being stored up
for future life as a result of this bad management at a critical time in her development. Fig. 134
illustrates one of the tragedies of this borrowing process. Practically all of these physical evidences
of degeneration can be prevented and fortunately many of them can be relieved in large part with
an adequate nutrition. Even ununited fractures often can be induced to unite by an adequate
reinforcement of the nutrition. This is true not only for young people but for elderly people as well.
    In addition to the problems growing out of physical injuries through lack of development before
birth, which express themselves as facial and other deformities, there is increasing need for concern
for physical handicaps entailed in underdevelopment of the hips. The difficulty encountered at
childbirth in our modern civilization has been emphasized by Dr. Kathleen Vaughan (16)  of London.
In her book, "Safe Childbirth," she states that faults of development more than race modify pelvic
shape. In the Foreword to her book, Dr. Howard A. Kelly, Professor Emeritus of Gynaecological
Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, says:
    Dr. Vaughan presents such an array of facts and data that the book must impress every
reader. It is of vital importance that her conclusions be considered, for in my opinion our
methods of bringing up our girls and the habits of our women with many of the customs of
'civilized' life must be radically readjusted.
This important work should be made available for reference in the school libraries of the United
States. Further data from it are presented in Chapter 21.
    The great contrast in discomfort and length of time of the labor of modern mothers is to be
contrasted with ease of childbirth among primitive mothers. Many workers among the primitive
races have emphasized the vigorous health and excellence of the infant at birth. We have here,
therefore, emphasis on the need in the interest of the infant that the mother shall have an easy and
short labor. Both of these factors are directly influenced by the vitamin content of the mother's
body as supplied by her nutrition and also by the physical development of her body if her mother
at the time of gestation and prior to conception had adequate vitamins in her food to insure perfect
germ cells.
    The sensitivity of the brain to injury resulting from medication given the mother has been
emphasized by Dr. Frederic Schreiber of Detroit. In his paper before the American Medical
Association meeting in San Francisco, June, 1938, he was quoted as saying (17) that the analysis
showed that 72 per cent of the children had shown difficulty in breathing at the time of birth or in
the first few days following birth. He concluded, therefore, that this difficulty in breathing was the
cause of the brain damage.
    Difficulty in breathing would lead to a shortage of oxygen. An insufficient supply of oxygen in the
blood stream would have serious effects upon the tissues of the brain. In this connection, he cited
evidence found in post-mortem examinations that deficiency of oxygen caused microscopic
changes in the brain.
    X-ray photographs of some of the children examined by Dr. Schreiber showed various degrees7/29/13 Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h


 killsomebody on the court is suffering from gross Pitta imbalanc e. Also, the
start-stop rhythm  of competition sports is not as good for your body as half
an hour of continuous motion.
Walking briskly for half an hour a day will take the feistiness out of your
system better than a competitive sport.
Swimming is even better—many  Pitta types who drive themselves on the
job find that a plunge in the pool at five o’clock cools them off and
dissolves the day’s tensions. Winter sports of all kinds also appeal to Pittas
because they take to the cold better than Vata and Kapha types. Because
they are stimulated visually, Pittas gain a large benefit from a leisurely stroll
in the woods; it provides a change from their usual determined pace. The
beauty of nature  will sink deep into them when they pause long enough to
experience it.
KAPHA-TYPE EXERCISE
Kapha types have strong, steady energy but often lack agility. They
generally are good at all exerc ises and become better when they become
more limber and balanced. Because of their physical strength, Kaphas excel
at endurance sports—they have the natural build for a long run or distance
rowing. The combination of Pitta and Kapha gives determination and
endurance. This is a common prakruti among professional baseball and
football players.Pushing the blood through their veins feels good to Kaphas, which is why
they take to weight training in gyms and health clubs. It is good  to combine
this with exercis e that gets the circulation going; bringing up a good sweat
(without exhaus tion) will clear out Kapha congestion. Many Kaphas have
excess fat and water that need to be pushed out. Being a cold dosha, Kapha
resents it if you go out into the cold and damp to run or row. In winter,
Kapha types should stay indoors and stick with aerobics or calisthenics.
Dance classes provide a good alternative for Kaphas. Although  a Kapha
may not have a dancer ’s build, they feel much better about their natural
shape, once they gain the poise and balance that dance training instills.
A few general pr ecautions apply to all body types. Do not exercise:
Just befor e or after a meal. Exercising at these times lowers your agni,
which you want at its highest. Allow at least half an hour before a meal
and one to two hours afterward without exercising. Walking right after
a meal, however, is an exception. Taking a leisurely fifteen-minute
walk after lunch and/or dinner stimulates digestion (anything longer or
harder would compete with it). Exercising after sundown is
discouraged by Ayurveda; it is better to let your body slow down in the
evening and prepare itself for bed.
In the wind or the cold. Both Vata and Kapha dosha resent the cold, as
we have mentioned. If you go out for a walk in winter, keep yourself
bundled up and do not breathe strenuously. Heavy breathing of cold,
damp air is bad for the respiratory tract. Also, any strong wind upsets
Vata dosha and removes the calming ef fect of a good walk.
In the br oiling sun. The reason only mad dogs and English-men go out
in the noonday sun is that harsh sun inflames Pitta dosha, raising your
body heat at a time when exercise is raising it enough already.
Along with moderation, the key to balanced exercise is regularity. The
doshas always tend to reinforce  themselves. If you have neglec ted physical
activity for a while, your body will be used to inertia. Once you return to
even a little activity, your doshas will rise to a level of better balance andwant to stay there. So, do everything you can to start a progra m that you
will enjoy for years, preferably for life.
THREE-DOSHA  EXERCISES
Now I would like to describe the three-dosha exercises taught at our
Center: the Sun Salute, the set of gentle yoga positions, and balanced
breathing. More people in the West are becoming familiar with these
postures and discovering the benefits that have been appreciated in the East
for thousands of years.
The following exercises are very easy to do. Only the Sun Salut e requires
some patience to master; the others do not take any special skill. The whole
emphasis on perfect performan ce is misplaced. These are exercises for
tuning in to your body. Anyone can do that, simply by letting the mind relax
into each pose. Don’ t even think of how you look or how close you are
coming to the ideal positions. Whatever you achieve is right for you. This
approach makes  each exercise feel good as you do it and even better
afterward. Everyone feels pleas antly relaxed for the next few hours after
doing a short Ayurvedic routine.
The following descriptions were provided by Bija Bennett, an expert,
talented yoga therapist who has taught yoga at many of our seminars over
the years.
SUN SALUTE (Surya Namaskara)
Time: 1 to 2 minutes for each cycle, moving slowly
Repetitions: 1 to 6 cycles in the morning, mor e as you become experienced
The Sun Salute (Surya Namaskara) is a complete Ayurvedic exercise that
simultaneously integrates the whole physiology—mind, body, and breath. It
strengthens and stretches all the major muscle groups, lubricates the joints,conditions the spine, and mass ages the internal organs. Blood flow and
circulation is increased throughout the body. With regular practice, you will
gain stability, suppleness, flexibility, and grace.
Here is a cycle of 12 postures. Perform them in a fluid sequence one right
after another. Synchronize each motion with the breath. Move smoothly
into each pose, breathing fully and easily so that each cycle takes about 1
minute.
Start slowly, avoiding strain, and listen to your body as you gradually
increase the number of Sun Salute cycles you do. This step-by-step
progression eliminates the possibility of pulling or tiring your muscles,
especially if you haven’ t been exercising regularly. Stop when  you notice
that you are breathing and perspiring heavily or feeling too tired. If this
occurs, lie down  and rest for a minute or two until the breath is free. With
regular performance, your capacity will easily and naturally increase.
In the Sun Salut e, a specific pattern of breathing is encouraged. Inhale to
extend your spine vertically or to open, lengthen, or fully elonga te the body.
Exhale to bend or fold the body, creating a flexing of the spine. Each of
your movements should be an extension of the breath in order to facilitate
the motion. There is one transit ional position in the Sun Salut e where the
breath pauses for a moment before you continue into the next pose.
Otherwise, let your breathing be fluid and continuous throughout the entire
exercise.
HOW  TO PERFORM THE SUN SALUTE
Perform the following postures in a flowing, moving sequence one right
after another. Remember to use the breath to connect each pose with the one
following it. Emphasize the expansion of the chest on inhale and the
contraction of the abdomen or belly in a bending motion on exhale.
Salutation position ( Samasthiti ). Begin by standing tall with the feet
together in a parallel position. Stand evenly on both feet and lengthenthe spine upward. Place the palms of your hands together in front of
your chest. Lift the chest and expand the ribs as you look straight
ahead.
Raised arm position ( Tadasana ). On the inhalation, slowly extend the
arms over the head. Lift and expand the chest as you continue
lengthening the spine while allowing the head to look upward. Keep
breathing evenly as you continue right into the next pose.
Hand to foot position ( Uttanasana ). As you exhale, bend the body
forward and down, lengthening the spine, arms, and neck. Let the
knees soften or bend freely, bringing the hands to the floor. Avoid
collapsing the chest or overrounding the upper back. Keep the elbows
and shoulders relaxed, and don’ t lock the knees.
Equestrian position ( Ashwa Sanchalanasana  ). On your next
inhalation, extend the left leg back and drop the back knee to the
ground. The front knee is bent and the supporting foot remains flat on
the floor. Simultaneously extend or lift the spine and open the chest.
Allow the head and neck to lengthen vertically.Figure 1. Salutation position.Figure 2. Raised arm position.Figure 3. Hand to foot position.
Mountain position ( Adhomukha Svanasana  ). On the exhalation,
bring the left leg back to meet the right leg—legs both at hip width
apart, hands at shoulder distance. As you raise the buttocks and hips,
press down with the hands, allowing the spine to release upward and
back. Stretch the heels down toward the floor and lengthen through the
backs of the legs. Relax and free the head and neck. The body forms an
even inverted V from the pelvis to the hands and from the pelvis to the
heels.Figure 4. Equestrian position.
Eight limbs position ( Ashtanga Namaskara


ay	feel	an	increased	swirl	of	activities	in
the	fall:	kids	going	back	to	school,	increased	work	projects,	or	new-found
intensity	in	hitting	goals	by	the	end	of	the	year.	Be	sure	to	balance	the	stress.
Make	it	a	priority	to	create	downtime	for	yourself	as	the	holidays	gear	up	so
you	don’t	feel	overwhelmed	and	resort	to	stress	eating	or	other	unhealthy
outlets.	Take	time	to	cultivate	nurturing,	grounding	activities	such	as
meditation,	massages,	spending	time	at	home	reading,	or	whatever	makes
you	feel	soothed.
Making	an	effort	to	gracefully	acknowledge	the	energy	shifts	as	the	earth
makes	her	yearly	progression	around	the	sun	and	to	shift	your	daily	lifestyle
routines	in	accordance	with	the	different	seasons	is	an	important	way	to
maximize
your	health,	energy,	and	expression	of	beauty.	Whether	we	are	aware
of	it	or	not,	we	are	impacted	by	the	larger	energy	influences	of	our
environment.	Why	not	recognize,	embrace,	and	align	with	them	to	your
advantage?	You	only	have	heightened	beauty	and	a	greater	sense	of	energy	to
attain.	Start	applying	these	modifications	for	the	season	you	are	in	right	now	to
feel	more	in	tune	with	the	collective	universal	energy	of	which	you	are
intrinsically	part.SHIFT	14:
Balance
Solar	and	Lunar	Energy	and
All	the	Earth’s	Elements
Solar	Beauty
Of	course,	no	one	would	claim	that	going	out	and	baking	in	the	sun	is	good	for
your	skin.	By	now,	it’s	well	established	that	overexposure	to	the	sun	can	lead	to
skin
cancer	and	seriously	accelerated	skin	aging.	But	that’s	not	to	say	that	we
should	shun	the	sun	completely.	The	sun	is	a	vital	component	of	nature	that
provides	life	and	vitality	to	the	entire	planet,	including	us.	Even	in	the	dawn	of
increased	modernism,	we	cannot	divorce	ourselves	from	Mother	Nature;	our
connection	to	her	is	indivisible.
While	you	have	to	be	very	careful	about	how	and	where	you	engage	in	sun
exposure	(which	we	will	discuss	further	below),	we	don’t	want	to	completely
eschew	the	sun.
Robyn	Lucas,	an	epidemiologist	at
Australian	National
University	who	led	a	study	published	in	the
International	Journal	of	Epidemiology
,
concluded	that	far	more	lives	are	lost	to	diseases	caused	by	a
lack
	of	sunlight
than	to	those	caused	by	too	much.
1
	There	are	many	health	and	beauty
benefits
to	limited	sun	exposure,	including	the	following.
ENDORPHIN	AND
HORMONE	PRODUCTION
Just	being	around	sunlight—even	if	you’re	not	directly	exposed	to	it—can	help
improve	your	mood	by	causing	your	body	to	synthesize	“feel	good”	endorphins
and	hormones	such	as	serotonin.	This	can	be	as	simple	as	gazing	out	of	a
window	into	the	natural	light	while	eating	lunch	or	working	on	a	laptop
(though	you	won’t
absorb
vitamin	D	through	glass).	A	lack	of	sun	exposure	can
cause	a	melatonin	imbalance	and	lead	to	seasonal	affective	disorder	(SAD),	a
form	of	depression	caused	by	a	deficiency	of	natural	sunlight	during	the	winter
months.	This	is	a	very	real	issue	for	those	in	certain	environments	that	don’t
have	enough	sunlight,	and	it	demonstrates	how	important	natural	elementssuch	as	the	sun	are	to	our	beauty	and	well-being.	As	we	mentioned	in
Pillar	3
,
Peak	Beauty	Sleep,	it’s	critical	to	have	a	healthy	amount	of	daylight	to	balance
the	night.	Your	pineal	gland	produces	melatonin	based	on	the	contrast	of
bright	sun	exposure	in	the	day	and	complete	darkness	at	night.
2
	If	you	don’t
have	enough	exposure	to	daylight	during	the	day,	your	body	can’t	appreciate
the	difference	and	will	not	optimize	your	melatonin	production,	which	is
important	to	regulate	healthy	beauty	sleep	cycles.
3
VITAMIN	D	SYNTHESIS	AND
IMMUNE	BOOST
Sunlight	helps	your	skin	synthesize	vitamin	D,	which	makes	it	possible	to
absorb	calcium.	Vitamin	D	also	helps	with	skin	issues	like	psoriasis,	and	boosts
your	immunity	so	you	can	better	fight	infections	such	as	colds	and	the	flu.
Some	researchers	believe	it	may	even	help	protect	against	the	development	of
some
cancer	cells.
4
	Vitamin	D	is	really	a	hormone	and	not	a	vitamin,	and	it	has
been	shown	in	some	research	to	help	increase	testosterone	levels	in	men
5
	and
regulate	estrogen	and	progesterone	levels	in	women.
6
	This	assistance	in
balancing	hormones	is	another	huge	benefit	of	sun	exposure.	Though	you	can
supplement	with	vitamin	D,	it’s	preferable	and	more	reliable	to	get	vitamin	D
through	moderate	sunlight	exposure	whenever	possible.
IMPROVED
CIRCULATION	AND
METABOLISM
The	sun	is	good	for	blood	circulation,	which,	as	we	discussed	earlier,	is
important	to	ensure	the	optimal	distribution	of	beauty	nutrients	throughout
your	entire	body,	and	some	research	is	even	linking	sunlight	exposure	to	a
boost	in	metabolism.
7
POSSIBLE	PREVENTION	OF
HEART	DISEASE	AND	CANCER
New	research	out	of	the
Journal	of	Investigative	Dermatology
	has	found	that	when
sunlight	touches	the	skin,	a	compound	called	nitric	oxide,	which	helps	lower
blood	pressure,	is	released	into	the	blood	vessels.
8
	Head	researcher
Richard
Weller	and	his	colleagues	state,	“We	are	concerned	that	well-meaning	advice	to
reduce	the	comparatively	low	numbers	of	deaths	from	skin	cancer	may
inadvertently	increase	the	risk	of	death	from	far	higher	prevalent	cardiovascular
disease	and	stroke,	and	goes	against	epidemiological	data
9
,
10
	showing	that
sunlight	exposure	reduces	all-cause	and	cardiovascular	mortality.”
11
	The
researchers	noted	that	for	every	person	who	succumbed	to	skin	cancer,	about
sixty	to	one	hundred	people	succumb	to	stroke	and	heart	disease	linked	to	high
blood	pressure.	This	translates	to	eighty	times	more	people	dying	ofcardiovascular	disease	than	skin	cancer.
A	study	published	in	the	journal
Cancer
,	as	well	as	a	systematic	review
published	in	the
European	Journal	of	Cancer
,	found	that	insufficient	exposure	to
sunlight	can	be	a	risk	factor	for	cancer	in	western	Europe	and	North	America,
and	the	malignancies	that	showed	the	greatest	increase	with	inadequate
exposure	to	sunlight	were	reproductive	and	digestive	cancers,	namely	breast,
colon,	and	ovarian	cancers.
12
,
13
Sun	Exposure	vs.	Sun	Damage
You	may	be	wondering,	what	about	sun	damage	and	aging?	Again,	we	are
definitely
not
	suggesting	that	you	bake	out	in	the	sun	1960s-style,	when	it	was
the	thing	to	reflect	the	sunlight	back	onto	your	skin	with	aluminum	foil.	What
we’re	talking	about	is	much	more	strategic	and	controlled.	When	managed	this
way,	limited	sun	exposure	might	actually	reverse	sun	damage!


 winter or for a heart -
ier meal.
Steam two cups of broccoli for five minutes until it is cooked al
dente. Pour both the broccoli and the water in which it was steamed ST ARVING TO HEAL IN SIBERIA | 27
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into the Vitamix. Add one cup of cilantro, one to three cloves of garlic,
the juice of one lemon, and a dash of sea salt. Blend until smooth (at
least two minutes). Enjoy warm!
Dr. Filonov’s Fish Soup
Dr. Filonov finds fish soup to be a nourishing, healing meal to be enjoyed
during the up-building phase of the exit. His wife, Valentina, and his
cook Tania make exceptional versions of this soup. Wash and chop two
carrots, two stalks of celery, one potato, one leek, and one cup of dill.
Add these to a medium-sized soup pot with one tablespoon of extra vir -
gin olive oil, two bay leaves, and a dash of Himalayan sea salt. T urn the
heat to medium for three to five minutes, and stir the ingredients with
a wooden spoon until the olive oil is coating the vegetables and they are
starting to soften. Add one quart of spring water and one to two pounds
of cod with the skin removed. It will break apart into pieces. Bring the
soup to a boil for one minute, and then turn the heat to medium low
so that the soup can simmer until the vegetables are soft and the fish is
cooked. Do not overcook; the vegetables and fish should preserve their
vitality. Enjoy this nourishing soup from Siberia.
Frozen Coconut Cream with Cardamom
Even Dad, the Ben & Jerry’s aficionado, lights up with delight when I
take a package of frozen coconut meat out of the freezer. This is a win
that is sugar-free and has antimicrobial properties in the coconut.
Allow one package of frozen meat from Exotic Superfoods to semi-
thaw until there are still some frozen chunks but it is pliable. Add it to
the Vitamix along with one half to one cup of either coconut water or
coconut milk. Season with your favorite spices. Mine are one teaspoon ST ARVING TO HEAL IN SIBERIA | 28
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of cardamom, one teaspoon of vanilla, and one pitted date (optional).
Cinnamon and nutmeg are also delicious choices. If you are feeling
decadent, you may even add two tablespoons of raw cacao to your
treat (not to be confused or substituted with cocoa powder). Blend the
ingredients in the Vitamix until you achieve your desired consistency.
Place the mixture in serving-size containers, and freeze it partially. If
you allow it to freeze entirely, it will be quite solid and take some time
to thaw.
Night Caps and Morning Potions
Better Beet It:  For a nice warm morning drink, juice one beet, one to
two inches of ginger root, and one lemon. Add one cup of hot water,
and mix it all together with a spoon.
Chamomile Thyme:  Boil a quart of water, and pour it over a fresh
bunch of thyme leaves and two tablespoons of dried loose-leaf cham -
omile. Let it steep for ten minutes. Strain it through a sieve into your
cup with a squeeze of lemon or with local, organic honey. It’s always
chamomile time for me.Copyrighted MaterialNOTES
Introduction
1. However, ticks have existed for millions of years and have a long history of
infecting humans and animals.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Lyme Disease,” October 1,
2020, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/lyme.html.
3. John J. Halperin, “Neurologic Manifestations of Lyme Disease,” Current
Infectious Disease Reports 13, no. 4 (2011): 360–366.
4. American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, “Autoimmune
Facts,” accessed February 15, 2022, https://autoimmune.org/wp
-content/uploads/2019/12/1-in-5-Brochure.pdf.
5. National Institutes of Health, “Progress in Autoimmune Diseases
Research,” March 2005, https://www.niaid.nih.gov/sites/default/files/
adccfinal.pdf.
6. Lihua Duan, Xiaoquan Rao, and Keshav Raj Sigdel, “Regulation of
Inflammation in Autoimmune Disease,” Journal of Immunology Research,
February 28, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7403796.
7. Mathilde Versini, Pierre-Yves Jeandel, Eric Rosenthal, and Yehuda
Shoenfeld, “Obesity in Autoimmune Diseases: Not a Passive Bystander,”
Autoimmunity Reviews  13, no. 9 (2014): 981–1000.
8. Sergey Filonov, Dry Fasting: 20 Questions and Answers (Moscow: Siberika,
2019), 56.
Chapter 1
1. Amy Tan, The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings  (New York: G. P.
Putnam’s Sons, 2003), 367.
2. Joseph Romm, Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know  (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2015), 1.ST ARVING TO HEAL IN SIBERIA | 30
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3. Alison F. Hinckley, Neeta P. Connally, James I. Meek, Barbara J. Johnson,
Melissa M. Kemperman, Katherine A. Feldman, Jennifer L. White, and
Paul S. Mead, “Lyme Disease T esting by Large Commercial Laboratories
in the United States,” Clinical Infectious Diseases  59, no. 5 (2014):
676–681.
4. Steven Phillips and Dana Parish, Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the
Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again  (New York:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020), 204.
Chapter 2
1. Meghan O’Rourke, Sun in Days: Poems  (New York: W. W. Norton, 2017),
119.
2. Louise Bazalgette, William Bradley, and Jenny Ousbey, The Truth about
Suicide  (London: Demos, 2011).
Chapter 4
1. Virginia Woolf, On Being Ill  (Ashfield, MA: Paris Press, 2012), 7; Ludwig
Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), §253.
Chapter 7
1. Rumi, “By the Sound of Their Voice,” in The Rumi Collection, ed. Kabir
Helminski (London: Shambhala, 2012), 4.
Chapter 8
1. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring  (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002), 8.
2. Wendell Berry, New Collected Poems  (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint Press,
2012).
3. Rumi, The Analects of Rumi, ed. Ak ṣapāda (n.p.: independently published,
2019), 123.ST ARVING TO HEAL IN SIBERIA | 31
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Chapter 14
1. E. E. Cummings, “i thank You God for most this amazing,” in Complete
Poems, 1904–1962, ed. George James Firmage (New York: Liveright,
2008).
Chapter 16
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “How Many People Get
Lyme Disease?” January 13, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/
humancases.html.
2. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Lyme Disease Costs
Up to $1.3 Billion per Year, Study Finds,” February 5, 2015, https://
publichealth.jhu.edu/2015/lyme-disease-costs-more-than-one
-billion-dollars-per-year-to-treat-study-finds.
3. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, “Lyme Disease
Costs.”
4. Robert C. Bransfield, “Suicide and Lyme and Associated Diseases,”
Neuropsychotic Disease and Treatment  13 (2017): 1575–1587.
5. Gina Kolata and Sewell Chan, “Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan Wins Nobel
Prize for Study of ‘Self-Eating’ Cells,” New York Times, October 3, 2016,
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/science/yoshinori-ohsumi-nobel
-prize-medicine.html.
6. Mark Mattson, “Why Fasting Bolsters Brain Power,” TEDx Talks, March
18, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkZAwKoCP8.
7. Anahad O’Connor, “Fasting Diets Are Gaining Acceptance,” New York
Times, March 7, 2016, https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/
intermittent-fasting-diets-are-gaining-