 nuts for
decorating.
Layer the meringue circles with the cream, sprinkling every cream layer
with the coarsely chopped hazelnuts. Cover the top with a thin layer of the
cream. Peal the tangerines and separate them into segments. Decorate the
top with the segments of tangerines and the 10-15 whole hazelnuts.
Refrigerate.
Peanut butter pie
6 eggs
2 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of peanut butter
2 cups of carrot pulp left after juicing carrots (you can use winter squash as a
substitute, peelit and chop very finely)
'ls cup of honey
1 cup of ground almonds
2 large cooking apples
a handful of raisins Peel the apples, cut them into small pieces and place them into a greased
baking dish. Sprinkle the raisins on top of the apples.
In a blender put the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Put the mixture
on top of the apples. Smooth the top and bake at 150°C for 40-50 minutes.
Russian custard
for one person:
2 eggyolks
%-i teaspoon of honey
multiply the ingredients for the number of people to be served.
Russian Custard can be used instead of cream on fruit or you can serve it
on its own with some chopped nuts on the top or pieces of fruit. It can also
be used instead of cream in making cakes. Separate the eggyolks from the
whites, add the honey and whip the mixture until it goes thick and almost
white. As well as being a delicious desert, it provides very good nutrition.
Get your eggs from a source you trust. Free range organic eggs are the best.
Apple sauce
5-6 large cooking apples
72 cup butter
1-2 cups water
1-2 cups honey
Peel and core the apples, cut them into pieces and cook in a pan with the
water until soft. Take off the heat and add butter. Cool down, mash and
sweeten with honey.
You can make pear sauce the same way though you may not need to add
honey, as pears are naturally very sweet.
This sauce will keep well in the refrigerator and can be served with some
yoghurt, chopped nuts, Russian custard or on its own.
Birthday cake
Make an apple sauce from 5-6 large cooking apples and cool it down. Make
it quite sweet as the pastry of the cake is not going to be sweetened. You can
make a pear sauce instead of apple.
Separate yolks and whites of 6 eggs into two large bowls. Whip the yolks
until thick and light in colour. Whip the whites until firm and no longer runny. Combine the two and add 2 cups of ground almonds. Mix well. Bake
in a cake tin lined with greased baking paper for 40 minutes to 1 hour at a
temperature of 150°C (300°F). Test with a dry knife whether it is cooked
inside (the knife will come out dry if the cake is ready). Depending on the
oven the baking time may vary. When ready allow the cake to cool down.
Now the fun part starts. With a long knife cut off the top of the cake
making sure that this layer is no more than 1 cm thick. Put it aside for using
as the top of your cake later. Using a table spoon carefully spoon out the
inside of the cake in medium sized chunks into a separate dish leaving just
an outside shell, which will look like a dish ready to be filled. Fill it up with
layers of your apple sauce (or pear sauce), frozen raspberries, chopped
nuts and chunks of cake, which you spooned out before. Here you can
really improvise by using different berries, stoned cherries, pieces of soft
fresh fruit, chopped nuts and seeds (sesame, poppy, and sunflower). When
the "cake dish" is filled, cover it with the top layer you removed earlier.
Spread the remaining apple sauce on and decorate. To decorate you can
use fresh fruit, berries, nuts and desiccated coconut. After decorating is
done, put the cake into the refrigerator. It is best to make this cake the day
before the party so it has the time to "mature" over night.
This is the basic recipe. You can improvise by adding seeds, chopped nuts,
grated carrot or pumpkin into the pastry before baking, filling it with different
combinations of fruit and berries, and decorating it any way you like.
Children like to be involved in decorating. Any of the decorating ingredients,
which I have mentioned before, are optional depending on your family's sen
sitivities. These are fruit, berries, nuts, seeds, fresh mint leaves and coconut.
Ice-cream
Buy in advance some very ripe bananas (with brown spots on the skin),
peal them and put in the freezer. On a day when you want to make the ice
cream, get these frozen bananas out and leave them in the room for about
30 minutes to slightly defrost. Blend them in a food processor. Add a little
bit of water to make a good creamy consistency. You can blend in some
fresh or frozen berries, pieces of fruit, desiccated or fresh coconut to the
mixture and some coarsely chopped nuts to make different flavours.
Fresh coconut
When you are buying a coconut, make sure that the shell has no cracks or
any other damage to it. Put the nut close to your ear and shake it. If the coconut is healthy, you will hear its juice splashing inside. When a coconut
is damaged and its juice has leaked out, then it will be rancid and unsuit
able to eat.
When you bring your coconut home, the fun bit starts. You will need a
screwdriver and a hammer. At the top of the coconut there are three round
dots. Push your screwdriver through 2 of those dots to make 2 holes. Drain
the juice through one of the holes allowing the air to get inside through the
other hole. The juice is very nourishing and can be used in cooking or
drunk as it is. It should have a fresh sweet taste. If the juice tastes rancid,
then there is no point in cracking your coconut, it will be unsuitable to eat.
After draining the juice crack the shell with the hammer and separate the
pulp from the shell. Rinse the pulp with the water to wash off any small bits
of shell. There are number of ways to eat it:
• Cut the pulp into small pieces and eat it as it is. It has a very pleasant
sweet taste.
• Grind it in your food processor to make sweets (next recipe).
• Put the pulp through your juicer to produce a thick coconut cream,
which can be diluted with water to make a delicious coconut milk. The
cream and milk can be added to your cooking, used as a dressing for
fruit and vegetable salads, as a cream for cakes or a replacement for
custard.
• Mince the coconut pulp to use in your baking, home made ice-cream
and other desserts, soups, stews, salads and sauces.
A word of caution for children and adults with diarrhoea. Coconut is
very fibrous and may make the diarrhoea worse, so initially I suggest
putting the coconut through a juicer, which would separate the fibre from
the rest of it. This way you can enjoy the freshly made coconut milk and
cream, getting all the good nutrition from them without the fibre.
Coconut sweets
1 medium-size coconut
1 cup of dried fruit (can be any of the following: dried apricots, figs,
dates or raisins, or a mixture of them. Make sure they are not
sorbated or coated in starch)
1 cup of sesame seeds or ground almonds
Soak the dried fruit for 6-8 hours. Drain. Make two holes in the coconut and drain the liquid. Put the liquid
through a fine sieve and reserve for the recipe.
Shell the coconut and rinse the pulp to wash away small bits of shell. Cut
the coconut pulp into pieces small enough to put through your grinder or
juicer.
Grind the coconut pulp with the dried fruit. Mix well in your food pro
cessor or by hand. If the mixture is too dry, add some liquid from the
coconut, which you have reserved.
With your hands roll small balls from the mixture and coat them in
sesame seeds or ground almonds. Place on a large plate and refrigerate.
9. Egg-free recipes
Eggs are used in baking as a binder to keep all the other ingredients
together. Some children have a true allergy to eggs and have to avoid them.
The following ingredients will act as a binder in your baking instead of
eggs.
• Gelatine, well dissolved in a small amount of hot water;
• Pumpkin, baked and mashed;
• Butternut squash and other winter squashes (acorn, turban, hubbard,
spaghetti), baked and mashed;
• Banana, mashed;
• Apple, baked and mashed or made into an apple souse;
• Pear, baked and mashed or made into a sauce;
• Zucchini (marrow or courgettes), baked, mashed and drained of
excess liquid.
Egg-free hreadlcake/muffin mixture
2 cups of ground nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazels, etc.)


’s disease,
multiple myeloma, and a tumor that has spread beyond the prostatic capsule. If metastasized
to bone, the high acid phosphatase level accompanied by a high alkaline phosphatase shows
increased osteoblastic activity-metastatic bone cancer.
The Alkaline Phosphatase (AP) Laboratory Test
An enzyme that is most active at pH 9.0, alkaline phosphatase (AP) influences bone
calcification and the transport of lipids and metabolites. The alkaline phosphatase laboratory test
measures combined activities of those AP isoenzymes found in the liver, bones, kidneys, intestinal
lining, and placenta. Bone and liver AP are always present in adult blood serum, with liver AP
most prominent—except during the third trimester of pregnancy when the placenta originates half
of all AP.
The AP laboratory test is particularly sensitive to mild biliary obstruction and indicates liver
lesions. Its most specific clinical application is in the diagnosis of metabolic bone disease and
detecting skeletal diseases characterized by osteoblastic activity and local liver lesions causing
biliary obstruction such as tumor or abscess. It furnishes supplemental information for liver
function studies and GI enzyme tests, and it assesses the response to vitamin D treatment in
rickets.
The normal range of serum alkaline phosphatase varies in accordance with the laboratory
method employed, but the usual total AP levels range from 30 to 120 U/L in adults and from 40
to 200 U/L in children. Since AP concentrations rise during active bone formation and growth,
infants, children, and adolescents normally show levels three times higher than adults. Additional
normal ranges for AP are 1.5 to 4 Bodansky units/dL; 4 to 13.5 King-Armstrong units/dL; 0.8 to
2.5 Bessey-Lowry units/dL; 30 to 110 U/L by SMA 1260.
High AP blood levels indicate skeletal disease, intrahepatic biliary obstruction causing
cholestasis, malignant or infectious infiltrations, fibrosis, Paget’s disease, bone metastases,
hyperparathyroidism, metastatic bone tumors from pancreatic cancer, and liver diseases before
any change in blood serum bilirubin levels.
Moderate rise in AP levels shown by this laboratory test may reflect acute biliary obstruction
from liver inflammation in active cirrhosis, mononucleosis, osteomalacia, deficiency-induced
rickets, and viral hepatitis.
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 185Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comThe Alanine Transaminase, Serum
GLUTAMIC -PYRUVIC  TRANSAMINASE  (ALT/SGPT) L ABORATORY  TEST
Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), one of the two enzymes that catalyze a reversible amino
group transfer reaction in the Krebs citric acid (tricarboxylic acid) cycle, is necessary for tissue
energy production. (The second enzyme is aspartate aminotransferase.) Elevated serum ALT
indicates acute hepatocellular damage before jaundice appears. The ALT/SGPT laboratory test
makes use of spectrophotometric or colorimetric methods which detect and evaluate treatment
progress for hepatitis, cirrhosis without jaundice, liver toxicity, and acute liver disease. It also
distinguishes between myocardial and hepatic tissue damage.
ALT values range from 10 to 32 U/L in men; from 9 to 24 U/L in women; twice those levels
in infants. When they are very high—up to 50 times normal—viral or drug-induced hepatitis must
be suspected. Or there may be other liver disease with extensive necrosis.
Moderate-to-high levels of ALT may indicate infectious mononucleosis, chronic hepatitis,
intrahepatic cholestasis, early or improving acute viral hepatitis, or severe hepatic congestion due
to heart failure.
Slight-to-moderate ALT elevations may appear with any condition that produces acute
cellular injury in the liver such as active cirrhosis and drug-induced or alcoholic hepatitis.
Marginal elevations possibly show acute myocardial infarction or secondary hepatic
congestion.
An interfering factor for the alanine transaminase, serum glutamicpyruvic transaminase
laboratory test is the taking of opiate analgesics such as morphine, codeine, and meperidine,
The Total Serum Cholesterol Laboratory Test
This quantitative serum analysis measures the circulating levels of free cholesterol and
cholesterol esters and reflects the amount of cholesterol compound appearing in the body tissues.
Both absorbed from the diet and synthesized in the liver and other body tissues, cholesterol is a
structural component in cell membranes and plasma lipoproteins. It contributes to the formation
of adrenocorticoid steroids, bile salts, androgens, and estrogens. A diet high in saturated fat raises
cholesterol levels by stimulating absorption of lipids, including cholesterol, from the intestine;
a diet low in saturated fat lowers them. Elevated total serum cholesterol is associated with an
increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Thus, the total serum cholesterol laboratory test assesses the risk of coronary artery disease
(CAD), evaluates fat metabolism, and aids in diagnosing kidney disease, pancreatitis, liver
disease, hypothyroidism, and, hyperthyroidism. Total cholesterol concentrations vary with age
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 186Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comand sex.
Its common range is from 150 to 200 mg/dL. A desirable blood cholesterol is below 200
mg/dL, and levels from 200 to 240 mg/dL are considered borderline or at high risk for CAD. A
level in excess of 250 mg/dL (hypercholesterolemia) indicates high risk of cardiovascuar disease,
incipient hepatitis, lipid disorders, bile duct blockage, nephrotic syndrome, obstructive jaundice,
pancreatitis, and hypothyroidism. They require treatment. Hypercholesterolemia from high dietary
intake requires modification of eating habits and possibly medication to retard absorption.
Hypercholesterolemia can occur from taking adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticosteroids,
androgens, bile salts, epinephrine, chlorpromazine, trifluoperazine, oral contraceptives, salicylates,
thiouracils, and trimethadione.
Low serum cholesterol (hypocholesterolemia) is associated with malnutrition, cellular
necrosis of the liver, and hyperthyroidism. Cholesterol often drops below normal in the Gerson
program, because patients are eating an extremely low-fat diet.
The Lipoprotein/Cholesterol
Fractionation Laboratory Test
To assess the risk of coronary artery disease, the lipoprotein/cholesterol fractionation
laboratory test is conducted. By centrifugation or electrophoresis, it isolates and measures
the cholesterol in blood, which appears as low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density
lipoproteins (HDL). It’s known that a lower HDL level in the population gives rise to a higher
incidence of CAD. Conversely, higher HDL levels produce a lesser amount of CAD.
Note: Since the Gerson Therapy offers a minimal amount of fat, it often lowers the risk
of coronary artery disease; but it does provide an adequate supply of certain polyunsaturated
essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins that cannot be synthesized in adequate amounts for
optima[ body function.
Normal HDL cholesterol ranges from 29 to 77 mg/100 mL of blood, and normal LDL
cholesterol ranges from 62 to 185 mg/100 mL. Too-high LDL levels increases the risk of CAD,
while elevated HDL generally reflects a healthy state. Or it might indicate chronic hepatitis, early-
stage primary biliary cirrhosis, or too much alcohol consumption.
The Serum Triglycerides Laboratory Test
Being the body’s main storage form of lipids (constituting 95 percent of fatty tissue), the serum
triglycerides laboratory test provides a quantitative analysis of them. It identifies hyerlipemia in
kidney disease and CAD. The triglyceride values vary according to age:
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 187Healing the Gerson Way—Defeating Cancer and Other Chronic Diseases
www.thegersonway.comAge            Trigyceride Values
                                                                 Mg/dL     nmol/L
0-29              10-140    0.1-1.55
30-39          10-150    0.1-1.65
40-49          10-160    0.1-1.75
50-59          10-190    0.1-2.10
Test abnormality suggests that other measurements are


 does not treat any underlying cause of a thyroid illness. I believe that radioactive iodine
should be the last choice in treating any thyroid disorder.
Betty was given an iodine-loading test with 50mg of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
). Her initial iodine-loading test showed a
very low iodine excretion with a 35% excretion measured (normal >90%). Betty’s initial thyroid ultrasound showed an
enlarged thyroid gland with a total volume of 13.1ml. She also had large nodules in both the right and left lobes of the
thyroid gland.
Betty was placed on 50mg/day of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
). Betty was also treated with vitamin C, unrefined sea salt
(Celtic Sea Salt
®
) and magnesium. The vitamin C can function as an antioxidant and can help support the body’s
detoxification pathways. Celtic Sea Salt
®
 can supply the body with chloride which aids in detoxifying toxic halides
(bromide and fluoride). Celtic Sea Salt
®
 is also a good source of minerals. Magnesium is a relaxing agent for the body
and can help prevent hyperthyroid symptoms caused by a detoxification of toxic halides.
After two months of taking 50mg/day of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
), Betty felt much better. Her energy improved and
she felt that her brain fog had resolved. A repeat thyroid ultrasound showed the size of the thyroid gland decreased to
10.3ml—a 22% decline. In addition, all of the nodules were noted to be smaller from the previous ultrasound. Betty’s
thyroid levels were unchanged from taking 50mg of iodine.
Update on Betty’s case: Betty is still taking iodine and still doing well. On physical exam, her thyroid continues to
decrease in size.
New (5
th
 Edition) update on Betty’s case: Betty continues to supplement with iodine. Betty’s follow-up thyroid
ultrasound is now read as normal. When I told her I was writing a new edition to this book, she said, “Make sure you put
in there how much better I am feeling.”
Before the usage of iodine/iodide in milligram doses, it was rare to see thyroid nodules and a hypertrophied thyroid gland
shrink in size. Now it is common in my practice. Only with the proper dose of iodine/iodide (in mg doses) have I found thyroid
nodules to recede.David is a 48-year-old health club owner. David was diagnosed with thyroid cancer ten years ago and had a
thyroidectomy followed by chemotherapy. He was placed on Synthroid
®
 and had his dose of Synthroid
®
 titrated until his
thyroid levels showed a euthyroid state. However, after the surgery, David gained 50 pounds of weight and never felt the
same. “I exercised all the time and I couldn’t lose an ounce. It did not matter whether I ate or not. I kept telling my
doctors that I did not feel right—I was always tired and I couldn’t think straight,” he said. When I saw David, his
physical exam showed a slight edematous feeling around the lower neck in the area of his thyroidectomy. David claimed,
“I always told my doctor that I felt something around my neck. They kept telling me that nothing was there since I had
my thyroid removed.” An iodine-loading test showed David was extremely low in iodine—he had one of the lowest
loading tests that I have seen--0.3% excretion (normal >90%). David was also found to be excreting large amounts of
the toxic halide bromide (see figure on next page). Bromide is a toxic element and no bromide should be present in the
body. David was started on
50mg of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
), and his iodine and bromide levels were reevaluated at 1
day and 30 days. His results are seen in the figure below. Due to the large amounts of bromide, David was treated with a
holistic regimen designed to support his detoxification pathways. This included vitamin C, unrefined salt (Celtic Sea
Salt
®
),
and liver support. Two months later he reported, “My brain fog cleared and I began to lose weight for the first
time since the surgery. It is a miracle.” Also, the edema around the lower neck resolved and David no longer felt as if his
neck was being squeezed.

Case History David: Iodide/Bromide Levels Before and After Iodine Supplementation

Update on David’s case: David is still taking iodine. His bromide levels have now started to decline. All swelling of
the thyroid gland is gone.
New (5
th
 Edition) update on David’s case: David continues to feel well. He recently stated at a routine office visit, “I
am still amazed at how much better I feel with iodine. I can’t understand why more doctors aren’t prescribing it.”
Iodine deficiency is associated with hypertrophy of the thyroid gland as well as hyperplasia of the thyroid gland. Oftentimes,
when there is iodine deficiency present, the physical exam will reveal an edematous feeling in the thyroid area of the neck, often
like there are “cotton balls” surrounding the thyroid gland. Patients will often report to me that they have a swollen feeling of the
thyroid gland. Most times, when iodine deficiency is rectified, the edematous feeling will resolve. The treatment for thyroid cancer
must include identifying and treating the underlying cause(s) of the illness. The conventional approach to thyroid cancer relies on
the use of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. However, thyroid cancer does not develop because of a deficiency of thyroid
surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. A treatment can only be effective if it treats the underlying cause of the condition. Research
has shown that iodine can induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) of thyroid cancer cells.
1
As stated previously, there is no doubt that iodine deficiency plays a large role in the development of thyroid cancer (as well
as other cancers). Only with rectifying iodine deficiency, coupled with a comprehensive treatment plan that emphasizes
optimizing
the function of the immune system, will people be able to prevent and overcome these serious disorders.
Janice, a 52-year-old nurse (my nurse) was complaining of intermittent fatigue and muscle aches. At the beginning of
our work day, I could tell how Janice was feeling by the way she walked down the hall. If she was feeling well, she had a
bounce in her step. If she was feeling down, she would have a slight slouch to her body and slowness in her step. Usually
by the end of a busy day, Janice would be extremely fatigued and complain of muscle and joint pain. “Sometimes my feet
and legs would just be killing me by the end of the day,” she said. Janice was very sensitive to all medications and
supplements. She frequently took children’s doses of items because she had such a sensitive system. She did not want to
do an iodine loading test because she feared taking the loading dose of iodine—50mg. I elected to therapeutically treather with 12.5mg of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
). Immediately, she felt better. “All of my pain was gone in three days. After
two weeks, my energy zoomed higher. I was no longer aching at the end of the work day; I felt great,” she claimed. After
four weeks of taking 12.5mg Iodoral
®
/day, she developed mild palpitations. I told her to stop the iodine and the
palpitations subsided one day later. Janice was instructed to take 12.5mg Iodoral
®
 three days per week. In addition, she
was placed on a vitamin and mineral regimen. Janice did well for the next five months until one day at
work I saw her
limping down the hall. I asked her why she was limping and she told me, “I feel terrible. Everything aches and my feet
are killing me.” When I asked her if she was taking the iodine, she told me that she quit it one week ago. Incredulously, I
asked her “why?” She told me that she thought she had enough in her body. After a few terse comments, I instructed her
to resume the iodine dose. By the time Janice had taken her third iodine dose, all of her symptoms again resolved.
Update on Janice’s case: Janice never misses an iodine dose now. “I learned my lesson. It truly made a huge
difference in my life. I know I would not feel well without it,” she said.
Shirley, at 69-years-old, is very sensitive to medications and supplements. She also happens to be my mother-in-law.
Shirley was on 6.25mg/day of iodine/iodide (Iodoral
®
) to help treat many hypothyroid symptoms including cold
extremities, hair loss, dry skin, and fatigue. All of her symptoms improved significantly with the iodine supplementation.
Furthermore, she was able to stop taking thyroid hormone due to the positive effects of the iodine. Approximately four
months after starting the iodine regimen, Shirley developed palpitations. Now, having your mother-in-law develop
palpitations is not a good thing. The palpitations ceased after two days without


	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


 affirm your own infinite standing in creation.
From the perspective of everyday life, this seems like too much to swallow.
But nothing about the ideal life is a belief akin to religious  beliefs.
What’ s at stake is reality. Beliefs  pertain to how you feel about reality. Yoga
declares as a fact that every human being is embedded in a field of infinite
potential. By squeezing our infinite potential down into small, manageable
compartments, we are guilty only of being part of the mainstream of human
beings. But Yoga doesn’ t care about the mainstream or about how you have
lived in the past. In the worldvie w of Yoga, the infinite is always with us; in
fact, it is our source. Nothing  we do to squeeze our lives down to a
manageable size has the slightes t effect on reality, and the highest reality is
what Royal Y oga is ultimately all about.
OceanofPDF.comWEEK 1
SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
(Limb of Yoga: Yamas)THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY
Royal Yoga begins by impro ving the social life you lead. Your
interaction with other people reflects a lot about you. Inner forces are made
visible, and it is these inner forces that dictate what happens to your social
self, the self you show the world.
Very few peopl e look at the reflections life gives them and see what
they’d like to see. Even the people closest to us don’t respond to us without
adding their own slant—their own opinions, expectations, and beliefs—to
what we say or do. W e’ll begin the journey of Royal Y oga by untangling the
mixed reflections our social self is creating, because that’s the only way to
change how we relate to others and how they respond to us. We have a
choice: Our social self can be radiant with light and lightness, or it can
simply be an outer shell, created to serve our ego and burni sh our self-
image.
In short,  Week 1 is about the story we are living and how to create a
better story, one that reflects the levels of the self that are closer to our
source.
MONDAY
Upgrading Your Story
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I create the peace that surrounds me.
I create the peace that surrounds me.
If your life story has been perfect up to now, there is no need to turn to
Yoga to improve upon perfectio n. Everyone’ s personal story is created out
of light and shadow. We defen d ourselves against pain, which makes us
fearful of the future, and against the past, which brings back painful
moments. These self-imposed restraints are the focus of the first limb ofYoga, which Patanjali calls yamas, often translated to mean “guidelines” or
“rules of conduct.”
Note: I will make passing reference to Patanjali and his definitive work,
the Yoga Sutras, but keep in mind that the traditional terminology isn’t
critical—only results are critical.
When you are aware of the self-imposed constraints you have placed on
yourself, you can upgrade your story. As you progress limb to limb in Royal
Yoga, the time will come when all stories you have bought into will melt
away. But it is also true that you can’t find the light when you are the one
blocking it, and that’ s what unhappy stories do.
An upgraded story is easier to enjoy and therefore easier to escape from
when the time comes. That’ s not a mystical statement. If you have a happy
childhood, it is much easier to leave it behind than an unhappy  childhood,
which keeps returning to block future happiness.
Every spiritual tradition describ es “right living” as an importa nt goal,
and Yoga agrees. The yamas, however, are not a series of ethical teachings.
Right living  in Yoga means “bringing in the light of awareness to decrease
the thing s that block fulfillment. ” The five yamas, as interpreted for modern
life, are the major keys to right living:
1. Treating everyone with peace and nonviolence.
2. Acting and speaking your own truth.
3. Acting unselﬁshly, without envy, greed, or covetousness.
4. Radiating a presence of purity and innocence.
5. Acting with self-reliance, neither clinging nor creating dependence in others.
Today is about the first yama, which asks you to live in peace with
others. The goal is to relate peacefully with everyone. That is the first and
most basic upgrade to your story.
Yoga’s call for nonviolence is frequently misunderstood because people
think they aren’ t spiritual unless they experience serenity and the peace that
surpasses understanding. With that expectation in mind, they wind up
patiently holding back their anger, even when it is justified, pretending to bemore at peace than they really are, and feeling guilty about getting into
arguments and engaging in conflict.
Inner peace is a wonderful state, but let’s be clear: Our journe y hasn’ t
gotten there yet. The first limb of Yoga is about social tactics—using your
intelligence to bring more light and lightness into the story you are now
living.
The tactics for creating a peaceful life are available to everyone, as
follows:
THE PRACTICES OF PEACE
Don’t create stress for yourself and others.
Look for areas of agreement instead of areas of discord.
Take responsibility for your own anger and resentment. Don’t
unleash them on other people.
Get out of the habit of blaming others.
Be aware of your impulse to judge, criticize, and get offended.
Don’t indulge in the impulse whenever possible.
Distance yourself from hostile people and hostile situations.
If you adopt these practices, you won’ t be leading a saintly life. You
will have succeeded in right living, however, which, at this stage is a huge
step in your evolution.
Exercise
Take time to look over the pract ices of peace listed above, and honestly
ask yourself how well you are practicing them. Social intelligence is a skill,
and, like all skills, it can be learned. Learning doesn’ t come all at once but
in pieces, so take a single strate gy from the list, and set your own learning
curve. Anger is a good one to begin with, because, along with fear, it is one
of the two basic negative emotions.
Yama asks you to be responsible for your anger, not to pass it along,
unleash it on the unwary, or channel it as blame toward another. To makepractical use of this yama, start following right tactics.
When you feel yourself getting angry, pause and stop at the
ﬁrst sign that you are losing your temper.
Be with the impulse.
Sit in your awareness for just a moment.
Pausing to be aware is a powerful way to defuse any self-defeating
behavior. If after pausing your anger comes out anyway, you have still
made a start. When you are calmer, ask if your outburst made the situation
better. If you can see clearly that it didn’ t—it probably made the situation
worse—you have taken another step toward inner awareness.
Yoga teaches that all your beha viors are subject to your contro l. If you
want the practices of peace to bring peace under your control, follow the
two steps I mentioned for anger. Namely, pause when you find yourself not
acting peacefull y. Then, if you did not manage to control that behavior,
pause and ask yourself if you improved the situation or made it worse.
Even though I will be unfolding  Yoga one week at a time, its teachings
are meant for a lifetime. The practices of peace work. They will definitely
upgrade your story. Don’ t press ure yourself to adopt them. Just make them
part of your awareness as you grow in social intelligence.
TUESDAY
Living Your Truth
Begin by silently repeating today’ s theme:
I trust the truth to show me the way.
I trust the truth to show me the way.
The second yama  is about speakin g and acting from our own truth. The
social self is very good at bendi ng the truth. Many of us have practiced “goalong to get along,” which taught us not to say what’ s on our minds. We
fear retaliation if we tell certain people the painful truth about their
shortcomings. We cringe at the notion that someone else will embarrass or
humiliate us by exposing our own faults. The second yama  addresses the
messy relationship all of us have with the truth.
The problem begins with the difference between two kinds of truth—
relative truth and absolute truth. When you live in the light, absolute
truth upholds you. For example, it is an absolute truth that love is eternal,
that life is infinitely abundant, and that life is meant to be lived without
struggle. When you are merged with your true self, absolute truth is who
you are.
But your social self deals in relative truths. Relative truth causes more
trouble than it resolves; therefo re, you need to use the right tactics that
apply to this part of your story. Relative truth is defined by the situation you
find yourself in. A parent scoldi ng a child for misbehaving isn’t in the same
situation as an adult scolding another adult. In the first case, parental
guidance truthfully teaches right from wrong. In the second case, the
scolding is an affront, because one adult doesn’ t have the right to impose
his moral values on


  then
that co ntradict our fixed views. Synchronicity is one kind of
message. It says, “Your world is disorganized, but reality isn’t.” In
a fle eting glimpse, we see th at a higher intelligence can o rganize
events so that meaning pops up unexpectedly. Moreover, a
synchronous e xperience defi es our limited conception of cause
and effe ct. Inst ead of A causi ng B, the two are invisibly meshed. If
you think of a word and the n ext minute someone on TV says that
word, you didn’t create the coincidence. But something  did.
You can feel yo ur physical body and listen to your thought s, but
the som ething that organizes all events cannot be sensed. Yet it is
here and now. The following exercise will show you what I mean.
E x e r c i s e :  I ’ m  S t i l l  H e r e
Wherever you  are now, look around the room and tak e an
inventory of what it contains. Notice the furniture, knickknacks,
books, even the windows and the view outside.
Now cl ose your eyes and s ee the room mentally. Begin to
remove its contents. (You can open your eyes to refresh your
memory if you need to.) See the furniture go poof! And n o longer
exist. Strip the room of the  knickknacks and books, then the
windows and the view outside. You will be left standing in an
empty b ox. If you have a me ntal image of your body stan ding in
the room, send it away, too.
In one final str oke, remove the ceiling, walls, and floor. You will
be standing in a space with no objects. It’s hard to have a n image
of noth ing, so you probably see white light or blackness. Notice,
after removing everything, that you are still here.
Now re verse the process. Bring back the floor, walls, and
ceiling. Reinstate the furnitu re, knickknacks, and books. Replace
the win dow and the view outside. Notice that you are still here.
Nothing about the room, whether full or empty, changed you.To p rove that you are still h ere, try to get rid of yourself. See
yourself stand ing in the roo m when it is full or the sp ace left
behind when the room has d isappeared. In either state, can you
remove yourse lf? No. “I’m still here” is untouchable, because you
are the one thing.
This ex ercise helps remind you of your true status. If you find
yourself in a busy place, full of distractions or stress, take an
inventory of everything you see. Close your eyes and empty the
place until there are no objects, people, or room. As you arrive at
nothing but emptiness, you a re still here. This gives you a feeling
of blissful self-sufficiency. To know that you are imperishable,
right this moment, is the ultimate validation that you are here
now.
You have discovered your bei ng. After that, everything you say,
do, or think is a passing shadow. Simply by being, you have
mastered the art of not-doing. The next stage is to let one thing
show you what it is capable of.
P r a c t i c a l  I m m o r t a l i t y
When you see yourself as th e unmoving point around which
everything mo ves, you are in  a special state of awareness.  We can
call this the state of practical immortality. Countless people
already live such a life if they  are part of a religion that believes in
a personal God. Believing that God is watching and judging them,
devout believers are basing their lives on an immortal being. The
ultimate rewar d from such a  being is going to Heaven, where the
believer gets to join in immortality.
In societies dominated by traditional religion, rules of morality
tend to be rigid and narrow. Dogmatic religions nail a set of rules
to the wall saying, “If you want to know what God wants, obey
these ru les.” The rules can be as basic as the Ten Comman dments
and the Golden Rule or as  complex as the hundreds of daily
instructions th at pertain to the life of an orthodox Bra hmin in
Hinduism. But living by the r ules depends on believing that therewas a line of communication between God and whoever delivers
the rul es here on Earth. R eligions tend to agree about what
constitutes a devout life (i.e., trying to please God and obey the
rules), but they disagree on which messenger to trust.
The direct path doesn’t propose that kind of practical
immortality. There are zero rules or even injunctions. Instead,
there is  a path that arrives at waking up. Once you are on the path,
you mu st comm unicate with immortality yourself, as best you can.
Moses, Jesus, and Buddha aren’t going to help you (a lthough,
because there are no rules, if you want to follow a religion, the
choice i s yours ). To begin to  communicate with immorta lity, the
first step is to believe that you can, which isn’t easy.
For our entire lives, all of us have been taught how to live i n the
state of practical mortality. Everything is gauged according to how
it fits in betwe en birth and death. People who squeeze the most
pleasure out of life, master many skills, work hard and play hard,
travel to  many places, amass money and possessions—they  are the
winners in the scheme of pr actical mortality. At its most basic,
however, every one lives in th e shadow of mortality. You see this in
our wo rship of youth, our o bsession with fending off aging, our
fear that our bodies might ge t injured. Protecting the body lies at
the heart of getting rich— money offers a surrogate form of
invulnerability. The rich and powerful come close to being
invulnerable to  life’s hardships. (Yet nothing is more untr ue than
the saying, “It’s better to die rich than poor.” Finality is finality, no
matter how much money you amass and throw around.)
In t his context, how can you believe that you can commun icate
with immortality, much less turn it into a way of life? All you
actually need is the insight that you are doing it already.
Wholeness—the one thing we ’ve been talking about—is immortal.
It communicat es with mortal life by emerging into the physical
world a s time, space, matter, and energy. Physics has no problem
with that assertion. The prec reated state or quantum vacuum is
not bound by time or space. It contains no matter and energy but
only the potential for matter and energy.
The direct path translates this basic fact into something
profoundly human. When yo u do the exercise in this chapter of
emptying a room until you a re left with a blank slate, you set thestage for filling the room up again with anything you want. As a
symbol of human creativity, the exercise is simple, but when you
look aro und you, the entire w orld has been constructed the same
way. Colors, textures, tastes,  smells, and the like are all symbols
for a quality human beings desired to have in virtual reality.
We kee p at this project, taking a possibility, plucking it out of
its s tate of pote ntial, and then making it real. We embrace dogs for
their human traits—loyalty, friendliness, obedience, and so on—
while in return, through a sort of bleed-through or osmosis, the
primal Siberian wolf from which all domesticated dogs are
descended has been given an evolutionary makeover. H umans
consciously selected the traits we consider desirable and excluded
those w e don’t wish to see. Ad orable eyes are a very desira ble trait,
and a golden L abrador puppy as young as eight weeks inst inctively
gazes into its owner’s eyes,  forming a bond that we instantly
recognize. (Wolves, on the other hand, retain a feral glare with no
connection to humans.) The dog is a human creation in the flesh
as well as in our creative imagination.
Hybridizing do gs and cats, li ke manipulating the genes of corn
and wh eat to resist pests, is physical manipulation, but t he force
behind it, imagination, isn’t. U sing our imagination is one way you
and I and eve ryone else are living the mystery. No one created
imagination, just as no one created creativity. No one created
evolution, either. When you get closer to the source, where
consciousness in all its diversity begins to narrow down to one
thing, it is evident that being human depends on contacting the
immortal domain constantly, not just every day but every second.
Diversity is a blinding spectacle. Seven billion people with the
capacity to see millions of co lors, write countless melodies, speak
infinite combinations of words, and pursue endless dreams and
obsessions—this whole panorama is diversity. Being human
cannot be confined to any se t of rules, whether handed down by
divine authority


ress
Stress	has	an	upside	and	a	downside.	Stress	can	induce	positive	emotions—
excitement,	passion	and	positive	arousal.	Alternatively,	stress	can	bring	on
negative	emotions	such	as	fear,	anxiety	and	anger.	In	both	cases,	the	same	body
systems	are	involved;	both	“good”	excitement	and	“bad”	fear	can	increase	heart
rate	and	blood	pressure.	With	different	mental	outlooks,	however,	different
results	occur.	In	a	positive	mental	outlook,	health	improves;	with	a	negative
mindset,	cells	are	damaged	and	health	is	impaired.	Meeting	the	stressful
challenges	that	appear	in	our	lives—the	chance	for	a	promotion	at	work,	for
instance—can	help	us	to	grow	and	develop.	When	chronic	and	negative,
however,	stress	damages	our	cells	and	impairs	our	health.
Any	perceived	threat,	such	as	an	attacking	predator,	a	crazy	driver	or	an
urgent	deadline,	causes	your	nervous	system	to	stimulate	both	the	pituitary	and
the	adrenal	glands,	releasing	stress	hormones	such	as	adrenaline.	These
hormones	provide	a	“rush”	necessary	to	prepare	the	body	for	sudden	action—by
increasing	heart	rate,	breathing	rate,	blood	flow	to	the	muscles,	blood	pressure
and	other	vital	functions.	This	stress	reaction	was	historically	important	for
survival—part	of	the	“fight	or	flight”	response,	which	enables	us	to	enhanceperformance	through	an	increase	in	our	physical	and	mental	capacities	for	an
immediate	shift	into	“emergency	mode.”
Production	of	these	chemicals,	however,	was	meant	to	be	episodic;	an
emergency	would	come,	and	it	would	pass.	Unfortunately	for	many	people,
stress	is	now	chronic.	People	are	working	more	and	sleeping	less,	and	the	pace
of	daily	living	is	accelerating.	When	chronically	mobilized,	stress	chemicals
build	up	in	our	system	and	damage	our	cells	and	tissues.	Stress	chemicals	can
lead	to	damaged	immunity,	increased	susceptibility	to	infectious	disease,
damaged	blood	vessels,	maldigestion,	sleep	disturbance,	water	retention,	fat
deposits,	hypoglycemia,	ulcers,	anxiety,	high	blood	pressure,	cardiac
irregularities,	lower	pain	threshold,	lower	sperm	count,	reduced	sexual
performance,	anxiety	and	depression.
•	According	to	the	Occupational	Safety	and	Health	Administration	(OSHA),
stress	is	among	the	top-ten	reasons	Americans	miss	work.
•	The	American	Medical	Association	(AMA)	has	estimated	that	up	to	70
percent	of	all	patients	seen	by	general-practice	physicians	show	symptoms
directly	related	to	stress.
•	Job	stress	can	chronically	raise	blood	pressure,	and	stress	from	lack	of
control	on	the	job	can	even	increase	the	risk	of	heart	disease	(such	as,	for
example,	by	changing	the	parameters	of	blood	clotting	factors).
•	On	a	positive	note,	a	1997	study	at	Duke	University	showed	that	heart
attack	victims	who	learned	to	manage	their	stress	levels	could	reduce	the
risk	of	a	repeated	heart	attack	by	74	percent.
Unfortunately,	many	of	us	now	spend	much	time	during	the	day	in	emergency
mode	as	a	result	of	all	kinds	of	what	should	be	nonemergency	activities,	such	as
catching	buses,	driving	cars,	attending	meetings	and	doing	daily	work.	As	a
result,	we	flood	our	systems	with	stress	chemicals	unnecessarily,	and	we	do	so
on	a	chronic	basis.
To	minimize	damage	from	chronic	stress,	we	must	find	healthful	ways	to
adapt.	Adaptation	is	what	stress	management	is	all	about.	Our	ability	to	adapt	is
part	of	what	has	allowed	humankind	to	survive	so	well	in	diverse	environments.
We	must	learn	how	to	choose	and	interpret	today’s	challenges	in	ways	that
convert	potentially	dis-stressful	situations	to	exciting,	challenging	ones,	as	well
as	learn	productive	coping	strategies	when	dis-stress	is	unavoidable.
If	you	know	of	a	certain	person,	situation	or	location	that	stresses	you,	choose
to	avoid	putting	that	stress	on	yourself	by	avoiding	that	person,	situation	or
location.	Do	not	put	pressure	(stress)	on	yourself	when	doing	so	will	likely	have
no	effect	on	the	outcome	of	a	situation.	You	have	the	power	to	choose.	If	you	arestuck	in	a	traffic	jam,	you	can	either	stress	out,	or	you	can	seize	the	opportunity
to	breathe	deeply	and	relax.	Neither	action	makes	the	traffic	move	faster,	but	one
approach	makes	you	healthier	and	the	other	makes	you	sicker.	If	you	become
visibly	irritated	when	standing	in	lines	or	following	slow	drivers,	at	those	times
you	may	want	to	evaluate	the	degree	to	which	you	allow	life’s	little	irritations	to
impact	negatively	on	your	health	and	well-being.
Many	dis-stressful	situations	are	impossible	to	avoid.	In	fact,	we	would	not
want	to	avoid	all	of	them.	As	Robert	Ornstein,	M.D.,	and	David	Sobel,	Ph.D.,
explain	in	their	book
The	Healing	Brain,
“If	we	.	.	.	tried	to	avoid	[all]	stressors
no	one	would	ever	marry,	have	children,	take	a	job,	get	divorced,	or	invent
anything	at	all.”	“The	way	we	react	to	stress,”	they	say,	“appears	to	be	more
important	than	the	stress	itself.	.	.	.	[T]he	onset	and	course	of	disease	are	strongly
linked	to	a	person’s	ability	and	willingness	to	cope	with	stress.	.	.	.	Helplessness
is	worse	than	stress	itself.”
Many	effective	techniques	exist	for	reducing	the	stress	in	our	lives,	including
counseling,	prayer,	meditation,	therapy,	exercise,	yoga,	self-hypnosis,	keeping	a
journal,	social	support	and	other	alternatives.	Find	what	works	for	you	and
understand	that	your	health	is	constantly	affected	by	the	way	you	respond	to	and
interpret	the	stressful	situations	in	your	life;	your	levels	of	dis-stress	are
determined	by	your	choices,	not	simply	by	the	random	happenings	in	your	busy
life.
Love	Leads	the	Way
The	“good”	emotions—love,	compassion,	spiritual	awareness—	have
extremely	powerful	implications	for	health,	but	they	are	often	difficult	to	define,
explain	or	measure.	These	complex	and	nontangible	concepts	remain	perhaps	the
most	“real”	considerations	in	our	lives.	Understanding	their	power	over	health
and	disease	is	critical	to	understanding	and	practicing	effective	health	care.
Strong	social	support—including	family	relationships,	friendships,
relationships	with	health	practitioners,	romantic	relationships,	and	relationships
with	spiritual	leaders	and	figures—	is	a	critical	component	of	health	care.	People
are	typically	healthier	and	recover	from	diseases	more	effectively	when	they
have	strong	social	ties.	Why?	Perhaps	people	simply	feel	cared	for	and	hopeful
about	their	future.	Or	perhaps	the	bonds	that	people	form	transcend	our
traditional	scientific	understanding	of	health—even	into	realms	of	spirit	and
energy.	However	it


, 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


-sized slice from the end of a fresh gingerroot, cut off the
peel, and chop very fine. Add a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
Eat this mixture a half-hour before lunch and dinner to stimulate your
digestion. If that is incovenient, the mixture can be eaten just before the
meal.
GHEEGhee, or clarified butter, is prized because it increases agni without
simultaneously fueling Pitta. Ghee in fact is considered excellent for
balancing Pitta. Kapha types generally need to avoid too much oil of any
kind, but ghee is the best for them, too. Ghee is used:
As a cooking oil. Small amounts of ghee are good for sautéing vegetables
(not for deep-fr ying). Ghee does not work as well as butter in baking—
breads and desserts need the moisture and milk solids in regular butter.
As a flavoring in place of butter. Since ghee is a prepared food, using
butter is not the same as using ghee. Where you would ordina rily butter a
vegetable dish or a baked potato or mix it into your oatmeal, ghee is a better
choice.
As a digestive. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee over food at the table (more is
not better, since too much oil of any type is not healthy).
How to Make Ghee
Place one pound unsalted butte r in a one-quart saucepan over low heat.
Allow to melt completely, then raise heat to medium. Skim off foam as it
rises. When the butter starts to boil, giving off its water conten t, lower heat
again and cook slowly for abou t ten minutes. The ghee is done when all the
moisture has cooked out and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan have
turned light golden brown (there will also be a nutty aroma, but no hint of
burning). Remov e from heat, let cool, and pour into a clean glass jar or bowl.
Ghee keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator but can also be stored at cool or
even room temperature for several weeks.
OTHER SPICES FOR GOOD AGNI
Herbs and spices can be selected for each body type, as we did in the
Vata-, Pitta-, and Kapha-pacify ing diets. But certain ones are good for
generally improving the quality of agni.(Pitta types have to be careful to use these in small amounts, since they
tend to increase Pitta dosha.)
Building up excess Kapha will make digestion difficult by decreasing
agni; it is also bad for buildin g up ama, since both are cold, heavy, and
viscous. Using bitter and pungen t herbs will reduce Kapha and also “scrape”
ama out of the tissues. Ayurve da specifically recommends bitter taste for
purification. Among the more common spices that attack ama are:
As you can see, these are some of the spices recommended for stimulating
agni. The regula r but moderate use of these flavorings in your cooking will
help prevent ama from forming. Chewing fennel seed after a meal and
sweetening your herb tea with raw, uncooked honey are also standard
practices for balancing agni.
A BLISSFUL  DIET
If bliss is basic to life, there should be a physical counterpart for it in the
body, and indeed there is. According to Ayurveda, the body’ s counterpart to
pure joy is a subtle substance called ojas, which is extrac ted from food once
it has been perfectly digested. Like the doshas, ojas is just on the edge of
being physical; one could call it a subtle substance that registers on both
mind and body. The final and most valuable result of eating a good diet is toextract every drop of this subtle  substance from your food. That enables the
cells to “feel happy,” to experience the cellular equivalent of bliss.
Twenty years ago, the idea of a happy cell would have made little sense in
scientific terms.  Now we know that the body in fact is capable of generating
a complex network of chemic als (neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and
related molecules) that the brain uses to communicate emotions throughout
the body. It is also known that a single meal can change  the brain’ s
biochemistry quite radically. A brain chemical connected with feelings of
well-being, such as serotonin, goes up and down in response to the food
being digested in the intestinal tract. This has opened up the exciting
possibility of a “food pharmacy ” to correct depression, anxiety, and other
mental disorders, just as fiber helps to correct cholesterol.
In Ayurveda we can bypass the bewildering complexity of brain
chemistry. Natur e has given us ojas, a single substance for happiness that the
body makes all the time.
THE SA TTVIC DIET
Ideally, any food you eat is turne d into ojas. At the breast, a baby naturally
turns his mother ’s milk into ojas, but it would take a remarkable digestive
tract to produc e ojas from three-day -old leftover pizza. An excellent,
balanced diet can be planned around the foods that turn into ojas with the
least effort on your body’ s part. Ayurveda calls these the sattvic, or pure,
foods.
To this list one often sees added wheat, mung beans, coconut, oranges,
dates, and honey. You do not need to be compulsive about these few foods,
or eat them exclusively. Just include them in your diet on a regular basis. On
a more general level, a sattvic diet contains:
Light, soothing, easily digested food
Fresh produce
Spring water
Balance of all six tastes
Moderate portions
According to Ayurveda, this is the best diet for physical strength, a good
mind, good health, and longevi ty. It is conducive to happines s and loving
emotions becau se it is in tune with nature as a whole. The list of sattvic
foods is short and would not fulfill a normal person’ s dietary requirements,
although if well managed, a diet limited to milk, vegetables, rice, and fruit
would certainly be excellent for one’s health. The famous Duke University
rice diet, based only on boiled rice and fruit, is recognized as an effective
therapeutic regime for heart patients, diabetics, and obese people.
Milk is currently unfashionable among health-conscious people, who tend
to link it with digestive problem s, allergies, and high cholesterol. Ayurveda
holds that most of the objections to milk have to do with consuming it
improperly. Milk should be boiled before drinking, which makes it more
digestible. It can be drunk hot, warm, or cool, but never ice cold, straight out
of the refrigerat or. Milk should not be taken with tastes that conflict with it
(pungent, sour, salty) but only with other sweet foods (such as grains, sweet
fruits, and cereals). Whenever possible, drink milk from organic dairies that
do not use hormones or pesticides and have a stated commitment to treat
their cows compassionately.
Sweet foods aside, it is recomm ended that you drink milk alone rather
than with your meals, since this is easier on your digestive tract. Low-fatmilk may be best for Kapha types, but whole milk is preferred for all other
body types (unless there is a problem with high cholesterol, in which case
skim milk is best). If you still have trouble digesting milk after it is boiled,
or if it seems to create mucous congestion, try adding two pinches of either
turmeric or dry ginger before boiling (adding a little raw sugar or honey will
cut the bitter taste of the turm eric). These measures remove most of the
current objections to milk, which Ayurveda traditionally considers an
excellent food for bodily strengt h, longevity, and peace of mind. Cow’ s milk
is favored above others as the most sattvic.
To move  in the direction of a more sattvic diet, try having your next plate
of pasta  with butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese instead of tomato sauce
with meat, onions, and garlic. Any such change, even for one or two meals,
should amply demonstrate that sattvic eating makes digestion easier, gives
you more energy after you eat, and infuses a light, buoyant feeling
throughout the body. (If you want to measure this difference accurately,
don’t drink alcohol with your meals while you are experimenting.) If your
cholesterol is elevated, go easy on the butter and cream; tossing the pasta
with olive oil, fresh basil, and a touch of Parmesan is a delicious substitute.
Another example of a sattvic food is sweet lassi, an excellent digestive aid
that can be drunk during mild or warm weather (it may tend to promote
excessive Kapha in the chill of winter).
Sweet Lassi
For four people, place a scant quarter teaspoon of cardamom, a pinch of
saffron threads, and three tablespoons of hot water in a blender. Blend for
ten seconds. Add two cups plain yogurt, two cups cool water, and two
tablespoons sugar; blend until smooth. If your mixture tastes too sharp, add a
quarter cup heavy cream. Adding a few drops of rose water at the end is
quite sattvic and cools Pitta (rose water is available at Indian and Middle
Eastern groceries and many health-food stores).


erals	such	as	mica	are	not
considered	organic	because	they	are	not	plant	based.	Also,	water	and	salts	are
excluded	when	determining	a	product’s	percentage	of	organic	ingredients.	This
means	that	some
great	products	may	be	an	effective	blend	of	nontoxic
ingredients	derived	from	nature	and	science,	but	may	not	be	necessarily	labeled
100	percent	organic.
There	are	literally	tens	of	thousands	of	beauty	products	on	the	market,	all
virtually	screaming	at	you	from	store	aisles	with	their	bold,	brightly	coloredpackages.	If	you	glance	at	magazines,	you’ll	see	the	latest,	hottest	new	skin-care
ingredients	pop	up	every	month.	It	can	be	very	confusing	to	determine	the
best
(and	worse)	choices	for	your	skin.
HOW	TO	READ	SKIN-CARE	PRODUCT	LABELS	(IT’S	NOT	WHAT	YOU’VE	HEARD)
The	FDA	requires	that	ingredients	be	listed	in
INCI	(International	Nomenclature	of
Cosmetic	Ingredients)	language.	These	labels	often	are	not	easily	read	and	usually
contain	long	words	and	names.	An	overly	simplified	and	false	statement	you	hear	a
lot	is	that	if	you	can’t	pronounce	it,	you	should	not	eat	it	or	use	it	on	your	skin.	But	if
you	look	at	the	INCI	language	required	for	a	natural	ingredient	like	shea	butter,	you
would	see
Butyrospermum	parkii
,	and	for	avocado	you	would	see
Persea
gratissima
.	These	hard-to-pronounce	words	(which	are	the	binomial	plant	names)
would	scare	anyone	who	tried	to	follow	this	rule!	If	you	are	unsure	of	an	ingredient
or	INCI	language	name,	you	can	search	the	INCI	directory.
Best	Radical	Beauty	Skin-Care	Ingredients
Despite	the	“breakthrough”	ingredients	that	are	constantly	being	introduced	by
skin-care	companies,	there	are	some	important	staples	that	should	be	included
in	your	external	beauty	skin-care	routine.	Over	time,	these	have	held	up	as
being	the	most	effective,	from	both	a	clinical	research	and	an	anecdotal	point
of	view.	They	are	among	the	most	important	beauty	ingredients	to	include	in
your	personal	external	skin-care	beauty	arsenal.
Antioxidants
Unless	you	haven’t	opened	a	beauty	or	health	magazine	in	the	last	two	decades,
you	have	surely	heard	of	antioxidants.	Antioxidants,	naturally	present	in	most
plant	foods	in	varying	degrees,	can	help	counter	skin-aging	free	radicals	and
prevent	damaged	skin	cells.	This	means	slowing	down	those	pesky	skin	issues
we	all	want	to	avoid,	such	as	wrinkles,	dry	or	dull	skin,	dark	under-eye	circles,
and	crow’s	feet.
You’ll	find	a	very	wide	range	of	antioxidants	and	corresponding	plant
ingredients	touted	in	various	skin-care	products.	These	can	range	from	coffee
berry	to	acai	and	a	range	of	other	berries	and	fruits.	Some	of	the	most	powerful
antioxidant	ingredients	are	listed	below.
Vitamin	C
Vitamin	C	is	so	powerful	and	produces	such	great	results	that	no	skin-care
routine	should	be	without	it.	It’s	present	in	many	fruits	and	vegetables	and	is
added	into	skin-care	products	in	a	concentrated	form.	Vitamin	C	has	long	beenconsidered	a	workhorse	ingredient,	and	its	effectiveness	has	been	backed	up	by
clinical	research.
6
	It	increases	collagen	production,	which	creates	firm,
beautiful,	and	thicker	skin	over	time,	helps	to	keep	skin
hydrated,	and
diminishes	fine	lines	and	wrinkles.	As	an	antioxidant	vitamin,	it	helps	squash
skin	damage	caused	by	unstable	free	radicals	and	sun	exposure
7
	and	also	boosts
the	efficacy	of
vitamin	E.	On	a	label,	concentrated	forms	of	vitamin	C	often
read	as	L-ascorbic	acid.
Vitamin	E
Vitamin	E,	made	up	of	tocopherols	and	tocotrienols,	is	another	great
antioxidant	vitamin	that	is	highly	protective	of	your	cells	and	helps	your	skin
retain	moisture	to	stay	supple	and	beautiful.	Vitamin	E	also	helps	reverse
existing	damage	to	your	skin,	including	scarring	from
acne	and	blemishes	and
age	spots.	Used	in	a	skin-care	product	formulation,	vitamin	E	also	helps
stabilize	other	ingredients	as	well	as	oils,	preventing	them	from	going	rancid.
Tocopherol	acetate	is	an	artificial	form	of	vitamin	E	that	is	often	seen	on
product	labels.	It’s	made	from	a	combination	of	naturally	derived	vitamin	E
and	other	chemical	compounds,	such	as	acetic	acid.	The	natural	vitamin	E	is
generally	considered	preferable.
Vitamin	A	and	Its	Derivatives
There	has	been	a	lot	of	research	on	this	ingredient	dating	back	to	the	1980s,
proving	it	to	be	a	highly	effective	anti-aging	treatment.	It	helps	improve	cell
communication,	in	effect	“telling”	your	skin	cells	to	correct	themselves.	This
improves	the	look	of	wrinkles	and	promotes	firmness	so	your	skin	appears
more	healthy	and	youthful.	Vitamin	A	is	the	precursor	to	retinoids,	which	can
be	applied	topically	or	ingested;	they	cannot	be	made	in	the	human	body.	These
retinoids,	or	retinoic	acids,	come	in	various	forms,	including	retinol,
retinyl
palmitate,	tretinoin,	and	tazarotene.	Some	of	these	require	a	prescription,	while
retinol	and	retinyl	palmitate	can	be	found	in	various	over-the-counter	products.
This	category	of	ingredients	has	been	shown	to	help	promote	smoother	skin
and	overall	brighter	skin	tone,	while	reversing	discoloration	and	repairing
cellular	structure	damage,	such	as	scars,	lines	and	wrinkles,	and	even
acne.
This	is	all	great,	but—and	there’s	a	big	“but”	here—retinoids	are	considered	by
some	to	be	toxic.	This	is	largely	due	to	their	ability	to	make	you	more	sensitive
to	sunlight	and	because	of	pregnancy	concerns.	The
Environmental	Working
Group	states,	“Data	from	an	FDA	study	indicate	that	retinyl	palmitate,	when
applied	to	the	skin	in	the	presence	of	sunlight,	may	speed	the	development	of
skin	tumors	and	lesions.	The	FDA	and	Norwegian	and	German	health	agencieshave	raised	a	concern	that	daily	skin	application	of	vitamin	A	creams	may
contribute	to	excessive	vitamin	A	intake	for	pregnant	women	and	other
populations.”
8
Retinoids	can	also	be	irritating	and	intolerable,	so	be	sure	to	check	with	your
dermatologist	and	evaluate	whether	or	not	retinoids	in	any	form	are	right	for
you.	They	are	considered	a	highly	effective	ingredient,	but	from	a	toxicity
standpoint	they	are	not	completely	in	the	clear.	Again,	evaluate	for	yourself	and
see	what	is	right	for	you	and	your	skin.	If	you	do	choose	to	go	this	route	and
use	some	vitamin	A	derivatives,	be	sure	to	use	strong	protection	from	the	sun
or	avoid	sunlight	altogether.	And	remember	that	all	women	trying	to	conceive
or	who	are	pregnant	must	completely	avoid	retinoids.
Alpha	Hydroxy	Acids	(AHAs)
Exfoliation	helps	your	skin	shed	old,	damaged	surface	s


 condition of the body in r eflex affect the minds. Observation shows that it has such influence upon brain
function that perfect reflection of physical condition is continuously displayed in the working of the intellect. A healthy a nd
balanced mind can emanate only from a healthy bo dy. The reverse is equally true.

Page 58 of  72     In health the constructive and destructive changes that take place in the human body progress without noticeable diminution o r
increase in excellence of brain function so long as balance between assimilation and elimi nation is the rule. In conditions of
debility from whatever cause, but especially when the intake of food is in excess of demand, and waste is accumulated in quan tity
too great for disposal by the eliminative organs, absorption of poisons generated in ferm enting refuse retained in the intestinal tract
is continuous, and the subject becomes a victim of autointoxication, is drunk with the products of his own decomposition. Thi s
condition, long continued, is no less baneful in effect than is that of alcoholic saturation, and in some instances it takes the form of
insanity, while in all diminished brain power is in evidence.

    The digestion of a meal with the subsequent forcing of food waste through the bowels consumes nerve energy in amount greater
than is ordinarily conceived. Some investigators go so far as to say that the process involved requires nervous expenditure in
excess of that demanded in the exercise of the voluntarily controlled muscles. In any event overfeeding never fails to result  in
weakened  vitality. In the normal subject, sufficient food, perfectly digested and assimilated, produces a body with brain power
equal to clear thought, an organism with a maximum of both physical and mental energy. Food in amount more than the individua l
requires entails excessive labor upon the organs of digestion, drain upon nerve power, and consequent of vitality.

    Barring destructive changes in brain or nerve tissue from injury, the cause of mental disease is one and the same with that o f
physical unbalanc e. Physical signs invariably preceding mental danger signals should be heeded and remedied when first
displayed. One of the simplest of these warnings is the drowsiness that overcomes the overfed. Here the nerves evince fatigue, and
incidentally fatigue, b oth muscular and mental, is one of the safety valves of the human machine. If at this time stimulating effort
is resorted to, results are always detrimental, for, as in exercise, to stifle a feeling of fatigue in order to be able to co ntinue
muscular exert ion is like forcibly closing the safety gauge so that the boiler may be overheated. In other words, taking a stimulant
when tired in order to whip up flagging physical or mental vigor subsequently leaves both body and mind in condition more
exhausted than when the sensation of fatigue first signaled its warning. Likewise food, which in itself is stimulating in effect, taken
when either physical or mental weariness is felt, carries its own quota of detrimental consequences.

    We cannot escape the conclus ion that mind influences function just as function influences mind. It is also virtually axiomatic
that continued functional derangement finally ends in organic disease, and organic disease gives rise to characteristic menta l states
that vary from the fear ful anxiety of the sufferer from neuralgia of the heart to the hopeful attitude of the dying consumptive.

    It is an established feet that drugs, however powerful, do not affect the structure of brain tissue; and it is equally well k nown that
in most instances of insanity there is no apparent deterioration in quality or structure of nerve substance. In these  phenomena lies
strong collateral proof that the sources of mental disease are to be sought elsewhere than in the brain. Injuries and ailment s that
involve structural change in brain matter will necessarily interfere with brain function, and in softening o f the brain and in certain
forms of paralysis there are organic alterations that may be noted on dissection. But in hysteria, epilepsy, or any of the ma nias, no
changes in structure of either brain or nerve substance can be discovered, notwithstanding the presence of extreme mental
alienation.

    To illustrate the effect of abnormal physical condition upon mind function, the following case is cited. The patient, a man t hirty
years of age, presented a history of continuous digestive trouble accompanied by  melancholia. Examination pointed to the
conviction that the morbid mental symptom was the result of functional inactivity of the digestive tract, complicated with de cided
indications of organic disease. A tentative dietary of fruits and vegetable broths a fforded the relief usual when organic labor is thus
lightened. But skill in observing and determining the sequelae of dietetic changes caused delay in prognosis, for it is alway s
needful to distinguish between mitigation of the distress of disease that is temporary in character, and that which evinces progress
towards recovery. Hence, though symptoms in some respects were favorable, no predication was made as to the ultimate outcome.
At the end of three weeks of the regimen imposed, the major signals all po inted to organic disability of extreme gravity, and at his
request for definite opinion for or against recovery, the patient was informed that there seemed no possible hope of restorat ion to
health. He then ceased his office visits, and a month later was d iscovered dead by suicide, an act committed, as the condition of the
body showed, within a few days after discontinuing treatment. The previous conduct of the man, his brooding depression, and t he
contents of a number of scribbled letters found among his e ffects, now definitely fixed the case as one of insanity, whatever the
state of his body might prove to be. The latter was in condition such that an autopsy could be performed, and it revealed the
following: the kidneys were normal; the lungs and the heart  were congested, but functionally equal to their tasks; the liver was
hardened, and there was but a rudimentary gall sac, which contained no bilious fluid and gave no indication that the liver ha d been
functioning, no characteristic stain being present, th e color of the sac being a chalky white; the stomach was dilated and filled with
food, and glandular activity in the organ must have been inoperative for some time previous to death; the small intestines sh owed
bleached portions that had undoubtedly been w ithout function for an indefinite period; the transverse section of the colon was
much dilated, contained a large amount of hardened feces and had fallen shaping the whole organ into a letter "M", with the v ertex
of the dropped portion resting upon the pel vis; it, as well as the ascending and descending parts, were adherent at their angles for
several inches; the bladder was apparently normal; the pancreas was a soft degenerated mass; the spleen was hardened; the
mesentery exhibited old lesions, while no tr ace of the omentum was found; but the brain was structurally perfect.

Page 59 of  72     The instance cited shows a body exceedingly deformed internally in which, despite its faulty structure, the processes of grow th
and maintenance progressed for thirty years. The cau se of the organic defects discovered is to be attributed to digestive activity
partially inhibited in early life through disease, the effects of which were very probably augmented by the use of drugs. In this case
progressive inability to function produced  morbid mental disturbance. It may be asked why a similar result was not observed in
each of the instances related elsewhere in the text, or for that matter in any diseased human body; and reply is made that ph ysical
unbalance in any degree invariably affe cts mind -function, and this usually in adverse manner. But here again we enter the domain
of the idiosyncrasy of individuality, of the limitations and requirements of a subject segregated from other individuals by h is own
constitutional peculiarities and t endencies, be these mental or physical. For instance, it is well known that there are certain
temperaments that develop delirium in fever, even when the latter is mild in type, while there are others who may experience rise
in body heat of as much as four or five degrees above register without sign of loss in mental equilibrium. But the close observer
notes that the latter in the circumstances will exhibit certain other vagaries of the mind that are not apparent when functio n is
normal in character.

    Yet we must not neglect to mark and to ponder the other side of the question, for, as has been said, as mind influences functi on,
so function influences mind. As an example, it is admitted that arterial strain, an undue pressure upon the walls of the arte ries
commonly known as high blood pressure, tends to produce a fatty degeneration of their inner coat, and thus gives rise to arte rial
tumors and to cerebral hemorrhage, which sometimes causes paralysis, apoplexy, and softening of the brain. Now it is certai n that
such tension may result from continued anxiety, and that it is the cause of many cases of angina pectoris or neuralgia of the  heart,
effecting those cardiac changes to which some of the forms of angina are due.

    It is also well established that  mental disturbance gives rise to dyspepsia, and observation and experiment show that anger and
other emotions arrest the secretion of gastric juice, and that probably the peristaltic action of both stomach and intestines  is
likewise affected. In this conn ection the extreme constipation of melancholia is to be noted. Simple


 time, I questioned whether more and more
discipline was going to take me where I so desperately
wanted to go. Sitting alone in my van that morning, I
knew th e answer was no. My  path to true freedom was
subtler than simply requiring a tighter grip.
Something much wiser than me had reached into my
psyche that night and rearranged my entire relationship
with myself. I no longer saw the lower aspect of myself,
with all his personal issues and melodramas, as the
enemy that had to be destro yed. I looked at him now
with a new understanding. I needed to use all these
disturbed personal energies for my ascent. It was
perfectly clear to me that sin ce he was the problem, he
was also the solution. I actually felt a tinge of compassion
toward that struggling person within me. I would later
come to learn that the Bhagavad Gita  says that one
should raise the self with Self, not trample down the self.
I h ad been tram pling down my personal self in the name
of getti ng free from his humanness. I now needed to
learn how to r aise those energies up to assist me on the
journey.
I l eft my van and walked in th e direction of the temple
building. I was feeling much l ighter and more open. I felt
like I wanted to  unbind myself and spread my wings. But
there was something that I n eeded to do first. Since the
beginning of my mental disciplines, I had imagined a
room inside my mind where  I would take my personalself to meditate. It was a roo m with giant wooden doors
for entr y and solid glass for walls. What made this room
so special was that the glass walls looked out upon the
entire universe. Sitting in the lone meditation seat, one
could s ee Eart h suspended in the darkness of space. In
the distance were stars and galaxies floating in the
infinite. Whenever Mickey had a problem, I took him
there to chill out. I even used to play with leaving him
there. I wanted him always to be quiet, and I wanted him
always to remember that all his experiences were
happening on a tiny speck of dirt floating through
infinite space.
That morning when I stopped on my way to the
temple, I closed my eyes and opened the giant wooden
doors t o that very special ro om. The person I had left
sitting on the meditation seat immediately straightened
himself up. As I approached him, he became more
disciplined and focused. In drastic contrast to how strict
I had been in t he past, I reached my hand out to him in a
kind and caring manner and  said, “You can come out
now.” What followed that utterance makes me ashamed
to this day for thinking this p ractice was some sort of an
innocent mind game. The moment I said those words, I
experienced an emotional release the intensity of which I
had never imagined possibl e. Tears poured from my
eyes, and my legs completely buckled beneath me. My
heart broke open as though some major event had taken
place that allowed for a lifetime’s worth of relief.
Once this cathartic release had run its course, I
realized some thing I will never forget: that scared,
troubled person in there whom I had been watching and
judging was indeed a person. The psyche is a person with
feelings and thoughts, hopes, fears, and dreams. He is
not to be locked in a room and constantly told to shut up.
There are much more constructive ways to deal with
these disturbed, self-centered energies. Unfortunately, I
had to learn this the hard way—through experience.Feeling more whole than I had been feeling for a long
while, I remembered my statement in the dream, I’ll
have to find another way.  There was no question as to
what “the other way” wou ld be. I had to learn to
surrender more, instead of struggling so much. I had
already determined to surrender to life’s flow, even if I
couldn’t under stand where it was taking me. I had to do
the sam e thing inwardly. I n eeded to learn to just relax
inside instead of fighting with my mind so much. Just
because the voice talks doesn ’t mean I have to listen to it
or let it affect the direction o f my life. It has nothing to
do with me—I can just relax regardless of what it’s
saying. I was b ack to the basic s: I am the one who notices
the voice talking.
I ca me out of  silence for th e rest of my stay at the
community. I don’t mean I ta lked a lot, because I didn’t.
I wa s ju st socia l enough to wh ere people felt comfortable
talking to me. I met some of the longtime residents and
listened to stories of their own journeys. Despite the
changes I was going through, I didn’t change my
meditation an d yoga sessions. They were not the
problem; I was the problem. I  had built a mental concept
of absolute discipline that was actually holding me back.
In my meditations, I had been achieving heights by
pushing down on the lower e nergies. But that was just a
form of suppression. I had to learn to channel those
energies upward instead of pushing them away from me.
It took some time, but I eventually began to realize the
true purpose of yoga. Done p roperly, yoga is the science
of channeling  all energies upward until they merge
together at the highest point—Oneness.
After a  few weeks at the community, I started my
journey home. It was a wiser, clearer person who drove
back to  Florida. Though the s eeds had been planted and
some very deep lessons had been learned, it was going to
take some time for me to le arn how to come to peace
with myself. Meanwhile, I was looking forward toreturning hom e to my land and to the solitude of my
beautiful house in the woods.1 9.
A c c e p t a n c e,  A c c e p t a n c e,  a n d  M o r e
A c c e p t a n c e
M y mind remained very peaceful during my drive across
the country. But I faced a ser ious challenge to my vow of
acceptance the moment I arrived home. As I drove
through the woods onto the interior field, instead of the
characteristic silence, I heard  the buzz of a circular saw. I
then saw Sandy and my friend Bob Gould donned in
carpentry aprons and climbing on a structure they were
building on my land. It was o ne of those rub-your-eyes-
in-disbelief moments.
I asked what was going on. Sandy cheerfully informed
me tha t she was building a house, and Bob Gould had
agreed to help her. I don’t recall the demeanor of my
voice, b ut I reminded her that this was my land on which
she was building her house. Again, very cheerfully, Sandy
replied that she was laying no claims to the house, and it
would b e mine when she decided to leave. She obviously
had worked it all out in her  head and had no problem
with it. I decid ed I’d better g o home and meditate a bit
before responding.
Imagine what that voice in my head was saying: Oh my
God! How dare she make a  decision like that without
even asking me? I don’t want another house on my land.
I d on’t want an yone else staying out here, so why would
I wa nt another house? How in the world does someone
make a decision to build a house on someone else’s
property without ever asking them?  On  and on it w ent,
but by then I w as well trained to just calmly observe all
these thoughts  being created by the preference-drivenmind. A fter all, if I had wanted another house on the
property that voice would be saying, What a miracle!
God stepped in and started b uilding me a second house
without my having to do a s ingle thing.  To me, it didn’t
matter what that voice was s aying. I knew to the core of
my being that I was not going to give him the time of day,
not to mention the run of my life. If I had a choice
between using this real-life si tuation to get my way or to
free my self from being bound to my way, I would choose
freedom every time. That was the essence of my
experiment with life: if it’s down to a matter of
preference—life wins. So I went back up the hill,
strapped on an apron, and helped them build Sandy’s
house.
It fe lt good to  be building again. This time around I
was not  a greenhorn—I was a carpenter. The difference is
amazing between the first time you do something and
the next. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and that
gave m e a sense of confidence and inner strength. I
wasn’t w orking on the house for Sandy, or for myself; the
flow of life had  placed me in this situation. It was