 do is keep letting go. That is the life of surrender. Chapter 38. Exploring the Higher States
Once you are no longer drowning inside, a whole other life becomes
possible for you. We can now begin to discuss who you are, and what it can
be like in there. As the blockage s release, the energy is freed from having to
go aroun d them. You start to feel happier. You start to feel higher. You start
to feel like you used to feel when you had a really good day or a particularly
great experience. But this time, nothing special is happening. You’re just
feeling an uplift ing energy going on inside of you that keeps getting higher
and higher. You start feeling love simply because the sky is blue. It used to
take a special moment in a relationship to blow you away like that. Everything that is happening comes in, and you feel it all at a richer, deeper
level. This is because you are more open, more receptive. You don’t have
the need s and problems that you were trying to solve. Because you don’t
have all that commotion inside, and you’re feeling more whole and
complete, there’ s nothing you need from the outside. You start to look at
needs in a completely dif ferent light. You used to make satisfying needs your priority. Most of our modern
needs are psychological, not physiological. Psychological needs are actually
unnatural, as they indicate that something is missing or wrong. If you are
feeling whole and complete inside yourself, there are no psychological
needs. Psychological needs come from your blockages. When the energy is
freed, what you feel is love, joy, and enthusiasm, which are just different
words for uplifting energy. In the purest sense, this upward-flowing energy
is quite different from emotions. An emotion emanates out of your heart and
pulls you into its vibration. Enthusiasm is something that wells up inside. It
is a system-wide, spontaneous, uplifting flow of energy. It is, in fact, freed
shakti. When your energies are liberated, you don’t need energy from anybody
else. You have so much energy inside you it’s incomprehensible. Surely you
have experienced from time to time that if something you really like
happens, there can be a sudden  burst of inner energy. How long does that
take. A billionth of a second. Imagine you’re feeling depres sed and not
doing well. Suddenly, something  happens. Perhaps you receive a phone call
that gets you talking and smiling—it makes your energy flow. The energy
was always there, but you opened up because the phone call matched
something you liked. A blockag e temporarily got out of the way, and all this
energy flowed up. Truth is, if that blockage had not been in the way, you
would not have needed the phone call to open you. This is why you do the
inner work of releasing blockages. As the blockages release, the energy takes you to higher and higher
states. You alrea dy know what the higher states are. The higher states are
about love. They are about being really enthusiastic about your job and
anything else you’re doing. The higher energies are beautiful. They’re much
more beautiful than the expression of the lower energies. As you open up,
life is no longer about seeking nonnegative states; it becomes about
allowing ever-increasing, positive states. Growth used to be about not
feeling anger or anxiety anymore. Now it’s about feeling so much
overwhelming love when you wake up that you have trouble getting out of
bed. Then the feeling of enthusia sm to go to work gets so strong that it pulls
you out of bed and propels you through your day. This is what  it feels like
when the ener gy is flowing. Most people don’ t believe life can be like this. They feel they must find
the perfe ct job in order to be enthused to go to work. How are you defining
“the perfect job”. You define it as the one that opens you. In other words,
the one that fits your blockages just right so your energy can flow. Problem
is, if the same job ever hits your blockages the wrong way, you will close. You are still letting your samskaras run your life. It’s not a matter of finding
the right job; it’s a matter of releasing the blockages so you can be enthused
about the job you have. No matter how high you get, you can always get much higher. Don’ t
believe those who say you can’t enjoy happiness unless you also know
sadness. That is not true. That’ s what life is like if you are still blocked. Once you’re unblocked, you will notice the energy is always beautiful. It is
an ever-new rush of uplifting joy that raises your heart, your mind, andeverything insid e you. You’ll be more aware than you used to be and have
the enthusiasm of a child about everything you get to do. You might wonder why you would be motivated to do anything if
you’re already that content. Why bother having a job, or even a relationship,
if you’re  alread y filled with so much love and happiness. The answer is
simple: love wants to express itself and enthusiasm wants to create. Once
the energy is no longer blocked and is flowing freely, personal needs are no
longer your motivation. Your actions are the expression of love and
gratitude for life. Y our whole life becomes an act of service. Even your relationships become  acts of service to other human beings. You don’t need anything from a relationship, but love loves to express itself. If you have tremendous love going on inside you, people will be attracted to
you. You don’t have to worry about attracting somebody or keeping them
interested in you. People are attracted to light. It’s very natura l. If there is
someone special, you shower them with love day and night, expecting
nothing in return. Love is a very unique gift—it is just as beaut iful for both
the giver and the receiver. Life is so simple once you are okay inside. Y ou don’ t do things because
of the fruits they bear; each moment is whole and complete within itself. You reach the point where there is nothing more sacred than the spirit
flowing inside you. There can be moments of disturbance, but you don’t
have to do anything about them. They come and they go, and they don’t
affect your energy flow, unless you let them. You will come to realize that
this energy inside you knows what it’s doing. It is not only beautiful, it is
intelligent. If you let it, it will fix everything. The uprising energy will do all
the inner work for you. Y our only job is to not interfere—to surrender. Let’s go even deeper to explore what happens next. The ener gy flowing
inside you is so beautiful that your consciousness is naturally attracted to it. What you are experiencing is everything you ever hoped to feel from the
outside but could only taste for a moment. You fall completely in love with
the spiritual energy flow. Once you’re being fed by the inner flow, your
outer life will be fine. Before you cleared the blockages, you needed the
world to be a certain way for you to be okay. This created a struggle with
life on a daily basis. When you let go enough to clear the inner energy flow,
the struggling ceases. You realiz e through direct experience that everything
you ever wanted  is flowing inside you, and the battle will pretty much be
over. Attraction to the unconditional flow of inner ener gy is a wonderful love
affair. In fact, the Bible says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5). Now,
you do. That is the ultimate commandment in the Old Testament, and Jesus
repeated it many times. You no longer have to worry about how to “love
God” because what’s flowing inside of you is spirit, and you naturally love
it with all your heart. You like being high, and spirit is the ultimate high. It’s
higher than any drug could ever take you. It’s higher than any relationship
you could ever have. The love and joy it brings will never stop unless you
stop it. That river will flow every moment of your life unless you dam it up. But now you know better. Once the energy starts spontaneously flowing,
you won’t touch it. You just respect it, honor it, and appreciate it. You
inwardly say, “Thank you,” and keep letting go. That becomes your only
prayer— thank you, thank you so much. Now that this energy is flowing  inside you, it will clean up the rest of
your blockages. This will not happen immediately; you must be willing to
let them go naturally. The shakti will push the samskaras out if you let her. Your entire life becomes spiritual—about spirit. You rest into the beautiful
flow of the energy, and it gives you the strength to let go of what needs to be
cleansed. In time, you learn to enjoy every moment of this journey. It is
freeing you, taking you to God. When you are settling into the upward flow of energy, that is a state of
true contentmen t. Contentment doesn’ t mean you’re lazy. It means you are
not being disturbed inside. What is going on inside you is so


 with pain when he gets up out of his armchair. My first instinct  will be to look for a physical difference between them,
but I might or might not find anything. Cardiologists expect anginal pain to
appear when at least one of the three coronary arteries is 50 percent
blocked. This blockage is almo st always in the form of an atheroma, a
lesion on the inside of the arterial wall built up by dead cells, blood clots,
and fatty plaque. The 50 percent blockage is only a rule of thumb, however. Some angina patients are disabled by pain when they have only a single
small lesion barely obstructin g blood flow in one artery, while other
patients suffering from massive, multiple blockages of up to 85 percent
have been known to run mara thons. (Angina is not always caused by
physical blockag e, I should add. Arteries are lined with a layer of muscle
cells that can go into spasm and squeeze the vessel closed, but this is a
highly individual reaction.) In mind-body terms, my two patients are expressing their different
interpretations of pain. Every patient stamps his condition with a unique
perspective, and pain (or any other symptom) emer ges into awareness only
after it interacts with all the past influences at work in the mind-body
system. There is no single response for all people or even for the sameperson at two different times. Pain signals are raw data that can be turned to
many purposes. High-exertion athletics, such as long-distance running,
subject an athlete to pain that he interprets as a sign of accomplishment (“no
pain, no gain”); but the same pain, inflicted under other circumstances,
would be completely unwelco me. Track runners admire a coach who
pushes them to their limits; they might hate the same treatment in boot
camp. Medicine is just beginning to use the mind-body connection for healing
—defeating pain is a good example. By giving a placebo, or dummy, drug,
30 percent of patients will experience the same pain relief as if a real
painkiller had been administere d. But the mind-body effect is much more
holistic. The same dummy pill can be used to kill pain, to stop excessive
gastric secretions in ulcer patients, to lower blood pressure, or to fight
tumors. (All the side effects of chemotherapy, including hair loss and
nausea, can be induced by giving cancer patients a sugar pill while assuring
them that it is a powerful anticancer drug, and there have been instances
where injections  of sterile saline solution have actually led to remissions of
advanced malignancy.) Since the same inert pill can lead to such totally different responses, we
must conclude that the body is capable of producing any biochemical
response once the mind has been given the appropriate suggestion. The pill
itself is meanin gless; the power that activates the placebo effect is the
power of suggestion alone. This suggestion is then converted into the
body’ s intention  to cure itself. Therefore, why not bypass the deception of
the sugar pill and go directly to the intention? If we could effectively trigger
the intention not to age, the body would carry it out automatically. We have extremely exciting evidence to prove that such a possibility
exists. One of the most dreaded diseases of old age is Parkinson’ s, a
neurological disorder that produces uncontrollable muscle movements and a
drastic slowing  down of bodily motions such as walking, eventually
resulting in a body so stiff that the patient cannot move at all. Parkinson’ s
has been traced to an unexplained depletion of a critical brain chemical
called dopamine, but there is also a simulated Parkinson’ s cause d when the
dopamine-producing cells of the brain have been destroyed chemically by
certain drugs. Imagine a patient afflicted with this type of Parkinson’ s in anadvanced stage of frozen motion. Trying to walk, he can only take a step or
two before halting in place, as stif f as a statue. However, if you draw a line on the floor and say, “Step over that,” the
person will miraculously be able to walk right over it. Despite the fact that
the production of dopamine is completely involuntary and its stores are
seemingly exhau sted (as shown by the fact that his brain canno t signal his
leg muscles to take another step), merely by having the intention to walk,
the brain is awakened. The person may freeze again after only a few
seconds, but again you can ask him to step over an imaginary line, and his
brain will respond. By extension, the infirmity and inactivity exhibited by
many old people is often just dormancy. By renewing their intention to live
active, purposeful lives, many elderly people can dramatically improve their
motor abilities, strength, agility, and mental responses. Intention is the active partner of attention; it is the way we convert
automatic processes into conscious ones. Using simple mind-body
exercises, almost any patient can learn in a few sessions to conv ert a racing
heartbeat, asthm atic wheezing, or free-floating anxiety into a more normal
response. What seems out of control can be brought back into control with
the proper technique. The implic ations for aging are enormous. By inserting
an intention into your thought processes, such as, “I want to improve in
energy and vigor every day,” you can begin to assert control over those
brain centers that determine how much energy will be expressed in activity. The decline of vigor in old age is largely the result of people expecting  to
decline; they have unwittingly implanted a self-defeating intention in the
form of a strong  belief, and the mind-body connection automatically carries
out this intention. Our past intentions create obsolete programming that seems  to have
control over us. In truth, the power of intention can be reawakened at any
time. Long before you get old, you can prevent such losses by consciously
programming your mind to remain youthful, using the power of your
intention. 4. The biochemistry of the body is a pr oduct of awar eness.One of the greatest limitations of the old paradigm was the assumption
that a person’ s awareness doesn’ t play a role in explaini ng what is
happening in his body. Yet healing cannot be understood unless the person’ s
beliefs, assump tions, expectati ons, and self-image are also understood. Although the image of the body as a mindless machine continues to
dominate mains tream Western medicine, there is unquestionab le evidence
to the contrary. Death rates from cancer and heart disease are provably
higher among people in psychological distress, and lower among people
who have a strong sense of purpose and well-being. One of the most publicized medical studies in recent years was conducted
by Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel, who set out to prove that the mental
state of patients did not influence whether they survived cancer. He felt, as
many clinicians  do, that assigning importance to a patient’ s beliefs and
attitudes would do more harm than good, because the thought “I caused my
cancer” would cause feelings of guilt and self-recrimination. Spiegel took
eighty-six wome n with advanced breast cancer (their disease was basically
beyond help with conventional  treatment) and gave half of them weekly
psychotherapy combined with lessons in self-hypnosis. By any measure this
represents minimal intervention—what could a woman do in an hour’s
therapy per week, time she must share with several other patients, to
combat a disease that is inevitably fatal in advanced stages? The answer
seemed obvious. However, after following his subjects for ten years, Spiegel was stunned
to find that the group receiving  therapy survived on average twice as long
as the group that received none. It was doubly telling that only three women
were alive by this late date, all of them from the therapy group. This study
is startling because the research er expected no effect at all. But a decade of
similar findings  came in from other researchers. A meticulous 1987 study
from Yale, repor ted by M. R. Jensen, found that breast cancer spread fastest
among women who had repres sed personalities, felt hopeless, and were
unable to express anger, fear, and other negative emotions. Similar findings
have emer ged for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, intractable pain, and other
disorders. Dominated by the old paradigm, doctors hold a prejudice against such
results. As Larry Dossey points out in his insightful book Medicine andMeaning,  “The dominant message, incessantly preached from the editorial
pages of medica l journals and the podiums of medical schools, is that the
‘inherent biology of the disease’ is overwhelmingly important and that
feelings, emotions, and attitude s are simply along for the ride.” What the
new paradigm teaches us is that emotions are not fleeting event s isolated in
mental space; they are expressions of awareness, the fundamental stuff of
life. In all religious traditions the breath of life is spirit. To raise or lower
someone’ s spirits means something fundamental that the body must reflect. Awareness make s a huge difference in aging, for although every species
of higher life-form ages, only humans know what is happening to them, and
we translate this knowledge into aging itself. To despair of growing old
makes you grow old faster, while to accept it with grace keeps many
miseries, both physical and mental, from your door. The commonsense
notion “You


wasweak-
enedbyinternaldivision.Theconfusedgeneralpublic
wasdrawntothesidethatcouldputitscasemost
clearlyandstrongly. Medicinebecameincreasinglyinvolvedwithecon-
omicandpoliticalfactorsfarremovedfromthehealth
ofthepatient,butadvertisingbecameapowerfulforce
andthepublic-andmanyofthehomeopaths-were
sweptupbythetide.In1911theAmericanMedical
Associationmovedtoclosemanyhomeopathic
teachinginstitutionsbecausetheywereconsideredto
provideapoorstandardofeducation.TheAMAalso
mountedahugeanti-homeopathy propagandacam-
paign.Consequently,by1918thenumberof
homeopathichospitalsintheUSAhaddwindledtoseven.Greatoptimismaccompaniedtheintroduction
ofpenicillin:doctorsthoughtthatasortofmedical
Nirvanahadarrived.Thetimeinvolvedinthetaking
ofahomeopathiccasewasregardedasathingofthe
past.Thefive-minuteprescriptionandacureforevery
illhadarrived.Littledidtheyrealisethatitwasthe
dawnofamedicalnemesis. Homeopathyaroundtheworldtoday
Homeopathy ispopularovermuchofAsiafromPak-
istan,BangladeshandNepaltoSriLanka.InIndia
homeopathy isnowofficiallyrecognisedasaseparate
branchofmedicineandflourishesthere,fullysup-
portedbythegovernment. Ithasthelargestnumberof
homeopathichospitalsintheworld,300,000full-time
homeopaths(70,000registeredwithstateboards),
fortyhomeopathicmedicalschoolswithfour-tosix-
yeartrainingprogrammes,andathrivingpublishing
outlet. HomeopathyhasspreadthroughoutEurope,
although itispoorlyrepresentedinsomecountries,
likeSpain,IcelandandDenmark.Inothers-France
forexample-thereisalargerandfast-growing
interest.Homeopathicmedicinesarereadilyavailable
inmostpharmaciesand therearehomeopathicconsult-
antsatsomehospitals.InFrancetheNapoleonicLaws
bannedtheuseofallpotenciesabove30Candthishas
ledtoacomplicateduseofthelowerpotencies,with,
forexample,3C,4Cand5Callinthesameremedy
beingusedfordifferentcomplaints.Francealsosub-
scribestocombinationremedies,movingawayfrom
theholisticorclassicalapproach.Thecountryboasts
severalfinelaboratoriesproducingremediestoavery
highstandard. InWestGermany,thebirthplaceofhomeopathy, it
isextremelypopularwithseveralthousandpractition-
ers,but,asinFrance,Germanhomeopathsareex-
tremelyfondofcombinations,usingmixturesofupto
twentyremedies. InEasternEuropehomeopathy ispoorlyrep-
resented,althoughthereissomeinterestinPoland. Theexactextentofhomeopathy intheUSSRisnot
known,although itiscertainlyavailableinthemain
cities.In1935anofficialdecreealloweddoctorsto
prescribeorthodoxorhomeopathicmedicinesaccord-
ingtotheirchoice. Homeopathy ishighlyrespectedinmanySouth
Americancountries,withMexico,Argentinaand
Brazilattheforefront,eachwithmanythousandsof
homeopaths.Thestandardofpracticeishigh. InAustraliaandNewZealandhomeopathy is
spreadingrapidly,withbothdoctorsandprofessional
homeopathstakingpart. Asmallbutdedicatednumberofhomeopathswere
10TheTwentiethCentury THEHISTORYOFHOMEOPATHY
practisinginSouthAfricawhenin1974anActof
Parliamentcloseddownthehomeopathiccolleges(in
amoveidenticaltothatintheUSAintheearly1900s). Itisnotofficiallyaccepted,butafewpractitioners
continuetowork. Homeopathy isnon-existentintheArabstates.Itis
gaininginpopularityinIsrael. InGreeceGeorgeVithoulkas,authorofTheScienceof
Homeopathy, isaprofessionalpractitionerwhohasset
upaclinicandtrainingschoolinAthens.Hisclinichas
treatedhundredsofthousandsofpatientsoverthe
twentyyearssinceitsfoundationandhasdevelopeda
remarkablereputation.Vithoulkas isasconcerned
withtheimportanceofhowhomeopathyworksasheis
withthemoremetaphysical aspects.Hefollows
HahnemannandKentinhispurelyclassical
approach,andhasdrawntogethermuchmaterial
fromobservation.HehasupdatedKent'srepertoryin
termsoflanguageandaccessibility,butalsowith
respecttothementalandemotionalstates.Thesehe
hasre-interpreted inthelightofmodernpsychology
andbysodoinghasmadeaninvaluablecontribution
tohomeopathy.Hehascalledhisremedypictures
essences',andthepublicationofhisMateriaMedicais
eagerlyawaited.HomeopathyinBritaintoday
Throughoutthelatenineteenthcenturyandearly
twentiethcentury,homeopathic hospitalswere
openedinBristol,Liverpool,GlasgowandTunbridge
Wells,aswellasinLondon,andin1946,whenthe
NationalHealthServicewasestablished,homeopathy
wasincludedasanofficiallyapprovedmethodof
treatment.Aswehaveseen,itdidnotgrowtobecome
arealrivaltoorthodoxmedicine,butinBritaintoday
itspopularity isincreasingrapidly.Itisstillpractised
undertheNationalHealthinthesefivehospitalsand
byGPs,althoughthelimitoftimeonconsultations
oftenmeansthatantibioticsarehandedoutwiththe
homeopathicmedicinesjustincasethelatterdonot
work. Professionalhomeopathsrunprivatepracticesand
manyparticipateinalmost-freeclinicsfortheneedy. TheSocietyofHomoeopaths, theorganisationwhich
representstheprofessionalhomeopath inthis
country,promotesthepracticeofhomeopathy toa
highstandard.Fromsmallbeginningsin1974,the
numberofregisteredmembers(whousetheinitials
RSHom.aftertheirnames)increasesannuallyand
therearenowatleastsixcollegestrainingseveral
hundredprofessionalhomeopathseachyear. PRINCIPLES
AND
CONCEPTS
'Thehighestidealoftherapyistorestorehealthrapidly,
gently,permanently; toremoveanddestroythewhole
diseaseintheshortest,surest,leastharmfulway,accord-
ingtoclearlycomprehensible principles.' SoitwasthatSamuelHahnemann, inTheOrganon,
definedhisgoalsforanewsystemofmedicine. Itis
hardtoimagineadescriptionthatcouldexpressmore
conciselytheneedsofbothpractitionerandpatient. Homeopathystrengthensthebody'svitalityandits
abilitytorespondtostresswithoutrecoursetoother
medicines.Theprinciplesofhomeopathyasawhole
representacompleteviewoftheprocessesofhealth
anddisease.Since1810,whenTheOrganonwasfirst
published,theyhaveprovedveryresistanttomajor
re-interpretation. Homeopathy, asasystemof
medicine, ispractisedwithintheframeworkofthese
principlesand,becausetheyarecrucialtosuccessful
prescribing, Ihopetheywillbecomeasfamiliartoyou
asoldfriends. theslmilimumorlawof
Similars
Thisbasiclawofhomeopathy issimiliasimilibus
curentur:'letlikesbecuredwithlike'.Basedonthis
premise,thefirsthomeopathicprinciplestatesthat
anysubstancethatcanmakeyouillcanalsocureyou-
anythingthatiscapableofproducingsymptomsof
diseaseinahealthypersoncancurethosesymptoms
inasickperson. By'symptom'thehomeopathmeansthosechanges
thatarefeltbythepatient(subjective)orobserved
(objective),whichmaybeassociatedwithaparticular
disease,orstateofdis-ease,andwhicharetheout-
wardexpressionofthatstate.PROVINGS
'Proving'isthenamegiventothehomeopathic
methodoftestingsubstancesinordertoestablishtheir
'symptompictures'.SinceHahnemann's firstproving
in1790(seepage4),hundredsofprovingshavebeen
carriedoutandtheirresultscollatedinthegreat
MateriaMedicas.Inthe1940stheAmericansorgan-
isedaprogrammeofre-provingremedies,butitwas
abandonedwhenidenticalsymptomswereelicitedall
overagain. Today,healthyvolunteerproversofnew,potentially
medicinalsubstancesaredividedintotwogroups,
accordingtodouble-blind trialrules,withonegroup
beinggiventheunnamedsubstanceandtheothera
placebo.Neithertheproversnortheconductorofthe
provingknowsatthetimewhoistakingwhat


we
arealittlerundown,andthatourimmunesystem
needsrecharging. Ifyoucan,takealittletimeoff,have
someearlynightsanddealconstructivelywithsome
ofthestressinyourlife.Neglectedcoldsoftenturn
intomoreseriouschestinfections,socatchthemearly. DO
•getplentyofrestifyouhavebeenoverdoing it. •drinklotsoffluids. •cleartheairwaysfrequently,butgently.Teach
yourchildrentocoughupphlegmandtoblow
theirnosesinsteadofsniffingthemucusand
swallowing it. (Putyourfingeroveronenostriland
tellthechildtobreatheinthroughthemouthand
breatheouthardthroughthenosekeepingthe
mouthshut.Repeatwithothernostril.Keepa
tissuehandy!Youcangraduatetoholdingatissue
overthenoseoncetheyhavegotthegeneralidea. Eventuallybothnostrilscanbeblownatonce!) •usesteaminhalationstodislodgestubbornmucus. Sitoverabowlofjust-boiledwaterwithatowel
overthehead(supervisechildrentoavoidany
possibilityofanaccidentalburn).Orrunahotbath
togetthebathroomsteamedup,oruseavaporiser
(filledwithplainwater-don'taddany
decongestant). •eatplentyoffruitandvegetablesandavoiddairy
products,sugar,junkfoodsandtoomuchbread,
whichallincreasemucusproduction. •avoidtobaccofumes. •takesomegentleexerciseinthefreshairtoseeif
thishelps(andusetheresponseasasymptomto
repertorise). DON'T
•usedecongestants.Theseonlyirritatethenasal
membranesandmakemattersworseassoonasthe
effectwearsoff. SEEKHELPIF
•yousufferfromfrequentcolds,asyouwillbenefit
fromconstitutionaltreatmenttoboostyour
immunity(seepage14). •yourcoldseemsundulysevereandyouhaveany
ofthesymptomslistedunderCauseforConcern
(page203). Conjunctivitis seeEyeinflammationConstipation
Ihaveincludedafewremediesforuseinanacute
situation,butgenerallyspeakingthisisnotacom-
plaintforhometreatmentbeyondfollowingthe
commonsenseDosandDon'tslistedbelow.Ageneral
tendencytoconstipationrequiresprofessional treat-
ment.Therecommendations belowwillhelpacuteor
long-termconstipation. DO
•makesurethereisplentyoffibreinthedietby
addingmorefruitandvegetables. •cutoutbreadandwheatproductstemporarilyas
theglutencanhaveacloggingeffect. •drinkplentyofwater. •eatstewedprunesinthemorningwitha
tablespoonofmolassesdissolvedinhotwater. •useoatbran(organicallygrownifpossible)for
occasionalconstipation;branshouldonlybetaken
regularlyontheadviceofaprofessional. DON'T
•addwheatbranonadailybasis.Itcanirritatethe
bowelsandinterferewiththeassimilationof
vitaminsandminerals,andyourbowelscan
becomedependentonit.Oatbranissolubleand
muchkindertothebowels. •takelaxativesregularly,particularly ifyourdietis
ofmainlyrefinedandjunkfoods. SEEKHELPIF
•therehasbeennobowelmovementfor
twenty-fourhoursandthereissevere,unusual
pain. •thereisdifficultyinpassingastoolandthestools
aregreyorwhite. •theskinoreyesareyellow. •thereisasuddenandinexplicablechangeinbowel
habit. •thereisalternatingdiarrhoeaandconstipation. •thestoolsareextremelydark,almostblack. Convulsions
Ihaveincludedsomeremediesforthetreatmentof
convulsionsinchildrenasitispossibletotreatthis
complaintasanemergencymeasureatthesametime
ascallingforhelp.Itisessentialthatyougetprofessional
adviceshouldthiseventoccuratanytime. Cornsandbunions
DO
•usetheappropriateinternalandexternal
homeopathicremediestohelpalleviatethepainsif
theyaresevere. •useafeltpadifthebunionisinflamed. •wearsensibleshoesthatdonotpinchorapply
pressuretothecorns. •seektheadviceofagoodchiropodist. 212•Cough DISEASESYOUCANTREATUSINGTHISBOOK
Cough
Somechildrencancoughtheirwaythroughtheir
teethingyearsandotherswillsufferfromrepeated
coughsandcoldsforthefirstyearortwoatschool
whiletheirimmunesystemadapts.Youcanusefirst-
aidprescribingforthesecoughsprovidingyouare
havingagoodresponseandthemoodsandenergyof
thechildremainhigh.Ifthecomplaintsrecurinspite
ofcarefulfirst-aidprescribingthenyouneedtoseek
professionalhomeopathic help.Coughsandcolds
thatrecureverywinterarealsomostlyacaseforthe
professionalhomeopath.However, ifyouspotyour
ownchild'sconstitutionalremedypicturefromthe
picturesinthisbookthenyoumayfindthatyour
first-aidprescribinghasthesideeffectofpreventing
therecurrenceoftheseacuteepisodes. DO
•followalltheDosforCommoncold. •rest. •drinklotsofliquids;theywillhelptoloosenthe
mucus. •coughupthephlegmasoftenaspossible;teach
youngchildrentocoughupphlegmassoonas
theyareableto. •useahumidifierorvaporiserinthebedroomtofill
theroomwithsteam;thiswillhelpthechestto
expelstickyphlegm.Ifyoudon'thaveavaporiser,
closethebathroomdoorandwindowsandleave
thehotwaterrunninguntilyou'vecreateda
humid'fug'. •keeptheroomtemperatureconstantsothatthe
patientisn'thavingtoadapttoeitherheatorcold. DON'T
•suppressthecoughroutinelywithacough
medicine;thismaypreventthepersonfrom
coughingupmucus,andifmucusisnotexpelled,
amoreseriousinfectionmaydevelop. •givecodliveroiltochildren,especiallysmall
children,thinkingthatitwillboosttheirimmunity;
itmaywellmakethecoughandcoldworseand
makethemgoofftheirfood. SEEKHELPIF
•thereisdifficultyinbreathingand/orwheezing
and/orchestpain. •thecoughseemssevereanddoesn'trespondto
self-prescribing withinforty-eighthours. •thebreathingisundulyrapid. SeealsoCroupandCauseforConcern. NBPNEUMONIA(ESPECIALLYINCHILDREN)
ISNOTALWAYSACCOMPANIEDBYACOUGH. SEEKURGENTMEDICALHELPIFYOURCHILD
HASAFEVER,ISBREATHINGRAPIDLYAND
SEEMSUNWELL(LIMPANDPALE).Cramp
Acrampissimplyasuddenmusclecontractionandis
oftencausedbyachangeinbodytemperature, a
changeinpositionoralossofbodyfluids. DO
•straightentheaffectedpartofthebody,andgently
massagetheaffectedmuscle. Croup
Croupisafrightening-sounding coughthatusually
occursinchildrenunderfouryearsold.Itstartswith
hoarsenessandfeveranddevelopsintoaloud,bark-
ing,ringing,harshcoughthatwakesthechildat
night.Thebreathingmavalsobenoisy. DO
•followtheguidelinesforCommoncoldandCough
(seeabove). SEEKHELPIF
•asteamybathroomdoesn'trelievethesymptoms
inhalfanhour. •thecoughisaccompaniedbyabluetingetothe
lips. Cuts/GrazesseeWounds
Cystitis
Ifleftuntreated,cystitiscandevelopintoaserious
kidneyinfection. Ihaveincludedafewremediesfor
thetreatmentofcystitis,butsymptomsshouldbe
carefullymonitoredandaprofessionalconsulted
whensymptomsgivecauseforconcern. DO
•drinkalargeamountofwatertoflushoutthe
kidneysandbladder. •keepyourdietalkaline(eatlotsoffruitand
vegetables). •cutoutallacidfoodsanddrinks,includingtea,
coffee,sugar,refined/junkfood,alcohol. •takeasmuchrestasyoucan. •keepaswarmasyoucan(wearextrawoollen
clothingandcarryaroundahotwaterbottleoruse
aheatingpad). •becarefulwhenwipingafterurinating(women
andgirls):wipefromfronttobacksothatbacteria
fromtheanuscannotentertheurethra(thisisalso
ageneralpreventivemeasure). •urinatefrequently


 As Muktananda repeatedly reminded his followers, “Catching a
glimpse of the beauty of reality is a gift made possible through
120
Manifest Your Destiny
Shaktipat (divine energy that is transferred directly) and through the
power of repeating God’s name, whether through chanting, prayer,
or mantra repetition. ” And with steadfast practice, as the great
teachers tell us, we will be free of everything that keeps us from living
constantly in the awareness that “all this is God, all this is God. ”
(Darshan Magazine, September 1994, p. 3. ) Opening the third eye is an inner exercise of putting your attention
at the third eye, or mind chakra, and projecting through it, feeling the
joy that is associated with the sound. You experience it leaving the
limits of your physical body and embracing that which you want to
manifest and bringing it back to you. It is tuning into the vibration of
creation by leaving the constraints of your body/mind and opening up
the channel between your procreation center and your manifestation
center. With this passageway cleared of obstacles, you are immersed
in the grace of soul-nourishing bliss with the daily repetition of the
aaah meditation. Implement this sound meditation in your morning practice. You
will be harmonizing with a sound of peace and joy, as well as partici-
pating in the idea that you and God are one in the universal sense. The sound brings you to that awareness since it is not a word that the
mind can then take and distort into an ego-dominated blueprint. It is
a sound that transcends the rational workings of the mind. I have created a cassette tape and a compact disc called Meditations
for Manifesting, which guides you through this morning meditation
using my voice to help you stay focused on the sound. In addition,
this recording guides you through the second meditation, which
takes place in the evening and also places the emphasis on the third
eye chakra. However, the emphasis of the evening meditation for
manifesting is different. Here you put your attention on gratitude for
all that has manifested into your life. This is also the subject matter of
the ninth and final principle. 121
WAYNE W. DYER
THE SOUND OF THAT WHICH IS MANIFESTED
There is a second sound that reflects the vibrational frequency of
manifestations in the physical plane. This sound is om. If you reduced
anything that you can observe on the physical plane to its ultimate
sound vibration, you would hear the sound of om. This is the sound
that women of ancient times meditated to while bringing their babies
into the world. Whereas aaah is the sound of creation, om is the
sound of that which is already created. Om expresses gratitude for all
that has manifested. There is a basic relationship between our level of awareness and
the vibrations of the universe. Being aware of this makes it possible
to tune these vibrations to the state of mind that you desire. This is
why I include the om meditation in the manifestation process. Repeating the om sound in the evening tunes you to a higher state of
awareness and to gratitude for all that has manifested into your life. You will then be in sync with your immediate surroundings. Repeating this sound as a mantra of gratitude is one of the most
joyous feelings you will ever experience, causing you to be in har-
mony with your environment rather than in opposition to it in any
way. You will feel strongly connected to your life rather than experi-
encing the ego-based feeling of controlling your environment. Using the om sound is a way of bonding to all that manifests for
you, in whatever form it shows up. It creates a peaceful space and
contributes to your identifying with the manifesting principle. You
feel as if you and God are finally on the same team rather than in a
boss-employee relationship. Your ability to do this om meditation
regularly will help you to value what you are manifesting, and to feel
spiritually connected. The sound of om while meditating is also centered at the third
eye chakra. Project the energy of thanksgiving from this chakra and
you will feel an opening at the third eye. Then extend your etheric
122
Manifest Your Destiny
energy vibrating to the sound of all that is in the physical world
through the imaginary opening in the area of the third eye. As you
make this sound and become familiar with it, you will coalesce with
the joy that is associated with it. You will feel lighter, more
refreshed and more connected to all that is in your world and all
that has manifested for you. On the tape and compact disc I have
included affirmations of gratitude that I repeat while you are medi-
tating. At this point I hope you are aware of the importance of, and the
need for, using the om meditation in the evening and the aaah mani-
festing meditation in the morning. These two sounds, used on a daily
basis, preferably in the morning and the evening, form the basis for
your becoming adept at connecting with what you desire, and under-
standing totally the message of this book, which is that you indeed
manifest your own desires and destiny. I would not even consider sitting down to write without first sit-
ting in quiet meditation for twenty to thirty minutes of doing the
aaah meditation. It is in this space that I gather the energy of creation
by repeating continuously the aaah sound of joyous creation. Then,
in the evening, when I have completed my writing for the day, I do
the meditation of gratitude, employing the om sound, which is the
sound of all that I have created on my typewriter that day. This simple ritual puts me in a state of grace, and provides me
with an inner knowing that I am in relationship with the creative
God force of the universe, and that I am exceedingly grateful for such
a divine relationship. It is what I call the sacred relationship. Without
it I would be unable to manifest this or any other book. Once you understand these two sounds, and you know the power
of these vibrations, you will want to put this awareness into practice. You will find a detailed account of precisely how to do these mani-
festing meditations on a daily basis in the next section. 123
WAYNE W. DYER
THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATING FOR MANIFESTING
Manifesting and meditating cannot be separated. They are like the
crest and the trough of the wave, separate and distinct from each
other, but always together. You cannot become adept at manifesting
the desires of your heart if you are unwilling to devote time to the
practice of meditation. Meditation is simply the act of being quiet with yourself and shut-
ting down the constant monologue that fills the inner space of your
being. It is stopping the constant bombardment of thoughts and the. seemingly endless chatter filling your inner world. That inner noise is
a shield preventing you from knowing the highest self. Engaging in sound meditation is a useful way of accomplishing
inner silence and removing the influences of the constant chatter that
is largely produced by the ego. The attention of the mind is diverted
from the millions of scattered thoughts and is brought back to the
awareness of the sound itself. The sound serves as a mantra, keeping
you centered and silencing the chatter. The best times for meditating using this manifesting technique of
repetitive sounds are at sunrise and sunset. If you are unaccustomed
to arising at or before sunrise, make an effort to establish this disci-
pline for a trial period of ninety days. If this is impossible, then use
whatever your time of awakening is for the aaah meditation. However, I would encourage you to challenge any preset, condi-
tioned belief you may have concerning your ability to get up before
sunrise for the manifesting meditation. Your beliefs about requiring a
certain number of hours of sleep, or not being able to get out of bed,
or treasuring sleep more than anything and similar reasons are the
result of your conditioning and often represent nothing more than
excuses. What you want to do is to establish yourself as a disciplined per-
son. Early morning, particularly prior to sunrise, is the best time of
124
Manifest Your Destiny
day to awaken. The silence allows you to feel close to God. It is the
time when your mind and heart are the clearest and least distracted. You can feel the energy of healing and solutions in the silence of the
early morning, particularly between the hours of three and six A. M. Use specific acts of personal courage to awaken during these hours,
knowing that the time spent in a manifesting meditation will provide
you with far more rest than the remaining hours of your scheduled
sleep. The sun is a gigantic source of energy for our planet and every-
thing that grows on it. When the sun first begins to show itself in the
morning, the energy of the sun breaking out of the darkness is most
intense. This is the ideal time to begin your manifesting meditation. I
recommend that you find a comfortable place to sit, without regard
for a particular posture or position. What makes you feel most
relaxed and at peace is the perfect posture. If at all possible, it is
advisable to do this outdoors; however, this is by no means a require-
ment. Gently place your forefinger and thumb together on each
hand. Close your eyes and allow yourself approximately twenty min-
utes for this morning practice. Take in a few long, deep breaths and exh


 Zhi mu is first mentioned
in the 1st-century ce herbal, the Divine Husbandman’s Classic (Shen’nong Bencaojing). Medicinal Actions & Uses  Zhi mu has a
bitter taste and a “cold” temperament and is
used in Chinese herbal medicine for “excess heat”—fever, night sweats, and coughs. It has
been shown to have significant antibacterial
activity and is commonly used to treat sores
and mouth ulcers.frequently for premenstrual syndrome and period pain, especially when these are accompanied by nervous exhaustion. In France, it has traditionally been used for treating coughs and as a sedative  for sleep difficulties. Pulsatilla is also used to treat  eye problems such as cataracts. The fresh plant  is not used because it is strongly irritant. Pulsatilla  is one of the most commonly used of all homeopathic remedies. Related Species  The meadow anemone
(A. pratensis) is used interchangeably with pasque flower; wood anemone (A. nemorosa) is now  rarely used in herbal medicine. QCautions  T ake only under professional
supervision. Do not take during pregnancy. Do not take the fresh plant, which is toxic. angelica archangelica (Apiaceae)
Angelica
Description  Aromatic biennial herb growing
to 61⁄2 ft (2 m). Has ridged upright hollow stems,
large bright green leaves, and greenish-white flowers in umbels. Habitat & Cultivation  Angelica grows in
temperate regions in western Europe, Siberia, and the Himalayas. It prefers damp sites and is often found near running water. Leaves and stems are harvested in early summer, seeds as they ripen in late summer, and roots in late autumn after one year’s growth. Parts Used  Root, leaves, stems, seeds.Dill was used as a
remedy by the ancient
Greeks to encourage
a good night’s sleep.anemone pulsatilla syn. pulsatilla
vulgaris (Ranunculaceae)
Pulsatilla
Description  Hairy perennial growing to
6 in (15 cm). Has feathery leaves, and large,
purple-blue, bell-shaped flowers, with bright  yellow anthers. Habitat & Cultivation  Native to Europe,
this herb thrives in dry grassland in central  and northern parts of the continent, preferring chalky soil. The aerial parts are harvested when  it flowers in spring. Parts Used  Dried aerial parts. Constituents  Pulsatilla contains the lactone
protoanemonin (which on drying forms anemonin), triterpenoid saponins, tannins, and volatile oil. History & Folklore  In Greek mythology, the
goddess Flora was jealous of her husband’s attentions to the nymph Anemone and so transformed her into a flower, at the mercy of the North Wind. Anemone literally means “daughter of the wind” in Greek. The alternate name “pasque flower” derives from the French name  for Easter, when the plant is often in flower. Medicinal Actions & Uses  Pulsatilla
is less commonly used now in herbal medicine than in the past, though it is still considered a valuable remedy for cramping pain, menstrual problems, and emotional distress. It is considered a specific treatment for spasmodic pain of the reproductive system, both male and female, and is given quite Seeds
anethum graveolens syn. peucedanum graveolens (Apiaceae)
Dill
Description  Aromatic annual that grows to a
height of 30 in (75 cm). Has an erect hollow stem,
feathery leaves, and numerous yellow flowers in umbels. Fruit is very lightweight and pungent. Habitat & Cultivation  Dill is native to
southern Europe and central and southern
Asia, growing wild in open areas. It is also widely cultivated, notably in England, Germany, and North America. The leaves are picked as a culinary herb. The seeds are harvested in
late summer. Parts Used  Seeds, essential oil, leaves. Constituents  Dill seeds contain up to 5% volatile
oil (about half of which is alpha-phellandrene), flavonoids, coumarins, xanthones, and triterpenes. History & Folklore  An ancient Egyptian
remedy in the Ebers papyrus (c. 1500 bce) recommends dill as one of the ingredients in a pain-killing mixture. The ancient Greeks are believed to have covered their eyes with fronds  of the herb to induce sleep. Dill was commonly used as a charm against witchcraft in the Middle Ages, when it was burned to clear thunderclouds. Its name comes from the Norse dylla—meaning “to soothe.”
Medicinal Actions & Uses  Dill has always
been considered a remedy for the stomach, relieving gas and calming digestion. Dill’s essential oil relieves intestinal spasms and cramps and helps to settle colic, hence it is often used in gripe water mixtures. Chewing the seeds improves bad breath. Dill makes a useful addition to cough, cold, and flu remedies, and is a mild diuretic. Like caraway (Carum carvi, p. 184), it can be used with antispasmodics, such as cramp bark (Viburnum opulus, p. 150), to relieve period pain. Dill increases milk production, and when taken regularly by nursing mothers, helps to prevent  colic in their babies. Caution  T ake the essential
oil internally only under professional supervision. US_158-179_Abies_balsa_Boswe_serratta.indd   168 17/03/16   4:01 pm169 other medicinal Plantsanthriscus cerefolium
Constituents  Angelica root contains a volatile
oil (consisting mainly of beta-phellandrene),
lactones, and coumarins. An extract of the root
has been shown to be anti-inflammatory. History & Folklore  The British Flora Medica
(1877) reports that “the Laplanders considered
this plant as one of the most important
productions of the soil … They are subject to
a severe kind of colic, against which the root
of angelica is one of their chief remedies.” The
stems are candied for culinary use. Medicinal Actions & Uses  Angelica is a
warming and tonic remedy, having a role to play
in a wide range of illnesses. All parts of the plant
will help relieve indigestion, gas, and colic. Angelica
can also be useful in cases of poor circulation, as it
improves blood flow to the peripheral parts of the
body. It is considered a specific treatment for
Buerger’s disease, a condition that narrows the
arteries of the hands and feet. By improving blood
flow and stimulating the coughing up of phlegm,
angelica’s warm, tonic properties bring relief from
bronchitis and debilitating conditions affecting the
chest. For respiratory conditions, the roots are
most commonly used, but the stems and seeds
may be employed as well. Caution  Do not take as a medicine during
pregnancy. Do not confuse with Chinese Angelica. Self-help Use  Stomach spasm, p. 305.
angelica dahurica (Apiaceae)
Bai Zhi
Description  Aromatic perennial growing
to 8 ft (2.5 m). Has a hollow stem, large
3-branched leaves, and umbels bearing many
white flower heads. Habitat & Cultivation  Grows wild in thickets
in China, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Cultivated mainly
in central and eastern regions of China. Part Used  Root. Constituents  Bai zhi  contains a volatile oil
and the coumarins imperatorin, marmesin,
and phellopterin. History & Folklore  Bai zhi  is first mentioned
in Chinese herbal medicine in the Divine
Husbandman’s Classic (Shen’nong Bencaojing ) of
the 1st century ce. The famous military physician
Zhang Congzheng (1150–1228) classified bai zhi
as a sweat-inducing herb able to counter harmful
external influences on the skin, such as cold, heat,
dampness, and dryness. Medicinal Actions & Uses  The pungent,
bitter  bai zhi is used for headaches and aching eyes,
nasal congestion, and toothache. Like its cousins
angelica ( A. archangelica, see preceding entry ) and
dong quai ( A. sinensis, p. 63), it is warming and
tonic, and it is still given for problems attributed  to “damp and cold” conditions, such as sores,
boils, and ulcers affecting the skin. Bai zhi  also
appears to be valuable in treating the facial pain
of trigeminal neuralgia. Caution  Do not take during pregnancy. annona squamosa (Annonaceae)
Custard Apple
Description  Tree growing to 33 ft (10 m). Has
oblong- to lance-shaped leaves, greenish flowers,
and segmented green fruit. Habitat & Cultivation  Native to tropical
America and the Caribbean, this herb is cultivated
throughout the tropics. Parts Used  Leaves, bark, fruit, seeds. Constituents Custard apple


 Seek professional advice if symptoms do
not immediately improve. Nausea with Headache
Herbs Peppermint (Mentha x piperita, p. 114), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium, p. 235), bo he (Mentha haplocalyx, p. 234)Remedy Make an infusion with 1 level tsp of one herb per 3/4 cup (150 ml) of water. Drink up to 21/3–3 cups (600–750 ml) a day. Other uses This remedy combats abdominal fullness
and helps improve the appetite and digestion. Caution Do not give these herbs to children under 5. Do not take pennyroyal during pregnancy. Loss of Appetite & Vomiting
Herb Codonopsis (Codonopsis pilosula, p. 83)
Remedy Make a decoction and sip 21/2 tbsp
(50 ml) every 2–3 hours until the vomiting stops or the dose has been taken over 2 days. Other uses For anorexia, add 5 g of licorice
(Glycyrrhiza glabra, p. 101). Caution Do not take licorice during pregnancy. Herb Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum, p. 93)
Remedy Make an infusion with the crushed
seeds of 2 cardamoms per 3/4 cup (150 ml) of water. Drink up to 3 cups (750 ml) a day. Herb Lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora, p. 228)
Remedy Make an infusion using 1 tsp of dried or 2 tsp of fresh leaves per 1 cup (150 ml) of water and take up to 3 cups (750 ml) a day. Herb Peppermint (Mentha x piperita, p. 114)
Remedy Make an infusion and drink up to 3 cups (750 ml) a day. (See General cautions.) Mouth & Tongue Ulcers
Herbs Myrrh (Commiphora molmol, p. 85),
echinacea (Echinacea spp., p. 92), licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra, p. 101)Remedy Mix equal parts of the tinctures and apply neat or diluted (1 part tincture to 5 parts water) every hour. US_300-307_Allergies.indd   306 26/02/16   4:43 pm307 herbal remedies for home useConstipation & Diarrhea
Acidity & IndigestionHerbs help both constipation and diarrhea
by gently restoring normal bowel function. Constipation often results from insufficient
intake of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains,
while diarrhea is usually caused by intestinal
infection or inflammation, such as food
poisoning. Irritable bowel syndrome gives rise to
alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea,
and spastic constipation results from tension
and muscle spasm in the colon. Herbs
Dandelion root, licorice, and yellow
dock  are mild laxatives. Senna  is a strong laxative and should only be
taken when other herbs have failed. Psyllium  seeds and husks cleanse the colon and
encourage normal bowel habits. Cramp bark  has antispasmodic properties and
can help spastic constipation. Agrimony, bael, bistort, and black
catechu are astringent herbs that dry and
tighten the bowel lining. Only take in the short
term, as they impair absorption of food. They
are taken mixed with soothing, demulcent herbs,
such as psyllium or marshmallow, for diarrhea. Diet for Constipation
Fruit acts as a gentle laxative within the large
intestine. Eat plenty of fresh fruit each day, such
as figs ( Ficus carica, p. 211), apples, or tamarind
(Tamarindus indica, p. 274), which also counter
vomiting, gas, and indigestion. QGeneral caution Seek professional advice for
persistent constipation or diarrhea. Indigestion, caused by too much acid production,
suggests a poor or inappropriate diet. To coat
the inner lining of the stomach and intestines
and protect them from excess acidity, take
slippery elm, arrowroot, or Iceland moss, which
are sticky, mucilaginous herbs when soaked in
water. Meadowsweet strengthens the lining of
the stomach and reduces acidic symptoms, while
German chamomile is amazingly versatile for a
number of gastrointestinal problems. Diet
Cut out acidic foods, such as oranges, red meat,
spinach, and tomatoes, as well as alcohol and
tobacco if possible.Constipation
Herbs Y ellow dock ( Rumex crispus, p. 264),
Chinese rhubarb ( Rheum palmatum, p. 126)
Remedy Make a decoction using 1 tsp of either
herb to 3/4 cup (150 ml) of water. T ake last thing
at night. Note  Y ellow dock is one of the mildest laxatives and
should be tried first. If this has no effect, take a single
dose of Chinese rhubarb each day. This has
a stronger action than yellow dock. Cautions  Do not take Chinese rhubarb or yellow dock
during pregnancy. Persistent Constipation
Herbs Dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale, p. 141),
licorice ( Glycyrrhiza glabra, p. 101), yellow dock
(Rumex crispus, p. 264)
Remedy 1  Make a decoction using 20 g of
dandelion root to 3 cups (750 ml) of water and
drink each day, or use the ground root to make an
infusion and drink 12/3–21/3 cups (450–600 ml) a day. Remedy 2  Mix 3 tsp of dandelion root and
yellow dock and 1 tsp of licorice. Use the mixture
to make a decoction with 3 cups (750 ml) of
water and drink 3/4–11/4 cups (150–300 ml) a day. Cautions Do not take yellow dock or licorice
during pregnancy. Herbs Senna ( Cassia senna, p. 75), ginger ( Zingiber
officinale, p. 155)
Remedy Steep 3–6 senna pods and 2–3 slices
(1 g) of fresh ginger in 3/4 cup (150 ml) of warm
water. Alternatively, take senna tablets. T ake either
preparation for up to 10 days. Note  This is the strongest laxative listed. QCautions  T ake for up to 10 days at a time. During
pregnancy, take on advice of a health care practitioner. Do not give to children under 5. General Remedies
Herbs Slippery elm ( Ulmus rubra, p. 145),
arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea, p. 233), Iceland
moss ( Cetraria islandica, p. 186)
Remedy 1  Make an infusion with 2 heaping tsp
of one of the herbs to 1/2 cup (100 ml) of water. Leave for 15 minutes. T ake 1/2 cup (100 ml) up to
4 times a day. Remedy 2  Make slippery elm “food” by mixing
1 heaping tsp of powder and 3 tsp of cold water. Stir in 1 cup (250 ml) of boiling water. Add a
pinch of cinnamon ( Cinnamomum spp., p. 81) or
nutmeg ( Myristica fragrans, p. 11) to taste. T ake 1
cup (250 ml) 3 times a day. Herbs Fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare, p. 212),
galbanum ( Ferula gummosa, p. 211), anise
(Pimpinella anisum, p. 248), or any one of the
Nausea & Vomiting  herbs listed on p. 306. Spastic Constipation
Herb Cramp bark ( Viburnum opulus, p. 150)
Remedy Make a decoction using 15 g of the
root to 3 cups (750 ml) of water and take 3/4–11/4
cups (150–300 ml) a day or take 2 tsp of tincture
with water once per day. Diarrhea
Herbs Agrimony ( Agrimonia eupatoria, p. 162),
sage ( Salvia officinalis, p. 131), bael ( Aegle
marmelos, p. 161), bistort ( Polygonum bistorta,
p. 253), black catechu ( Acacia catechu, p. 158)
Remedy The above herbs are listed in ascending
order of astringency. Make a decoction using 1
heaping tsp of one herb to 1 cup (225 ml) of
water and simmer for 15–20 minutes. T ake up to
12/3 cups (450 ml) a day for no longer than 3 days. Note If using bistort or black catechu (the most
astringent herbs), mix


 all
of what we need  sometimes feels like a full-time job. None of us can keep
up with that. So, it seems easy to dump all the goodness we can find into
one sing le drink  and stop worrying about it. Can’ t figure out a way to
incorporate supe rfoods into your diet? Eating on the run all th e time? No
worries, just toss all the goodies you can find into your smoothie! Here’ s t he catch: the most or ganic and nutrient-dense ingredients don’ t
operate the way we might ex pect. Mixing many dif ferent textures and
tastes, a nd combining foods that should not be combined, undermines the
intelligence of the body and we pay the price in the long run. But there’ s something else wrong with this picture! When w e drink our meals, we do n’ t chew them. Chewing is one  of the most
important triggers for turning on our digestive juices. Chewing allows you
to e xperience eating, and chew ing longer changes the taste of food to
sweetness. What’ s more, when we add too many ingredients into our
smoothie—and especially ones that don’ t combine well—we are launching
an assault on our digestive system. T R E A T  Y O U R  B O D Y  G E N T L Y
Morning is not a  good time to drink your food. Y our body is stil l in “fasting
mode” after the previous night ’ s dinner and it has been busy digesting,
cleansing and eliminating (at the cellular level) while we were sleeping. When you awaken in the morni ng, your body needs to be treated gently. It
needs something warm and gentle, such as oatmeal, a cooked apple, fresh
toast with nut butters, eggs, hot tea, etc. W e can have smoothies later on in
the day if we choose, but keep the following in mind so they  deliver the
goodness that you are after:
1. Fruits and vegetables should not be combined in a smoothie as your
body digests fruit much faster than vegetables. But food stays  in the
stomach until the last ingredie nt is digested and processed, s o fruitsugar fro m a smoothie will start  fermenting the vegetables before they
are fully digested. This creates bloating, gas and toxicity in the gut. 2. Most greens are bitter and as tringent in taste and they ar e both
catabolic (which means they promote a process which breaks down
tissues) and cooling. T o introduce them in the morning when your
body ne eds gentle nourishment af fects your ability to metabolize food
throughout the rest of the day. 3. Drinking too much raw (uncooked) green vegetables aggravates the
Air and Space element, or V ata, and we’ll talk about these issu es later
in the book. Mo reover, ingesting raw and cold food like these r educes
the ef ficiency of our digestion. 4. Long-term depe ndence on smoothies generally leads to nut ritional
depletion, even if you may notice a power sur ge in the short term after
you drink one; many of my clients have ended up feeling sick despite
quaf fing a power smoothie daily. 5. Adding nut butters and extra fats to smoothies makes them dif ficult to
digest and ultimately will creat e toxins in your body, instead  of the
nourishment that you had intended. If yo u en joy smo othies and want to include them in your diet, incorporating
some of the tips below will help you obtain the benefit you seek from them. 1. Think of the sm oothie as a snac k and not a substitute for a meal. So,
mid-afternoon is a good time to drink one, if you are hungry. 2. Make ei ther a green smoothie or a fruit smoothie. A void combining the
two. 3. Making a smoothie with just two or three dif ferent fruits is okay such
as berries and mango, or berries and pineapple. 4. Drink your smoothie at room temperature. 5. Add water instead of coconut or almond milk
6. Far better than a green smoothie is to eat your greens cooked, rather
than raw. Sauté them lightly in  ghee (clarified butter) with the spice
mix. (See recipe in Chapter 16 ). T his will give you all the b enefits
without any of the drawbacks.7. T ry cele ry, carrot and beet juice as a tonic and ener gy boost. (4-6  stalks
of celery, 2-3 carrots, ½ a beet)
O U R  D I S C O N N E C T I O N  F R O M  F O O D
S O U R C E
Where does our food come from? How does it end up in our local grocery
store? How is it produced? Who produces it? Right at the corner of my subdivision, ther e is a beautiful mulberry tr ee. It is
as healthy as ca n be as it gets full sunlight and it has a lot of sp ace to gr ow. The tr ee  is full of berries thr oughout the summer months. I often stop by the
tr ee on my walks and grab a few handfuls of berries to enjoy. One day, a
man driving by stuck his head o ut his car window and asked, “Can you eat
those?” I answer ed, “I hope so, because I am eating them!” Then he said,
“My wife won’ t go near them as she does not trust food right off of the
tr ees.”
So, this is where we are when i t comes to knowing the source of our food! W e happily buy food from grocery stores without question, but  won’ t trust
it right of f of th e tree, its source. The one thing we can do is trust food wehave picked right from its source. It is what’ s in the store that needs our
attention and discernment. The path from the tree to the groc ery store is
what we must q uestion and understand. W e know crops are treated with
pesticides. W e just don’ t know much about their impact on our health. Much of that information is coming out now. The further the food grows
from our home, the more it ’ s treated with chemicals to sustain its
“freshness.” Some of it may be necessary, and some is clearly overdone. The best thing to do is buy or ganic and locally grown food wherever
possible. T H E  P R O T E I N  C O N U N D R U M
Another big concern surrounds meat products and how they are produced. If nothin g else would make us question our dietary habits, then the link
between meat consumption and  disease should wake us up. The National
Cancer Institute2 has linked red m eat consumption to cancer, heart disease,
respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, infections, kidney disease, and liver
disease. The link to disease is not just because of the chemic als applied
while the animals are still alive and then again after they are killed, it is also
as a result of the cruelty imposed on these animals
Animal cruelty in the productio n of meat is not an unknown subject. W e
conveniently ign ore it, as, wha t can we do about it, anyway? Giving up
foods that we have come to love is something we are not willing to do. And,
in p articular, if this has been a way of living for you, changing  it may not
feel possible. Nonetheless, it is worth knowing how the m eat that we
consume is produced and what  path it has taken on its way to our dinner
plate. Animals are force-fed, treated h eavily with chemicals, confined, and killed
in the most inhumane ways po ssible, all so we can have our protein. W e
justify it because we feel we need what we need. A few  things are
noteworthy here. Our lives are far more important than the lives of these
animals, yet we consume them in the hopes of completing our nourishment. How is that possible? On the surface, this may seem only a mora l issue. It is
far more than th at, as the moral issue af fects our spirituality and  in turn our
healing. Y es, spirituality and healing are not separate things, they are oneand the same. W hen I talk abou t health, I am talking about more than our
physical health. Health here is a ll-encompassing, and includes our spiritual
health. By switching to or ganic meat, we may improve its quality, but the
moral di lemma still remains, which af fects our spirituality, our healing, and
our Karma. And we can rationalize it in any way possible to justify our
actions. Whethe r we can justify it or not does not have anything  at all to do
with the ef fect it has on our health. W e are all fami liar with the laws of Karma, which suggest yo u “Do onto
others as you want done to you,” and we remember that “What goes around,
comes a round.” When we treat life unkindly, we are treating ourselves
unkindly, it is t hat simple. W e can’ t sustain life by taking life; we can’ t


, and since he does not yet have even the
slightest prospect of another job, he manages to cover his true feelings very well. He says
nothing untoward, offers no criticism, displays no antipathy, and is seen on the surface as
nothing but a loyal, model employee. After months of this he is suddenly laid off. Downsized. Let go. He can’t figure it out. What did he do to deserve this. Nothing. The answer is, nothing. But he did do something to
create  it. His negative energies, inward and hidde n as they were, created the energy field
from which emerged the outcome with which he is abruptly faced. Do you believe this. Do you believe that this is the way something like this can happen. Trust me. This is exactly the way it happens. “As a man thinke th in his heart, so is he. ” If he thinks day and night, “I hate this place —I
wish I didn’t have to be here anymore,” his wish will come true —even if he never utters a
word about it. Life is like a genie let out of the bottle: It says: Your wish is my comma nd. Now let’s take your own current situation. Unlike the man in the above little story who
hated his work, what’s going on in your life right now is a change that you did not wish (in
even in your most private thoughts) would happen. This all came down ag ainst your will. So how does that  work. Simple. You may not have wished that this change would take place, but at some level
you must have known that it could, and even might. And this was not a small knowing. It
was a big knowing, in your heart. It is your knowing that creates the strongest energy, not your wishing. In fact, knowing
trumps wishing  every time. That’s because knowing has enormous power behind it. Wishing is wimpy, flimsy. “Knowing of a certainty” is the kind of faith that moves
moun tains. Someone once said, “What you know is what is so. ”
You can wish to win the million -dollar lottery, but if you know  that you don’t stand much
of a chance, then you won’t stand much of a chance. You can wish to get a date with the
most desirable person  in the class, but if you know  that you don’t stand much of a chance,
then you won’t stand much of a chance. You can wish to feel just fine about the huge change
that is happening in your life, but if you know  that you don’t stand much of a chance, then
you won’t stand much of a chance. Ah, yes. “if only wishing could make it so. ”
Well, wishing is a good start. Jiminy Cricket was right about that. But in the end, you
must turn that wish into an awareness that your wish will come true. You must know that it
will. But what do you tell yourself then  if, after all is said and done, it just doesn’t happen. You must let yourself remember that you are always creating at three levels of creation: the
subconscious level, the conscious level, and the super -conscious level. It is at the super -
conscious level that you join with all other souls in a collaboration of cosmic proportion
that allows for the perfect conditions to exist, allowing the souls involved to evolve to the
next highest level. So the reality that you have produced, the change that you are experiencing this minute,
is not something that you created alone. The fact is that you created it in collaboration with
others. All the other “players” in your Game of Life created it with you. You created t he
outcome together. For reasons known very clearly by the lot of you. In a way that serves
the agenda of all of you. This is just one more way of saying that everything happens for the best. Now when you know  that everything happens for the best, then everything that happens
is okay with you. The irony of this is that when everything that happens is okay with you, you
set up an energy field of such equanimity and harmony with the universe that the universal
law of attraction draws more equanimity and harmony into your life. Your soul knows that the process of co -creation never impinges upon the individual will
of anyone. Nothing can happen against your inner will. Not even your death. Especially  not
your death. (For a thorough and inspiring exploration of this particular insight, see Home
with God in a Life That Never Ends. ) Given Who and What you are (Divinity Individuated), it is impossible for anything to
take place that violates your highest desire. The inte rweavings of life are always in
harmony with each other. You must, therefore, have at some level agreed with all that has
occurred and is occurring. If it happened to you, it happened through  you. This is why the soul is never unhappy. Why would the soul b e unhappy when it is always
getting what it wants. Why  it would want  what it is getting is another question. The answer: there is always a
reason tied to the soul’s desire to evolve. Sometimes the soul evolves most rapidly by giving up what the mind wants,  in favor of what someone else may need, or what a
situation may require. The mind might not always be okay with this, but the soul always is. So do not recriminate against yourself. Do not make yourself wrong or chastise or
castigate yourself for any life  outcomes that you have generated, consciously or
unconsciously, that you would call negative. Rather, have compassion with yourself if you
do not understand the larger reason for these outcomes, then give praise to yourself for
your ability to meet them h ead on, then congratulate the magnificent part of yourself that
finds a way to move through them, and finally, celebrate that aspect of yourself that sees, in
the final analysis, the benefit  that has come to you as a result of them. You will know that you have changed your idea about life when you come to the last
conclusion first. You will see life and everything in life as an opportunity, not an
obstruction; as good fortune, not misfortune; as a gift, not a gaff. And your attitude about
life itself will recreate  itself in life itself. After you’ve changed your idea about life and its purpose, you are only one step away
from changing your idea about yourself —from changing your very identity. Do this, and you will change everything. And that  is something you  may wish to
Take time to ponder
Only when you’re ready, pick up the chapter at. WALKING HOME
William Shakespeare had it exactly right:
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your
philosophy. The final change in our list of nine could very well be the first. If the entire human race
ever made a wholesale shift to this new way of thinking, to this new way of holding the life
experience itself, then every moment in every day in the life of every person in the world
woul d be transformed forever. I now invite you to make this final change. I now invite you
to. CHANGE #9:
Change your identity
When I was a child —indeed, from the time I was eight or nine until the time I left my
family of origin —my father repeatedly aske d me the same question, usually about once
every other week or so:
Who do you think you are anyway. His question was borne of frustration, but if he thought he was frustrated, he should
have lived in my reality. I had no idea who I was or what I was  doing here, nor did I have
any concept at all about what life was, or why it was the way  it was. I couldn’t understand it, I didn’t agree with it, and I wanted no part of it. Yet getting out of it was not an attractive
option. (Actually, there were times when I actually thought that it might be. I am so happy to say
that I moved through those times without succumbing to the temptation to end the most
magnificent experience a soul could ever have. My process was a little herky -jerky, for sure. A little bump y, no question. But I made it. Thank you, God. ) I came to the hope that somewhere, somewhere, there was an answer to all of this; a
reason for it all; a way that it all made some sense. I figured that there was just something
that I didn’t understand, the understanding of which would change everything. After my conversations with God I knew that I would never find what that “something”
was in the Past Data held by the mind. I knew that I would have to somehow connect with a
larger source. I knew that I was going to have to commune on a regular basis with my soul. This I did in my own way. I’ve already said that there is more than one way to meditate. The meditation technique I described earlier is one way —and one very good way —to go
about sil encing the mind and connecting with the soul. But it is not the only way, nor is it
necessarily, for everyone, the best way. There are many people who find it extremely difficult to sit in silent meditation. For
them, it may seem as if the “art of meditati on” is something that is lost to them. I felt this
way for a long time


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

 DAY 15

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

 DAY 16

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

 DAY 17

Now isn’t a moment in time that can be grasped and held. Now is the rise and fall of awareness. If you want to  know who enforces the rules of virtual re ality,
the cloc k is a good place to st art. The tick-tock of clock tim e slices
life into segments of secon ds, minutes, and hours. Once you
identify with clock time, your life passes in seconds, minutes, and
hours. Such an existence is m echanical and routine. Breaking out
of virtual reality, now has to become a state of awareness, not a
slice of bread. When you wake up, now is a presence; it is the
unbroken experience of being here. Experiencing this presence, you witness how the stream of
consciousness delivers a se quence of fleeting sensations and
perceptions. Dividing this stream of activity into seconds, minutes,
and hou rs is a mental construct only. When you are awake, you
pay more attention to the presence of awareness than  to the
fleeting events taking place in the mind. For Today
Mental activity is very clingy. You have a stake in the thou ghts,
sensations, images, and feelings that pass through your mind. But
you do n’t have to have a stake in those thoughts, sensations,
images, and feelings. Imagin e that you are sitting on a co mmuter
train looking out the window. As the scenery rushes by, you don’t
see it by picking out each building, tree, car, or person. It’ s all just
the passing scenery. If you ha ppen to notice something that stands
out, it passes just as quickly as the things you don’t noti ce. Now
instead of windows, substitute your eyes. You are sitting behind
them watching the passing scenery. When you adopt this position,which i s known as “witnessing,” you approximate for a moment
what the permanent state of being awake is like. YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 18

Clock time slices up the timeless, giving it beginnings and
endings. As a result, there is birth, aging, and death. All of virtual reality, from the atom to the human body to the
universe, is a timeless process frozen in time. If you say, “I was
born in 1961” or “The meeting starts promptly at three” or “The
big bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago,” you are doing the same
thing—freezing a constant fluid process into a beginning, which
automatically b rings a middle and an end. Beginning, mid dle, and
end are  menta l constructs. What is the middle of blue? What was
the last  thing that happened before time began? When you wake
up, being here is continuous—actually, it has always been
continuous, until beginning, middle, and end were invented. It
will com e as a great relief to  ditch those concepts. Not o nly will
you find  that you are living in the now, but birth, aging, and death
will become irrelevant. For Today
To step out of clock time into the timeless, take a moment and
look at a color,  say the blue of the sky. Try to see beyond t he blue. Really try. You will notice th at it is futile to try to think your way
there. M ental activity is irrelevant. Nor does it matter if you
actually see beyond the blue. By stopping your mind from
interfering, you escaped clock time, so the only place you can be is
timeless. Similarly, try to imagine a time when you didn’t exist. This will also stop the think ing mind from interfering. You will
experience no time when you didn’t exist. Is there a better
definition of eternity?YOUR EXPERIENCE:

 DAY 19

Reality is the endless activity of awareness modifying
itself. If someone walked up to you  and said, “I want to be here  now. Where’s it happening?” you’d  be puzzled. “Now” isn’t a place on
the map. Brain connection s can be mapped in their precise
locations, but there is no top, bottom, back, or front to aw areness. The now is con tinuous because awareness is continuous. Only in
virtual reality are limitations  like beginnings and endings or birth
and death imposed.


	up. Such	vein	issues	can
become	more	pronounced	if	one	is	sedentary	or	has	reduced	circulation,	and
they	can	even	be	aggravated	by	hormonal	issues	like	hormone	replacement
therapy,	pregnancy,	or	birth	control. 4
	Here	are	some	things	you	can	do	about
them:
•
Walk	around	often	to	keep	circulation	flowing. •
If	you	stand	still	often,	look	into	compression	hose	to	help	with	support. Some	are	more	visually	appealing	than	others,	and	you	might	not	want	to
wear	some	of	them	on	your	bare	legs	(at	least	out	in	public),	but	you	can
certainly	wear	them	under	a	long	skirt	or	pants. •
When	showering,	massage	the	area	around	the	broken	veins	first	in	a	gentle
circular	motion	and	then	in	an	upward	motion	to	help	improve	circulation. (Avoid	this	with	painful	varicose	veins.) •
Dry	brush	your	skin,	as	discussed	earlier	on
this	page
,	which	helps	stimulate
the	growth	and	repair	of	the	tissues	and	underlying	veins	by	increasing
blood	flow	to	the	area. It	also	helps	remove	the	blood	that	has	leaked	out	of
the	capillaries	by	diffusing	it	into	the	interstitial	fluids	for	removal. Brushing	the	spider	veins	very	gently	in	a	circular	motion	then	upward
toward	the	heart	several	times	per	day	can	improve	their	appearance. •
Vitamins	A,	B	complex,	C,	D,	and	E	are	all	great	nutrients	to	help	with
tissue	repair,	optimal	circulation,	and	strong	veins. Great	sources	include
carrots,	nutritional	yeast,	mushrooms,	almonds,	lemons,	and	bell	peppers. •
Avoid	inflammatory	vegetable	oils,	especially	when	cooked,	which	can
become	rancid	in	your	body	and	increase	free	radicals	and	cellular	damage. •
Make	sure	you	eat	the	right	beauty
fats,	such	as	avocados,	coconut	oil,	and
olive	oil	(best	taken	raw	and	lightly	on	certain	dishes	such	as	salads). This
can	help	you	build	nice	strong	cell	walls. •
Eat
pineapple! It	contains	a	dietary	enzyme	called	bromelain,	which	can
improve	overall	circulation	by	reducing	the	buildup	of	fibrin	along	the	walls
of	the	blood	vessels. •
Spider	veins	are	often	associated	with	the	use	of	hormone	replacementtherapy	(HRT)	and	birth	control	pills. High	levels	of	estrogen	from	these
medications	seem	to	aggravate	venous	insufficiency. If	you	are	using	birth
control	pills,	you	may	want	to	ask	your	doctor	for	a	lower-estrogen-dose
formula. If	you	are	on	HRT,	you	may	want	to	consider	switching	to	a	lower
dose,	adding	progesterone,	or	using	a	weaker	formula,	such	as	an	estrone
cream. •
Try	to	elevate	your	legs	to	hip	level	for	a	few	minutes	several	times	a	day. Frequency	is	more	important	than	the	amount	of	time	in	this	case. Get	out
of	the	habit	of	crossing	your	legs,	knees,	and	ankles	when	seated. If	you	have
a	desk	job,	try	to	spend	a	few	minutes	walking	around	every	hour. If	you
have	a	job	that	requires	standing	for	hours	on	end,	try	to	sit	and	elevate	your
feet	to	hip	level	once	every	hour. CIRCULATION	AND	REJUVENATION	MASK
Chickpea	flour	has	been	used	in	some
Ayurvedic	recipe	preparations	for	the	skin	and	is	believed	to
help	exfoliate	and	soften	it	as	well	as	stimulate	circulation	and	rejuvenate	tissues. Bananas	are	a	rich,
incredible	beauty	food	high	in	B	vitamins,	vitamin	A,	and	minerals	such	as	potassium. Try	this	simple
mask	on	your	face—or	even	on	the	spider-vein	areas	of	your	legs—when	you	want	to	give	your	skin	a
revitalization	and	glow	boost. ¼	cup	mashed	ripe	banana
1	tablespoon	organic	chickpea	flour
2	teaspoons	sesame	oil	(or	a	little	more	or	less,
depending	on	the	size	of	the	banana)
Stir	the	banana	into	the	chickpea	flour	and	mix	in	the	sesame	oil. Apply	an	even	layer	to	your	face
and	neck,	leaving	it	on	for	15	to	20	minutes	while	you	relax,	before	rinsing	off.SHIFT	9:
Nourish	Strong,	Healthy
Hair	and
Nails
All	of	the	changes	you’ve	made	so	far	to	your	diet	and	self-care	routine	will
result	in	stronger,	more	naturally	beautiful	hair	and	nails. Like	your	skin,	the
strength	and	vitality	of	your	hair	and	nails	is	a	reflection	of	all	that	is
happening	inside	your	body,	and	there	are	many	ways	to	nourish	them	both
internally	and	externally. How	to	Grow	Healthy	Hair	from	the	Outside	In
If	you	want	strong,	healthy	hair,	it’s	essential	to	nourish	the	hair	follicles	that
grow	your	actual	hair	strands. Go	ahead	right	now	and	touch	your	scalp	with
your	fingers. Give	yourself	a	little	head	massage. It	feels	good,	right? Your	scalp
is	rich	in	nerves	and	blood	vessels. Get	familiar	with	touching	your	scalp	more
than	just	when	you	are	shampooing. It	likes	it	and	will	respond! Every	part	of
your	body	needs	love	and	attention	to	flourish,	and	that	includes	your	scalp. If
you	want	lovely	hair,	you	have	to	give	some	love	to	your	hair. This	includes
attention	from	your	hands,	not	just	from	products	you	buy. In	all	areas	of	life,
love	can’t	just	be	bought. Fluctuations	in	hormones	and	nutrition,	as	well	as	your	good	old	genes,	can
influence	the	quality	and	thickness	of	your	hair. The	dietary	advice	in
Pillar	1
,
Internal	Nourishment,	will	help	you	grow	more	beautiful	hair	over	time. However,	there	are	also	manual,	external	methods	that	you	can	combine	with
your	dietary	shifts	to	help	create	beautifully	healthy,	shiny	hair. Incorporating
these	methods	from	the	outside	and	the	inside	will	help	you	grow	the	beautiful
hair	that	is	your	birthright. Here	are	some	of	the	most	effective	ways	to	externally	nourish	your	hair. WASH	LESS	OFTENUnless	your	hair	is	incredibly	oily,	it	doesn’t	need	to	be	washed	every	day. Washing	a	few	times	a	week	will	keep	your	hair	clean	but	prevent	overdrying,
allowing	more	time	for	the	natural	oils	in	your	hair	to	moisturize	down	to	the
tips	of	your	strands. SCALP	MASSAGE
This	is	a	fantastic	and	highly	effective	way	to	stimulate	your	hair	follicles	and
foster	healthy	new	growth. This	can	be	incorporated	easily	into	your	daily
routine	as	part	of	your
abhyanga
	practice	(see
this	page
). When	you	are	doing
your	daily	oil	massage,	be	sure	to	take	a	few	minutes	to	massage	the	coconut	oil,
sesame	oil,	or	specialized	herbal	formula	oil	into	all	areas	of	your	scalp	to	help
stimulate	circulation	to	your	hair	follicles. If	you	want	to	add


 our dreaming and waking consciousness. What if someon e from a dimension higher than waking consciousness
wanted to walk and talk with us? That person would also have to be
disguised, and pretend to be one of us, though he or she woul d know that
there was a much greater consc iousness beyond the waking consciousness
level. If that being was charismatic and convincing, many might listen and
achieve a sense of the potential of the higher consciousness beyond waking
consciousness. Such is, I believe, the process of highly spiritual masters
who have come  here to teach us about the dimensions that are there for us
in the world beyond our form. What would be a good disguise? How about
that of a carpenter who gives us an inkling of what is available  for us, and
who tells us while performing miracle after miracle, “He that believeth in
me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do”? How about a teacher, or a writer, or a gas station attendant? Yes,
there are miracle workers out there who can lead us to the edge of our
waking consciousness, to glimpse something more. The great spiritualmasters who have lived amon g us and who continue to do so have
transcended the rules of form that we believe are the only set of rules. While we are in our dreaming bodies experiencing the part of our lives
we spend in this world of pure thought, we can have transcendent
experiences when we choose. We do not need any of our senses in this
formless state. We need not touch or feel or smell anything using our senses
to know that it is real. Thought is real. By beco ming a waking dreamer, you will enter that higher level of
consciousness beyond waking consciousness, the level that spiritual masters
have let us glimpse through their teaching and their example s as human
beings. But to do so you must challenge your reality-thinking belief system. To become a waking dreamer you must learn to “die while you are alive.”
Let’s start by looking briefly at the process of dying. It is my belief that (1)
we cannot kill thought, and (2) all form is in transition. It follo ws then that
death will be very much like the dream consciousness I descr ibed above. We, our thoughts, leave our body when we enter our dream, and then we
(the thoughts we are) reenter the body for waking consciousness. Similarly,
when we die our thoughts leave  the body and can look back at this dream
we are living now which we call waking consciousness, with the same kind
of vision that we look back at our dreams. This is a powerful idea. It could
free us from fearing death if we learn to internalize it. The reason we have
difficulty accepting that this waking consciousness is a dream is that
everything seems just too real. But go back to our dream consciousness. The same ration ale applies here. While we are in the dreaming body we are
convinced that it is real, but it is real only for the dream and becomes an
illusion when we awaken. Everything that we experience in our waking
consciousness is also real to us. To die while we are alive gives us the only opportunity we will ever have
to get outside of this package that houses us temporarily. An ancient parable
repeated generation after generation by the spiritual maste rs of India
illustrates this point:
A traveler from India went to Africa to acquire some local products and
animals, and while in the jungle  he saw thousands of beautiful multicolored
talking parrots. He decided to capture a talking parrot and take it back as a
pet. At home he kept his parrot in a cage and fed him wonderful seeds and
honey, played music for his pet, and generally treated him well. When itwas time for the man to return to Africa two years later, he asked his parrot
if there was any message he could deliver to the parrot’ s friends back in the
jungle. The parrot told his master to say that he was very happy in his cage
and that he was enjoying each day and to convey his love. When the travel er arrived back in Africa he delivered the message to the
parrots in the jungle. Just as he finished his story, a parrot with tears welling
up in his eyes fell over dead. The man was alarmed and decided that the
parrot must have  been very close to the parrot in the cage and that was the
reason for his sadness and demise. When the travel er returned to India, he told his pet what had happened. As he finished his story, the pet parrot’ s eyes welled up with tears and he
keeled over dead in his cage. The man was astounded, but figured that his
pet died from the despair of hearing of the death of his close friend back in
the jungle. The trader opened up the cage and tossed the dead bird outside onto the
trash heap. Imm ediately his pet parrot flew up to a branch on the tree
outside. The trader said to him, “So, you are not dead after all. Why did you do
that?”
The parrot answered, “Because that bird back in Africa sent me a very
important message.”
“What was the message?” the trader inquired impatiently. “He told me that if you want to escape from your cage, you must die
while you are alive.”
We must indeed die while we are alive in order to be able to look back at
our waking consciousness and see ourselves trapped in our cage, which in
our case is our body. And then we will see how unnecessary it is to remain
caged. Let’s take a closer look at those seven rules that apply to our dreaming
body and see how much more enchanting our waking consciousness will
become if we learn to die while we are alive—to become an awake
dreamer. 1. Time does not exist. Einstein’ s life study was devoted to the
simple message  that we exist in a completed universe. If time
does not exist, except as a convenience for man, then eight hours
and eighty years are the same thing. A dream of eight hours and adream of eighty years are identical, and the only way we know we
are dreaming is to wake up. In a dream, we can be a tiny baby or
a toddle r or an adolescent. We can get married, have children,
pursue a career, go bankrupt, have grandchildren, move to a
retirement community, and become old—all in a period of
minutes. In the dream it is very real and we are able to reduce it
all into a tiny segment of what we call time. While we are awake,
in the waking-consciousness level, it is possible also to recognize
that time is an illusion and redefine ourselves to include our
formless and ageless natures. 2. There is no cause and effect. In the dreaming body we come
and go freely without being restricted to the laws of cause and
effect. In though t we are exactly  the same. We can have a thoug ht
that is totally unrelated to the previous thought within a greater
thought process. We can have a dream within a dream within a
dream. In wakin g consciousnes s too we can choose to recognize
that we need not be confined to the rules that determine form. The
physical law of gravity does not apply in thought. In fact, just
beyond our atmosphere even  our form is not confined to
gravitational restrictions. A waking dreamer can dream any
thought without  reference to the previous thought. We can flit
from one thought to another and use only those thoughts which
are useful. In waking consciou sness we can understand that we
are capable of shifting gears anytime in our life. If you traine d
yourself to be a physician and it no longer applies in your life,
you simply choose new thought s and begin to apply the concepts
of making your visualizations your waking-consciousness reality. 3. There is no beginning and no end. In our dreaming body we do
not disappear or terminate, because it is only in form that there
are beginnings and endings. We never die in our dream in the
sense that we simply discontinue being. Nor do we in waking
consciousness, and we must understand this if we are going to get
over our fear of death. We cannot kill thought, and we prove thisover and over every night. Your dead grandmother can be right
there in your dream, at age fifty-three and eighty-three,
unrestricted to the rules of form. When we go into our dreamin g
body we do not have to have a beginning for each dream
sequence, we are simply there, pure and simple; there is no need
to start out. We can be right here now in waking consciousness as well,
disregarding beginnings and endings, imagining forever instead. Within the concept of eternity, the notion of a beginning and an
ending is an absurdity. Try imagining where the universe starts
and ends, and you will see how foolish all of that is. Try
imagining a thought having a beginning and end and you know
that thought does not conform to such rules. The universe, and
everything in it, including mankind, is thought, and the wakin g
dreamer strives  to comprehend rather than being preoccupie d
with where it ends and how it begins. Truly enlightened souls
knew that they cannot die. They know that death is just a
transition of form, and that the astral thought dimension
experiences no such phenomenon as