 Being in training  all of your life for a job or position. Never
leaving the training phase for self-reliance. • Being hurt by what others say, feel, think, or do. • Only feeling happy or successful if your mate is feeling that
way. • Taking orders from someone. • Allowing someone else to make decisions for you, or always
asking advice before deciding. • “You owe me, look what I did for you.” The obligations that go
with being dependent. • Not doing something in front of a parent or dominant person
because they wouldn’t approve. Not smoking, drinking, swearing,
eating a hot fudge sundae, or whatever, because of your submissive
role. • Giving up on your own life when a loved one dies, or becomes
seriously ill.
• Using careful language around a dominant person, so that he
won’t be upset with you. • Persistently lying about your own behavior, and having to distort
the truth so that “they” won’t be upset with you. The Psychological Compensation of Dependency
The reasons for hanging on to this self-thwarting behavior are not
very complicated. You may know the payoffs for being a dependent,
but do you know how destructive they are? Dependency may appear
harmless, but it is the enemy of all happiness and fulfillment. Here
are the more common dividends for keeping yourself in a dependent
state:204 / Your Erroneous Zones• Being dependent can keep you in the protective custody of
others, and give you the little child benefits of not being responsible
for your own behavior. • By staying dependent, you can blame your shortcomings on
others. • If you are dependent on others, you don’t have to undertake
the hard work and risk of change. You are secure in your reliance
on others who will take responsibility for you. • You can feel good about yourself because you are pleasing oth-
ers. You learned that the way to be good is to please Mommy, and
now many symbolic Mommies manipulate you. • You can avoid guilt which you choose when you behave assert-
ively. It is easier to behave than to learn to eliminate guilt. • You needn’t make choices or decisions for yourself. You model
yourself on the parent, spouse, or individual on whom you depend. So long as you think what they think or feel what they feel, there’s
no need for the hard work of determining what you think or feel. • When everything else is boiled away, it is just plain easier to be
a follower than a leader. You can do what you’re told and avoid
trouble, even though you may not like the way you feel as a follower. It’s still simpler than taking all those risks that go with being your
own person. Dependency is distasteful because it makes you into
less than a whole, independently functioning person. But it is easier,
that’s for sure. A Prospectus for Ridding Yourself of Dependency
• Write your own Declaration of Independence in which you spell
out for yourself how you want to function in all relationships, not
eliminating compromise, but wiping out any manipulation without
representation. “I, the person, in order to have a more perfect union,
etc.”
• Talk with each person that you feel you are psychologically
dependent upon. Declare your aims of functioning indepen-DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE  / 205dently, explain how you feel when you do things out of a sense of
obligation. This is an excellent strategy for getting started, because
the other may not even be aware of how you feel as a dependent. • Give yourself five-minute goals for how you’re going to deal
with dominant people in your life. Try a one-shot “No, I don’t want
to,” and test the reaction of your reaction in the other person’s. • Arrange a planning session with your dominant partner at a
time when you are feeling unthreatened. During this session, explain
that you sometimes feel manipulated and submissive and that you
would like to arrange a nonverbal signal to let the other person know
how you are feeling when it crops up, but that you don’t want to
discuss it at that time. A simple tugging of the ear or a thumb in the
mouth to signal you’re feeling submissive at a particular time. • At the moment you are feeling shoved-around psychologically,
state how you feel to the person, and then act out the way you’d like
to behave. • Remind yourself that parents, spouses, friends, bosses, children
and others will often disapprove of your behavior, and that has
nothing to do with who or what you are. It is a given fact in any re-
lationship that you will incur some disapproval. If you expect it,
then you won’t be thrown by it. In this way you can break many of
the dependency-ties that enslave you emotionally. • Even if you are deliberately avoiding dominant people (parent,
spouse, boss, child), you are still being controlled by them in their
absence if you are experiencing emotional immobilization because
of them. • If you are feeling obligated to visit certain people, ask yourself
if you would want others to visit you simply because they felt re-
quired to do so. If not, extend a similar courtesy to those you are
treating in this manner, and talk it out with them. That is, reverse
the logic and see how undignified a relationship of obligation really
is.206 / Your Erroneous Zones• Make a decision to get out of your dependency role by doing
volunteer work, reading, getting a baby-sitter (even if you can’t af-
ford it), getting a job that doesn’t necessarily even pay well. Why? Simply because the remuneration of your own high self-esteem is
worth whatever the price it costs in money or time. • Insist on financial independence with no strings, and no account-
ing to anyone. You are a slave if you must ask for money. If that is
impossible, arrange to make your own money in any creative way
that you can devise. • Let them go! Let yourself go! Stop giving orders! Stop taking
orders! • Recognize your desire for privacy and not having to share
everything you feel and experience with someone. You are unique
and private. If you feel you must share everything then you are
without choice, and of course, a dependent. • Let a child’s room be his. Give him an area that he can control,
and, as long as it’s not unhealthy, allow him to make decisions about
how it will be organized. A made bed is not any more psychologic-
ally sound than an unmade bed, even though you may have learned
the opposite. • At a party, congregate with people away from your partner. Don’t feel responsible to be with that person at all times. Split up
and then join forces when it is over. You’ll double your learning and
experience. • If you want to go to a movie and your partner wants to play
tennis, do it that way! Allow yourself more separateness, and your
moments of togetherness will be happier, and more exciting. • Take mini-trips alone, or with friends without having to feel
attached to your partner. You’ll feel more strongly toward your
partner when you come back, and you’ll treasure your independent
functioning as well. • Keep in mind that you have no responsibility to make others
happy. Others make themselves happy. Thus, you may truly enjoy
the company of another, but if you feel it is yourDECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE  / 207mission to make them happy, then you are a dependent who will
also feel gloom when the other person is down. Or even worse, you’ll
feel as though you let him down. You are responsible for your own
emotions and so is everyone else. No one has control over your
feelings, except you. • Remember that habit is no reason to do anything. Just because
you’ve always been submissive to others is not sufficient justification
for allowing it to continue. The business of effective living and parenting is independence. Similarly, the hallmark of effective marriage is minimal fusion and
optimal autonomy and self-reliance. And while you may feel real
fear about breaking away from dependent relationships, if you asked
those upon whom you are emotionally dependent, you would sur-
prisingly discover that they most admire those who think and act
for themselves. More irony. You get the most respect for being inde-
pendent, particularly from those who try the hardest to keep you
subordinate. The nest is a beautiful place for a child to develop, but nest-leaving
is even more beautiful and can be viewed that way by the one leav-
ing, as well as the one watching the takeoff.208 / Your Erroneous ZonesXI
FAREWELL TO ANGER
The only antidote to anger is to eliminate the internal sentence, “If
only you were more like me.”
Is your fuse too short? You may accept anger as a part of your life,
but do you recognize that it serves no utilitarian purpose? Perhaps
you’ve justified your short-fuse behavior by saying things like, “It’s
only human,” or “If I don’t express it, then I’ll store it up and have
an ulcer.” But anger is probably a part of you that you don’t like,
and needless to say, neither does anyone else. Anger is not “only human.” You do not have to possess it, and it
serves no purpose that has anything to do with being a happy, ful-
filled person. It is an erroneous zone, a kind of psychological influ


 salt, or sodium, it’s terribly bad for them. If it comes in its organic form in a fruit or vegetable,
it will do no harm. Celery has one of the highest sodium contents naturally of any vegetable, and it’s
totally safe to give a heart patient. Of course, I’m not a doctor—so I have to put in a disclaimer or the
lawyers will be all over my case—but a doctor won’t have a problem with a heart patient taking ocean-
grown celery, which has a high concentration of organic sodium. Mike : People are familiar with using sea kelp or ocean kelp on their gardens, and they understand that
that contains a lot of trace minerals and macro minerals as well. How is Ocean Grown better than
using sea kelp or other ocean vegetables? Hartman : Well, the first thing you have to look at is that, just like terrestrial vegetation, seaweed has
different uptakes of sea minerals. So you might have a kelp that only takes up 56, like a tomato, and
you might have a kelp that only picks up 40. So you have to ask yourself, “Has the science been done
that says, ‘Okay, this species of seaweed pickup all 90 like wheatgrass does?’” The first problem is, I don’t
think anybody’s done that research, and the second problem is that seaweed comes to the farm or home
grower as an organic compound, so it’s not readily available to the plant as food. When you put that
kelp product onto your plant, it’s still going to have to compost and break down before it’s available to
the plant. Mike : It’s like putting manure on the soil, except it’s sea vegetable. Hartman : That’s right. The good part is that it came out of the sea, and chances are it has more
nutrients and trace elements than manure. But if you have a perfect solution, why not use it? It’s in the
right form, and it has all 90 elements. seawater Minerals and the Coming Agricultural Revolution
Mike : What about changing the pH of the soil? Does ocean water have any kind of strong effect on
the pH? Hartman : Well, it’s neutral or fairly neutral. It has a pH of eight, so it’s slightly alkaline. The fact
that it’s slightly alkaline will affect the pH, but I think people fuss and worry about pH a lot only
because what they’re doing is so unnatural, so they have to go to these other extraordinary means to
try to compensate for what they’re doing. I think that what people will find is that pH is much less
important—in fact, maybe not important at all if soil and the plants are getting nutrition. Mike : I’ve done a lot of experiments with hydroponics and even aeroponics, but I’ve never done it with
ocean water. I’ve already ordered some of your product, and I’m going to try that. Do you know anyone
who’s been doing hydroponics with your product? Hartman : We do, and many of our customers do. What we do in our office is grow wheatgrass
hydroponically, completely soil-less. It’s very reliable, very easy, and anyone can do it. In fact, if you
contact us through the website, we can send you a 14-page “how to” printout, which hopefully we’ll
post on the website soon so people can download it. It tells you what you need to buy (which is totally
inexpensive), so you can have your own wheatgrass on a shelf in your kitchen, if you’d like. It also
gives you indications of how you would grow other things hydroponically and aeroponically. The big
difference with aeroponics is that a plant dies as soon as the roots get dry, so that’s the key. You’ve got
to keep the roots damp, and if you can do that, it will do very well. Mike : They also come back quickly once you turn the water back on. I’ve had that experience a few
times. I’ve seen a plant recover in 20 minutes, and it’s just amazing. What about sprouting at home and
using a bit of your product for sprouting? Hartman : When we grow wheatgrass, we soak it for 24 hours in our diluted solution before we put it
in a tray or before we plant it. One of our customers is a farmer in Montana, and he’s even gone to the
extraordinary extent to soak his wheat seeds before planting them—and I say “extraordinary” because
to get the planting machinery to plant them, you have to not only soak the seeds but dry them back
out, otherwise they won’t go through the planter, but he got tremendous results. It’s the best wheat he’s
ever grown, and he’s been a farmer for decades. So you can soak seeds, and if you get roses in the mail
and you want to give them a good start, just soak them in diluted ocean solution. seawater Minerals and the Coming Agricultural Revolution
Ocean minerals could revolutionize modern agriculture
Mike : I’m getting the sense that we have the resources on the planet right now to revolutionize food
and farming and health. The answers are all right there, and you’re one of the people reminding us of
the wisdom of nature. Hartman : You know, our mission is really to get nutrition back in the food supply, and one of my
partner’s responsibility is to work on philanthropic outreach programs. We’re currently involved in one
in sub-Saharan Africa and one in Central America, and we try to show people in those areas that don’t
have access to good health care systems how to grow their way to health. Mike : What about in the United States? Do you have some kind of long-term plan to help commercial
growers use this product? I mean, what’s your vision? If you could wave a magic wand and see the U.S.
change, what would it look like? Hartman : I think the first thing people need to understand is the demographics of it. I think everyone
is well aware the “organic movement” is growing by leaps and bounds, and the consumers will drive
the growth of it. They are going to ask their local grocery stores, “Hey, where’s the organic produce?”
So you’ll see it grow, but, at the moment, the organic segment of the market is 2 percent of the market. We’re going to cater and help the organic folks figure this all out, but you can see that we can do a lot
more good if we go directly after the commercial farmers. Think about all the benefits. It’s much easier
to use than what they’re doing. If, after a three-year period, they choose to use this in only certified
organic inputs, they’ll be considered organic—and they can charge a premium for their food as opposed
to being tied to the commodity markets that they’ve been tied to all these years. Also, commercial
farmers are huge polluters of groundwater—so, really, our mission is to go after the commercial farmers
and systems, because I think that’s where we will do the most good. It will get the best food out to the
most people as quickly as possible, and it’s a very green product, so it will reduce groundwater pollution,
which is just terrible at the moment. Mike : But to a commercial farmer who’s only looking at the bottom line, does using your product make
bottom-line economic sense to them? Hartman : Absolutely, it does. The point of farming is to make nutritious foods. What we guarantee
users is that we will give them equivalent yields without all the dangers of chemical agriculture, like
poison and poison runoff. And we feel that very soon, within the next couple of years, users of our
product will be able to charge a premium for their food, because now we have corroborating evidence
that it is producing superior food. Mike : But does ocean water on commercial farms reduce the need to use pesticides? seawater Minerals and the Coming Agricultural Revolution
Hartman : Yes, because if [plants] are properly “nutrified,” they are much more immune to diseases. If your immune system is fully fortified, you’re able to ward off all kinds of things that people with a
challenged immune system can’t. Mike : So even fungicides are needed less, and infectious disease in plants is less frequent. Hartman : Absolutely, and Dr. Murray did quite a bit of research with both plants and animals – and,
again, get his book, “Sea Energy Agriculture.”
Mike : Can people buy that through bookstores, or is this only through your site and the publisher’s site? Hartman : I’ve even seen it on Amazon, so try Amazon or Acres USA, which is the publisher, or go
through our website. Mike : Okay, wonderful. I’m going to do some testing with your product on some sprouts and
hydroponic plants. How remineralization can reduce appetite cravings and produce natural
weight loss
Hartman : That sparks something in me that I haven’t said. You know, one of the results that I noticed
when I was drinking Ocean Grown  and Ocean Solution -fed wheatgrass is that, as the food gets better, it’s
more efficient on whatever consumes that food. For instance, in Florida, where our company is located,
cattle graze on what looks like the most beautiful grass for 18 hours a day. From before dawn to after
dusk, they’re grazing, and that seems peculiar because it seems like an inordinately long


)	of	Harvard	graduates	showed	that
people	who	had	a	pessimistic	outlook	on	life	suffered	significantly	more
disease	after	age	forty-five	than	people	with	a	positive	outlook. •	A	2001	study	in
Psychosomatic	Medicine
found	that	optimism	protects
against	heart	disease. People	who	are	pessimistic	and	blame	themselves	for
everything	were	much	more	likely	to	die	of	a	heart	attack	than	their
optimistic	counterparts. •	Dr.	O.	Carl	Simonton,	in	his	1978	book,
Getting	Well	Again,
talks	about
how	visual	imagery	with	positive	mental	images	had	a	beneficial	effect	on
patients	with	advanced	cancer. Simonton	found	that	people	who	used	their
minds	to	heal	had	double	the	survival	rate	of	those	who	did	not. •	A	study	in	a	2000	issue	of
Lancet
concluded	that	women	who	experience
severe	emotional	stress	during	the	first	trimester	of	pregnancy	are	80
percent	more	likely	to	have	a	child	with	birth	defects. Body,	Heal	Thyself
You	must	believe	in	your	health	if	you	are	to	maintain	or	regain	health. You
must	actively	care	for	your	health	when	you	are	well,	and	actively	pursue
wellness	when	you	are	ill. When	my	own	body	was	in	progressive	deterioration	during	the	depths	of	my
illness,	I	began	to	realize	that,	for	survival,	I	needed	to	employ	my	mind	as	well
as	my	body. I	began	to	repeat	a	version	of	an	old	affirmation	to	myself,	again
and	again,	a	mantra	of	sorts:
Every	day,	in	every	way,	I	get	stronger	and	stronger
and	better	and	better. At	first,	when	I	would	say	this	to	myself,	my	mind	would	fight	back,	saying
something	like,
Wow,	are	you	a	liar! You	feel	worse	today	than	you	did
yesterday. I	realized	that	my	positive	mental	affirmations	were	being	negated	by
my	own	thinking	about	my	situation. I	began	to	reply	to	my	mind’s	objections
by	saying,
I	know	I	am	worse	today,	but	I	am	giving	you	an	instruction. Once	I	became	comfortable	giving	my	body	instructions,	my	own	objections
began	to	disappear	and	my	body	began	to	respond. I	would	say	my	affirmation,
sometimes	out	loud,	with	passion	and	expectancy,	many	times	daily,	repeatedly,
until	I	could	feel	strength	coming	into	my	body	as	I	said	the	words. After	a	few
weeks,	my	subconscious	mind	began	to	implement	the	instructions	and	intent	of
my	conscious	mind. One	day,	after	saying	these	affirmations,	I	felt	the	best	that	I
had	felt	since	the	onset	of	my	illness. The	feeling	lasted	only	five	or	ten	minutes,
but	the	fact	that	it	happened	proved	that	I	was	on	the	right	path. Soon,	thefeelings	of	strength	came	more	often	and	lasted	longer. Later	in	my	studies,	I
learned	of	the	close	connection	between	the	mind	and	the	immune	system. My
badly	damaged	immune	system	was	responding! These	affirmations	had	a	profound	effect	on	me. I	began	to	understand	that
health	and	disease	can	be	the	reactions	of	the	subconscious	mind	to	the	thoughts
of	the	conscious	mind;	the	subconscious	takes	orders	from	the	conscious	mind
and	implements	them. Minds	do	what	they	are	programmed	to	do,	even	though
much	of	that	programming	is	unintended. I	began	to	realize	my	power	to
influence	my	health	simply	by	choosing	the	daily	thoughts	I	was	putting	into	my
mind. By	focusing	on	my	illness,	I	had	been	putting	thoughts	of	disease	into	my
mind,	thereby	creating	more	disease. The	mind	is	always	working,	so	why	not
make	it	work	for	rather	than	against	you? Keep	your	images	and	suggestions	as
positive,	simple,	clear	and	concise	as	possible. Then	repeat	them	as	often	as
possible. Allow	the	subconscious	to	accept	them	as	a	command	and	implement
them. Over	the	past	sixteen	years,	of	all	of	the	people	I	have	known	with	“incurable”
and	“fatal”	diseases,	the	thrivers	and	survivors	have	been	those	individuals	who
used	the	power	of	their	minds	to	heal	their	bodies	consciously. Take	the	case	of
Karl,	a	concert	violinist	who	became	paralyzed	by	a	stroke. His	physicians	told
him	the	paralysis	was	permanent. Confined	to	a	wheelchair,	Karl	was	unwilling
to	accept	such	a	fate. He	decided	to	use	the	power	of	his	mind	to	establish	new
connections	in	his	brain. He	started	by	focusing	intensely	on	just	one	finger. He
commanded	it	to	move,	and	eventually	it	did! Now	a	medical	curiosity,	in	2001
Karl	was	invited	to	give	a	concert	at	an	international	medical	conference	where
his	doctor	presented	his	story. Brain	scans	show	that	Karl’s	miraculous	recovery
resulted	from	using	entirely	new	areas	of	his	brain	and	bypassing	the	damaged
areas. Music	critics	claim	he	is	playing	better	than	ever! How’s	that	for	the
power	of	the	mind? Choosing	to	Stay	Sick
In	contrast	to	Karl,	other	people	in	my	experience	have	failed	to	strengthen
their	psychological	pathway	and	lost	the	health	benefits	of	positive	efforts. Lisa
was	one. She	had	suffered	from	extreme	chemical	sensitivity	for	twelve	years
before	coming	to	me	for	help. I	was	confident	I	could	help	her,	based	on	my	own
experiences. I	taught	Lisa	how	to	improve	her	health,	mostly	through	dietary	and
vitamin	supplement	suggestions,	and	she	made	some	striking	initial
improvements. After	a	few	months,	Lisa	was	living	her	life	in	ways	that	she	hadnot	been	able	to	for	many	years;	she	had	started	dating,	going	out	dancing	and
even	going	on	sailing	trips. Lisa’s	friends	commented	about	how	well	she	looked
and	her	good	progress. After	twelve	years	of	sickness,	Lisa	seemed	to	be	on	a
path	to	a	more	meaningful	life. She	learned	what	was	necessary	to	choose	health
and	seemed	to	have	developed	the	psychological	willingness	to	stick	with	it. One	day,	I	received	a	frantic	call	from	Lisa. Her	disability	caseworker	had
contacted	her	and	informed	Lisa	that	it	was	time	for	an	annual	review. Lisa	had
been	receiving	disability	funds	from	social	security	and	state	welfare,	and	she
was	living	in	subsidized	housing. For	many	years,	Lisa	had	been	too	sick	to
work	and	needed	this	financial	support. Now,	her	health	having	taken	a	dramatic
turn	for	the	better,	Lisa	feared	that	her	caseworker	would	notice	the
improvement	and	revoke	financial	assistance. Lisa	panicked. She	had	been	unable	to	work	for	so	many	years	that	she	had	not	a	clue	about
how	she	could	support	herself	without	those	benefits. Perhaps	her	desire	to	get
well	simply	could	not	compete	with	her	fear	of	losing	support. Perhaps	twelve
years	of	“sickness	programming”	deprived	Lisa	of	the	self-confidence	she
needed	to	thrive. Sadly,	the


The authors provide many examples of the benefits of the "Five Tibetan  Rites" including
the following: looking much younger; sleeping soundly; waking up feeling refreshed
and energetic; release from serious medical problems including difficulties with spines;
relief from problems with joints; release from pain; better memory ; arthritis relief;
weight loss; improved vision; youthing instead of aging; greatly improved physical
strength, endurance and vigor; improved emotional and mental health; enhanced sense
of well being and harmony; and very high overall energy. How the Five  Rites Work
Medical professions explain the benefits based on their personal perspective and I
suggest you read the entire two books for a broad overview. However, the majority share
the view that the rites represent a system of exercise that affects the b ody, emotions and
mind. The Tibetans claim that these exercises activate and stimulate the seven key
chakras that in turn stimulate all the glands of the endocrine system. The endocrine
system is responsible for the body's overall functioning and aging pro cess. This means
that the Five Rites will affect the functioning of all your organs and systems, including
the physical and energetic systems and that includes the aging process. The man who
brought these Five Rights out of Tibet stated that "performing th e Five Rites stimulates
the circulation of essential life energy throughout the body". Chakras
Chakra is an Indian Sanskrit word that translates to mean "Wheel of Spinning Energy". Chakras are spinning wheels or vortexes of energy of different color that p erform many
functions connecting our energy fields, bodies and the Cosmic Energy Field. Chakras
are powerful electrical and magnetic fields. Chakras govern the endocrine system that in
turn regulates all of the body's functions including the ageing process. Energy flows
from the Universal Energy Field through the chakras into the energy systems within our
bodies, including the Meridian System. Our bodies contain seven major chakras or energy centers and 122 minor chakras. The
major chakras are located at th e base of the spine (Root Chakra), at the navel (Sacral
Chakra), in the solar plexus (Solar Plexus Chakra), within your heart (Heart Chakra),
within the throat (Throat Chakra), at the center of your forehead (Brow or Third Eye
Chakra), and at the top of yo ur head (Crown Chakra). These chakras are linked together
with all other energy systems in the body and various layers of the auras. The Speed of the chakra spin is a key to vibrant health. The other keys to vibrant health
that relates to the chakra is ens uring they are clear of negative energy and that they are
perfectly shaped and not distorted. The Five Rites speed up the spinning of the chakras, coordinate their spin so they are in
complete harmony, distribute pure prana energy to the endocrine system, and in turn to
all organs and processes in the body. This is one of the major requirements for vibrant
health, rejuvenation and youthfulness. The Five Rites Exercise Program
This program is often described as a modified yoga program. Simply put, yoga is a
science that unites the body, mind and spirit. Today this is often called Mind/ Body
Healing. The author of the book believes that yoga was brought to Tibet from India in
the 11th or 12th century and that Tibetan monks over time developed modified these
exercises and developed an effective program of exercises that western society now calls
the "Five Tibetan Rites". The rugged mountainous conditions these monks live in may
well account for their particular emphasis on vigor. Many of the yoga exercises and
practices being taught in the western world today are very new. The "Five Tibetan Rites"
are exactly what the ancient Tibetans developed over many centuries of time. Therefore
it's very important to do the "Five Tibetan Rites" exactly as they are presented without
altering the form or sequence to achieve some of the benefits accrued to these "Rites". "Five Tibetan Rites" Exercise Program
The following instructions and photographs for the "Five Rites" and other preparatory
exercises as taken from the book Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth, Book 2. I will
show the exact Five Rights exercises, a group of exercises for those who need to develop
flexibility and strength before beginning to do the "Five Rites", and a set of warm -up
exercises. I strongly re commend you purchase the book since it provides detailed
information about methodology, concerns and benefits not included in this article. SPECIAL CAUTION: Spinning and stretching through the following exercises can
aggravate certain health conditions suc h as any type of heart problem, multiple
sclerosis, Parkinsons's Disease, severe arthritis of the spine, uncontrolled high
blood pressure, a hyperthyroid condition, or vertigo. Problems may also be caused
if you are taking drugs that cause dizziness. Pleas e consult your physician prior to
beginning these exercises if you have any difficult health issues or if you have any
other concerns. The Five Tibetan Rites
Rite #1  Stand erect with arms outstretched
horizontal to the floor, palms facing down. Your arms should be in line with your
shoulders. Spin around clockwise until you
become slightly dizzy. Gradually increase
number of spins from 1 spin to 21 spins. Breathing:  Inhale and exhale deeply as
you do the spins. Rite #2
Lie flat on the floor, face up. Fully
extend your arms Along your sides and
place the palms of your hands against
the floor, keeping fingers close
together. Then raise your head off the
floor tucking your chin into your chest. As you do this, lift your legs, knees
straight, into a vertic al position. If
possible, extend the legs over the body
towards your head. Do not let the knees
bend. Then slowly lower the legs and
head to the floor, always Keeping the
knees straight. Allow the muscles to
relax, and repeat. Breathing:  Breathe in deeply as you
lift your head and legs and exhale as
you lower your head and legs. Rite #3
Kneel on the floor with the body erect. The hands should be placed on the
backs of your thigh muscles. Incline the
head and neck forward, tucking your
chin in against your chest. Then throw
the head and neck backward, arching
the spine. Your toes should be  curled
under through this exercise. As you
arch, you will brace your arms and
hands against the thighs for support. After the arching return your body to an
erect position and begin the rite all over
again. Breathing:  Inhale as you arch the spine
and exh ale as you return to an erect
position. Rite #4
Sit down on the floor with your
legs straight out in front of you
and your feet about 12" apart. With the trunk of the body
erect, place the palms of your
hands on the floor alongside
your buttocks. Then tuck the
chin forward against the chest. Now drop the head backward as
far as it will go. At the same
time raise your body so that the
knees bend while the arms
remain straight. Then tense
every muscle in your body. Finally let the muscles relax as
you return to your original
sitting position. Rest before
repeating this Rite. Breathing:  Breathe in as you
raise up, hold your breath as
you tense the muscles, and
breathe out fully as you come
down. Rite #5
Lie down with your face down to the fl oor. You
will be supported by the hands palms down
against the floor and the toes in the flexed
position. Throughout this rite, the hands and feet
should be kept straight. Start with your arms
perpendicular to the Floor, and the spine arched,
so that the b ody Is in a sagging position. Now
throw the head back as far as possible. The,
bending at the hips, bring the body up into an
inverted "V". At the same time, bring the chin
forward, Tucking it against the chest. Breathing:  Breathe in deeply as you raise t he
body, and exhale fully as you lower the body. Exercises In Preparation For Doing the Five Tibetan Rites
The following group of exercises has been developed as a preparation for doing the Five
Rites,  or as an alternative when you are unable to do any of the Five Rites. Doing these
exercises will help you strengthen and become more flexible to be able to do the Five
Rites as they have been described above. Do these alternative exercises in the sequence  from one to five and when possible,
substitute the Five Rite exercise into this alternative program until you have fully
integrated the Five Rites. As with the Five Rites, begin by doing two or three of each exercise daily, until you are
able to do 10 eac h day. Once you are able to do ten of these alternatives, you should be
ready to begin doing the Five Rite exercises themselves. Alternative (for Rite#1) Exercise #1
Stand with your feet about 12
inches apart. Extend your arms
palms down until your ar ms are
level with your shoulders. Swing your arms to the right,
letting your sl


 with the stars is good for
them. Yet they should avoid jet black color, although gray
is fine. Pitta types should avoid colors in angular, sharp
and penetrating forms and angles. They need round, soft
shapes. They generally do better being more restrained in
their use of color. Kapha
Kapha does best with colors that are warm, dry and
stimulating to counter its properties of coldness, damp-
ness, heaviness and lack of movement. Kapha types do well
with bright shades and strong color contrasts. They do
best with warm colors like orange, yellow, gold and red. Ayurveda and the Mind
They should avoid too much white or white shades of cool
colors like green or blue, but can use these (except white)
in brighter or more lucid hues. Rich shades, like rich foods, derange Kapha. For Kapha
types, colors should be bright, clear and transparent, not
deep or dark. Colors which are sweet should be avoided,
like pink or baby blue. Angular and pyramidal shapes are
good for Kapha, which should avoid round or square
forms. Kaphas do better with more color as long as it is
light and luminous. Colors and the Gunas
Not only does the specific color matter, its quality
according to the three gunas must be considered as well. This factor is important for psychological conditions
because color affects mental nature more directly than it
does the biological humors. While color is a helpful heal-
ing substance, it should not be used in excess. It can ener-
gize, but it also easily becomes disturbing because its basic
quality is Rajas. All colors should be Sattvic in nature:
subtle, pleasant, harmonious, mild and natural. Such mod-
erate use of color has a soothing effect and does not agitate
us. Rajasic colors are bright, loud, flashy and artificial, like
neon signs. Their shades are bright, penetrating or metal-
lic. Their contrasts are excessive, like combinations of
opposite colors such as red and green or blue and yellow. Rajasic colors overstimulate and irritate the mind and
senses. They should be used with discretion, particularly
to counter Tamasic conditions. Tamasic colors are dull, dark, turbid, murky, like a
stagnant green or simply too much gray or black. They
make the mind and senses heavy, congested and inert. Subtle Therapies 209
They should be avoided except for short term usage for
people who are too hyperactive (have too much rajas). White itself is the color of Sattva, whose nature is puri-
ty. Red is the color of Rajas that is dominated by passion. Black is the color of Tamas which is under the rule of dark-
ness. However, all colors have shades that can belong to
any of the three gunas. In addition, their combinations
may produce an effect that can increase any guna. Color and Tejas
Colors work particularly on Tejas, the vital essence of
fire, which gives warmth, courage, fearlessness, compas-
sion, insight and intelligence. Bright colors increase Tejas;
dark colors reduce it. Colors which are too bright over-
stimulate and cause it to bum up Ojas, making us pas-
sionate, angry, irritable or overly critical. The right use of
colors balances Tejas and keeps us clear and focused in our
action and perception. One of the easiest ways to increase Tejas in its Sattvic
qualities is to meditate upon a ghee flame or a golden
light. Tejas relates specifically to the saffron color (the
color of the robes worn by Hindu Swamis) and can be
stimulated by that as well. Excess Tejas, like conditions of
anger, can be alleviated by the use of white or deep sky
blue. Application of Colors
Color therapy can be applied through an external color
source. It can be visualized internally in the mind, which
may begin with contemplation of the color externally. Color lamps can be made by placing colored glass over a
light bulb. A soft light is preferable, avoiding florescent
bulbs or neon colors. The color shades should be mild and Ayurveda and the Mind
harmonious. The body as a whole can be bathed in light of
the particular color or we can bathe a specific part of the
body, like putting an infectious sore under a dark blue
light. For this purpose, smaller lights can be made or
lamps that allow both wide and narrow focus. Color can be applied through the clothes we wear, the
colors in our house, and those in our environment. The
colors used in a meditation room are particularly impor-
tant. We can open ourselves to the colors in Nature, like
meditating upon the blue sky or blue water, white snow or
the white light of the moon, or green trees and grass. We
can meditate upon flowers of different colors: the white
lily, the red rose or hibiscus, the yellow chrysanthemum or
sunflower, the blue iris. The harmonious shape of flowers
aids in the effect of color. We can meditate upon various
forms of colored glass, art works, mandalas or illuminated
manuscripts. We can meditate upon fire and its various
colors or do various fire rituals (homa or agnihotra). The general rule is that impressions gained through nat-
ural sources are preferable to those gained by artificial
means. Color therapy works better when we visualize the col-
ors in our own minds. We can then direct colors to various
parts of our body, different chakras, or to our mental and
emotional environment, like surrounding ourselves with a
golden light. Color therapy must be applied over a period of time for
it to have a significant effect. Exposure to external color
sources should be done fifteen minutes a day for a period
of a month to have the proper effect. Visualization and
meditation on specific colors should be done for a similar
period of time. At the same time, we should avoid expos- Subtle Therapies
ing ourselves to disharmonious colors and impressions,
like the Rajasic and Tamasic colors of television and
movies. Gem Therapy
Gems are more than wonderfully beautiful creations of
Nature. Their beauty reflects a subtle power and a connec-
tion with the mind and astral body. Vedic sciences afford
great importance to gems, particularly for their healing
and energizing properties. Gems can be used long-term to
protect and vitalize both body and mind. They strengthen
our aura and align us with the healing forces of Nature. Though Ayurveda uses gems,63 in the Vedic view gems are
understood primarily through astrology. Astrology and Psychology
Astrology has traditionally had a medical and psycho-
logical aspect. Vedic astrology is used along with Ayurve-
da for healing the mind. The astrological birth chart
reveals the nature and destiny of the soul, not merely the
state of the body or ego. The astrologer must also deal with
psychological issues. Knowledge of Ayurveda can aid in
this process.6*
Vedic astrology employs the same language as Ayurve-
da, with the gunas, doshas, elements and functions of the
mind. Vedic astrology can provide a good prognosis of the
development of psychological problems, as well as suggest
astrological measures (like mantras, gems, rituals and
meditations) for countering them. Medical astrology is a
subject in itself. In Vedic astrology, gems are correlated to the planets
and used to balance their influences in the treatment of
physical, mental and spiritual disorders. Gem therapy is Ayurveda and the Mind
the main method of astrological treatment. Gems are worn
externally as rings or pendants. According to the Vedic
system, rhe fingers of the hand and the planets correspond. Index finger Jupiter
Middle fmgerSaturn
Ring fmger Sun
Little fmger Mercury
By wearing gems relating to the planets on the appro-
priate fingers, we can strengthen their influences. For
those planets not ruling a fmger, the fmger ruled by
friendly planets can be used. Venus is a friend of Saturn
and Mercury. The Moon is a friend of the Sun and Jupiter. Mars is a friend of the Sun and Jupiter. It is always best if
the gems are set so as to actually touch the skin. Gem preparations can also be ingested internally for sim-
ilar purposes in Ayurveda. However, for internal usage,
gems are specially treated by complex processes to render
them safe and non-toxic to the physical body. Gem prepara-
tions are used in Ayurvedic medicines today. While they are
not available in the United States, we can take gem tinctures
that do not actually involve ingesting the mineral. Gem tinctures, like herb tinctures, are prepared by
soaking the gem for a period of time, generally about two
weeks, in a 50-100% alcohol solution. Hard gems like dia-
mond or sapphire can be soaked for one month (from full
moon to full moon). Soft, usually opaque gems, like pearl
and coral, are soaked for shorter periods of time or in weak-
er solutions. Subtle Therapies
Planetary Colors
Each planet projects a color of the cosmic creative ray. We can also use


 mental condition will infect everyone close to you, including
your children. They will believe the illusion. All will react to the low
energy thoughts of depression and despair, tension, worry, and fear and the
health of their bodies begins to suf fer. In the low ener gy of depression, we identify or diagnose the chemical
imbalances that result and conclude that we need to restore that chemistry
to its natural harmonious level. W e pour chemicals into our bodies and we
see some changes. Less despair, more harmony, less tension, more
cheerfulness. W e conclude that depression is cured with drugs and
chemicals. Why the body-mind is out of balance should have been the first
question. Depression, like stress, is internally generated by one’ s attitudes. Could it be that the one crucial ingredient that represents a spiritual solution
to this massive problem of depression is hope? A WORD ABOUT HOPE
At the core of our being, rooted deep within our soul there is the knowing
that we are indestructible. W e have the hope of immortality, of life after
death, which is an incentive for moral perfection. This inner knowing is
hope and it is a stepping stone to the awakening of the soul. It is that still,
but restless, voice inside you that beckons you to a higher/faster ener gy. In a
sense, hope is the restoration of the appetite for life itself, and all the bliss
that accompanies a renunciation of the search for meaning and power in the
material world. The story of Buddha is well known. A prince who had everything and
realized it did not give him enlightenment. He renounced the pursuit of the
material in search of a dif ferent path, which led to a place where spirit
presided over the illusory world of the material. I do not suggest that it is
necessary for you to renounce all of your physical and material possessions
in order to find bliss, although I’m not discounting it either. I merely ask
you to consider the importance that losing one’ s appetite for life plays in
manifesting despair and depression in your life. And I encourage you toreplace the unrelenting pursuit of dollars, which can never purchase
happiness, with an intention of creating a deeper and a richer experience of
life. Hope then will literally be replacing despair. Depression, clinical or
otherwise, will be impossible. I view the presence of so much enculturated belief in depression in
contemporary western society as a moral crisis because it represents a
maladaptive search for the sacred within all of us. I also know that when we
give up our reliance on external indices of success and realize that they strip
us of our ability to live at a spiritual ener gy level, then we replace despair
with a renewed sense of hope, and depression is impossible. What follows are some suggestions for bringing this sense of hope and
spiritual consciousness to anything that smacks of despair, gloom, or
depression. SUGGESTIONS FOR TURNING DESP AIR T O HOPE
Begin to take delight in nonattachment. Through raising your own
awareness you can love without being attached. An attached love creates
despair because you are placing the source of your fulfillment and
happiness on someone else. If they refuse to cooperate in the way that you
feel they must, then you move into despair. Instead, have hope for yourself. Y ou can love anyone and appreciate him or
her for who they are, without telling yourself that you will be devastated if
they let you down. Anthony DeMello has two extremely powerful
affirmations in The W ay To Love  that will help you to experience love in a
nonattached way. 1. “I am not really attached to you at all. I am merely deluding myself
into the belief that without you I will not be happy.”
2. “I leave you free to be yourself: to think your thoughts, indulge your
tastes, follow your inclinations, behave in ways that you decide are to
your liking.”When you observe these two recommendations for detached love you will
notice that the person becomes important to you in the same way that a
rainbow or a concert are lovely in themselves. Y ou set yourself free in a
compelling way. The love actually intensifies, all despair is dissolved and
you have hope in your heart rather than the pain that attachments bring. Practice r einfor cing hope rather than despair. Don’ t be an enabler of
despair by commiserating with those who are feeling low. I once took a
vow as a counselor/therapist that I would always seek to have my clients
put the emphasis on their successes rather than the things that brought about
feelings of despair. For instance, I encouraged a client who was unable to get along with his
parents to examine the brief times when he felt he had successful
interactions with them. I pushed him to recount any moments of success. How he felt, what he thought, what were the results, how his day went at
the times of success, and so on. By looking for any signs of success, I
would make the counseling sessions experiences of hope rather than
reinforcers of despair. Similarly, clients with addictions and even chronic pain all had some
moments in their lives when they felt successful at handling their
“problems.” One week of not overeating, three days of not drinking, one
whole pain-free day. All these kinds of experiences provide an opportunity
to remember that the power to replace despair with hope, if only for a day
or so, is available. If it can be done for one day, then two days is not so
outrageous, and you have a hopeful idea. I found that reinforcing negatives, talking about causes, rehashing hurt
feelings and reliving painful emotions often served to reinforce a feeling of
hopelessness in the present moment. As a counselor/therapist I wanted to
bring hope to despair, and in the process help to nullify despair for good. This logic applies to despair in your life. Recall past moments when you
felt a degree of hope and success handling a problem and try to re-create the
thoughts and feelings that you were experiencing. By doing so, you giveyourself a road map out of your despair. By reinforcing hope, you will act
on those new thoughts and feelings. Remember to call in God and literally turn the despair over to God. You
can end an experience of despair by making a present moment decision to
let it go in a moment of silent prayer. “I cannot handle this situation alone, I
know that you are here with me as my silent senior partner. I am entrusting
this to you.” This quiet simple little prayer will give you immediate relief
from the feelings of despair. This is a way of letting go of the idea that all is
hopeless. In essence, what you are doing with the prayer is asking that love
guide your life. It is a way of emptying your agenda and utilizing the power
that revolves the planets around the sun, keeps that same sun in place, and
turns a seed into a flower or a baby. It is far superior to saying, “I’ll do this
all by myself.” By asking for divine intervention you can step back and
allow yourself to symbolically take God’ s hand. This advice is as ancient as the scriptures. Utilize it and release yourself
from the drama of your despair. In five short words, you can bring hope to
despair and ef fect a spiritual solution to any problem related to that despair:
“Ask and you shall receive.”
Act as if the hope you have for the r elief of despair is alr eady her e and in
place. Rather than your normal reaction to despair, of being inactive,
speaking in terms of hopelessness, complaining and fault-finding, feeling
self-pity and pessimism, create a picture of how you would like everything
to work out and firmly make a commitment to act as if what you want is
already here. If you want more abundance, get a picture of yourself as
having already received material blessings. Go and sit in the car of your
dreams in a showroom, visualize yourself driving it, then hold that picture
in your consciousness. The way will be shown to you. As I said in Manifest
Your Destiny, your job is not to say how; it is to say, “Yes!”
My wife and I do this instead of despairing over a particular trend or
behavior with our children. W e both try to visualize whatever the situation
may be working out for them. Then we treat them as if they have already
achieved what we thought was in their best interests. W e then practice
acting out in this way toward them because this is our mental image ofthem. Our pessimism dissolves and is replaced with positive reinforcement
to materialize the picture of success we already have in place. So, we can
say to them, “Y ou are doing great in school,” or “Y ou’ll be on time for
school tomorrow,” or “Y ou are taking much better care of yourself,” or “It’ s
great to see you happy.” We reinforce hope by acting as if what we wanted
for them was already here. Despair is really just an image in our minds. In reality, we are whatever we
decide to think in the face of any circumstance, and choosing to see the
problem as dissolved is in fact the replacement of despair with hope. In the midst of suffering, make a conscious effort to see the blessing. This is
a powerful tool for eliminating despair. When you are feeling most
distressed and things seem


  eighteen  to  thirty,  I  was  diagnosed  with  pelvic
inflammatory  disease,  ulcerative  colitis,  Chron's  disease  or  ileitis  (a  chronic,
painful inflammation of the colon), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Hashimoto's
disease (a disorder of the thyroid gland) and mononucleosis. I had severe chronic kidney infections, two miscarriages, chronic cystitis, severe
candida and external yeast infections along with marked adrenal insufficiency and
serious chronic ear and sinus infections for which I was prescribed antibiotics on
an ongoing basis for several years. Food and chemical allergies also became a big
problem. And  even  though I ate  almost  nothing because  of my extreme  food
allergies, I actually kept gaining weight, which only added to the discomfort of all
the other health disorders I was dealing with. The bottles of drugs I had taken during this time could have filled a small landfill,
but none of my illnesses or disorders had been resolved, and in fact, were more
debilitating than ever - it seemed as though I had become nothing more than a
walking encyclopedia of disease and the worst part about the entire situation was
that no matter how many failed drug therapies I tried, any visit to the doctor's
office only resulted in another discouraging failure. Another  big  problem  was  the  drug  side  effects  -I  felt  like  a  ping-pong  ball,
bouncing  from  one  drug  to  another  as  my  doctors  kept  prescribing  more  and
different drugs to counteract the side effects of the ones I was already taking. By the time I turned 30, the natural health movement was really picking up speed,
and, desperate for any solution, I tried out the Adelle Davis nutrition regimen,
7mega-vitamin therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic care and every herbal preparation
and drug-free natural health therapy that I could find. Within  two  years,  my  chronic  cystitis  cleared  up  and  the  menstrual  pain  and
bleeding markedly decreased. The ulcerative colitis also responded and the sinus
infections disappeared. I felt that I was slowly and surely regaining strength and
health and even beginning to experience a portion of the energy and vigor that
'normal' healthy people enjoy - and all without drugs. When I conceived my son at
34 and made it through the first trimester without miscarrying I felt as though I'd
conquered the final health frontier. Unfortunately,  in  my  burst  of  enthusiasm,  I  underestimated  the  impact  of
pregnancy on my understandably frail health, and the birth that I had so carefully
prepared for was a near fatal disaster requiring emergency surgery. And as it turned out, even despite all the illness and pain I'd gone through in the
years before the birth, all of it seemed like child's-play after I ran head on into the
serious complications of a difficult childbirth. For months after the birth, I hounded my gynecologist, complaining of unremitting
and severe abdominal cramps, cystitis and horribly painful menstrual periods. My
natural  health  treatments would  give  temporary  relief,  but  mystifyingly,  didn't
seem to have the same beneficial and lasting effects that they'd had before my
pregnancy. I underwent every conceivable medical test, all of which came back negative, but
the problems just didn't go away My doctor flinched every time I walked in the
door and then sent me back out again with increasingly severe assurances that the
pain was "unwarranted" and probably all in my head. After alienating every doctor in town with my complaints, I finally gave up and
decided to'suffer in silence' until one hot summer day almost twenty-four months
after the birth, I suddenly fell, screaming with pain, on my living room floor in
front of my terrified two year old. I literally had to crawl to the phone to call my
husband. When he carried me, screeching, into my OB's office, the doctor clicked
his tongue disapprovingly. "Now it can't be that bad, dear, we just checked you out
a few months ago", he cajoled. 8He gave me Codeine and sent me home - 48 hours later I was in  the operating
room having emergency surgery for multiple ruptured ovarian tumors. A couple of days after the procedure, my doctor sauntered into my hospital room
with a conciliatory grin on his face. "Gee", he drawled apologetically, "We had no
idea anything like this was going to happen. Your ovary looked horrible - engorged
to the size of a grapefruit. No wonder you were hurting. Sorry you had to go so
long without help but, you know, the tests just never turned up anything. And oh,
by the way, the pathologist found a little endometriosis in your right ovary. " Endometriosis is an incurable women's disease in which uterine tissue for some
unknown reason detaches itself from the uterus, moves to other locations in the
body, and attaches itself to other organs or body tissue. This misplaced uterine
tissue  spontaneously  bleeds  in response  to  hormonal  changes,  causing  internal
bleeding, scarring and often excruciating pain that can destroy the woman's ability
to live and function normally. This disease is not uncommon among women, but it
is incurable, at least by conventional medical standards. My "little" endometriosis turned into the monster that ate Tokyo - three months
after my doctor had "successfully" operated, I was sitting in the ultrasound room at
the hospital again, watching as several new endometrial tumors appeared on the
monitor  screen,  accompanied  by  the  usual  excruciating  pelvic  pain,  internal
bleeding, constipation, hemorrhagic cystitis and acute exhaustion. After the ultrasound, I decided to contact a doctor who was recommended to me as
an expert on endometriosis. He told me that he felt that my health problems had
originally stemmed from undiagnosed severe endometriosis and an underactive
thyroid which had probably been present since adolescence. He recommended an
immediate  hysterectomy,  which  I  underwent. The  day  after  the  operation,  the
doctor visited  me  arid  compassionately  whispered  that I would  "never  have a
problem with endometriosis again". But he was wrong. Twenty months later, I had more tumors and another operation. Three months after
that, the pain, tumors and internal bleeding reappeared again and I was scheduled
for what would by now have been my sixth surgical procedure in five years, which
I refused to undergo. 9Desperate and seriously debilitated, I flew to Mexico where I spent $15,000 on an
intensive course of intravenous mega-vitamin and livecell therapy at one of the
alternative cancer clinics which had offered some hope for my case. For weeks,
doctors poured nutrients and natural medicines into my veins and mouth. I watched
as many of the cancer patients around me seemed to get better and better with the
treatments. And I did too - for about two months. I spent my fortieth birthday hopelessly sick and in bed which was where I stayed
that entire year. The drugs, operations and Mexican treatments had completely
failed,  and  my  usual  herbs  and  homeopathic  remedies,  although  they  gave
temporary relief, seemed almost useless against the disease. And by now, even
though I had health insurance, my husband and I had spent over $100,000 of our
own money, and still, I couldn't even get out of bed. I had one last surgery which removed another large bleeding tumor. When I got
home  from  the  hospital,  I  weighed  89  pounds  and  developed  a  post-surgical
infection which required several courses of antibiotics. After taking the antibiotics,
I developed an extremely severe case of candida (yeast infection). My hands and
arms became covered with a horribly itchy fungal infection that nothing could
relieve or cure, and I remained generally exhausted, bedridden, and in intense pain. Because of the surgeries, I was also experiencing early and severe menopausal
symptoms – hot-flashes, mood swings, water retention and depression. But because
endometriosis is exacerbated by estrogen, my doctor recommended that I refrain
from taking estrogen supplements which she said would have relieved the severe
and very unpleasant symptoms. Several  months  after  the  surgery,  the  all-too-familiar  endometrial  symptoms
returned. My  doctor  assured  me  that  all  was  well,  but  when  I  asked  for  and
received my surgical records from the hospital, I found that she had written that
"all attempts to remove endometriosis will be done, but complete surgical care can
rarely be guaranteed; the patient may require further therapy for endometriosis,
medically or surgically" For my exhausted and bewildered husband and myself,
this prognosis seemed like an insurmountable and final defeat. I had one more heart to heart talk with a gynecologist who told me, "given the
severity of your case, the reality is that you


 top, a new type of
experience begins to happen. At the very top of the scale, there occurs the
realization of one’ s true Self and the varying levels of Illumination. The
main importance of this is to note that, as we get higher and freer, what the
world calls spiritual awareness, intuition, and growth of consciousness
occur. This is the common experience of all who surrender their negative
feelings. They become more and more conscious. That which is impossible
to see or experience at lower levels of consciousness becomes self-evident
and stunningly obvious at higher levels.Understanding Emotions
According to scientific findings, all thoughts are filed in the mind’ s memory
bank under a filing system based upon the associated feeling and its finer
gradations (Gray–LaV iolette, 1982). They are filed according to feeling
tone, not fact. Consequently, there is a scientific basis for the observation
that self-awareness is increased much more rapidly by observing feelings
rather than thoughts. The thoughts associated with even one feeling may
literally run into the thousands. The understanding of the underlying
emotion and its correct handling is, therefore, more rewarding and less
time-consuming than dealing with one’ s thoughts. In the beginning, if one is unfamiliar with the whole subject of feelings,
it is often advisable to begin merely by observing them without any
intention of doing anything about them. In this way, some clarification will
occur about the relationship between feelings and thoughts. After there is
more familiarity, some experimentation can then occur. For instance, certain
areas of thoughts that tend to recur can be set aside and the feeling
associated with them identified. The feeling can then be worked with by
first accepting that it is there, without resisting it or condemning it. And
then one begins to empty out the ener gy of the feeling directly by letting it
be what it is until it runs out. Somewhat later, the former thoughts can now
be looked at and their character will be observed to have changed. If the
feeling has been totally surrendered and let go, usually all thoughts
associated with it will have disappeared entirely and been replaced by a
concluding thought which handles the matter quickly. For example, there was the case of a man who misplaced his passport
shortly before going to a foreign country. As the scheduled date of
departure drew closer and closer, his inner panic mounted. His mind raced
wildly, trying to think where the passport could have been misplaced. He
searched high and low. He tried various mental tricks to no avail. He
berated himself: “How could I have been so stupid as to lose a passport? Now there isn’ t time to get another one!” As the fateful day approached, he
faced a real dilemma: no passport, no trip. Missing the trip had a lot of
negative consequences because it was both business and pleasure, and it
would have created a dif ficult situation. Finally, he remembered to do the
letting go technique. He sat down and asked himself: “What is the basic feeling that I’ve
been ignoring?” T o his surprise, the basic feeling that came up was grief.The grief was associated with not wanting to be separated from someone he
dearly loved. There was also an associated fear of loss of the relationship,
or at least the weakening of it due to his absence. As he let go of the grief
and the associated fear, he suddenly felt at peace about the matter. He also
concluded that if the relationship couldn’ t handle a two-week absence, it
wasn’ t worth all that much anyway; so, there was really nothing at risk. As
soon as he felt at peace, he instantly remembered where the passport was. In
fact, it was in a place so simple and obvious that only unconscious blocking
could explain why he had not remembered it. Needless to say, all of the
thousands of thoughts about the missing passport, the failed trip and the
potential consequences instantly disappeared. His emotional state became
one of gratitude and happiness instead of frustration. Letting go can be very useful in everyday life situations, but its use in
life crises can be crucial in preventing and alleviating lar ge amounts of
suf fering. In a life crisis there is usually an overwhelm of emotion. The
crisis has tapped into one of our major areas of suppressed or repressed
feelings. In this situation the problem is not one of identifying the emotion
but how to handle the overwhelm. Handling Emotional Crises
Because this is a very dif ficult problem for most people, some details are
needed. There are several techniques to help move through emotional
disaster much more quickly, and with a better end result, than allowing it to
run out on its own. Recall the usual mechanisms that the mind consciously
uses to handle emotions, which are suppression (or repression), expression,
and escape. These are deleterious only when they are used without
conscious intent. In an overwhelm, it is often advisable to utilize them, but
doing so consciously. The purpose of this maneuver is to reduce the sheer
overwhelming quantity of the emotion itself so that it can be disassembled
and let go of in bits and pieces (this process is described below). Thus, in
this case, it is all right consciously  to push away as much of the emotion as
we are capable of at the moment. The emotion can be reduced in intensity
by sharing the feeling with close friends or mentors. By merely expressing
the feeling, some of the ener gy behind it is reduced. It is also alright in this
circumstance consciously to utilize escape mechanisms, such as going out
in a social situation to get some distance from the upset, playing with the
dog, watching television, going to the movies, playing music, making love,or whatever one’ s habit is under the circumstances. When the feeling has
been reduced in its sheer quantity and intensity, it is best to start letting go
of small aspects of the situation rather than the overall situation and the
accompanying emotion itself. T o illustrate this point, let’ s take the example of a man who loses his
job after many years with a company, and is now in an overwhelm of
despair. By utilizing the three mechanisms already described, some of the
emotion can be reduced. What he can look at, then, are some of the small
trivia about the job. For instance, could he let go of wanting to have lunch
where he always had lunch with his business colleagues? Could he let go of
wanting to park his car in the parking space he always had in the past? Could he let go of wanting to ride up in the same elevator? Could he let go
of the attachment to his desk? Could he let go of the attachment to the
secretary and her friendliness toward him? Could he let go of the
attachment to his computer? Could he let go of seeing the same boss every
day? Could he let go of his feeling of familiarity with the background
noises in the of fice? The purpose of surrendering these smaller aspects of losing a job,
which may seem trivial, is that it gets the mind into the letting go mode. The letting go mode takes us up to the level of Courage; the negative
feelings have been acknowledged and worked through; consequently,
they’ve lost their char ge. Suddenly there is the awareness that we have the
courage to face the situation, recognize our feelings, and do something
about them. As the trivia are surrendered, curiously, the main event
becomes less and less oppressive. The reason for the phenomenon is that,
when we use the mechanism of surrender on one emotion, we are
surrendering on all emotions at the same time. It is as though all emotions
have the same underlying ener gy, so that to surrender in one direction
surrenders feelings which appear, on the surface, to be in an opposite
direction. This is a matter of clinical experience; it must be tried personally
in order to believe it. After utilizing the above four methods (suppression, expression,
escape, surrender of smaller aspects), a fifth now becomes apparent. Every
strong emotion is really a composite of a number of subsidiary emotions
and the total emotional complex can be disassembled. Thus, for instance,
the man who has lost his job initially has an overwhelming feeling of
despair; but, as he begins to surrender around the periphery, and as hediminishes his overwhelm through consciously utilizing escape,
suppression, and expression, he now realizes that there is also anger. He
sees that the anger is associated with pride. There is a lot of anger in the
form of resentment. There is self-invalidation, which is a form of anger
expressed against himself. There is also considerable fear. Thus these
associated emotions can now be addressed directly. For instance, he can
start letting go of the fear that he won’ t find another job. When that fear is
acknowledged and let go, all the alternate possibilities that exist will
become suddenly apparent to him. And, as he surrenders pride, he will
quickly see that he is not faced with economic disaster, as he had thought. Thus, as the disassembled emotional complex is taken apart into its
component parts, each component part now has less ener gy and can be
surrendered individually. As we come out of the overwhelm, it will be remembered that a certain
portion of the emotion was purposely suppressed or escaped. It can now be
reexamined, so that it no longer does residual harm, such as ending up in
bitterness, unconscious guilt, or lower self-esteem


riya Yoga) to purify the body so
that the consciousness can ultimately contain the
entire universe. In this respect, it is closely related
to a religious practice, and is therefore not really a
method of treatment. Swami Satyananda Saraswati states in 'Amaroli
-The Way of the Yogi', the preface to the book
Amaroli:
"I am fully acquainted with the topic of amaroli
and have had personal experience with its use. Of
course, I did not use it for therapy but in order to
perfect vajroli kriya, and I am convinced that those
who want to perfect vajroli will have to go through
the process of amaroli. Since 1943, right up to 1978 (date of publication
of the book Amaroli), I have never seen bad results
from the use of amaroli, either in therapy or for
vajroli. just recently a very ill gentleman
approached me and asked me my opinion on amar
oli. I suggested that he try it for himself and see
what happens. Now, two months later, he has
recovered completely. From the healing point of view, if amaroli proves
to be less dangerous than the therapeutic use of
drugs, synthetic hormones and various other
assorted chemical substances, if it proves less
corrosive and nutritionally harmful than Coca Cola
and 7-Lf;>, if it is less dependence-producing and
intoxicating than alcohol, less distasteful than
eating gelatin, manufactured from the hooves and
32 Nectar of Immortality tendons of animals, then I am sure it will be a boon
to humanity. I personally feel that we must state the facts on
amaroli in as straightforward, clear 1nd direct a
manner as po$sible. Then mankind may just
possibly find that there are many other benefits
hidden in the science of amaroli than originally
believed." (From: Amaro/i, S. S. Saraswati, Bihar School of
Yoga, Bihar 1978)
Many verses in the Damar Tantra refer to the spir
itual aspects of urine therapy. Keep in mind that
this text was meant for yogis or monks who fol
lowed a spiritual path. A number of things will
therefore sound exaggerated. One example is:
Verse 19
"After eight years of working with this method, the
follower can conquer all the five important elements
of the universe. Nine years of this method will make the follower
immortal." In the Indian tradition the entire material world
consists of the five elements earth, water, fire, air
and ether. Conquering these elements is equal to
spiritual freedom, which means one does not have
to remain in the cycle of reincarnation. Generally
stated, reincarnation is based upon the belief that a
person keeps being reborn until he is liberated from
earthly life, either by performing good deeds or by
becoming enlightened. In this sense reaching immortality can be seen as
achieving spiritual freedom. Other fragments in the Damar Tantra refer to the
influence of urine therapy on moods and character. Jt is also clear that urine therapy is applied in
combination with herbs. The method of urine
therapy described in the Damar Tantra is closely
related to the Ayurvedic tradition, Ayurveda being
the'science of long life', an Indian system of natu
ral medicine and living, thousands of years old and
stil: successfully being practised. The following frag
ments indicate how urine therapy relates to
Ayurveda and to herbs blended according to
_Ayurvedic principles:
Verse 37
"Sulphur, dried fruit of Am/a (Phylonthus
Emblica) and nutmeg powder should be mixed
together and taken daily, followed by Shivambu. All pains and miseries vanish." Verse 62
"The follower who drinks the mixture ofShivambu
and the powder of thr five parts of the
Sharapunkha (Devnal) plant will become the
master and authority of meditation. He will enjoy
utmost pleasure in life." Verse 85
"Oh Goddess, if in the early morning the follower
nasalizes his own urine, the ailments arising out
ofKapha, Pitta and Vata will vanish. He will have
a healthy appetite and his body will become strong
and healthy." Other ancient texts which are part of the religious
and spiritual heritage of India also contain frag
ments about and refer either to urine therapy or to 'amaroli' ('nectar of immortality'). A number of
these fragments, most of them taken over from the
book Amaroli of S.S. Saraswati, follow below. Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3;96-97
"In the doctrine of the Kapalikas, amaroli is the
drinking of the midstream, leaving the first for it
is too pungent (too much bile) and the last, which
is useless. He who drinks amari, snuffs it daily,
and practises vajrolt~ is said to be practising
amaroli." Gyanarnava Tantra, Chapter 22
"After realizing the exact knowledge of dharma and
ad harm a, every aspect of the world becomes holy
stool, urine, ovum, nails,. bones, are all holy things
in the sight of that person who has explored mantra. 0 Parvati, different deities are living in that
water from which urine is made, then why is urine
said to be contaminated?" Harit, Chapter 1 on Urine
"Human urine is basic, bitter and light. It destroys
diseases of the eyes, makes the body strong,
improves digestion and destroys coughs and colds." BhawaPrakasha, Verse 7, Chapter on Urine
"Human urine destroys poison, properly used ii
gives new life, purifies blood, clears skin troubles,
is sharp in taste and contains many salts." Yoga Ratnakar, Mutrashtakam Verse 11
''Human urine controls bile in the blood, destroys
worms, cleans intestines, controls cough and calms
nerves. It is sharp in taste, destroys laziness and is
an antidote to poisons." The History of Urine Therapy In the East 33 Sushrut Samhita, 4/2 28
"Human urine is an antidote to poisons." Tirumandiram
(written by Siddhar Tirumoolar), Verse 830
"Shivambu is medicine for the courageous. It is
divine and nectar, the gift of shakt( and imbues
one with great strength. The God Nandi has told
us about this. The great sages have said it is the
basis· of all medicines.'' 34 Nectar of Immortality Vyavahar Sutra, Chapter 42
In Chapter 42 of the Vyavahar Sutra, a religious
document from the Jain tradition written by
Acharya Bhadrabahu, the followers' pratimas
(promises and trials) are listed. This includes a pe
riod as a hermit during which one fasts and drinks
all one's secreted urine. Shiva-Parvati Sambad
This is an ancient Sanskrit document studied by
Professor Athawale from Ahmedabad. The text was
apparently terribly damaged, but in spite of this
Professor Athawale has been able to decipher the
following fragments. Shiva says to his wife Parvati
"Dev( listen to what I say: Shivambu (urine) is a
great purift.eri it removes all the impurities from
the body. Shivambu is a veritable nectar ( amrit)
churned out of one's own body.'' 'The pot which is to be used for collecting urine
before oral consumption should first be cleansed with
a piece of cloth. While cleaning the pot the following
mantra should be uttered-1astraya phut'." ~ A saddhu (Indian holy man) drinking urine from a
human skull. Australian scientists are doing research
into the drinking of urine by Indian yogis and the pre
sumed beneficial effects on their meditation practices. The tranqui/lizing effects of morning urine are, accord
ing to the hypothesis of the scientists, to be attributed
to a hormone called melatonin. ·The text includes the following mantra, which
should be said aloud seven times before drinking
urine:
"Om, aim hreem amritodbhave amrita varshini,
amritam kuru no swaha." ·
A mantra is a holy saying which can be compared
to a short prayer. The super mantras Om Namaha
Shivaya ('All honour to Shiva' or' May Thy will be
done') from Hinduism and Om Manipadme Hum
('The jewel in the lotus') from Buddhism are also
known to many Westerners. · The text further states that for fast results, urine
should be drunk three times a day: once in the
morning, once in the afternoon and once in the
evening, usually one hour before or after dinner. One of the results of this can be:
"By taking shivambu continually and regularly, a
man or woman becomes sexually potent and the
signs of old age (such as senility and loss of. pro


y conceiving. Instead, the
emphasis is on cr eating a child who is mentally, physically,
emotionally, and spiritually healthy—a wise and well-r ounded child
who will contribute to society and become an enlightened citizen. —Maharishi Ayurveda
Ayurveda teaches that the presence of life is what allows the embryo to
grow and transform into a fetus, and then a child. Without life, matter is in a
state of dormancy. When consciousness enters matter, you can see all the
symptoms of life: birth, growth, maintenance, the ability to procreate,
disease (or dwindling), and eventually death. Ayurveda teaches that at the
moment of conception the soul enters into mama’ s womb, and that the
physical, mental, and emotional body of the baby begins to form. Thus,
Ayurveda emphasizes the value of preparation before conception, as well as
intention during conception to call in a soul who will bring more light and
goodness into the world by welcoming them with that same ener gy. The physical strength of the parents three or four months before and at
the moment of conception determines a lar ge part of the foundation of
health or dis-ease for the baby. The parents’  mental state is a foundation for
the baby’ s overall state of mind. And the parents’  spiritual connection (or
disconnection) determines the soul who will come in, depending on where
the soul is on their own spiritual journey. From an Ayurvedic standpoint, the process of a woman bringing a life
into the world with intention is one of treating herself like a plant in a
garden, with four aspects to consider in preparation for conception: the
field, the seed, the season, and the water. Ayurveda teaches that a woman is the channel through which the soul of
a new life arrives. Women carry within them the “field” of the uterus, which
lives in the lar ger field of their body, mind, and emotions. The space that awoman lives in, her relationship with her partner, her work, her community,
and the planet all make up the greater context of the field that she needs to
cultivate with deeper intention. The health of all of these aspects of her life
influence the field of her uterus, and therefore, they are all important when
considering conception. Attention to the “seed” is attention to the health of the egg and the
sperm. We know that the menstrual cycle, and therefore fertility, is
negatively af fected by stress, hormonal imbalance, poor diet, environmental
toxicity, low body fat, and more. Ayurveda looks at how all these dif ferent
components of a woman’ s life might af fect her eggs and reproductive
organs as well as how the lifestyle of a baby’ s father af fects the quality and
quantity of sperm. Stress causes us to clench, which hinders the free flow of
prana  (vitality, life force) and causes stagnation in the body, leading to dis-
ease. Part of preparing for conception involves addressing any disorders of
the reproductive system such as irregular periods (often because of
stagnation or not enough nourishment), ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and
so on through proper diet, lifestyle practices, and herbal support, which will
vary from person to person. Ayurveda thus suggests a cleansing period
followed by a rebuilding (or nourishing) period prior to conceiving. The “season” refers to assessing a time for conception based on the
parents’  time of life, determining the proper time in the menstrual cycle, and
following guidance for living and eating in accordance with the time of year
so that the doshas stay balanced. Ayurveda also assesses the season, the
phase of the moon, the environment (literally, the room!) that this soul will
be called into, as well as the state of consciousness of the parents at the
moment of conception. Last, the “water” is the Ayurvedic approach to the ways in which a
woman nourishes herself. The modern love af fair with intensity, stress,
activity, drive, and ambition oftentimes gets in the way of a woman’ s ability
to receive, and thus to conceive. A woman who has too many stress
hormones and not enough nourishment may need to slow down, relax, and
really focus on self-care practices that allow her to feel softer, grounded,
and cared for.Through the ancient yet practical lifestyle science of Ayurveda, you learn
how to engage with life consciously: how to step into every experience with
clarity, wisdom, and intention. This is a dynamic integration of doing
everything you can to prepare an ideal environment to welcome a child into
but also softening just enough so you do not become rigid within the timing
and the rituals. The goal is to trust that, ultimately, there is Divine timing
and a bigger plan than your own. The guidelines in this chapter of fer ways to cultivate the field of your
body, your consciousness, and dif ferent aspects of your life in preparation
for conception. Along with dietary disciplines that can assist you in
cultivating a strong seed and information to guide you in choosing the right
timing for inviting a child into your life, the chapter presents dif ferent
rituals from the ancient science of Ayurveda that you can use to invoke
intention and auspiciousness for the process of procreation. These
guidelines are not only for preconception and conception; throughout
pregnancy this same ener gy can be put into the cultivation of your body and
your baby’ s life as you nurture the little soul that is growing in the womb. PREPARING YOUR
CONSCIOUSNESS
Your consciousness can be compared to a mirror. It reflects the impressions
that have come in through your senses and the desires that stem from them. If you see a red convertible and really like it, it creates an impression in
your mind, and then a desire to have it. Your activities then become
motivated by your desire. Ideally, however, rather than your consciousness
reflecting the world outside of you, through spiritual practices, your
consciousness begins to reflect the pure nature of your soul. When your
consciousness reflects your soul, rather than being moved by what you wantor don’ t want, like or don’ t like (raga and dvesha), your only motive is the
desire to serve. Your will becomes aligned with Divine will, and all your
activities reflect that connection. The great teacher of Bhakti yoga Srila Prabhupada gives the metaphor
of a mirror that is covered by dust. When you look into that mirror, rather
than seeing yourself, all you see is the dust! The dust is compared to the
layers and layers of false identifications that have covered your real
identity: the roles that you play, the job that you have, the heartbreaks and
the joys, the pleasures and the pain, the past experiences that have shaped
and molded you. These create a “personality” that you now identify with, as
well as an endless stream of desires that you actively pursue. You have
forgotten who you really are. Yoga and Ayurveda teach that you are not what has happened to you. You are not your mind; you are not the temporary roles that you play; your
value is not defined by your status or position; you are not the color of your
skin or even the body that you are in. Your culture or ancestry may bring
deep meaning into your life, though who you r eally ar e isn’t actually
touched by any of it. You are the one that is seeing through your eyes,
hearing through your ears, and smelling through your nose. You are the
spark of life that gives consciousness to form. The actualization of material
desires (desires satisfied by matter) will not ultimately satisfy your soul. You are a pure spirit with the potential of becoming an instrument of the
greatest love possible. How can you clear the dust so that you can see who
you really are? It’s you and me forever, little one. And the tears started flowing
just as the rain falls outside of my window
from my heart,
down my cheeks,
onto my belly. Nothing lasts forever in this world.I already love you so much. And I’m already preparing for the little goodbyes
that come with a love so deep. And it is heartbreaking and beautiful
all at once. I pray that you know who you really are,
little one. Beyond the body and mind,
beyond the circumstances and past experiences. I pray you know who you are
so you do not have to grieve the pain of loss
in the ways that I do. I pray you know who you really are
so that the love that you give
and the love you receive
is without conditions. I remember sitting on a rock on the Ganges River this past
January
as two of my dear friends offered the ashes of their brother
into the river. The final destination
for all of us—
whether it is returning to the river
or returning to the earth
or the soul making its way back home. When will I take this spiritual life seriously? When will I understand that life is so fleeting
and every moment is so precious and best utilizedin the service
and remembrance
of God? I flashed forward to the day that my ashes will be delivered into
the current of mother Ganges. And I saw you, little soul, putting them in. The cycles and rhythms of life. It is heartbreaking
And so beautiful
All at once. YAMAS AND NI


anat, 56, 264–65, 292–93, 297–98
sugar, 19, 275
avoiding, 28, 105, 215, 278
cane, 56, 274, 277
cravings, reducing, 313
for newborns, 260
options, 284
rapadura, 215–16
turbinado, 217–18
summer, 23, 25, 61
surrogacy, 216–18
Sushruta Samhita,  85, 100, 268, 276
svastha, 9, 14
swaddling, 252Swami, Radhanath, 42, 81, 157–58
symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), 107–8
T
tahini
Tahini Cookies, 297–98
Tahini Sauce, 296
tamas, 73, 74, 76–77
tastes, six, 261
celebrating, 88–89
seasons and, 60, 61
sweet, 270
Teitelbaum, Marianne, Healing the Thyr oid with Ayurveda,  210
tests and procedures, 119, 134, 162–63
thyme oil, 310, 317
thyroid, 204, 208–10
time of day, 16
tongue scraping, 65
Touching Heaven  (Oakes), 215, 261, 281–82, 283, 289
travel, 84, 178, 206
trimester, first
imbalances during, 97, 100
miscarriage in, 102–3
overview, 84–85
vata in, 20
trimester, second
overview, 85–86
pitta in, 24
trimester, third, 86–87
hair-parting ritual, 113
imbalances during, 97, 107, 108–9
kapha in, 27
pain reduction during, 125
triphala, 58
true Self, 13, 44, 45, 64, 83, 233
trust
in birthing process, 122, 128–29, 142, 160, 162
in relationships, 48, 49–51
turmeric, 56, 104, 264–65
avoiding, 283
essential oil, 314, 317
Herbal Chewing Mix, 289–90
Hot Milk Tonic, 290–91kanji, 292–93
kitchari, 294–95
Warm Yam Smoothie, 292
U
umbilical cord
bathing and, 245
ceremony for cutting, 168
massage and, 247
when to cut, 154
Upanishads, 10
uterus
involution of, 203
irritable/exhausted, 155
preconception influences on, 32
strengthening, 57, 58, 212, 304, 305
V
vacha (calamus root), 153, 315
vaginas
during birthing, 149
bleeding from, 95
oiling, 151
tissues of, preparing for birth, 123, 126
valerian, 208, 318
values
choice based on, 12
guilt and, 231–32
living in alignment with, 38–39
vanilla, 207, 276, 307
vata
balancing, 21–23, 66
in breastfeeding, 263
depression and, 217
imbalances, 20–21, 62, 94, 100, 204
during labor, excess, 154–55
nesting as, 122
overview, 18–19
pacifying, foods/herbs for, 277–79, 303–4
postpartum, 174–75, 180, 201–2
preconception, 57
during pregnancy, 17, 20, 86–87, 90
sleep and, 109stabilizing, 64, 126
vitiated, eliminating, 125
weight gain and, 111–12
See also  apana vata
Vedas, 10, 11–12, 232–33
Vedic tradition
parameters in, 36
rituals, 138, 168, 220–21, 234
vegetables
Kitchari, 294–95
Steamed Veggies, 296
when to avoid, 282
See also individual vegetables
vegetarian diet, 269
Velamentous Cord Insertion (VCI), 163, 164–65
vernix, 135, 244
vetiver oil, 314, 317
vitamin B (various forms), 57, 109, 210, 269, 275
vomiting
by newborns, 243–44, 252
during pregnancy, 97, 106, 108, 149, 273
W
walking, 22, 79, 84, 87, 90–91, 178
walnuts, 56, 262, 273, 276, 284
water breaking, 144, 146, 147
water element, 15, 17, 23–24, 26–27, 91
Weed, Susan, Wise W oman Herbal for the Childbearing Y ear, 109, 256
weight gain, 27, 111–13, 209
Western/allopathic medicine, 14, 71, 301
Williamson, Marianne, 1
winter, 19, 21, 60, 61
winter green oil, 316
witch hazel bark, 181, 200
Wolf, David B., Relationships That W ork, 51
Womanly Art of Br eastfeeding, The  (La Leche League International), 261
Y
yamas, five
ahimsa, 37–38
aparigraha, 41–42
asteya, 39
brahmacharya, 39–41purpose of, 36–37
satya, 38–39
yams, 128, 279, 285
Steamed Veggies, 296
Warm Yam Smoothie, 292
yarrow, 181, 198, 199
Yasoda, 232
yeast infections
from kapha imbalance, 27
in newborns, 255, 256
ylang ylang oil, 151, 311, 315, 316, 319
yoga nidra, 104, 208
yoga practices
for apana vata, 102
and Ayurveda, relationship between, 8
gentle, 26, 42
hatha, 22
for kapha balance, 29
during pregnancy, 79, 84, 85, 87, 95–97
prenatal, 86
weight gain and, 112
Yoga Sutras (Patanjali), 36
Yoga tradition, 2
yogurt, 56, 99, 105, 250, 278, 282
in cookies, 297–98
Panchamrit, 274
yoni picchu, 87, 126
Z
zucchini, 270, 285, 296
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X
Y Z
OceanofPDF. comDAbout the Author
hyana was born to a family of Bhakti yoga practitioners, with the
practices and teachings of Ayurveda woven seamlessly throughout
her life. Growing up around her family’ s retreat center
(www. AyurvedaHealthRetreat. com ), she was trained in all the healing
modalities that are of fered there and witnessed, firsthand, the profound
healing that happens when the principles of Ayurveda are applied in one’ s
daily life. She is a certified Ayurveda health counselor and educator, specialized in
guiding groups and individuals on transformative and healing journeys. Through her yoga and Ayurveda trainings as well as her online community,
Soul Space, she empowers countless individuals to become healers in their
own homes and to live a life of real meaning. She lives in Alachua, Florida, with her beautiful family. OceanofPDF. comSign up to receive news and special of fers from Shambhala Publications. Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala. com/email-signup.<|eot_id|><|begin_of_text|>
Q: What is the importance of self-care during pregnancy?,
A: The importance of self-care during pregnancy is emphasized in the text, with recommendations for daily practices and self-reflection.
Q: What is the role of the author in her family and her experience with Ayurveda?,
A: The author was born into a family of Bhakti yoga practitioners and grew up around her family's retreat center, where she was trained in various healing modalities and witnessed the positive impact of Ayurveda on people