most when our lives are threatened. Time after time, research has shown
that peo ple who give vent to their negative emotions survive adversity
better than those who are emotionally constricted. Among patients with
spinal-cord injuries, those who express strong grief and anger make more
progress in rehabilitation than those with a more stoical attitude. Mothers
who show great distress after giving birth to a deformed infant give the
child better care than those who seem to take the misfortune calmly. In a
study of people living near Three Mile Island, Dr. Andrew Baum found that
those who showed their rage and fear suf fered far less from stress and
psychological problems than those who took a “rational” approach. Unexpressed feelings depress your immune response. Some cancer patients also experience strong feelings of guilt. They
blame themselves, just as many children who get sick think their illness is a
punishment for being bad. Although not ideal, this attitude is not entirely
destructive, for it often leads to a more realistic sense of participation in the
onset of disease. In fact, a lar ge amount of research on people who’ve
suffered catastrophe has proven that those who feel they contributed to it
(even if they did not) tend to get over the trauma more easily than those
who feel totally helpless. This holds true for such tragedies as rape,
earthquakes, and floods, as well as sickness. For example, if a woman who
has been raped can think, no matter what the circumstances, “It wouldn’ t
have happened if I’d been more careful, if I had learned to protect myself,”she can reduce her sense of powerlessness and plan to make herself less
vulnerable in the future. Researchers have found that such an attitude
enables people to accept human evil and natural disaster without believing
that life is devoid of beauty or meaning. Using a battery of psychological tests, Leonard Derogatis discovered in
1979 that breast-cancer patients who felt and freely expressed much anger,
fear, depression, and guilt lived far longer than patients who showed little of
these emotions. Those who died within a year had relied heavily on
repression, denial, and other psychological defenses. The hostility that the
survivors vented on their physicians led to the conclusion, mentioned in
Chapter 1, that they formed “poor” doctor -patient relationships. Derogatis
used rigorous statistical con trols to exclude physical dif ferences between
the short-term and long-term survivors. His work stands as excellent
scientific support for a group of researchers nearly three decades earlier,
who were “impressed by the polite, apologetic, almost painful acquiescence
of patients with rapidly progressive disease as contrasted to the more
expressive and sometimes bizarre personalities” of those who lived longer. THE FOUR QUESTIONS
Before I can help patients choose treatment, I must learn about their
attitudes toward themselves and their disease. It is especially important to
gauge the strength of their will to live, and then to strengthen it by getting
them to express their anger, fear, and other emotions. As Norman Cousins
wrote in his Anatomy of an Illness,

The will to live is not a theoretical abstraction, but a physiologic reality
with therapeutic characteristics. Not every illness can be overcome. But many people allow illness to
disfigure their lives more than it should. They cave in needlessly. They
ignore and weaken whatever powers they may have for standing erect. There is always a mar gin within which life can be lived with meaning and
even with a certain measure of joy, despite illness. At first a patient’ s emotions and attitudes may not be fully accessible to
consciousness. To retrieve them I’ve found that we need to explore the
answers to four basic questions. 1. Do you want to live to be a hundred? Most people won’ t answer without some hypothetical guarantee of
health. They don’ t instinctively take the responsibility for making all their
years worthwhile. A few years ago gerontologist Ken Dychtwald asked
hundreds of people, “How old do you want to be before you die?” A
majority didn’ t want to live past sixty or sixty-five, because they assumed
their lives then would be devoid of play, sex, independence, or meaning,
and filled with problems. The elderly, however, tended to want more years,
and women generally wanted more years than men. This question always leads to others, such as “Do you love yourself
enough to take care of your body and mind?” The answer is contained in
your lifestyle. Do you eat moderately, avoiding too much sugar, caffeine,
and fat? Are there plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet? Do you
avoid most processed, additive-laden foods? Do you smoke? Do you eat a
good breakfast and get adequate rest? Do you exercise? Are you self-
motivated? (Most centenarians have been self-employed for much of their
lives.) Do you seek activities that give you joy and satisfaction? The answers all depend on whether or not you feel in control of your
life and thus whether you look forward to the future with hope or with fear. One ECaP  member, a wonderful woman named Shirley, joined the group at
the age of ninety-two. Once, when everyone was talking about how afraid
they were of cancer, pain, dying, and so on, I asked her, “Shirley, what are
you afraid of?”
She said, “Driving on the parkway at night.” That put the other
members’  fears to rest, because she has lived through everything they’re
still afraid of, except death. Remember if you decide to live to be 100 loved
ones may die before you. It takes courage to survive and be “the last apple
on the tree,” as one of my patients said. 2. What happened to you in the year or two before your illness? This question, along with tools such as the Holmes-Rahe stress scale,
explores the short-term psychological predisposing factors discussed inChapter 3. Inevitably, it also leads back to the long-term conditioning
factors that determine how a person reacts to the recent events. It’ s essential
to consider internal stresses, too, such as an identity crisis or the giving up
of one of youth’ s cherished dreams. We must also consider how the patient
reacted to the crisis. Did he or she openly grieve, rejoice, and face the
challenge, or try to be calm and stoical? 3. What does the illness mean to you? If cancer, for example, automatically means death, then the patient has a
problem that must be solved before dealing with the disease itself. Such a
meaning is programmed and reinforced by silence. When the adults in a
family say, “We don’ t talk about that,” or a parent says, “Y ou get whatever
your sister gets, and whatever happens to your sister happens to you,” when
the sister dies of cancer the siblings believe there is no hope for them. Without frank acceptance, death, like sex, becomes an embarrassment. The
husband who only tells his wife over and over, “Don’ t die,” or “Y ou’re
going to get well,” no matter how extensive the disease, prevents her from
sharing her fears and hinders her ef forts to face death openly. In such an
atmosphere, the patient is cast into the outer darkness without love or any
way to share emotions. On the other hand, if the disease means a challenge,
formidable but not invincible—then the patient has a basis for dealing with
it. This question is useful, but actions and expectations are often even
more revealing. Jennifer had been entered in a hospice program by her
doctor, who expected her to die within six months. But she kept on living. When the hospice staf f asked if she looked forward to spring, she said, “Oh,
yes, I love to watch the flowers come up.” They asked if she liked summer. “Very much.” Fall? “Oh, I just love the leaves changing color.” Even
winter? “Y es, the snow.” Eventually the hospice personnel told her they had
to stop coming. They would return when she was ready to die. She became
a “hospice dropout” and joined one of our ECaP  groups. When winter approached, however, Jennifer told me, “I don’ t think I’m
going to be buying any winter clothes.” This indicated that perhaps she was
getting ready to die. Then she came to one of our meetings wearing a lovely winter suit. I
said, “Aha! I see you decided to buy some winter clothes.”“No,” she said, “I just brought some down from the attic.” To me that
said she’d made a compromise. She was saying, “Let’ s see how the winter
goes. I’m not going to invest in it, but I’ll give it a try.”
Another cancer patient I know, named Matt, went to his physician one
day looking awful and came home looking fine. His family asked, “Gee,
what did the doctor do?”
Matt said, “Oh, he gave me my aller gy shot.” This let him know that the
doctor expected him to live through the spring, and his body responded. 4. Why did you need the illness? Like the previous two questions, this one helps the patient understand
the psychological needs that the disease may meet. Sickness gives people
“permission” to do things they would otherwise be inhibited from doing. It
can make it easier to say no to unwelcome burdens, duties,


ne powder and
administered in the dose of 250–500 mg in cases of premature
ejaculation and nocturnal emission. In non specic leucorrhoea cases also this has signicant benets. Flower Decoction in Nausea, Tastelessness and Distension of
Abdomen
A stful of tamarind owers (fresh) are collected and its decoction is
made. To this fried cumin seeds are added and given to the patients in
the dose of 50–60 ml two or three times a day. is relieves nausea,
tastelessness, mild abdominal pain, diarrhoea and distension of
abdomen. Leaf Juice Oil in Joint Pain
Leaf juice 100ml (decoction of the leaf can also be used for this
purpose) and 200 ml sesame oil are taken and oil is cooked in mild
intensity of heat on constant stirring. On conrmation that it is free
from moisture content this oil is taken out of re, ltered and stored. is oil is eﬀective in degenerative joint disorders associated with
severe pain. Tamarind Fruit Pulp Processed Oil in Muscular Pain
In the above said method tamarind oil can be prepared even by its
pulp. While doing this oil, 50 grams of fruit pulp, 200 ml sesame oil
and 800 ml water are to be added.8.is oil is useful in muscular pain. In some of the Indian villages this oil is used to apply the ladies after
delivery. Leaf Juice Soup as a Carminative, Digestive and Anti Flatulent
Mature leaves are taken and cooked well along with little salt and
pepper powder (Even the ginger powder or garlic paste, cumin and
coriander seeds can also be added). is can be used during lunch or
else it can be taken as a soup as a starter too.119. 9 Jaggery (Sweet
Molasses) Home Remedies
for Liver, Sinusitis, Painful
Periods
By Dr. M.S. Krishnamurthy MD (Ayu), Ph.D.
Y
Jaggery (gur) is one among the earliest known natural sweetening agent. It is
appreciated due to its nutritional value as well as taste benets. Further, several
medicinal/health benets also found which surely makes one to use it daily. Jaggery is unrened sugar, obtained from raw, concentrated sugarcane juice,
by the process of boiling it. Jaggery facilitates ease bowel movement, tonic, anti ageing, cardiac tonic and
increases urine volume. Excess intake of jaggery causes weight gain and
increase of Kapha Dosha. In Ayurveda, jaggery is used as ingredient in many
formulas and also as binding agent in herbal jams and tablets. As per the nutrition and dietetics jaggery is rich in several important
vitamins and minerals like potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, selenium,
calcium and phosphorus and antioxidants. Ayurvedic Medicines with Jaggery as Base
Guda hareetaki – A combination of Haritaki – Chebulic myrobalan –
Terminalia chebula – fruit rind and jaggery. It is indicated in inammatory1. 2. 3. 4. 5.conditions, cough, cold, piles etc have taken unique position and prescription
in Ayurvedic system of medicine. Jaggery Home Remedies
Jaggery with Cumin Seeds in Indigestion and Flatulence
Equal quantity of jaggery and cumin seeds are taken and pounded well. is is stored in air tight containers (or else it is liqueed in due course
of time). According to the necessity, in the conditions like indigestion,
atulence, burping etc this can be taken in a dose of 3–5 grams, once
or twice a day, with lukewarm water, before food. Ginger Juice and Jaggery in Chronic Cough and Cold
5 ml of ginger fresh juice is mixed with jaggery. is is licked twice or
thrice a day. is relieves chronic cough and cold eﬀectively. Jaggery and Ghee as Tonic
ese two ingredients are mixed together and taken especially along
with the breakfast like Chapati, Dosa, Idly etc. is serves as a good
tonic and it gives good strength and stamina. In earlier days people used to take jaggery, ghee and coconut/tender
coconut so as to improve the sexual virility too. Jaggery Water Containing Pepper and Salt in Fatigue and General
Debility
5–10 Grams of jaggery is dissolved in warm/hot water. To this,
powdered pepper is added and mixed thoroughly. is is called Panaka
in traditional system and it relieves fatigue especially caused during
summer and winter seasons. Ginger Juice and Jaggery as Nose Drops in Sinusitis – Headache6. 7. 8. 9.Fresh ginger juice is mixed with jaggery and ltered through a cloth. is is instilled to the nostrils in cases of headache associated with
sinusitis. Katukarohini Powder with Jaggery in Jaundice
2–3 Grams of powdered Katukarohini (Picrorrhiza kurroa) is taken
along with jaggery in cases like obstructive jaundice. Jaggery and Mustard Oil in Respiratory Disorders
Equal amount of jaggery and mustard oil are taken and mixed well. In
cases of asthmatic attack (breathlessness) this is taken. is gives
instant benet in this condition. Rock Salt and Jaggery in Sour Burping
1–2 pinch of powdered salt is taken along with 10 grams of jaggery
and mixed well. is is taken whenever the individual gets
burping/distension of abdomen. Sesame Seed or Seed Powder Along with Jaggery in Dysmenorrhoea
Equal amount (say 10 grams each) of black sesame seeds and jaggery
are taken and swallowed twice daily, preferably early in the morning
and late evening. is is very eﬀective in dysmenorrhoea conditions. is also helps to regularize the menstruation as well as to relive
anaemia.1.120. 9 Star Fruit Remedies
for Obesity, Tonsillitis,
Anosmia
By Dr. M.S. Krishnamurthy MD (Ayu), Ph.D.
Y
Star fruit is used as a good source for bre, Vitamin C and Carotene. It is frequently used in the treatment of several Gastro-intestinal disorders. Ayurveda identies this as Karmaranga and it is used for the treatment of
Vata disorders (neurological diseases), as a digestive tonic and as a stimulant. Sour taste, being a potent Vata balancing taste, helps in neuro-muscular
disorders. Star fruit possesses Vitamin C in abundance and thus it eases the process of
absorption of Iron; It is a good adjuvant in the treatment of anaemia. e dried star fruits are used as spices too. While cooking meat, this is added
as an additional ingredient and this further facilitates easy cooking as well as
proper digestion of the meat. Star Fruit Remedies
Star Fruit Juice with Honey in Obesity
5–6 ml of fruit juice is taken and added with a spoon of honey. is is
added to a cup of warm water and taken on empty stomach, regularly. is helps to reduce bad cholesterol and body weight.2. 3. 4. 5. 6.Fruit Pulp with Pepper in Cold, Rhinitis and Anosmia (Loss of
Perception of Smell)
Approximately 5 grams of fruit pulp is mixed with 1–2 grams of
pepper powder. is is wrapped in a thin cloth and kept over the
middle of the scalp. If necessary this is tied properly, left there for 20–
30 minutes. 1–2 weeks medication relieves the chronic rhinitis and anosmia
conditions. Dried Star Fruit Powder with Ginger Juice for Rhinitis and
Tonsillitis
Shade dried star fruits are powdered. For 5 grams of this powder, a
teaspoon of ginger juice is added and consumed. is relieves sore
throat, tonsillitis as well as chronic cough. Leaf Powder in Dhobi Itch
Mature leaves are taken and ne powder is made. is is used to dust
over the chronic oozing wounds or ulcers; especially over the Dhobis
itch (groin area). Flower Chutney in Tastelessness and Indigestion
A stful of fresh owers are collected and chutney is made (by adding
little coconut powder). is relieves anorexia and indigestion
conditions. Oil Prepared by the Fruit Pulp for Body Ache
e ripened fruits are collected and ne pulp is obtained. is is added
with 4–6 parts of sesame oil and 10–12 times of water and cooked


 1/2 cup crushed ice
in Step 5 if desired. C r è m e  d e  C o c a o
Prep time: About 4 min • Blending time: 1 min • Yield: 2 servings
Ingr edients
1/2 avocado
1 cup coconut cream or coconut milk
2 cups chopped green cabbage, lightly steamed
1 cup frozen green grapes
2 ounces vodka, light rum, or gin
Dir ections
1 Peel and cut the ﬂesh of the avocado into chunks. 2 Combine the coconut cream or milk, avocado, and cabbage in
the blender container. 3 Secure the lid on the container. 4 Starting on a low speed and gradually easing toward high, blend
the ingredients for 45 seconds or until smooth and there are no
visible pieces of vegetable in the mixture.5 Add the frozen grapes and pulse for 30 seconds or until blended
into the mixture. 6 Pour the smoothie into 2 glasses, clean the container and lid. 7 Add 1 ounce of alcohol to each glass, stir, and enjoy! Per serving: Calories 493 (From Fat 298); Fat 33g (Saturated 25g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 89mg;
Carbohydrate 34g (Dietary Fiber 9g); Protein 7g. Vary It! Ice thickens and chills smoothies. Add 1/2 cup crushed ice
in Step 5 if desired. C u c u m b e r  G i n
Prep time: About 4 min • Blending time: 1 min • Yield: 2 servings
Ingr edients
1 cup tonic water
2 cups chopped cucumber
2 ounces vodka, light rum, or gin
1 cup frozen green grapes
Dir ections
1 Combine the tonic water, cucumber, and alcohol in the blender
container. 2 Secure the lid on the container. 3 Starting on a low speed and gradually easing toward high, blend
the ingredients for 45 seconds or until smooth and there are no
visible pieces of vegetable in the mixture. 4 Add the frozen grapes and pulse for 30 seconds or until blended
into the mixture.5 Pour the smoothie into 2 glasses, and enjoy! Per serving: Calories 180 (From Fat 6); Fat 1g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 9mg;
Carbohydrate 28g (Dietary Fiber 2g); Protein 1g. Vary It! Ice thickens and chills smoothies. Add 1/4 cup crushed ice
in Step 4 if desired.Chapter 17
Dairy Smoothies
In This Chapter
 Starting your day off with a calcium-rich drink
 Making your midday meal a milky one
 Deciding on decadent dessert and party drinks
Recipes in This Chapter
 Cashew Butter and Strawberries
 Orange Cow
 Berry Cheesy
 Breakfast Muesli
 Borscht
 Creamy Tomato Soup
▶ Chicken Salad
 S’mores-ies
 Grasshopper Pie
 Lemon Chiffon Cake
 Crème Cassis
 Café au Lait
 Crème de Banane
 Orange Cream
This chapter is all about using milk and dairy products in
smoothies. If you’re lactose intolerant, you may want to skipahead to the next chapter because every one of the drinks in
this chapter is made with milk or products derived from milk. Because they’re made from milk, dairy products — cheese,
yogurt, ice cream, cream, crème fraîche, sour cream, and
buttermilk — are good sources of calcium and protein. Dairy
products aren’t limited to cow’s milk; they include products
from all the various animal milk sources, such as sheep and
goat. Why add dairy products to your smoothies? Because
they’re a great way to increase your calcium and protein
intake while you’re getting your fruits and vegetables. Br eakfast and Snack Smoothies
For vitamin- and mineral-enriched breakfast and snack
smoothies, choose your milk or milk product and get blending. Because of the protein in milk and milk products, dairy
smoothies have staying power, which makes them perfect in the
morning for breakfast or midmorning snacks. Try making these recipes in the morning for breakfast
and then bring the remaining serving to work as a
midmorning snack. Be sure to ﬁll the glass jar or container
as close to the top as possible to reduce exposure to air. Cover tightly and keep in the refrigerator until you’re ready
to enjoy it on your midmorning break, while all your co-
workers are loading up on bagels, donuts, and vending-
machine food. You can use any of the types of liquid milk in these
smoothies: whole, 2 percent, 1 percent, or skim milk;
buttermilk; or sheep or goat milk. See the nearby sidebar
for more on choosing milk for dairy smoothies. How to choose milk for dairy smoothies
Milk is milk, right? Sort of. There are several different forms of milk, and
they all can be used as the liquid ingredient in smoothies, but each has
different properties and, of course, nutrients, not to mention fat, and each
produces a slightly different texture and thickness in the drink. Here are
the most popular forms of milk and what you can expect  from them  in
smoothies:
 Liquid cow’s milk: At supermarkets, you buy milk that has been
pasteurized (heated for safety) and homogenized (the butterfat broken
down into small particles so it doesn’t ﬂoat  to the top), and it com es in 4
basic forms. Whole milk has 3.25 percent  butterfat, which gives body  to
smoothies and slows down digestion so that you feel full longer. Reduced-
fat milk is available in 2 percent, 1 percent, and nonf at (skim). As the
butterfat is removed, the milk gets thinner, which makes smoothies made
with reduced-fat milk thinner than those made with whole milk. Buttermilk: Although it’s a by-product of making butter, buttermilk
does not actually contain butter. It has a rich and cream y texture, so
smoothies made with buttermilk are thick, but it cont ains less fat than
whole milk (about 1 percent). Powdered milk: Any liquid milk, including buttermilk, can be
evaporated to a dry powder and sold as pow dered milk. You can add 1 to
3 tablespoons of powdered milk for a thicker smoothie, or whisk 3
tablespoons with 1 cup of water and use it as the liquid. Evaporated milk: Evaporated milk is made by evaporating about  half
the water in whole or reduced-fat milk and proces sing it. Smoothies made
with evaporated milk are thicker and slightly sweeter than those made
with liquid milk. Sweetened condensed milk: In sweetened condensed milk, whole
milk and sugar are heated until about  60 percent  of the water evapor ates,
creating a syrupy thick mixture. Becaus e 1/2 cup contains a whopping 532
calories, it’s only added to dessert smoothies by the tablespoon per
serving. C a s h e w  B u t t e r  a n d  S t r a w b e r r i e s
Prep time: About 3 min • Blending time: 1 min • Yield: 2 servings
Ingr edients
1 cup 1 percent or 2 percent milk
1 cup fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt
4 chunks frozen banana or 1 fresh banana
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
3 tablespoons cashew or peanut butter
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Dir ections
1 Combine the milk, yogurt, banana, strawberries, cashew or
peanut butter, and sesame seeds in the blender container. 2 Secure the lid on the container. 3 Starting on a low speed and gradually easing toward high, blend
the ingredients for 45 seconds or until smooth and there are no
visible pieces of fruit or nuts in the mixture.4 Pour the smoothie into 2 glasses, and enjoy! Per serving: Calories 421 (From Fat 175); Fat 19g (Saturated 6g); Cholesterol 22mg; Sodium 280mg;
Carbohydrate 53g (Dietary Fiber 5g); Protein 15g. Tip: Use one 6-ounce or two 4-ounce containers of raspberry or
strawberry or other ﬂavor fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. O r a n g e  C o w
Prep time: About 3 min • Blending time: 1 min • Yield: 2 servings
Ingr edients
2 oranges
1 mango
1 cup fresh carrot juice
3 tablespoons powdered buttermilk
Dir ections
1 Peel the oranges and break into sections. Remove the seeds. 2 Peel the mango, remove the stone, and cut into chunks. 3 Combine the carrot juice, oranges, mango, and buttermilk
powder in the blender container. 4 Secure the lid on the container. 5 Starting on a low speed and gradually easing toward high, blend
the ingredients for 45 seconds or until smooth and there are no
visible pieces of fruit in the mixture. 6 Pour the smoothie into 2 glasses, and enjoy! Per serving: Calories 200 (From Fat 11); Fat 1g (Saturated 1


 the toes
to work the brain  reflex area. the nervous system 2792 Go on to work the brain
stem  reflex area, making
multiple thumb-walking passes up
the side of the big toe.Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis affects the
the central nervous system
and is a progressive disease. The sheathing of nerves
becomes patchy, resulting in
poor nerve conductivity. It is
important to work the reflex
areas corresponding to the
entire spine as well as those
reflecting the brain stem.1 Thumb-walk through the
tailbone  reflex area and
then through each segment of the
spine  reflex area. Paralysis
For paralysis resulting in rigidity, apply
technique especially to the brain reflex area. Target the spine area for paralysis resulting in
flaccidity and loss of control. For both
conditions, work the eye and ear reflex areas,
regions that also reflect the cranial nerves. Thumb-walk  through  the eye and ear reflex areas,
making multiple passes. Go on to thoroughly work
the brain  and spine  reflex areas. Make a series  of thumb-walking passes down the
side of the big toe to work the brain  reflex area.Parkinson’s disease
This is a slowly progressing disorder affecting
movement and is characterized by tremors. Specific areas of the brain that integrate
movement are affected. It is important to
work the big toe below the joint.The respiratory system
The respiratory system  consists of organs that process air: the nose, throat,
and lungs. Each lung is a network of tubes and sacs that remove oxygen from
the air in exchange for carbon dioxide. Such lung functions are controlled by
the respiratory center in the brain stem. Regulation is due to multiple factors
including sensory impulses from the limbs and feet during exercise. 280 health concernsCommon disorders of the respiratory system are
a result of multiple causes. Asthma is an allergic
reaction to allergens and is characterized by
wheezing, coughing, and difficulty in exhaling. Bronchitis is inflammation and swelling of the
linings of the lungs, leading to narrowing and
obstruction of the airways. Such obstruction
increases the likelihood of bacterial lung
infections. Symptoms include a chronic cough
with the production of mucus. Emphysema is
most frequently caused by chronic bronchial
1
1infection due to smoking. Tension is a major
contributor to this condition. For respiratory health concerns, reflexology
technique is applied to the lung reflex areas. In
addition, as tension can sometimes contribute to
breathing difficulties, technique is applied to the
solar plexus reflex area. For respiratory concerns
that include inflammation, the adrenal gland
areas are also targeted. The adrenal glands help
fight inflammation and also play a role in
relaxing the musculature of the lungs’ airways. left Hand
1 lung reflex  arearigHt foot
1  lung reflex  areaareaS WorKed
1 lungs1Hand orientation foot orientation BodY orientationthe respiratory system 2812Work the lung reflex area on the ball of the
foot. Hold the foot back and make a series of
thumb-walking passes between the big and second
toes. Reposition to walk up below the second toe. Make several passes. Repeat across the ball of the foot. Foot techniques
Thumb-walking works best for targeting the
respiratory reflex areas. Most of your work
on the lung reflex area is on the sole of the
foot. This area may also be accessed on the
top of the foot, and you will feel the adrenal
gland reflex area as you hold the foot back. 1Begin with work on the adrenal gland
reflex area. Hold the toes back with your
right hand. Use the thumb-walking technique to
make a series of passes through the adrenal
gland reflex area. self-help
to apply a self-help  technique  to the lung  reflex
area on the foot, use the multiple finger grip technique. Place your fingertips in the trough between the big and
second toe and press several times. Then go on to work
each separate trough between the other toes. 282 health concernsHold your hand  open with fingers spread back. Thumb-walk up the upper palm to work all segments
of the lung  reflex area. Make a succession of passes. Work both hands. One area may be more sensitive.Hand techniques
The thumb-walking technique is used to
work the lung reflex area. Hook and back-
up is easily applied to the adrenal gland
reflex area of another, while the golf-ball
technique is simplest on oneself.1Start by holding back the fingers and thumb
with the right hand. To find the adrenal
gland reflex area, place the tip of your left index
finger in the center of the fleshy palm, midway along
the long bone below the thumb. Exert pressure
repeatedly with the tip of the finger. 2Continue to hold the fingers back. Using the thumb-walking technique,
successively apply a series of passes to
each segment of the lung reflex area. Interlace your fingers  and place a golf ball securely
between the heels of the hands. Work the adrenal
gland  area by rolling the golf ball throughout this
area of the palm, below the thumb.self-helphand techniques 283Bronchitis
This respiratory condition
consists of inflammation of
the lungs’ airways (bronchi). The symptoms include a
persistent cough and
wheezing. To help reduce
inflammation, the adrenal
gland reflex areas are
targeted. Working the lung
reflex areas may also help
alleviate the symptoms. Asthma
People with asthma have
attacks of wheezing and
shortness of breath. Targeting
the adrenal gland reflex area
helps relieve symptoms
because production of
adrenal gland hormones
affects the functioning and
relaxation of the lungs.Pinpoint  the adrenal gland
reflex area with the index finger
and press gently several times. 2Roll the golf
ball, over the
lung reflex areas
until symptoms
diminish. 1Hold a golf ball
between the heels
of the hands. Roll it
through the adrenal
gland  reflex areas. Thumb-walk  several times through
the lung  reflex area, working
throughout the ball of the foot.With the tip  of your index finger,
locate the adrenal gland  reflex
area in the fleshy palm. Exert
gentle pressure repeatedly. self-helpUse the thumb-walking technique
to work all segments of the lung
reflex area on the ball of the foot. Make a succession of passes.The reproductive system
The reproductive system  includes all the organs necessary to create life. In
females, the system comprises the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and vagina. In
males, the main organs are the penis, testicles, and prostate. Hormones produced
by the reproductive organs affect virtually every cell of the body. 284 health concernsReflexology techniques, as shown opposite, are
applied to reproductive organs to maintain
healthy function or to help disorders. In addition,
desserts and work on the solar plexus can be
applied to reduce tension, which frequently has
an impact on reproductive function. The reason
for this effect is that some reproductive organs
are endocrine glands; as part of the endocrine
system, they respond to other hormones,
especially those that have an impact on stress. 2 13For women, common reproductive system health
concerns include premenstrual syndrome (PMS),
dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps), infertility, and
menopause. Women may also have concerns
during pregnancy and childbirth. For men,
concerns include impotence, infertility, and
prostate disorders. For more information about
general women’s concerns see pp230-237, for
those relating to pregnancy, see pp238-241 and
for men’s concerns see pp242-247. left Hand
1 uterus /prostate
2 ovary /testicle
3 fallopian  tubesrigHt and left feet
1 uterus /prostate
2 ovary /testicle
3 fallopian  tubesareaS WOrKed
1 uterus /prostate
2 ovary /testicle
3 fallopian  tubes1 2
21
33Hand Orientati On fOO t Orientati On BOdY Orientati Onthe reproductive system 285locate the  uterus/prostate
gland  reflex area. Rotate the hand
360º in a clockwise direction
several times, and then repeat in a
counterclockwise direction.Foot techniques
The techniques used to
‘work with the organs of the
reproductive system are
thumb-walking and rotating-
on-a-point. The latter
technique is applied to the
sensitive inside of the ankle. Light pressure is applied with
the middle finger.Hand techniques
The rotating-on-a-point
technique is used to work
the uterus/prostate and
ovary/testicle reflex areas of
the hand. This technique
enables the areas to be
accurately pinpointed. self-help
Press your thumb  on the reflex
area for the uterus/prostate
gland. Rotate your foot
clockwise, then counterclockwise
several times. Try to draw 360º
circles with your big toe. If you
are working to ease menstrual
discomfort, continue technique
application until pain has eased.1Locate the uterus/ prostate
reflex


 intended to mean that sexual d esire is not
to be used for selfish and self-serving means. A person who has several
sexual p artners or goes from on e partner to another isn’ t exercising sexual
restraint. The practice of brama charya means using your sexual ener gy for
sexual pleasure in a committed and intimate partnership, where your
concern is to give to your beloved. Healing Svadhisthana
DAIL Y AFFIRMA TION
I have the right to feel what I feel. I allow myself to follow my dreams. I deserve pleasure and
goodness in my life. I go with the flow. Healing the Physical Body
Since so much of the second ch akra involves the emotional body, healing
your emotions is an integral pa rt of healing Svadhisthana. As we explore
second chakra physical healing, I’d like you to think about such things as
accepting your gender, your sex or gans, the beauty of your physical body,
and your sense of taste. While gender and sex aren’ t the same thing, the
polarity of second chakra ener gy, which includes opposites, indicates
gender identity. For example, s ome women are ashamed of b eing female
and ther efore hide their bodies behind unflattering clothes or they hunch
their shoulders as they walk or stand. Some men, who may have been
beaten down by o verbearing mothers, are afraid to show their strength and
masculinity. E NHANCING  Y OUR  S ENSE OF  T ASTE
Y our sense of taste is linked to the water element, the A yurvedic Kapha
dosha, a nd the second chakra. Our sense of taste can become polluted by
eating the wrong foods, such as  deep-fried, processed, and artificial foods,
and by drinking alcohol. T asting  your food is part of the sensua l experience
of being alive. Y ou can enliven and enhance your sense of taste by swishing
with or ganic food-grade raw sesame oil. In th e fir st chakr a healing section, I suggested eating in silence. Y ou can
take this  one step further by tr uly tasting what you’re eating and paying
close attention to the flavors you enjoy. A good way to wean yourself of f
junk food is to sit in silence and feel the sensory experie nce of the
unhealthy food. Y ears ago, I use d to eat fast food from time to time. When I
noticed the coating of grease stuck to my tongue and teeth or the sugarcoating left in my mouth after drinking sugary beverages, I immediately
noted that I hated the taste. Then it was easy to let go of those things. E MBODYING  W A TER
Second chakra healing practices that involve water or water -like
movements can be soothing. Some people are drawn to bodies of water for
activities like swimming, surfin g, or sailing. Others prefer dancing, tai chi,
or qigong. Y oga, especially a slow flow, is great for continual second chakra
healing. Y ou will know intuitively which water -like movement practices
resonate with you. Choose movements that open your hips, stimulate your
internal or gans, and strengthen your lower back. F OCUSING ON  P ROPER  B REA THING
Most people don’ t know how to mindfully breathe. W omen a re taught to
suck in their tummies or wear pants that are too tight. Men m ight tighten
their bel ts to try to look thinner. As a result, many wind up ches t-breathing,
which creates shallow and pani cky breath. As you breathe nat urally, your
belly should inflate and defla te. This is known as belly-b reathing or
diaphragmatic b reathing, and it involves inhaling from the low er abdomen
around t he area of the second ch akra. Y ou will feel your lower belly puf fing
out as you inh ale properly. T o get a full healing breath, r efrain from
tightening your stomach muscle s. Let it all go. V isualize the air circulating
freely, in a swir ling wheel, throughout your abdomen. As you exhale, you
will feel  your tummy moving i nward, toward your spine. When you shift
your breathing in this way, into the area between your pubic bone and belly
button, immediately you will feel calmer and more relaxed. H ONORING  Y OUR  M ENSTRUAL  C YCLE
While th is secti on is dedicated to women, men reading this book can use
this kno wledge to help and support the women in their lives. W e live in a
society t hat is constantly on the go. In the modern world, it’ s not acceptableto take sick days, slow down, or show lack of dr ive toward
accomplishment. This philosophy goes against the grain of creativity. Creative though t and creative e ndeavors are best sought out in silence and
stillness. Creative ener gy needs space to move through its channels. When
you fill your sch edule with too m uch to do and move full speed ahead, there
is no room for space or pause. W omen have been blessed with a natural
cycle to slow them down at least once a month: their menstrual cycles. Their natural b odily rhythms call for t his space in grounding and quietness. A w oman’ s body asks for rest, relaxation, and introspection during the time
of menses. If she honors those needs, she will be reinvigorate d as a new
cycle be gins. As a result the second chakra will stay open and a ligned. Not
only will she exp erience increased fertility and flow in her life, she will also
benefit f rom increased creativity  in the way of abundance and manifestation
of desires. F OODS T O  E NHANCE  R EPRODUCTIVE  T ISSUE
A yurvedic reme dies to help with fertility and to heal reprodu ctive tissue
( shukra dhatu ) inc lude adding asparagus, broccoli, or ganic milk, or ganic
fresh da tes, or ganic fresh ripe m angoes, and or ganic rice pudding to your
diet. T o reduce toxins before trying to conceive, detox the first and second
chakras by taking gentle herbs  such as senna or the A yurvedic formula
triphala. Spi ces such as cumin, black cumin, and turmeric are also good  for
reproductive tissue. These foods and spices will help heal r eproductive
tissue in both men and women. Y OGA  A SANAS AND  P RANA Y AMA  E XERCISES T O  H EAL THE
S ECOND  C HAKRA
Y in yog a is a g reat style of yoga to help balance the second chakra. The
idea behind yin yoga is to keep  the body cool by doing slow movements
and hold ing the  poses for three to five minutes each. During a yin class,
you’re assisted with yoga prop s such as blocks, blankets, b olsters, and
straps. A set of yin yoga poses assists in opening your hips a nd workingyour con nective tissue. The poses below are yin poses, except the last one,
dhanurasana. I’v e included dhanurasana, a yang pose, because it helps bring
vibrant ener gy to the second chakra. T o view a video demo of these exer cises, go to
www. youtube. com/c/MichelleFondinAuthor. Click on the Playlists tab, and select
Chakra Healing Asanas & Pranayamas. Scr oll down the list until you find the one you’r e looking for. Left-Nostril Br eathing — Ida Nadi Pranayama :  Sit tall and place your
left hand on your lap. Place the index and middle finger of your right hand
on your right no stril to close it. Slowly inhale and exhale through your left
nostril only. Do this breathing technique for a minute or two. Cow an d Cat Poses:  O n all f ours, spread out your fi ngers on the floor and
flex your toes. As you inhale, lift your tailbone up toward the sky, raise
your he ad and look up, and lo wer your belly toward the floor. As you
exhale, draw your belly button in toward your spine and your chin down
toward y our che st, lower your t ailbone, and raise your spine in to a curve,
like an angry Halloween cat. Do eight sets of cow and cat. Pigeon Pose — Eka Pada Rajakapotasana :  From your all-fours position,
slide your right knee forward, and set it down in front of your left knee. Bring your right heel forward, away from your pelvis as much as possible. Extend y our left leg all the way behind you, and set your left  foot on the
floor as you brin g your hips clo se to the floor. Come down to your elbows
and rest your forehead down. If your hips are tight, you can place a bolster
or pillow underneath your right hip. Hold for three minutes, then switch to
the other side. Cobra Pose — Bhujangasana :  Lie


 controlled frenzy calling for assistance and stripping away
her gown to expose the chest, a calmness came over me—it was impossible
to tell if I was witnessing this calmness or it was witnessing me. There was
a faint but distinct feeling that something was passing in the air,
accompanied by a wave of peace. Before I could think about it, the whole
experience was swallowed up by frantic activity as the crash cart appeared. A first-year resident armed with a fibrillator took over, more or less shoving
me out of the way. As I stood up I saw two men hovering over my shoulder, the Punjabi
villager and another, older patie nt I hadn’ t seen before. “Please, go back to
bed. I’m sorry you had to be upset by this,” I said. The two men didn’ t
move, nor did they look at all upset. One mumbled to the other in dialect,
then the older patient said to me, “Don’ t worry, it was all right.” My
Punjabi patient mumbled again,  and the other man translated for me: “She
was grateful to you.”
“For trying to save her?” I managed to say. “No, no. For holding her in your arms. It made her less afraid to leave.”
With this the two men turned back into the darkened ward and went to bed. This incident remains unfor gettable to me as an example of the dictum
that behind every action is hidden an action of God. My perception of the
night’ s emer gency was primitive, but second attention, via my two patients,
told me what I needed to hear. Spirit wanted me to know that the
peacefulness of death is real. Now that time has passed, I realize that the message was much deeper:
God is present in death. To have  this realization, I had to mature in second
attention and thereby learn the basic truth about Shiva: hidden within every
action is an action of God.To know  God is a process that unfolds over time. It isn’t a sudden
experience that is finished once and for all. One can never be finished with
God; moments of recognition only serve to draw you closer. Hidden in
every event of your life is a possible epiphany about love, as it
communicates to you from the source. As with Shakti there are some simple
verbal formulas to indicate what Shiva’ s actions are trying to impart:
Creation:  God’ s love is new. Destruction:  God’ s love is beyond death. Maintenance or pr otection:  God’ s love upholds. Concealment:  God’ s love is beyond form. Revelation:  God’ s love is in form. Spirit never stops sending signa ls of its intent to us in the relative world. If second attention is acute enou gh, you can be aware of spirit crossing your
path, descending upon you, uplifting you, or whispering truth many times a
day. These are all silent comm unications from Shiva, whos e nature is
silence. Compared with Shakti, Shiva is further removed from creation as
will or action, closer to pure creativity as a potential. But his five actions do
touch the world. Silence has a voice, which speaks in something like these
five ways. Cr eation. From my source in love I create situations that teach lessons. These are
always lessons about love. Nothing is created outside my spirit but only
from within it. Destruction. I destroy  the impurities that prevent you from perceiving love. There are
no obsta cles not created by myse lf, whatever appearances may say. Because
they originate inside me, obstacles are created out of love, and once you
find a deeper level of understanding, obstacles melt away. Pr otection. As long as any situation is needed for a spiritual purpose, I maintain and
protect it. Labeling a particular situation good or bad is not relevant to this
act—I protect life for its own sake, without judging it.Concealment. I conceal who I am if that is what is needed for growth. If you already
knew yourself totally as spirit, there would be no path and no growth. Therefore some  things remain hidden at certain times. In my role as
concealer I lay out the steps of the path. Revelation. I reveal myself as needed to open up new possibilities. Time and space
are constantly unfolding. If they simply unfolded more time and more
space, there would be endless repetition of the known. But time and space
are only curtains to the drama lying behind them. The drama is the
unfolding of spirit, which happens through revelation. If you listen to the voice speak ing these lines, it is remarkable  how the
“I” can be interpreted as God, spirit, love, or simply your own nature. You
are simultaneously in touch with all these levels, although your mind, made
insensitive by its conditioning, may not let you see this. Shiva isn’t hiding,
since there is no place for the One to hide. The gr eatest sign of God’ s love is that He wants to be known. Now we come to our deepest definition of passion: passion is the free
flow of awareness from the unmanifest to the manifest. Your existence here
on earth makes you the love child of Shiva’ s passion for Shakti, and hers for
him in return. Your life appears to be a tapestry of outward events ranging
from birth to death. But all this activity depends entirely upon the invisible
flow of awareness working on every level. Shiva and Shakti ar e eternally married because both ar e composed of awar eness. One is
awar eness r esting in silence; the other is awar eness flowing out into cr eation. This is what I mean by saying that you are passion itself, for you marry
silence and power, the two polarities between which awareness flows. Without the flow of awareness everything in and around you would collapse
into a heap of dead matter. When you aspire to enter a sacred marriage with
someone you love, you are expressing your own nature and nothing less. The miracle of love is that feeling a grain of love for another person can
suddenly reveal the divine. Such a tiny shift of perception is needed toregain infinity. When I stop heeding separation and follow love, my beloved
will be mirrored  in my being; I will feel exuberance, exaltati on, and joy
flowing from their silent wellspring. The manifestations of love will
multiply becaus e my lover will become sacred to me; that is why love is
called holy, because it expresses wholeness. OceanofPDF.comLOVING  PRACTICE
Heeding Spirit
IF SPIRIT IS sending  signals to you, how can you heed them? Second
attention has much in commo n with intuition and creativity. It is well
known that both are faculties of the human mind. From a spiritual
viewpoint you are always a creator. The tiniest situation in your life is not
made “out there” but “in here,” from the source of reality, which is
awareness. People who believe that the material world is causi ng things to
happen are simply unconscious creators—they haven’ t taken responsibility
for being authors of their own lives. Second attention gives you the ability to take authorship of your life,
putting you at the center of the daily process of making the reality you
perceive. Since all of us are conditioned to believe that nature operates
independently of what we think, wish, dream, and feel, reclaiming
authorship of our reality is a gradual process. Signals fr om spirit all serve the same purpose: to give you back your life as a cr eator. The attitude toward life of someone who functions as a creator  is based
on these  five cardinal beliefs, few of which you have been taught unless
you were extremely fortunate:
1. I am an empty vessel. Inspiration fills me every day, but I am not here
to hold on to anything that comes to me. 2. I am here to pass ener gy from one state to another. Hopefully I move it
from a lower to a higher state, since my purpose is to direct everything
toward spirit. 3. I do not have to control the flow of reality. I bend where spirit bids me. 4. The fullness of spirit, not my ego, provides.5. If I live from the source of creation, only good can come to me. Everything from spirit comes from love. Getting to these beliefs and making them work for you is a goal that spirit
can help you with. Society in general is not attuned to such a life, which is
why all artists and true lovers have had to travel far outside the accepted
framework of social beliefs. Society supports struggle, competition, and
ego, which means that it supports separation. The worldview of separation
is extremely convincing—millions of people spend every day simply trying
to cope with survival. But living in separation isn’t love; by definition it
cannot bring you to unity. Spirit is your chief and only ally in your quest for unity. The tactics of non-love will never get you
to love. In the following exercise you will learn how to transmute the beliefs and
behaviors of separation into those of love, using the signals that spirit is
always sending. PART ONE
The voice of spirit is constantly competing with other voices inside you,
and the outcom e of your life depends on which voice you follow. Since
inner voices are constant, you can estimate what


 wet, and re burns. Maya is very
obliging. At a certain point, however, the mirage of molecules is not
real enough to be satisfying. The illusion starts to dissolve—we have
seen many instances of that by now—and then the search begins for
the true reality hidden under the trick eects. I do not have to recover “miraculously” from a brain tumor to
begin this search. Just to observe that I am not a handful of empty
space is a good enough beginning. Something must hold me
together, a kind of glue or magnetic pole that keeps my molecules
from ying apart. What is this glue? How do I manage to organize
myself around a stable, meaningful core? One clue, strangely enough, lies in the experience of amputees
who continue to feel that their lost ngers, toes, arms, and legs are
still present. Oliver Sacks has written evocatively of these
“phantom” limbs, as neurology calls them. Phantoms are observed
frequently in the aftermath of amputation and can persist for days,weeks, or years. Their appearance can be disquieting, to say the
least. Dr. Sacks describes one patie nt, a sailor, who lost an index nger
in an accident at sea. At the time of injury, the nger was rigidly
extended, and the phantom that appeared in its place retained the
same position. The man had the distinct sensation that he was
forever pointin g his nger in the air. This feeling was so lifelike that
he could hardly touch his hand to his face to shave without fearing
that he would poke an eye out. Other patients have phantoms that
bring pain, itching, and various other uncomfortable sensations,
bordering on the bizarre—one man reported that his phantom leg
regularly suered severe cramps at night, complete with curled toes
and knotted calf muscles. Phantoms often possess the uncanny ability to change size. Thus a
leg may seem eight feet long at one minute and only two inches
long the next. Phantoms are not simply deceptive, though. Anyone
who has worked with disabled patients soon discovers that without
a phantom, learning to use an articial limb is made much more
dicult. Walking steadily on a prosthetic leg is a matter of
integrating it into your existing body image. As long as the
prosthesis is dead weight, this integration will never be completely
natural. But the phantom leg can mold itself to the false leg, giving
the feeling that it is alive. Even when it proves useful, a phantom is not always cooperative. Sacks mention s one patient who would wake up some mornings to
nd that his lower leg, a phantom, was not there. In its place would
be a vacuum, nothingness devoid of any sense of existence. (Of
course there was only air below his knee to begin with, but on these
mornings it was “dead” air.) To bring his phantom back to life, the
patient would vigorously slap his thigh ve or six times like a baby’s
bottom until the phantom woke up and extended itself. Then he
could t on his prosthesis and walk. What so intrigu es me about phantoms is that all of us have one—
we just happen to call it our body. Being basically an inert lump, the
body is as dead as a false limb. Its sugars have no more feeling than
a gum drop; its proteins are no more sensitive than a pinto bean.Through the nervous system, which inltrates every ber of the
body, we have learned to project ourselves into this inert lump,
tting it on the way an amputee ts on his prosthesis. When a foot
or hand  goes to sleep, we can feel what a dead weight it really is. “Going to sleep” is a temporary paralysis that results when the
nerves have been crushed, usually under the weight of our torsos
when we inadvertently roll over in bed or sit with one leg curled up
under us too long. Many other people besides amputees rely on misguided phantoms. A young woman aicted with anorexia looks in the mirror and is
confronted with a thin, almost skeletal image. The body she has
starved throug h her eating disorder is there before her eyes. But
inside she has a contrary image of herself as too fat (or rather, not
thin enough), and this visual phantom rules her mind. She “sees” a
fat person in the mirror, just as an amputee “feels” that he has a
two-inch or eight-foot leg. Whatever the phantom tells you is real becomes real. I “know”
that my leg is three feet long, that my body weighs 150 pounds, that
I am sitting upright and am awake, but to believe these things is to
take them on trust, for my phantom could be tricking me. The
nature of the mind is to crave continuity, to bridge one thought with
another, to give our actions consistent motives and look for
consistency in others. To get some idea of how much it takes to organize a continuous
reality, we can consider the plight of schizophrenics, whose brains
process the world so poorly that what emerges as speech is a
chaotic, jumbled outpouring called “word salad.” In David Noonan’s
penetrating book, Neuro-, there is a vivid account of the kind of
“loose association” that cannot hold logic togeth er when
schizophrenia strikes. One patient says, “My last teach er in that
subject was Professor A. He was a man with black eyes. There are
also blue and gray eyes and other sorts too. I have heard it said that
snakes have green eyes. All people have eyes.”
Seemingly overwhelmed by thoughts and sensations, the mind of
a schizophrenic can no longer form any ordered or logical
statements from the swirl of impressions generated inside and out.Another patie nt was asked to comment on the energy crisis. “They’re destroying too many cattle and oil just to make soap,” he
replied. “If we need soap when you can jump into a pool of water
and then when you go to buy your gasoline, my folks always
thought they should, get pop but the best thing to get, is motor oil
and money. May as well go in there and trade in some, pop cans
and, uh, tires, and tractors to grup, car garages, so they can pull cars
away from wrecks, is what I believed in.”
It is clear that this patient understood the question he was being
asked, but he could not sort out the images, memories, and concepts
that it brought to mind. They all became mixed into a salad that is
quite crazy but hints poigna ntly at the lost days when the world
made sense. The resulting verbal garble reminds me that my own
words are glued together  in a very mysterious way by a
consciousness I take for granted. I do not have to go through any
mental struggl es to make sense when I speak—it just happens or it
doesn’t. Without this deceptively automatic continuity, life would turn
into “life salad.” Yet there is a seeming paradox here. How can one
maintain continuity and still be open to unexpected things, to the
ever-changing ow of events and the lightning ash of revelation? My choice plays the key role in whether I accept the world as it is or
alter it to suit my desires. Maya and I have been very good about
abiding by our agreement to keep the world predictable. Yet—who
knows?—I may decide to break the agreement tomor row. Or a
minute from now. Reality is always open to revision. Waking from the Spell
Milton Erickso n, a great pioneer in the therapeutic use of
hypnosis, was once giving a lecture-demonstration to an audience of
medical students. He asked for a volunteer to join him on the
platform. A young man came forward, took a seat facing the
audience, and placed his hands on his knees as Erickson requested. Then Erickson asked him, “Would you be willing to continue to see
your hands on your knees?” The student said that he would. Whilehe was talking, Erickson silently gestured to a colleague, who
walked up on the other side of the young man and raised his right
arm in the air. The arm stayed there. “How many hands do you have?” Erickson asked. “Two, of course,” the young man answered. “I’d like you to count them as I point to them,” Erickson said. “All right,” the young man replied, a patronizing note in his voice. Erickson point ed to the hand  resting on the left knee, and the young
man counted, “One.” He pointed to the right knee, where  there was
no hand, and the young man said, “Two.” He then pointed out the
hand dangling in midair. The student became hopelessly confused. “How do you explain that other hand?” asked Erickson. “I don’t know,” said the young man. “I guess I should  be in a
circus.”
You may have guessed by now that the volunteer was already
under hypnosis. The astonishing part of the story is that he was not
hypnotized beforehand. Erickson was such a master of his art


doing the wrong thing, obviously. You have less energy and look worse every day. Go and see a doctor before it is too late. " To
succeed with friends like this, a faster has to be a mighty self -determined p erson with a powerful ability to disagree with others. Medical personnel claim that rapid weight loss often causes dangerous deficiencies; these deficiencies force the person to
overeat and regain even more weight afterward. This is largely untrue, tho ugh there is one true aspect to it: a fasted, detoxified
body becomes a much more efficient digester and assimilator, extracting a lot more nutrition from the same amount food is use d to
eat. If, after extended fasting a person returns to eating the same n umber of calories as they did before; they will gain weight even
more rapidly than before they stated fasting. When fasting for weight loss, the only way to keep the weight off is to greatly  reform
the diet; to go on, and stay on, a diet made up largely of  non-starchy, watery fruits and vegetables, limited quantities of cooked
food, and very limited amounts of highly concentrated food sources like cereals and cooked legumes. Unless, of course, after
fasting, one’s lifestyle involves much very hard physical labor or exercise. I’ve had a few obese fasters become quite angry with
me for this reason; they hoped to get thin through fasting and after the fast, to resume overeating with complete irresponsib ility as
before, without weight gain. People also fear  weight loss during fasting because they fear becoming anorexic or bulimic. They won’t. A person who abstains
from eating for the purpose of improving their health, in order to prevent or treat illness, or even one who fasts for weight  loss will
not develo p an eating disorder. Eating disorders mean eating compulsively because of a distorted body image. Anorexics and
bulimics have obsessions with the thinner -is-better school of thought. The anorexic looks at their emaciated frame in the mirror
and thinks the y are fat. This is the distorted perception of a very insecure person badly in need of therapy. A bulimic, on the other
hand stuffs themselves, usually with bad food, and then purges it by vomiting, or with laxatives. Anorexics and bulimics are not
acceler ating the healing potential of their bodies; these are life threatening conditions. Fasters are genuinely trying to enhance t heir
survival potential. Occasionally a neurotic individual with a pre -existing eating disorder will become obsessed with fast ing and colon cleansing as
a justification to legitimize their compulsion. During my career while monitoring hundreds of fasters, I’ve known two of thes e. I
discourage them from fasting or colon cleansing, and refuse to assist them, because they carry the practices to absurd extremes,
and contribute to bad press about natural medicine by ending up in the emergency ward of a hospital with an intravenous feedi ng
tube in their arm. Cases Beyond The Remedy Of Fasting
    Occasionally, very ill people have a l iver that has become so degenerated it cannot sustain the burden of detoxification. This
organ is as vital to survival as the brain, heart and lungs. We can get along with only one kidney, we can live with no splee n, with
no gallbladder, with only small pa rts of the stomach and intestines, but we can not survive without a liver for more than a day or
so. The liver is the most active organ in the body during detoxification. To reach an understanding of detoxification, it hel ps to
know just what the liver doe s for us on an ongoing basis. The liver is a powerful chemical filter where blood is refined and purified. The liver passes this cleansed blood out through  the
superior vena cava, directly to the heart. The blood is then pumped into general and system ic circulation, where it reaches all parts
of the body, delivering nutrition and oxygen at a cellular level. On its return flow, a large proportion of the depleted bloo d is
collected by the gastric, splenic and superior and inferior mesenteric veins that c onverge to form the large portal vein which enters
the liver. Thus a massive flow of waste from all the cells of the body is constantly flowing into the liver. The huge hepatic  artery
also enters the liver to supply oxygen and nutrients with which to susta in the liver cells themselves. The liver is constantly at work refining the blood. It is synthesizing, purifying, renovating, washing, filtering, separating, and
detoxifying. It works day and night without stopping. Many toxins are broken down by enzymes and their component parts ar e
efficiently reused in various parts of the body. Some impurities are filtered out and held back from the general circulation. These
debris are collected and stored in the gall bladder, which is a little sack appended to the liver. After a meal, the conte nts of the gall
bladder (bile) are discharged into the duodenum, the upper part of the small intestine just beyond the stomach. This bile als o
contains digestive enzymes produced by the liver that permit the breakdown of fatty foods in the small intestine. Sometimes a large flow of bile finds its way into the stomach by pressure or is sucked into the stomach by vomiting. Excessiv e
biliary secretion and excretion can also result from overeating, which overcrowds the area. Sometimes colonics or massage ca n
also stimulate a massive flow of bile. Extremely bitter and irritating, when bile gets into the stomach the person either vom its or
wishes they could. And after vomiting and experiencing the taste of bile, wishes they hadn’t. When no food at all ente rs the system, the blood keeps right on passing through the liver/filter just as it does when we are eating. When the liver does not have to take care of toxins generated by the current food intake, each passage through the liver resu lts in a
cleaner blood  stream, with the debris decreasing in quantity, viscosity, and toxicity, until the blood becomes normalized. During
fasting, debris from the gall bladder still pass through the small intestine and into the large intestine. However, if the bo wels do not
move the toxins in the bile are reabsorbed into the blood stream and get recirculated in an endless loop. This toxic recycling makes
a faster feel just terrible, like they had a flu or worse. The bowels rarely move while fasting. During fasting only enem as or colonics permit elimination from the large intestine. If
done effectively and frequently, enemas will greatly add to the well being and comfort of the faster. Many times when a faste r
seems to be retracing or experiencing a sudden onset of acute disc omfort or symptoms, these can be almost immediately relieved
by an enema or colonic. A person with major liver degeneration inevitably dies, with or without fasting, with or without traditional medicine. Significantly impaired kidney function can also  bring about this same result. Mercifully, death while fasting is usually
accomplished relatively free of pain, clear of mind and with dignity. That often can not be said of death in a hospital. Ther e are
much worse experiences than death. Fasting is not a cure -all. There are some conditions that are beyond the ability of the body to heal. Ultimately, old age gets us
all. Dr. Linda Hazzard, one of the greats of natural hygiene, who practiced Osteopathic medicine in the 1920s, had a useful way of
categorizing conditions that respond well to fasting. These she labeled "acute conditions," and "chronic degenerative conditio ns. " A third classification, "chronic conditions with organic damage," does not respond to fasting. Acute conditions, are usually
inflammations or infections with irritated tissue, with swelling, redness, and often copious secretions of mucous and pus, suc h as
colds, flu, a first time case of pneumonia, inflamed joints as in the early stages of arthritis, etc. These acute conditions usually
remedy in one to three weeks of fasting. Acute conditions are excellent candidates for self -doctoring. Chronic degenerative
conditions are more serious and the patient usually requires supervision. These include conditions such as cancer, aids, chro nic
arthritis, chronic pneumonia, emphysema and asthma. Chronic degenerative conditions usually respond within a month to three
months of fasting. The fasting should be broken up into two or three sessions if the condition has not been relieved in one s tint of
supervised fasting. Each successive fast will produce some improvement and if a light, largely raw -food diet is adhered to between
fasts the patient should not worsen and should be fairly comfortable between fastings. If there has been major func tional damage to an organ as a result of any of these degenerative conditions, healing will not be
complete, or may be impossible. By organic damage, I mean that a vital part of the body has ceased to function due to some
degenerative process, injury, or s urgery –so badly damaged that the cells that make up the organ can not be replaced. I once had a twenty five year old man come to my spa to die in peace because he had been through enough diagnostic
procedures in three hospitals to know that his liver was beyond repair. He had been working on an apple farm in between terms at
university when he was poisoned several times with insecticide from an aerial spray on the whole orchard. He absorbed so much
insecticide that his


less, weak; there may be pains and aches in
the body; there may be severe headache. It is not proper to call these developments “withdrawal
symptoms,” in my opinion. It is important to know that they are evanescent, of brief duration, are
rarely severe. Sometimes, to avoid and to ameliorate these symptoms, the faster is given fruits. I doubt that this
is wise. With these foods, the fast is interrupted when the first signs of discomfort appear, and then
it is resumed after two or three days of light eating of this nature. The interruption with light feeding may have to be repeated two or three times during a fast of
considerable length, if this plan is resorted to. It is doubtful that the interruption saves the faster a
single slight twinge of discomfort and it is certain that it prolongs the time he has to be under
observation. If the faster will grit his teeth, clench his fists, grin and bear the evanescent
discomforts until the crisis is over the first time, there will be no recurrence of the symptoms. Frequently such a crisis is of extremely brief duration, no more than an hour or so. Only
infrequently does it last longer than three to four days. In addition to the foregoing general developments in fasting, there are a number of specific areas
where changes and developments are usual and should be understood. Even though they present no
problem or serious difficulty whatsoever, they should, as a part of the fasting routine, be discussed
frankly with the experienced
Hygienist
 who is directing the fast. When one starts a fast, certain physical developments occur almost invariably and should not
50cause alarm. Chief among them are: The tongue coats heavily, a bad taste develops in the mouth
and breath acquires a bad odor. Teeth may become pasty. The whole complex resembles the
tongue, mouth and breath in fever. Indeed, there are fasting advocates who liken this to the
depurative work of an acute illness, a
fever. Disagreeable as this condition may be, it represents a cleansing process. As the body unloads its
toxic burden, a process of slow clearing of the tongue begins at the tip and on the sides and
gradually clearing backward and towards the middle, until, by the time hunger returns, the tongue
and mouth are clean and the breath sweet. However light the urine may be at the beginning of the fast, it will become very dark and foul
within a few hours to a day after the fast is started. It may become almost black in many cases and
the odor will be very strong. After a week to two weeks, depending on the condition of the faster
—the urine begins to clear, becomes lighter, loses its strong odor until by the time hunger returns it
is normal in color and odor. The whole procedure is part of the evidence that the kidneys are
engaged in throwing
out unusual quantities of waste. Urine tests verify this fact. As purification
continues, the urine returns to normal. Loss of weight that results from fasting is consequent upon the utilization of the body’s reserves
in nourishing the vital tissues and the excretion of toxic accumulations. This loss should be
regarded as part of the process of purification and the resulting improvement should be welcomed. The degree of unwholesomeness of the tissues helps to determine the rapidity with which weight is
lost. Loss is greatest in the early days of the fast, fat people losing at a faster rate than thin
individuals. There are however, thin individuals who because of the toxic state of their tissues
lose as rapidly as overweight fasters during the first few days. Losses at this stage range from a
pound and a half a day, at the start of the fast, to four to six pounds in very stout individuals. After
a few days of fasting, the rate of loss slackens. In the later stages of a long fast, less than a quarter
of a pound a day may be lost. It is easily possible to exaggerate the importance of weight loss in any consideration of fasting. The emaciated person who remains thin on his various “weight gaining” diets may be very
reluctant to lose more weight, although generally after the fast, he will gain weight on much less
food than he has been in the habit of eating. It is an error to think that fasting is of benefit only to
fleshy people. The
feeling
 of weakness, sometimes experienced during a fast is due, in the main to functional
inactivity. There is a general functional let-down as the organism takes full advantage of the
proffered opportunity to rest. The heart slows, circulation slows, there is a slowing of respiration. The glands of the body reduce their activities. In general, the tired body heaves a sigh of relief and
goes to bed. This is just what is needed and proof that it is beneficial is seen by the fact that vigor
returns as the body rests and is cleansed, long before food is taken. Indeed weakness during the
first few days of the fast may be nothing more significant than an absence of the accustomed
stimulation. Many people undertake to fast with the mistaken idea that the cleansing processes carried on
during this period are necessarily of extremely trying and of disagreeable nature. This is true in
only a minute percentage of cases; it is by no means the rule. On the contrary, most fasters go
through even long fasts without the development of any dramatic or extraordinary crises. Most of
the work of excretion is carried on without the production of troublesome crises. When a crisis
does develop it should be welcomed, as it is almost always of a remedial nature. 51Skin eruptions rarely develop during the fast, but are definitely eliminative processes when they
do occur. Giddiness, fainting, palpitation of the heart, and symptoms of this nature, though not
common, should not be regarded as crises. They present no danger to the faster. Perhaps the most annoying development that occurs while a fast is in progress is that of nausea
and vomiting. Not only is it a trying time while it
lasts, but the faster is very weak also. Fortunately, there can be no doubt that this crisis is definitely beneficial and it does not occur in
more than fifteen percent of cases. Nausea and vomiting can develop on the first day of the fast or
at any time thereafter. Generally, a crisis develops after several days of abstinence. In a few
instances they develop after four or more weeks of fasting. What is ejected is usually a rather abnormal and watery bile with considerable mucus. The liver
works over-time (for a day to a few days) and much of the bile thus turned out is regurgitated into
the stomach, and is thrown out. The faster is so greatly benefited by the ordeal that he is well
compensated for the discomfort. These episodes may last a day or they may last two, three, four
days or a week. Rarely does vomiting persist beyond a week. The faster's strength returns when
vomiting ceases. If it persists for several days and water is not retained there is some inevitable dehydration. This is a serious matter, especially in cases where vomiting lasts for several days. The possibility
of breaking the fast must be considered promptly. The faster is weakened by the dehydration and
the recovery of strength is slow. If there is diarrhea along with the vomiting, and this occurs very
rarely, the dehydration is more severe. In such cases, if vomiting does not subside after a reasonable time, break the fast. This is not
always easy as there is a tendency to vomit the food as well as the water. In supervising some
fasters, I have often tried several kinds of juice before finding one that could be retained. Diarrhea in a fast is not as common as vomiting, but it does occur occasionally. When it does
develop, it may come at any period of the fast, even after thirty-five days. The discharge is
composed of bile, mucus and retained feces. This crisis is undoubtedly of a cleansing character. It
may be viewed in the same light as the diarrhea that accompanies marked edema in nephritis
(Bright’s disease) by which much of the edematous fluid is expelled from the body. That this ever
occurs in non-fasters I am not sure, but it is a common development in fasting a dropsical case. 5211
Nine Basic Steps
Let me warn emphatically that fasting is a much more complicated process than generally realized
even by some of its ardent advocates. It involves much more than merely going without food. There
is an art to fasting as
well as a science of fasting. The uses of fasting seem, at times, almost
unlimited. Its inconveniences are not great, its dangers are few and rarely seen. Yet for the most
satisfactory results it must be conducted in accordance with a few well-ascertained rules and
techniques by an experienced man. It is not a process to be left to the guidance of anyone of meager
knowledge or no experience in conducting fasts. Paradoxically, less supervision of the fast is required in acute disease than in chronic disease. When disease is the result of years of wrong life, and if the condition of the patient is one of grave
weakness, with severe organic impairment, much skill will be required to take the individual
through a fast of sufficient duration to accomplish the desired results. In such situations, it would be hazardous to rely on inexperienced and untrained men. I am
aware that there are some untrained laymen attempting to conduct fasts. I believe it is vitally
important to investigate


 times in cold
water until clear, then leave to soak in
fresh water for 15 minutes. 2. Grill the sausages until browned and
cooked through. 3. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low
heat. Add the cinnamon, cardamom and
cloves, and let them sizzle until the
cardamom pods are plumped up. 4. Add the onion and cook for about 8
minutes until browned. Add the garlic,
chilli powder, turmeric and green
chilli. Cook for 2–3 minutes.5. Drain the rice and add it to the
saucepan. Stir over a medium heat for
2 minutes then add the salt and pour in
the water. Bring to the boil over a high
heat. 6. Reduce the heat to medium and cook
uncovered for 10–15 minutes until the
water has been absorbed. Reduce the
heat further to low, mix in the sausages,
cover and cook for 6 minutes. 7. Turn the heat off and leave to stand for
about 10 minutes before serving. Split Peas with Mango Salsa
Split peas are full of potassium, protein
and fibre. Combined with all the spices,
this recipe creates a nutritious andfilling meal. Serves 4
 560 ml water
 225 g yellow split peas, rinsed and
drained
 1 mango, peeled and cubed
 110 ml salsa
 100 g can pineapple chunks, chopped
coarsely
 10 g coriander, chopped
 2 tsp white wine vinegar
 Juice of ½ lime
 ½ tsp ground cumin
 2 tbsp olive oil
 5 spring onions, chopped ½ tsp powdered ginger
 ½ tsp ground allspice
 ¼ tsp ground cardamom
 Juice of ½ orange
 4 tbsp vegetable stock
 ½ tsp honey or agave nectar
 200 g kale, washed and chopped
1. Put the split peas and water in a
medium saucepan and bring to the boil
over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to
low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes
or until tender. Drain and set aside. 2. In a medium bowl, mix the mango,
salsa, pineapple, coriander, vinegar,
lime juice and cumin together. Set
aside. 3. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the spring onions
and sauté, stirring for 3 minutes. 4. Add the ginger, allspice and cardamom
and cook for a minute. 5. Stir in the orange juice, stock and honey
or agave nectar. Add the split peas and
cook, stirring frequently for 10–15
minutes or until the mixture thickens. 6. In another saucepan, heat the remaining
oil, add the kale and cook, stirring
constantly for 4–5 minutes or until the
kale is just wilted. 7. Place the kale on a serving platter, top
with the split peas mixture, then with
the mango mixture and serve. Vegetable CasseroleGood food does not have to be
complicated or time-consuming. Use
everyday vegetables from the
refrigerator for a warming and heart-
healthy meal. Serves 4
 Peel and juice of 1 orange
 2 tsp corn flour
 6 sweet potatoes, cut into cubes
 2 onions, cut into 6 wedges
 2 leeks, thickly sliced
 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 cm
thick rounds
 150 g pitted prunes, halved
 225g can unsweetened pineapplechunks
 1 cm ginger, chopped
 1 tsp ground cinnamon
 4 tbsp toasted almonds, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C or Gas Mark
5. Coat a baking dish with
non-stick
spray. 2. In a large bowl, mix the orange juice
and corn flour until smooth. 3. Add the orange peel, sweet potatoes,
onions, leeks, carrots, prunes,
pineapple chunks with juice, ginger and
cinnamon. Mix well to blend, pour into
the baking dish and cover with foil. 4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. 5. Remove the foil and sprinkle with
almonds. Bake for another 15 minutesand serve. Greek Stuffed Tomatoes
Add more herbs and spices to create your
own unique version. This can be served
as a starter as well. Serves 3–6
 2 tbsp olive oil
 1 onion, chopped
 100 g spinach, chopped
 Handful of parsley, chopped
 2 tsp dried basil
 ½ tsp crushed chilli (optional)
 50 g breadcrumbs 225 g feta cheese, crumbled
 ½ tsp salt
 ½ tsp black pepper
 6 large tomatoes, firm and insides
scooped out
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C or Gas Mark
4. 2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a
medium heat and sauté the onion for 5
minutes. Add the spinach and cook for
2 minutes. 3. In a bowl, mix the onion, spinach,
parsley, basil, crushed chilli,
breadcrumbs, cheese, salt and pepper
together. 4. Stuff the mixture into the tomatoes and
bake for 15 minutes. Serve.Seafood Stew
A rustic yet sophisticated seafood stew
that will be a winner with both family
and dinner party guests. Serves 4
 4 tbsp olive oil
 1 onion, chopped
 3 celery stalks, chopped
 1 green bell pepper, chopped
 1 red bell pepper, chopped
 5 garlic cloves, crushed
 ½ tsp red pepper, crushed
 2 tsp dried oregano
 1 tsp dried marjoram 3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
 450 ml bottled clam juice
 2 cans (425 g) chopped tomatoes
 140 ml red wine
 450 g white fish, cut into cubes
(halibut, haddock or cod)
 450g king prawns, shelled and
deveined
 450 g scallops (washed and cut in half)
or mussels (pre-cooked, removed from
shells and cut in half)
 Juice of ½ lemon
 ½ tsp salt and coarsely ground black
pepper
 Grated parmesan or romano cheese to
garnish1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over
a medium heat. Add the onion and sauté
for 5 minutes. 2. Add the celery and peppers and sauté
for 2 minutes. 3. Stir in the garlic, crushed pepper,
oregano, marjoram and basil. Lower
the heat and cook for 2 minutes. 4. Add the clam juice, tomatoes and wine. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. 5. Add the fish, prawns, scallops or
mussels. Cook for 4–5 minutes or until
the seafood is just cooked. 6. Stir in the lemon juice and season with
salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with
grated parmesan or romano. Russo’s Ratatouille
(SouthAfrican)
Serves 4
 4 tbsp olive oil
 1 onion, chopped
 5 garlic cloves, crushed
 1 bay leaf
 1 aubergine, washed and cubed
 1 tsp salt
 15 g fresh basil, chopped
 2 tsp dried oregano
 1 tsp rosemary
 2 courgettes, washed and cubed
 2 yellow squash, washed and cubed
 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and
chopped 1 green bell pepper, deseeded and
chopped
 3 tomatoes, chopped
 125 ml dry red wine
 225 g mushrooms, sliced
 15 g fresh parsley, chopped
 2 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
(optional)
1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add
the onion, garlic and bay leaf, and sauté
for 5 minutes. 2. Add the aubergine, salt, basil, oregano
and rosemary. Cover and cook over a
medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring
occasionally. 3. Add the courgettes, yellow squash,
peppers, tomatoes and wine. Cover andsimmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. 4. Mix in the mushrooms and parsley. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the
vegetables are tender. 5. Remove the bay leaf. Serve on a plate
and garnish with parmesan.Chapter 12
Desserts
A few of these desserts include
fruit and some also include
digestive aids such as fennel
and ginger. Enjoy!Creamy Dark Chocolate and
Almond Mousse
This recipe is courtesy of Kristen
Suzanne of kristenraw.com. It’s a
fabulous dessert, packed full of
nutrients, vitamins and minerals. You
can use any other flavour of extract – try
orange, it’s fantastic! Serves 4
 75 ml water
 1 tsp almond extract
 2 tbsp honey or agave nectar
 125 g dark chocolate powder (more
than 70 percent cocoa) 2 avocados, deseeded and peeled
 2 tbsp almonds, crushed
 1 sprig mint (garnish)


 inward. W ith
experience, observing the breath and bringing your attention into the inner
body can be practiced during any situation or activity. Following the breath is an activity innate to humans and has been
practiced since time immemorial. The breath is the bridge between the mind
and the  body. In order to enter the zone during any type of sports
competition, the body and mind must be mer ged together so that you can
become one with the game. The breath can be felt entering and leaving the body at four distinct
points. The first is the area just inside the nose, the second is the area at the
back of the throat, the third is  movement of the chest, and the fourth is
movement of the abdomen. Y o u may find it easier to focus on one point
more than others—experiment as you practice to see which  feels most
natural for you. T o b egin, place one hand on you r chest and one hand on your abdomen,
just abov e your navel. Follow y our breath as it enters the nostrils or passes
down the throat. Concentrate o n the area you are breathing into—are you
using your chest or your abdomen to inhale? Do you feel your chest rise
and fall with each breath, or do you feel your abdomen move g ently in and
out? Do  not change your breathing, simply observe it. At first, you might
find you r mind wandering—don’ t worry if it does but simply  bring your
attention gently back to the breath. As you observe your breathing, continue to relax your inner body. Using
mental encourag ement, silently tell the muscles of your chest an d abdomento re lax. As you feel your body soften, gently slow your breath. There is no
need to deliberately interfere with the breathing muscles by tens ing them or
restricting your breathing. Instead, simply allow your breathing to become
quiet and soft, using mental commands to relax your body. The objective here is to reduce your breathing to the point where you
create a mild to moderate hunge r for air. This need for air should be distinct
but not so strong  that your breathing accelerates, or your abdomen muscles
contract, or the rhythm of your breath becomes chaotic. If you do find that
your breathing becomes disturbed by the hunger for air, then take a break
from the exercise for about 15 seconds and resume when your breathing is
back to normal. T ry this breathing practice for 10 minutes or so. Breathing exercises of all kinds are helpful for taking attention from the
mind and into the present moment. However, the creation and maintenance
of a tolerable air shortage over the course of this exercise can be
instrumental in further slowing  down the activity of the mind. There is
nothing like the feeling of an air shortage for anchoring attention to the
breath. An additional benefit to breathing lightly is the activa tion of the
body’ s relaxation response, indicated by increased production of watery
saliva in the m outh. The technique and ef fects of reduced br eathing are
explored in more detail in chapter 4. When I first started to use this method of observing the breath during
meditation, I sometimes became frustrated to find my mind wandering. This
is natural. In fa ct, you should expect your mind to wander at first. W ith
practice, your mind will wander less and less, the gap between thoughts will
increase, and you will feel happier and more alert. By p racticing meditation regula rly, you will find that your attention no
longer s pends so  much time in your mind, separated from life, dwelling on
things y ou cann ot change and t hings that have not happened y et. Over the
past fifteen years I have completed several periods of “noble silence”—a
series of ten consecutive days when I wake up at five in the morning and
meditate until it is time to retire  to bed at eight o’clock at night. Car keys,
computer, phone, and wallet are put away. Noble silence involves a silence
of the tongue an d mind—no talking or thinking. At the end of the ten days,
my mind is razor -sharp, calm, alert, and focused. For those starting out in meditation, even a short period of 10 minutes
observing the breath can bring about great changes in your life. Spend twoweeks o bserving your breath as often as you can throughout the day. More
important than the length  of time you obs erve your breath during one sitting
is the number of times you bring attention to your breathing throughout the
day. See and feel the dif ference  that this practice makes to your focus and
concentration during sports and in your everyday life. Connect with the Inner Body to Enter the Zone
Focusing on oneself involves ta king attention out of the mind and mer ging
with the miracle that is the h uman body. There is an intel ligence that
operates within our bodies, far  greater than that within the mind. Every
moment, thousa nds of functions automatically take place within the body
without any direction from the mind. The intelligence of the mind is but a
mere fr action of the natural i ntelligence that resides within the body. Consider the many vital automa tic functions of the body, such as breathing,
the beating of the heart, and the process of digestion—conscious thoughts
are n ot r equired for these complex and tireless processes, but imagine if just
one of these activities was the re sponsibility of the human mind. Even if the
mind was only responsible for directing each breath—a relatively
straightforward procedure—it is unlikely that we would last fo r more than
an hour. The hu man body is a miracle and operates on such a  vast innate
intelligence that it is unlikely human beings will ever be able to produce
comparable technology. Despite man’ s best ef forts to develop a robot to
parallel the human body, protot ypes are awkward and capable of handling
only a small number of functions. The natural intelligence that resides in the
human body is incredible, and we all have access to its capabilities so long
as w e do not allow the mind to overshadow it. Simply by taking your
attention from incessant thinkin g and directing your senses into the inner
body, yo u will be able to draw from the stillness and intelligence residing
there. In the W estern  world we rar ely focus on the inner body unless
something is wrong. Seldom do we pay attention to the body when it is free
from pain. Seldom do we truly experience our body as alive and feel the
vibration of ener gy that resonat es there. The body is your connection with
this ene r gy. If you have never directed your attention to your inner bodybefore, start of f slowly. If you have learned to follow and r educe your
breath, you will find this relatively easy to do. Close yo ur eyes  and bring your  attention to one of your hands. Direct
your foc us to the hand and feel it from within. W ith your eyes closed, feel
the i nner sensations of your hand. Y ou may begin to notice the temperature
of the air against your skin, or you may feel subtle inner bodily sensations. Stay with these sensations for a little while and quietly observe them. When
you are focused on the inner bodily sensations of your hand, move your
attention to include your arm. Now feel the inner bodily sensation of your
hand and arm together. Do not analyze or think about it, just feel it. Next, bring attention to your chest and focus from within for a minute
or s o. Y ou may feel the texture of your clothes against your s kin, or you
may feel the heat emanating fro m your chest. After a minute or so, bring
attention to your stomach and check for any tension. If your stomach is
tense, imagine it gradually relaxing. Feel the area around your abdomen
gently so ftening as the tension dissolves away. The more active  your mind,
the greater the tendency that your stomach will be in a knot. Relax this area
using your imagination and allow any tension to disappear. Now feel the ener gy field of both hands, both arms, your chest, and your
abdomen at the same time. Keep your attention there. As long as your
attention is on your body, it is not on your mind. The incess ant thought
activity of your mind will gradually slow down as your focus remains on
your inner body. W ith a little practice, you will be able to focus your attention on your
inner body from head to toe. Dispersing your attention throughout the inner
body is especia lly helpful during physical exercise and competition, and
this exercise can help you to enter the zone at will. Live in the Now to Enter the Zone
By following the breath and bringing attention to the inner body, we are
able to bring our attention to the present moment. The pre sent mo ment is the only  time in which life truly unfolds. Y ou
cannot r e-live your life in the past, nor can you live your life in the future. When the future arrives, it is the now. Be here fully. Do not spend yourentire life, as most of humanit y, with all of your attention stuck in your
head. Ho w can you relate to the reality of life if you are too bu sy focusing
on memories, worries, and what-ifs? A simple practice to bring your attention to the present moment is to
mer ge with your surroundings. W e connect to our