Early in my quest for alternative medicine and natural health I found Transcendental Meditation. It was in Depak Chopra’s book “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind “According to Chopra TM came from India, and was originally introduced in the USA by Maharishi Mahesh YogI in the 1970’s. The purpose of TM is to learn to quiet the noise of the world. Its belief is that once quiet you can find the path to the uncompensated you.

Chopra went on to explain that consciousness is only the tip of the iceberg because individuals are much more complex. The depth of that complexity originates in silence and stillness. TM is a practice that uses a mantra to quiet the mind. It is different than praying which is asking for something. It is just silence. There are many approaches to meditation and most of them work to quiet the mind which is a stillness helps bleed off the stress and issues of the day.

I took a TM course and applied it for just those issues. I found that once I became silent, which took a while, it seemed that I was led by an invisible force to a new way of being. From there came books and materials that helped me change my perception and defuse accumulated tension and stress.

Before Chopra became an author he was an oncologist in a Boston hospital where his observations of cancer patients noted that just the diagnosis of cancer would put the patient into a downward spiral, sometimes more destructive than the disease itself. He eventually quit modern medicine and was reborn into his India roots and Ayruvedic medicine, where his success with patients increased ten-fold. I devoured his material, He wrote more than 20 books and audio tapes. He convinced me that the mind-body connection was real and if I could cure my mind, my body would follow suit. He was an early leader in my quest to understand natural health.

All living things in this world are unique in their form and function. A human being is unique because of a reasoning mind and evolved emotion. The exercise of adding thought and feelings make man the most developed living being in nature. In spite of this development humans have a multitude of problems coping dealing with existence. A human is susceptible to harm from:

• Genetic experience
• Physical attack
• Mental attack
• Life Experience
• Group experience

These components are all part of life. The difference between humans and animals is we remember. We attach the past events to current events and make an analysis based on the history of similar experience. This complicates the process of life leading to imbalance and disease. When overwhelmed humans discard living and move from happiness into a state of fear. People and societies carry this mind set through life spending their time defending their existence under false pretense.

From this inborn mental blemish mankind suffers endlessly. Doctors have sought to repair and improve human life through various means since the outset of civilization. One beneficial form is to rearrange negative thinking and feelings. If one can rearrange the patterns of thinking they can discard negative patterns and allow the mind/body to move disease issues out of human consciousness.

The medical model of Homeopathy claims “cure”of disease imbalance by triggering and rearranging thought patterns so people can cure themselves. The named disease is not the focus of treatment; treatment is aimed at raising awareness of the inner mind to see causes for imbalance. This process is also possible at the group level as has been shown in epidemic disease patterns.

Medical science postulates that more than 80% of disorders originate from mental imbalance. The overwhelmed human mind lives in the past. Finding triggers to diffuse the volatile nature of human nature could lead to a transformation of humanity.

Most things that people fear are created in the mind and do not happen. A rearrangement in mental mindsets could be of immense benefit to mankind. Helping people live in the moment could be an admirable goal for humanity.

Healing Sounds Intensive

July 17 to the 24^th 2010 I attended Jonathan Goldman’s Healing Sound Intensive at the Sunrise Ranch. The Sunrise Ranch is pristinely located in a quiet valley in the Rocky Mountain foothills near Loveland, Colorado. The ranch reminded me of days at camp as a child with dormitory rooms, comfortable atmosphere and serene surroundings. The difference was that an almost mystical aura seemed to be present.

The conference was in its 15^th year, teaching about the healing power of sound. There were ninety people in attendance including five teachers. The world was well represented by the USA, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. When I met Andi Goldman and began to mix with this diversified group of people I looked forward to an exciting and diverse week. I was not disappointed.

In my quest to be my own doc my personal belief in sound as a healing therapy began when I was able to cure ringing in the ear and sinus issues several years before using sound as the only remedy. I found that sound is much more than just music and that the use of your own voice and the vowel sounds can produce a sacred healing message. Sound is the opposite of quiet and both forces are powerful as nature delivers life.

The intensive was anchored with fellowship, laughter, rhythms, sounds, and laughter and quiet times. As the week progressed instruction went from the technical definitions of sound to how to use the sacred vowel sounds uh, oo, oh, ah, eye, aye and ee.  Each session was planned to bring better understanding of how to apply sound as a sacred medium of healing. These lessons followed traditions laid out by the ancient societies of Tibet, India, China, and the America’s.

The principle of love was evident as group hugging and tears of happiness welled up as boundaries were expanded. In my experience it was uncommon to show emotion and hugs were always guarded, (especially hugging another guy). By the end of the gathering I was hugging everyone as enthusiastically as anyone else.

If you like fellowship, friendship, affiliation and want to add more meaning to your life attend a sound healing intensive. The world of sound offers a proven avenue to better health and well being. I came away from the experience motivated and confident I could be part of a better world.

I took quite a few pictures and although I am not a good photographer I decided to do a utube slideshow. Take a look.

The Creation of Habits

Discover The Positive and Negative of Automatic Behavior on Your Health

Habits are routines of behavior that tend to occur subconsciously without directly thinking about them consciously. Habits sometimes go unnoticed in the person who exhibits them. Habits are a simple form of learning in reaction to an exposure to a stimulus.

Habits can be Destructive

During my life a lot of habits have come and gone. My early over eating habit resulted in an extra 60 pounds on a 5’3” frame resulting in a short, fat body and issues of confidence in my mental outlook.

Exactly What are Habits?

Habits are automatic behavior responses to mental and physical circumstances. Habits are trained into life, or they may be genetic. Each person has a tendency, inclination and susceptibility to respond in specific ways to surroundings and situations.

Automatic Response

We create habits to survive on automatic without thinking about what we are doing. Historically, being fat paid off with the ability to last through a shortage of food. Plants with psychedelic properties were chewed or smoked to pass the hours in altered states. Throughout history we assumed habits that bring both problems and possibilities to life. The addictive habits of modern times bring short term relief, but over the long term can bring horrible consequences.

Changing Bad Habits

In my attempts to lose weight I tried pharmacy, diet fads and weight loss programs. The products initially worked, but eventually old habits would reappear and the weight crept back on. Finally I kept the weight off with a change of habits. My process was to examine what caused me to crave damaging foods and drinks, and the way I consumed them, I began with slowing down.

• Eating to fast and to much
• I put my fork down between each bite.
• I count chews, minimum of 10
• I always take small portions, with close attention to quantity

Wait a few minutes after eating to

• decide if I need more

If I See Food:

• I eliminate offending food from easy access (Like chips watching TV)
• I think about consequences of eating non nourishing food and drink
• I think about quantity
• Is this food needed, or is it an emotional crutch, or just something to do

What I Eliminated or Reduced

Wheat products, white flour, and raised yeast products (replaced with flat breads and other grains)

• Very limited fruit and processed sugars, no artificial sweeteners, no corn syrup products (replaced with Stevia)
• Dairy Products, only butter and occasional cheese, (Replaced with limited soy products)
• So-called Junk and Highly Processed Foods (very limited with close label inspection. (If urge is there to taste something, I only taste)
• Soft Drinks, Never with corn syrup or artificial (diet) sweeteners, (limited consumption of cane sugar and brewed alcoholic beverages)

Changing Habits

I found that to change a habit I had to replace it with a new one. Obviously, each person needs to adjust habits. Your habits are created by you and good or bad is a personal perception. We each have to decide the habits that serve us well, and those that are destructive and act accordingly. Usually forming or breaking habits takes about three weeks.

How We Form Habits

• Behavior repeated automatically
• Sometimes Uncontrollable
• Usually Unintentional
• Unaware of urge

Influences That Trigger Habits

• Inclination
• Traditions
• Social Pressure
• Emotion
• Economy
• Reputation
• Medical circumstance

25 years ago I made the decision to eliminate medical insurance, medical doctors and pharmacy from my life. The research path took me to ancient philosophy from Hippocrates to Hahnemann to the modern nature cure doctors of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.