Live long and prosper!

/ May 18, 2014/ Holistic Nutrition, Yoga/ 1 comments

Are u a Star Trek fan? I confess I am! well in this series, the Vulcan are a race of people that feel no emotions. They live a long life and they never get sick. Live long and prosper is a catchy greeting that Spock says all the time.

Like many notions in Star Trek, this one has more truth than fiction. In energy medicine, every thing is neutral. Nothing is good nothing is bad! So when you face a situation, in your mind you make a judgment which generates an emotion and your body responds to that emotion. Some times your body response is disease. This concept is life changing!

Now you understand how the vulcans don’t get sick. They have total control over their emotions and they don’t have feelings! But we are no vulcans… What can we do?

Can we control our emotions?

Repressing  your emotions is certainly not healthy. Controlling your emotions might not be possible. But you can change your think patterns to change how your body  responds to emotions! So you can certainly steer theses responses toward useful emotions.

Learning to let go

As it turns out, we can change our mind from making judgments that are not useful. First, let’s scratch out the words positive and negative from our vocabulary! Second, become aware of that split second that we have when we face a situation and then decide how to react. Take the power away from it and let go. Very vulcan eh?

I used to be victim of road rage. Every incidence left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and a bad mood. I started to practice this concept and whenever some one cuts me off, I realize that person is in a rush and have a reason for it that I don’t know about. Instead of making a judgement whether this reason is valid, I wish that this person makes it wherever is headed safe and sound. Guess what? I feel great afterwards and in joyful mood. Sounds too easy? It is try it. Like anything, it requires work and practice.

Replacing thinking patterns

You might think taking the power away is fine and dandy for the present but what about all the anger, anxiety, fear, and stress that has accumulated through the years?  How do you let go? There is a solution for that too! We have this energy centers (chakras) and they get blocked with these type of emotions. Each emotion is related to a center so working on releasing or changing the thinking pattern that cause it, you can unblock the center and heal disease. I’m simplifying a lot! Hopefully, you get the idea.

Have you heard of affirmations? It is one of the ways to replace an old thinking pattern with a new thinking pattern. You choose a mantra to address your issue and repeat it so many times that you start to believe it.

Louise Hay has a wonderful book titled “Heal your body”. It includes a table with a long list of ailments and describes the thinking pattern that originates it and the new thinking pattern that heal them. For pain, the thinking that causes it is guilt. Guilt seeks punishment. The affirmation to release this thinking patter is “I lovingly release the past. They are free and I am free. All is well in my heart now.” Can you relate to this?

Accepting to live in health and bliss

In general, I found that acceptance is key to healing! Not resignation… Resignation is passive while acceptance requires you to act. True acceptance means that you let go of any attachments and free of that baggage, you start to heal and best of all, you start to feel bliss!

Some one I know was doing a job she didn’t like. But she knew it was temporary and it was paying the bills. So she decided to be grateful and do the best she could at work. Do you know what happened? She started to enjoy going to work and customers relate to that so they we’re drone to her. She did so well, she got a raise! Her headaches were gone but best of all she found a way to be happy by accepting the situation and living in the present. In the end, she left that work and is finally doing something she loves and she is good at.

Energy medicine has this believe that if you need something, really need it, not want it, the universe provides. If you believe this, you will find many things coming your way and best of all you will see opportunity knocking not just once but many times until you are ready to take it. So don’t worry! Wait until you feel ready and the opportunity presents itself again. If it doesn’t, maybe it was something you wanted but you didn’t need so you have to let go…

Can food change my emotions?

Well you know the answer to this… who doesn’t reach for chocolate or ice cream to feel better sometimes?

Digging deeper though, foods can promote clarity and tranquility of mind (sattvic) while others promote turbulance (rajasic), cloudiness and darkness (tamasic). Using aryuveda as a reference, here is a list of sattvic foods that promote mental clarity and energy:

• Fresh fruits eaten in season promote contentment, improve perception and calms the heart
• Raw, steamed, or juiced fresh vegetables are the most beneficial
• Raw seeds and nuts particularly almonds, pine nuts, and walnuts  (avoid rancid)
• Whole grains especially brown or basmati rice
• Mung or adzuki beans (other legumes have opposite effect)
• Ghee (most beneficial), sesame, coconut, and olive oil
• Honey (not heated) and jaggery sugar in moderation to feed your power of awareness
• Ginger, cardamon, nutmeg (promotes sleep), fennel, coriander, turmeric to promote cheerfulness and serenity
• Gotu kola (most beneficial and my favorite), calamus, aloe vera gel (rejuvenation), gingseng, sage, and mint are just a few of a long list of herbs to promote clarity, calmness, and coolness to the mind

Did you notice that these foods are whole fresh foods and easy to digest? Did you know lots of gurus follow a sattvic diet?

Foods to avoid because they produce the opposite effect such as turbulence or darkness in the mind:

• Garlic, onions, radishes, and chilies
• Excess of brassica-family vegetables ( cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts)
• Legumes because they are gas-forming (exceptions in previous list)
• Meats specially red
• Yogurt and aged cheeses
• Refined-sugars (promotes darkness)
• Excess of spices or salt
• Highly processed or canned food
• Coffee, alcohol, and other stimulants

Did you realized these are unhealthy and heavy-to-digest foods? Start to see a pattern here? Think of this, how do you feel after eating lots of highly processed food and lots of alcohol or caffeine? not very sattvic for sure.

I know this info looks like I am making it up! because it fits the advice I am always giving you. Nonetheless, this knowledge is 5000 years old. Many people have worked very hard to hand it to us.  All we got to do is try it… I tried and it works! I encourage you to try it too and let me know how it goes.

Pran mudra

I cann’t think of anything that promotes clarity or calms the mind more than meditation. So I am including here the pran mudra that helps you activate the root chakra and increase vitality. Follow these steps to do meditate using this mudra:

• Seat comfortably
• Bring together the tips of the thumb, ring finger, and little finger
• Extend the middle and index finger
• Choose a breathing exercise and focus on your breath while keeping the light pressure on the tips of your fingers

Use this mudra for 15 min twice a day or 30 min a day.