Throughout various cultures the concept of substances which ebb and flow as a consequence of life forces are described and managed to maximize the health and wellbeing of communities and individuals. These competing forces necessarily interact in the human body (microcosm) and in the universe (macrocosm)
HOMEOPATHY:
- Ndembu (Turner): describes three forces
- white rivers (milk & semen)
- red rivers (blood and loss of blood-particularly menstruation)
- black rivers (death, waste, decay)
- Flow, Fluidity and Flux are important processes for health & healing in African cultures, Papua New Guinea, India, China and ancient Greece.
- based on the belief that the flow of substances in the natural environment and the human body is needed for survival, wellness and healing.
- Harm comes from the stoppage of this flow or "flooding"
- path to longevity is the MIDDLE WAY
- modern medicine : "homeostasis" (state of internal balance attained by living things regulating their physiological processes-sweating on a hot day, restricting capillaries when it is cold)
- HUMORS (vital fluids that a culture recognizes are fundamental aspects of life)
- must be kept in balance (often by consuming certain foods and liquids)
- notions of hot/cold/cool are key to understanding humoral activity-as are Wet/Dry
- activities, weather changes, emotions all can deplete or restore vital fluids
- MELPA (png): 2 humors (blood & grease)-form two separate but interconnected sources of vitality which must flow freely and be exchanged appropriately for health & harmony to be maintained.
- can be depleted in people and communities
- a man uses up his grease through intercourse, a woman through regnancy and breastfeeding-must be replenished by consuming pork fat and juicy vegetables
- optimal conditions for health are found in balancing the "hot" and "cold" in "cool" (fair minded-cool- actions of a chief provide grease for the community, eg)
- pigs are exchanged between families to restore group harmony
- The flow of drinks, food, gifts and commodities and the essential and complex functions of these circulations establish and maintain strong social bonds in all cultures and societies.
- KULA RING (ti)
- MAWRI (Niger): the health of a market depends on the the presence of "spirits" who protect it and animate it by their presence. The flow of material and spiritual gives RAI (life) to the market.
- INTERNET (markets) need "traffic" to be healthy in this same way.
- Bodies of water (Nile, Euphrates, Ganes & Jordon Rivers) are considered SACRED
- purification by babtism (Christian)
- holy well visitations in Ireland (cures a variety of illnesses including headaches, abdominal pain, warts, whooping cough, sore throats & eye problems).
- Water can be used for HEALING and RITUAL PURIFICATION in many cultures
- Hippocrates: baths for healin
- Judaism: Mikvah for purification
- Public Mineral baths : japan, Rome, Turkey-important part of social and cultural life
- Rainmaking rituals : Egypt, Native Americans, Rural Romania (Parapuda)
- Water is a great FORCE OF NATURE (may be unpredictable & uncontrollable)
- floods, storms, drowning, sunami
- contamination and carrier of disease (typhus, yellow fever, parasites, environmental toxins & bacteria)
- modern fact: shortage of clean drinking water
- Apache: White Painted Woman-culture hero emerges from water
- women are often associated with water and cycles of the moon that are connected to the movement of tides and cycles of fertility.
- female water spirits are the source of danger and disease in many cultures-particularly for men (Mermaids)
- MAMI WATA: female serpent deity found throughout the African diaspora-giver of prosperity beautiful but also life-threatening
- Water in HUMORAL SYSTEMS
- commonly seen as an element in wet/dry dyad that needs to remain balanced
- Chinese medicine
- associated with the yin/yang principle
- YIN: contractive, centripedal, responsive, positive, cold, wet, female)
- YANG: expansive, centrifugal, demanding, negative, hot, dry, male)
- health: life force (qi/ki/chi) must be allowed to flow unimpeded or restored through various therapeutic methods, especially foods and herbs, but also acupuncture.
- yin and yang are integrated. they contain a seed of eachother, and the whole is essentiial
- Feng Shui: Spaces and interiors can also be imbalanced and effect health. Uses colors and objects along with laying out interiors according to the cardinal directions to create greater harmony, health and prosperity).
- the human being is an integral part of nature and subject to the same natural laws
- Ayurveda
- Islamic Humoralism
- Greek humoralism
- FOUCAULT (Water and Medical Treatment)
- several mental illnesses were treated with water immersion and showers in the 18th century in France
- cold water (hydrotherapy)England
HOMEOPATHY:
- Homeopathy was a flourishing practice originating in 19th century Europe and gaining international scope, especially in India where it has many affinities to Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine)
- founded by German physician SAMUEL HAHNEMANN it provided a gentle alternative to "heroic" medical practices of the day
- Medical material: thousands of substances from plant, animal, mineral and even disease sources which are diluted until virtually undetectable. The more the remedy has been diluted, the longer and deeper it acts and fewer doses are required
- The physician chooses the remedies that mirror the symptoms experienced by the sufferer, aiding the healing process rather than suppressing the symptoms.
- key principle/techniquess:
- principle of similars (like cures like)
- principle of infinitesimals (greater dilutions have deeper effects)
- techniques of preparation:
- potentization (multiple dilutions)
- succession (firm striking of the vial against a leather pad or palm of ones hand)
- WATER is used to DILUTE the active ingredient multiple times until only the energetic signature or "memory" of the original substance remains in the fluid. For solid preparations, lactose is used.
- Administered based on CONSTITUTION (body type)
- determined through an elaborate interview based on a person's physical, emotional, mental and social experiences
- PURPOSE: TO RESTORE THE vital force (energetic and informational)-based on the understanding that WATER, plants, animals, minerals, chemical substances, textures, colors, sounds, behaviors, thoughts, emotions and life circumstances are complexly intertwined through webs of homeopathic relationships
- REMEDIES: (can make their own remedy out of any substance)
- minerals
- plants
- animals
- VITAL FORE?ENERGY plays a key role in tradional and alternative medicine
- Qi -chinese medicine
- Prana-
- Ki-
- Chi-
- traditional notions of the sun include the divine giver of life
- positive benefits include vitamin D absorption, bone development, bone pain, and bone loss.
- epidemic low levels in northern hemisphere
- MS? Autism? internal cancers? (more common in Norther latitudes)
- versus skin cancer and other negative effects (Western)
- SUNLIGHT VITAMIN is highly contested in Western medicine
- only acknowledged this relationship in the West since Einstein (E-MC2 )
- Recognized in many traditional cultures & healing traditions
- KUNG! San of sub-Saharan Africa---30,000BP
- Indian Ayurveda (Chakras)--4000BC
- Energy manifests itself in many forms and can be seen in ENERGY MEDICINE
- where energy loss manifests as illness, practitioners will use various methods to restore balance, store, or replenish the energy of a person, particular organs, or unblock energy flow using particular points and channels of the patient's body.
- Energy medicine is seen with suspicion in the West-hard to substanciate, measure & explain with "science"
- Reiki
- chakra balancing
- thai massage "heated hands"
- much of what is promoted as cutting edge alternative medicine in terms of the relationship between what is consumed and health, is elsewhere time tested ancient knowledge
- KUNG!-highly variant/diverse diet-105 edible plants consumed regularly
- INUIT- oily sea mammal protien (Omega 3)
- Nutricional variety decreases while chronic and epidemic illnesses become increasinglycommon as FOOD PRODUCTION and ANIMAL DOMESTICATION become widespread-10,000 BP
- food producers claimed more fertile areas and hunters and gatherers were marginalized.
- worst mistake in human history???
- sanitation issues with sedintary life and growing populations
- crowd/communicable diseases
- lowered nutritional value of domesticates
- decreasing variety in diet to reliance on monocrop
- poor nutricion
- chance of starvation from famine/blight
- Industrialization initially brings improvement in the flow in of resources and out of waste
- decreases in child mortality and increased life expectancy and reduced birth rates
- followed by increases in "DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION"
- diabetes, asthma, allergies, auto-immune disporders
- bacteria resistant viruses, particularly among marginalized & institutionalized populations
- market capitalism creates increased social inequality
- processed high fat and carb foods
- increased low wage labor
- subject to resistant diseases
- Dietary choices are not easily changed for they mark group identity (ethnicity), being in a special state (pregnancy), or a particular kind of relationship (Shabbat, Passover, Communion)
- take advantage of all that is available in an indigenous environment
- tend to be nutrious and balanced dites
- may require ample processing to remove toxins, etc.
- bitter manioc
- blow fish
- drying, smoking (less perishable)
- All cultures have TABOO FOODS
- pregnancy
- kosher rules (contaminated pork)
- Mary Douglas -animals that did not fit into per-existing categories
- marvin harris- pigs not suited to living in arid environments-do not sweat
- Brahmanic vegetarianism (sacred cow)
- Marvin Harris-need for protection of oxen for draft animals
- Colonialization and Westernization lead to the replacement of local food sources and traditions with imported Western-made or Western-style items like macaroni, sodas, and potato chips, while local plant relaxants and beverages supplanted by cigarettes and alcohol.
- native modes of subsistence are threatened by property lines (land rights)
- epidemics (sedentary living-reservations)
- industrial pollution
- factory/wage labor
- conflict in values
- date back to 1910(discovery of vitamins)
- 1940 food rules and pyramid established
- counter cultural movements of the 1960s-ALTERNATIVE CONSUMPTION MOVEMENTS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD- against fast-food corporate food culture
- raw foodists
- health food movement
- organic food movement
- no GMO movement
- veganism/vegitarianism
- ecological, humane, health, spiritual
- gluten-free
- slow food
- freegans
- zero carbon footprint-avoid purchase-dumpster diving
- locovores--promote local "artisinal" producers, promote sustainability
- permaculture
- humans need to return to growing their own food-create sustainable designs for living and food production---heal the earth
- urban gardens & green spaces, self-sufficiency
- vertical gardens and "green walls
- HUMERAL MEDICINE & TRADITIONAL FOODS
- food as medicine
- FOUR HUMORS of ancient Greeks were forces which needed to be kept in balance and proportion for health to be maintained or restpred. these forces were connected with bodily fluids, times of day, seasons, stages of life and personality traits
- EARTH-mucus, phlegm, night, winter,
- AIR-black bile, melancholy, evening, autumn, late middle age
- WATER-blood, morning, spring, childhood, youth
- FIRE-yellow bile, mid-day, summer, adulthood
- TASTES and FOOD
- childhood, safe foods...salty & sweet
- bitterness commonly associated with medicinal properties
- SPICES: antimicrobial properties (hot climates, meat dishes)
- Fermented foods: probiotic-antimicrobial effects-fight cancer, most are inedible if unfermented
- raw, unpasteurized food provide important microbes
- Case Study: ELTA (Romania)
- promotes raw, lacto-vegitarian, locally grown diet believed to be essential for spiritual growth, social healing & human evolution.
- people are sickened and anesthetized by modern life & diet regimen cures modernity
- healing movements seem most prevalent when people feel lost, dislocated or in times accelerated social change or upheaval.
- utopian communal groups
- critical view of society is characterized in a demanding regimen, charismatic leader, messianic ideals, apocalyptic interpretation of current history-replaced by a community of the awakened.
Nadis are pathways of pranic, mental and spiritual currents which form a matrix throughout the physical body. They provide energy through every cell, and organ through their vast network. Nadis are not physical or measurable but channels of energy which underly and sustain life and consciousness. Out of the 72,000 nadis, 72 are considered important. Out of these 72, 10 are considered to be major. Among the 10 major pranic flows, three are the most significant. (Situated in the spinal column which pass through every chakra.)
- Eda (Mental channel = female; Chandra = lunar/moon nadi)
- Pingala (Vital channel = male; Surya = sun/solar nadi)
- Sushumna (Spiritual channel)
The 7 lesser major nadis include:
- Gandhari
- Hastijihva
- Yashaswini
- Pusha
- Alambusha
- Kuhu
- Shankhini
The three most important nadis are also referred to as the 3 most important rivers in India:
- Ganga (Eda)
- Yamuna (Pingala)
- Saraswati (Sushumna)
The junction where these three rivers join is called Prayag, located outside Allahabad in North India. In the pranic body, they converge at ajna chakra.
- Eda governs the left side of the body and Pingala the right side of the body.
- Eda and Pingala dominance is directly related to the flow of breath in the nostrils.
- The specific functions of the brain are correlate with the activities of Eda and Pingala. The right hemisphere governs the left side of the body and the left hemisphere governs the right side of the body. Eda is connected to the right hemisphere and Eda to the left.
- The right hemisphere (Eda) processes information in a diffuse and holistic manner. It controls spacial awareness and is sensitive to vibrations and the external senses.
- The left hemisphere which relates to Pingala processes information in a sequential, linear and logical manner. It is responsible for analytical and mathematical ability.
- The Eda controls manomaya and vijnanamaya koshas, whereas pingala controls anamaya and anandamaya koshas. In pranamayakosha, the Eda and Pingala forces reach out in both directions.
- Sushumna, the neutral channel- when the two forces of Eda and Pingala are balanced, the third channel of Sushumna becomes active. When the sushumna is active, the breath flows through both nostrils simultaneously.
Ayurvedic Cleanse (you could try this!)
Ayurveda (Sanskrit for “the science of the lifespan”) is a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing that has its origins in the Vedic culture of India. This Ayurvedic cleanse and diet will reset the body in balance!
Adapted from Melissa Weinberger DC, RN
Daily Cleansing Routine
*Starred points are to be followed only during the cleanse. All other points should be followed during the pre-cleanse, cleanse and post-cleanse
· Begin each morning by drinking 6-8 oz of hot water
· *Optional: drink ghee (see instructions below)
· Abhyanga: Ayurvedic Massage
Before bathing, rub a thin layer of warmed or room temperature oil (unrefined sesame or coconut) over entire body. Use long strokes for your limbs and circular strokes for your joints. Ideally, let the oil sink in for 20 minutes before showering.
Since sesame and coconut oil are natural skin cleansers it is best to not wash the oil off with soap; the hot water will wash most of the oil off. Then pat dry with a towel. (1 teaspoon of baking soda in the wash will help to remove oil from towels)
· Exercise before breakfast (if this is not possible you can exercise in the early evening)
· *Breakfast – prepare porridge or kitchari (see recipe below)
· Sip hot water throughout the day
· *Kitchari for lunch and dinner
· Supper should be the lightest meal of the day and preferably eaten before 6 pm
· Drink only herbal tea and honey or water after supper
· Try to avoid snacking between meals. If you feel hypoglycemic, try drinking 8 oz. of water first. If you still feel hungry, have a snack of veggies, berries or kitchari.
· The purpose of the cleanse is to eliminate all processed foods from your diet and give your digestive tract a break.
· However, make sure you are eating enough food that you aren’t starving. Once you feel starving, your body moves from a relaxed state to a stressed state.
· Optional: 2 Triphala capsules before bed. This is an Ayurvedic blend of herbs that assist with detoxification and rejuvenation.
· Take time for self-reflection. Emotions are stored in fat cells, so as fat cells are being metabolized emotions may surface that need to be processed.
Pre & Post-Cleanse Instructions
· The pre- and post-cleanse will last three days
· Eat a low-fat vegetarian diet of fruits, vegetables, beans, rice, salads, seeds and soup.
· Eat as many steamed and raw vegetables as possible
· Add seeds, lean chicken and egg whites for protein
· Avoid nuts, unless they are prepared properly
· 1 grated raw beet with lemon juice per day is a good addition because it helps to thin the bile and emulsify fat
· Do not add any sugar, oils, wheat or dairy to the diet
· Salad dressings should be low in fat but preferably homemade
· Try to eat three meals a day without snacking
· Continue the daily routine of sipping hot water in the morning, followed by abhyanga, shower and exercise.
Meal Options for Main Cleanse
· Kitchari Only (requires strong digestion and balanced blood sugar) – can eat 4 meals/a day if necessary with this option
· Kitchari with steamed veggies (requires strong digestion and fairly balanced blood sugar)
· Kitchari, steamed veggies, fruit and salad (Better for weaker digestion and fairly balanced blood sugar)
· Kitchari, steamed veggies, fruit, salad and lean protein (best for weak digestion and blood sugar issues)
Morning Ghee Protocol & Castor Oil Protocol
**this is optional, depending on how intense you want your cleanse to be**
· Upon waking (on an empty stomach) drink the prescribed amount of melted ghee (clarified butter). You can mix it with warm almond milk to make it more palatable.
· Wait a half hour before drinking or eating anything else so ghee has time to collect toxins.
o Day One: 2 tsp ghee
o Day Two: 4 tsp ghee
o Day Three: 6 tsp ghee
o Day Four: 8 tsp ghee
§ Only increase the dosage if you are tolerating it
Laxative Therapy – do not skip this step
· On the evening of day 4 take a warm bath followed by ingesting 4-6 teaspoons of castor oil OR 1 ½ cups of prune juice
o Castor Oil Tip: cut an orange into slices. Put castor oil in ½ cup warm water. Mix the juice from one orange into castor oil and stir vigorously. Hold your nostrils, drink the mixture and immediately bite into a slice of orange. Rinse cup, release nostrils.
· You should have a laxative effect from 1-15 hours. It is ok if you don’t have one.
Suggested Meal: Kitchari (Rice and Lentils)
Makes about ten ½ cup servings
Ingredients
· 1 cup organic White or Brown basmati rice (you can mix them)
· 1 cup organic Mung Dal (yellow lentils)
· 4 cups water
· 2 tablespoons organic ghee
· 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger OR 1 tablespoon dry ginger
· 1 ½ tablespoons cumin powder
· 1 tablespoon Cumin seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, coriander
· 1 teaspoon turmeric
· Salt and pepper to taste
Optional Garnish
· Chopped cilantro, Greek yogurt, Sour Cream or Ghee
Directions
Bring water to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put rice and dal in a fine mesh colander and rinse mixture under cool water until it runs clear. Pick over rice and dal to remove any stones. Add rice and dal to boiling water. Cover and lower heat to a simmer and cook about 30 minutes or until the water has been absorbed (add more water if you prefer a soupier consistency).
Sauté spices in ghee or butter in sauté pan until fragrant, then remove seeds. When rice is finished cooking, remove from heat. Pour ghee-spice mixture into rice and stir together thoroughly. Serve with chopped cilantro and a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.
Variations
· Add roughly diced spinach, carrots, zucchini, green onion and bell peppers to the boiling water when you add the rice and dal. Add a few tablespoons of lemon juice when finished.
· Use a low sodium chicken or vegetable broth instead of water
· Add diced sweet potatoes and asparagus to boiling water when adding rice.
· Add cubed, cooked chicken breast to rice when finished.
· For a sweet version: add ½ cup low fat organic coconut milk, maple syrup to taste, and cinnamon and nutmeg to ghee. Omit the cumin and turmeric.
Example:
Example:
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