Christopher Lane is not a psychiatrist. But he has been researching the DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – and the process by which new disorders are added to it. What he discovered has made home a critic of much of modern psychiatric theory and practice.

Six years ago, he had just published hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England, for which he studied the transition from Victorian psychiatry (out of which psychoanalysis was born), to contemporary psychiatrist, with its intense focus on biomedicine and pharmacology.

He was already skeptical about the emergence in 1980 of dozen f new mental disorders in the DSM-III (third edition) and he began to hear from many of his students at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, that were in psychiatric drugs.

He got access to APA (American Psychiatric Association) archives and unpublished memos and he was troubled with what he found: evidence of drug-company influence (especially in the promotion of “panic disorder” by the maker of Xanax), questionable research (sometimes involving just one patient), sloppy thinking, dismissal of nonmedical approaches to psychiatric problems, and a degree of inventiveness with term and symptoms that struck him as playing fast and loose with the facts.

All of this served as the basis for Lane’s 2007 book, Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, in which he observes that behaviors once understood as natural reactions to one’s environment and upbringing are increasingly seen as innate conditions of brain chemistry, resulting from problematic levels of neurotransmitters, especially serotonin.

He suggests that because of the open-ended language in the DSM and the wide range of behaviors it pathologies, anyone who is shy – as he was as a teenager – now risks being diagnosed as mentally ill.

Lane has written 3 other books about the Victorian Era. He is editor of the anthology The Psychoanalysis of Race, and coeditor of Homosexuality and psychoanalysis he currently writes for the Huffington post and has a popular blog for psychology called side effects.

Cooper: Why should the average person care about the DSM?

The DSM is widely regarded as the bible of psychiatric diagnosis. Its authority extends not only to this country’s schools, prisons, court system and health insurance industry. It is highly influential in defining mental illness.

Since the first DSM in 1952, which had 106 disorders, the number has almost tripled. Are we getting sicker, or is something else at play?

The way psychiatrists define mental illness has itself changed radically. The first two editions of the DSM focused on observable traits and behaviors in patients, which were often described as “reaction” to particular incidents or stressors.

When the third edition came out in 1980, it defined virtually everything as a “disorder” which connotes and innate, lifelong malfunctioning of the brain rather than a moment of psychological distress that might be due to a brief change in circumstances. And this new method of defining mental disease has completely transformed the way mental-health professionals and the general public thinks about it.

Cooper: How did you become interested in the DSM?

I am a teacher, and I learned many of my students were on some kind of psychiatric medication, generally prescribed but sometimes not. I wanted to know why they and their doctors felt that drugs were necessary to treat relatively mild problems that earlier generations had dealt with quite differently.

Antisocial Behavior in the 19th Century

I had just finished writing a book on antisocial behavior in the 19 century, when the cultures’ judgment of such behavior shifted radically.

The Romantic Movement, which dominated arts and letters in the first half of that century often praised antisocial behavior and misanthropy in particular as a valid criticism of social vice, greed and stupidity. The Romantics lauded the outcasts as someone capable of commenting on what was wrong in society. By the end of the 19 Century however, the exact same behavior was held as suspect, pathological and even criminal in part because the values it exemplified were not conducive to social cohesion.

(…) Prozac

When Prozac came on the market in the late eighties, it was viewed as a kind of miracle drug. A 1994 cover piece in Newsweek was subtitled: “How Science Will Let You Change Your Personality With a Pill.”

It was a trendy way of thinking about self-improvement, along the lines of the sitcom Home Improvement.

Why don’t you take an antidepressant that could shape your personality into a more optimal one?

Peter Kramer Author of Listening to Prozac was one of the people responsible for the giddy reception of the drug. There was no virtually discussion in his book of the side effects and other downsides to taking an antidepressant without a clinical diagnosis.

WE are seeing widespread use of these drugs ostensibly on the grounds that they re enhancing neuron activity but like amphetamines they create many problems too.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIS) such as Prozac are now associated with a litany of medical problems, including sexual dysfunction and increased risk of suicide. These are serious effect for drugs that are represented as enabling people to be better than well.

(…) Meds downside

With meds, unfortunately, there is almost always a downside, even if it’s not immediately obvious. In the history of pharmacology many new drugs have been presented as he wonder cure, the remedy for everything. It takes about a decade for the long-term studies to catch up with that initial enthusiasm.

(…) Bipolar Disorder

If you follow the APA’s line, then most definitively we are seeing epidemic rates of social anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder, with the latter expanding by an eye popping 4,000 %. How did this come about? Before, bipolar disorder was understood to be exclusively an adult phenomenon. Now, the DSM –IV formalized bipolar disorder as a mental disorder among children.

First of all I would be leery of giving any children an antipsychotic, a class of drugs that is considered too dangerous for seniors. They are proven to lead to muscle tics and twitches, to increase weight, to raise the risk of diabetes and hypoglycemia, and to cause strokes. We’re not talking just about nausea or mild sexual dysfunction, as with antidepressants.

We are talking about serious psychological changes in growing children.

Creating the disease

Cooper: In your book on shyness you write, “before you sell a drug you need to sell the disease.”
Lane: One of the given of pharmaceuticals marketing is that you have to create need to expand the market. The criteria for social phobia in the SM-III included fear of eating alone in restaurant, avoidance public restroom and fear of one’s hand trembling when writing a check. In other words the requirements were so low that people who experience garden-variety shyness could be swept up in the diagnosis. 50% of people in any population around the world will define themselves as shy. So that the drug companies set out to do was to convince people that shyness might be a symptom of something more serious called “social anxiety disorder”.

The Paxil marketing campaign took a product that had produced spotty results in early trials – including one so riddled with side effects that the company had seriously considered shelving the drug – and turned into a blockbuster so called because its annual revenue surpasses $1 billion. When they realized that they could sell Paxil not simply for depression, where it was competing with Zoloff and Prozac, but also as the first FDA-approved drug fro social anxiety disorder, they went all out. They organized and funded a public-awareness campaign – “Imagine being allergic to people.” That didn’t even mention the drug but helped sell the condition. Large number of people went to their physician asking for free samples, which GlaxoSmithKline, of course made sure were abundant.

Social Anxiety Disorder X Shyness

(…) In my research I found that the percentage of people who experience acute shyness overlaps almost identically with the group the APA wants to suffer from social anxiety disorder.

Hypersexual disorder

After golfer Tiger Woods’s adultery scandal a number of articles have been written that tried to attribute promiscuity or adultery in men to a brain disorder. I find this questionable for a number of reasons.

First, its worrying to me that a group of psychiatrists is trying to determine how much sexual activity and how many encounters we can want or fantasize about before we are considered mentally ill.

(…) We need broader public discussion of this complex rather that the kind of psychiatrist judgment and ritualized shaming that goes on right now for those who prefer to remain non-monogamous. Good for them if that’s what they want.

Cooper: You claim that some famous individuals such as Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau would be diagnosed today as mentally ill.

Lane: Certainly I am truck by the difference between nineteenth-century understandings of mood and the contemporary assumption that happiness is the default. This is something Barbara Ehrenreich discusses in her book: Bright-Sided: How positive thinking and happiness have been taken as the measure for how well we are doing in life. In the nineteenth century there wasn’t so much cultural pressure to eradicate or manage negative emotions. On the contrary, they were understood to be part of the human condition. There is a beauty in Dickinson’s writing that comes from her working through great sadness.

Psychiatry would benefit enormously from a reinvigorated discussion of emotion – including its history and effect on depression, anxiety, and sadness – in ways that are infinitely more subtle and nuanced than what we’re seeing in the psychiatric literature today.

——————————————————————————
The BodyTalk System can be integrated into your Psychology or Counseling
Practice. It is an excellent tool for the purpose of clearing blocked emotions
and painful memories for patients. It effectively helps people move through
issues without having to go through them again. BodyTalk is non-invasive
and gentle; it requires no tools or medications. Many Psychologists
use BodyTalk to enhance their practices and help their patients in
transformational ways.

The post Side Effects May Include… appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

In order to control for the placebo effect, keeping NIH grant credibility as the guideline, the
distance sessions were established as the blinding effect. Assessments were done by Self
Assessments using PROMIS, also NIH guidelines.

The subjects were any individuals who had chronic pain, on a pain scale from 0 – 10, 0 being no
pain and 10 being excruciating, the rating had to be more that 4.

The conditions were that all subjects had to have all correspondance done remotely, and all
sessions were distance. This meant that all subjects corresponded only via phone or through
the website. The subjects were not allowed to use any other CAM (Complimentary Alternative
Medicine) modalities for the duration of the 9 week study. The only exclusions were that
subjects had to be 18 and older and could not be on opiate based pain medications.

The results were undeniably astounding! Measurements were recorded by statistician, Dr.
Honghu Liu, PhD, a professor at UCLA’s School of Medicine who is actively teaching clinical
study design and who helped developed the PROMIS initiative.

The control group, (who DID NOT receive BodyTalk sessions), reported a 15.4% improvement,
while the study group, (who DID received sessions), reported a 70.4% improvement. When the
statistical data was analysed, a significant value will always measure under 0.05. The lower the
value, the greater the significance of improvement.

The data showed:
For Pain Level 0.0074
For Pain Impact 0.0493
For Anxiety 0.0025
For Depression 0.0321
For Anger 0.0061
For Fatigue 0.0333

After the study was over, all participants were asked which group they thought they were in.
Only 1 person from the control group thought they were in the study group. However, nearly all
of the participants in the study group thought they were receiving BodyTalk sessions.

I am thrilled and truly inspired by the work that Dr. Laura Stuve, Dr. Janet Galipo, and the
American practitioners created. Please let others know about this data. If these are the results
using distance sessions, one can only imagine the results globally!

Spread the news! BodyTalk clinically demonstrates significant improvement!

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If we have categorized BodyTalk as a dynamic energy healing system, was it not to distinguish the work as being more subtle than physical manipulation and safer than pharmaceutical medication? Working at the subtle energy level is less invasive and has a broader range of influence all the way down to the physical. Yet we’ve gone a step further to include Consciousness, which is more subtle than the subtlest energy and all-inclusive, whether subtle, dense or otherwise.

Energy is innate to physical matter. Nowhere can we find physical matter devoid of energy. Similarly, intelligence is innate to energy. Nowhere can we find energy devoid of intelligence. This Innate Intelligence (or simply “Innate”) is beyond the range of energy similar to how energy is beyond the range of matter. Although on the one hand Innate, energy and matter are none other than each other, they are also unique and must be approached as such.

Energy is patterns of vibratory movement expressing levels of intelligence (coherence, beauty, knowledge), and Innate is non-active pervasive pure intelligence (wisdom, power, bliss) essential to Consciousness. Innate cannot be isolated nor made more or less intelligent – it IS intelligence. We can be conscious of varying energetic expressions of health or disease in the mind and body, but Innate is Consciousness itself and beyond measurement including any attempt at diagnosis whatsoever.

People often say they are naturally very intuitive and that they have always worked intuitively. I wonder — are they intuitive enough to know that they could be more intuitive? BodyTalk is structured according to the principles of Consciousness that holistically influence all levels of body, mind, and life, energetic and physical. Working intuitively with the dynamics of

Innate is to work as though Innate itself were doing the intuiting, and unless you’re just plain arrogant, it is unlikely that anyone reading this would agree to being 100% intuitive always in all ways.

Some people may experience shame and discomfort around working at a level of intuition beyond their own level of intelligence. It is, however, more likely an indication that you are right on track and your sessions, which are beyond diagnosis, and are powerful beyond measure. Have you ever experienced doubt and insecurity creeping into a session? This may merely be a sign that you are intuitive enough to know that you are working at a level beyond your own intuitive knowledge and intelligence – and in fact, you may be working beyond any level of intuition capable of being perceived by us because Innate does not function at fragmented levels. There is not a person more intuitive than Innate itself and this is what allows each of us to continue to unfold what is already essentially our own Innate Consciousness.

Working with Innate, therefore, is to work beyond any personal level of intuition, even though it is through that intuition that Innate communes during a session. Although Innate cannot become more intuitive, each of us can culture our ability to appreciate Innate even though it is not otherwise obvious in any way. Since Innate is innately our own Consciousness, BodyTalk amounts to being an exploration into the appreciation of our own Self. As this non-obvious awareness becomes self-obvious, the separation that used to exist between our ever-doubting and ever-seeking level of intelligence and our Innate Self Consciousness gives way to the all-inclusive embracing love of Self.

Now, not even doubt, insecurities, pains, and problems can get us down because they are also expressions of Innate – and any message communicated by Innate Consciousness is worth getting exciting about. Love yourself; go easy; be gentle with your insecurities and see them for the fun that they are and the opportunity they provide. Laugh at yourself once in a while.

Appreciate where you are and where you’re going. Feel yourself worthy of communion with the Supreme Wisdom innate to Consciousness that pervades and supports all of Life – your Life! It isn’t what’s being said that matters so much – it’s whether or not you are listening. This is the life worth living. This is the source of All, including health and well-being, so “Finding Health” begins and ends here – and that is the “Applied Consciousness” of BodyTalk.

The post What is Consciousness Based Energy Medicine? appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

Yep, my friends… when I say naked it means nude, without clothes.

That’s just one aspect of what this FreeFall class is about.

What do your clothes mean to you? What do they make you feel? What are they hiding or protecting? Who are you without your clothes? How do you feel without them?

As many of you know I am originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, so getting rid of clothes it is not exactly a big deal, at least not for me. Because of the warm weather in Rio we are used to less clothes (than Alaska, for example)… without mentioning the little bikinis (eh, eh)

But I knew that the class was not (only) about taking
your clothes off. It was something deeper than that. And my yogic friends, this is not about naked yoga either.

Let’s retrospect in time and go back to the first two days of the Retreat, the Breakthrough part. Terry Ann started the day 1 by giving us the key points of Breakthrough. Some things I had heard before. Yes, I had heard already that there is a natural healing that arises out of conflict. However, other than my immune system’s activities when I get a cold, I haven’t been really experiencing the healing nature of my conflicts. Of course, I have been noticing conflicts in my life (who doesn’t?) and I try to get rid of them, just like I get rid of a cold.

Yet if we examine things from an Immune System perspective we have 2 mechanisms that are fundamental behaviors required for an organism to survive: growth and protection.

Growth is about expansion, production of energy. Growth is about opening the exchange between organism and environment…

Growth is about communication… but not any kind of communication. Growth is about a healthy, open, expansive communication.

Now let’s take a look at the other aspect of survival of an organism: Protection.

Protection is about fear: fear of being threatened, protection is about armoring a strategic defense. Protection is shutting down communication. It is holding energy within because maybe you will need it for your fight. Protection is about closing.

Therefore, we can quickly conclude that protection inhibits the creation of life.

The longer the organism stays in protection mode, the more it compromises its’ own growth. Growth and protection cannot operate at the same time.

From this perspective, our first Breakthrough session made me think:
“What is the pattern of my life? Oh, I feel very strong. My defenses (and excuses, and explanations) are so well structured. I am Brazilian. I can “explode” easily and feel very good about it. I built up many strategies to protect my body, my feelings, my masks… I built up many walls to protect myself.

Now, if an organism (me) has been in a protective mode it means that it has not been in a growth mode. Correct? Are you still with me?

Then Terry Ann told us: the Breakthrough focus is Self-honesty.

Oh, it is so easy to say: “I am honest” when I deal with everyone else.

But what about when I’m dealing with myself?

Do we really know the true meaning of self-honesty?

Now I can see that this is a magic trip… a trip to look into my own self, honestly.

Terry Ann is very focused and she goes right into the point.

And accepting the invitation to look into all that protection (“crap”) I have built around my self makes me curious, almost happy. Is that possible?

It could be that the innate force within each of us sees an opportunity to breakthrough the walls of self-protection and to show us how amazing life would be if we allow ourselves to grow.

Of course, I found out I have been living in a protective mode. Always seeing a threat everywhere I go. Absolutely. And this is a very sneaky subconscious thing. You really need to take time and you need to practice (maybe for the first time) to be truly honest with yourself. The days progress, the exercises continue and you go deeper and deeper, and you feel lighter and lighter: all your garbage (or some of it) tossed out!

I will not tell you anything more about Breakthrough. You will need to take the class and find out the magic for yourself. What

I can tell you: I am still processing and I cannot wait to take another Breakthrough class. Now I understand why this class is so important for anyone, particularly a practitioner, any practitioner. And paraphrasing another participant: “It is a tragedy that

Body Talkers are still resisting taking those classes”

Now, lets go back to the second part of the Retreat: The Free/Fall class.

Kristy Kenny is our guide. The first evening of class she introduced herself, very gently and graceful. We are all sitting in the room with our clothes – of course. And a breath of relief escapes from us all. Maybe we are not going to be naked at all. She talks about some aspects of the seminar and says that we are going to be naked tomorrow.. ah oh…

The exercises are very intense, freeing and fun at the same time. There is a smooth flow of the Breakthrough process into the FreeFall. Each person’s process becomes everyone’s process. So beautiful!

There is a true and natural expansion of awareness, an incredible opening, the experience of true trust. Do you think it is because we do not have on our clothes? I do not think so, or probably that’s true, but it really THAT does not matter anymore. With clothes, without clothes… there is an open exchange between everything and everyone, the participants, the green room, the warm sun, the refreshing breeze and the trees outside.

Wait a minute… I think I’ve got it! That is growth! That’s pure growth, fun growth, intense growth, harmonious growth, and natural growth.

Because, in order to thrive in our own being we need to not only to eliminate the stressors, the conflicts, but to actively, honestly, openly seek joyful, harmonious, heart centered loving fulfilling lives. Those are stimulants of the growth process.

Breakthrough and FreeFall stimulate our growth process… as organisms, as living beings, as heart-mind energies, as pure spirit.

Thank you my Retreat buddies. Thank you Terry Ann, Thank you Kristy, Thank you John and Esther..

The post BREAKTHROUGH/FREEFALL Retreat in Encinitas appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

Summary of notes taken at the IBA Conference Aug. 2007, supplemented by the text Energy Medicine and notes shared with Irene Pecenco. Errors in transcription are possible due to the nature of note-taking and my limited knowledge.
“What we believe to be true is true within certain limits that are themselves beliefs. In the province of the mind there are no real limits.” – John Lilly – The Center of the Cyclone

“All inventions and progress come from finding a link between two ideas that have never met.” – James Oschman

“There is this medicine and that medicine and this method and that method and there is the way the body really is… “- Kerry Weinstein

“Science absolute depends of new ideas and scientists detest new ideas…

Let’s start looking at the studies from The Institute of Noetic Sciences (www.noetic.org). The INS is a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

They have recorded and studied about 10,000 of cancer patients in remission.

“All the circuitry and machinery is there, the problem is simply to discover how to turn on the right switches to activate the process.” – Andrew Weil – Spontaneous Healing

Where is the circuitry? Where is the machinery?

Hypothesis:

The biological rhythm resonates inside the body and together with everything else in the universe!

The circulatory system is an excellent conductor of electricity. This current generates a magnetic field. The heart field is the most powerful field and can be measured 15 feet from the body using a SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device*).

The field generated by the hands can be increased 1000 fold through intention and can become stronger than the heart’s field.

Hands also emit light and infrasound.

* SQUIDs are very sensitive magnetometers used to measure extremely small magnetic fields, based on superconducting loops. The extreme sensitivity of SQUIDs makes them ideal for studies in biology.

Just as there are electrocardiograms (ECGs), electroencephalograms (EEGs) and electromyograms, the corresponding magnetocardiograms, magnetoencephalograms and magnetomyograms can be measured.

Keep in mind that magnetic fields are not attenuated by tissues as electrical fields are.

Let’s remember that every organ in the body has a resonance.

The heart electrical-magnetic signature:

• is conducted to every cell in the body through the circulatory system,
• extends from the body inducing energy flows in people around and
• is conducted via the cellular matrix.

How this happens?

Rather than a “bag of fluid” the cell is now recognized as filled with a cytoplasmatic matrix or cytoskeleton composed of filaments, tubes, fibers and trabeculae with virtually all the water inside the cell being bound to the cellular framework. (Cope, 1967; Ling, 1992; Damadian, 1971).

The boundaries between the cell environment, the cell interior, and the genetic material are not sharp or impermeable.
Enzymes are attached to the cell structure and metabolic processes are conducted via structural pathways. Likewise, the nucleus contains a nuclear matrix.

The intracellular matrix is connected across the cell surface with the connective tissue system, which are “trans-membrane” linking molecules.

When you touch the skin, you are actually contacting a continuous interconnected webwork that extends throughout the body. (Ellison 1984; Oschman 1994; Pienta & Coffey 1991).

Liquid crystalline structures are the rule in living organisms (as collagen, actin-myosin, rods and cones, myelin sheaths, phospholipids, chlorophyll, etc.). The molecules within the body, including the water, are aligned in a liquid crystalline continuum and move coherently together.

Tapping (as we do in Body Talk Systems therapies) generates subtle micro currents at the level at which the body uses to communicate with itself. The entire living matrix is simultaneously a mechanical, vibrational or oscillatory, energetic, electronic, and informational network (Pienta & Coffey 1991, Oschman 1994)

“Life is too rapid and subtle to be explained by slow-moving chemical reactions and nerve impulses.” – Albert Szent-Gyorgyi – Nobel prize winner

Properties of the Living Matrix (Oschman, Energy Medicine)

1. All of the great systems of the body (circulation, nervous system, musculoskeletal system, digestive tract, organs and glands) are covered with material that is part of a continuous connective tissue fabric.
2. The connective tissues form a mechanical continuum, extending throughout the body, even into the innermost parts of each cell.
3. The connective tissues determine the overall shape of the organism as well as the detailed architecture of its parts.
4. All movement is created by tensions carried through the connective tissue fabric.
5. Each tension, compression and movement causes the crystalline lattice of the connective tissues to generate bioelectronic signals that are precisely characteristic of those tensions, compressions and movements.
6. The connective tissue fabric is a semiconducting communication network that can carry the bioelectronic signals between every part of the body and every other part.

Some Views of the Living Matrix: (Oschman, Energy Medicine)

The proteins in the body are semiconductors. Semiconductors can make miniature electronic devices such as switches, amplifiers, diodes, detectors, oscillators and memory devices.

“Molecules do not have to touch each other to interact. Energy can flow through…the electromagnetic field…The electromagnetic field, along with water, forms the matrix of life. Water…can form structures that transmit energy.” (Szent-Gyorgi, 1988)

“All parts of the living matrix set up vibrations that move about within the organism and that are radiated into the environment at many different frequencies, including visible and near visible light frequencies.” (Frolich)

The cytoskeleton behaves like a Tensegrity* structure. (Donald Ingber)
* Tensegrity is an architectural and energetic concept developed by R. Buckminster Fuller. It describes a structure that retains its integrity under tension. Fuller creates robust structures from minimal amounts of material, describing a structure that retains its integrity under tension.

A tensegrity system is characterized by a continuous tensional network (tendons) supported by a discontinuous set of compressive elements (struts).

Through the many approaches to bodywork, the tensegrity view on the body opens new avenues of holistic strategy for understanding how the body works, how it compensates, and how to understand some otherwise incomprehensible behaviors.

Tensegrity accounts for the ability of the body to absorb impacts without being damaged. Mechanical energy flows away from a site of impact through the tensegrous living matrix. The more flexible and balanced the network the more readily it absorbs shocks and converts them into information rather than damage. The tensegrity matrix is replicated at every level of the organism.

The perineural system

Robert Becker, an American Orthopedic Surgeon spent no less than 3 decades, on experimental science on animals concerning regeneration and healing. He found clues to the healing process in the long-discarded theory that electricity is vital to life.
He describes what he believes to be two separate nervous systems, one of which is responsible for the generation of the channels or meridians of energy flow of the vital energies.

In the developing nervous system outside the CNS, perineural cells, cells which support the nerves in many ways, form first and the nerves grow along the paths taken by the perineural cells. Then certain perineural cells called Schwann cells wrap themselves around the nerve axons. One result is more rapid nerve transmission of impulse. Within the CNS, the perineural cells outnumber the nerve cells by a vast majority.

Oscillations of the heart’s and brain’s electrical activity form a conductor that are propagated through the entire body.

The main tissue that acts as a circuitry system is the peripheral nerves and the perineural connective tissue cells that constitute more than half of the cells in the brain. Perineural cells encase every nerve fiber; down to their finest terminations throughout the body.

Other tissues spread themselves in continuous layers of connective tissue in the body: the vascular system is surrounded with perivascular connective tissue; the lymphatic system with perilymphatic connective tissue; the muscular system with myofascia; and the bones with the periosteum.

Conceptually, this highway of connective tissue forms what is known as the ‘Living Matrix’. It encompasses all of these connective tissue systems, including the cellular and nuclear scaffolds within them.

The body like other items of circuitry which we buy requires balance, order, structure and flexibility to function: effectively, efficiently and preventively.

As we begin to appreciate the delicate and specific way that the body needs to function without dis-order we can start to begin to understand what happens when it all goes wrong. Circuitry requires the body to be wired up in a way that allows all biological systems to communicate 24/7 autonomically and voluntarily.

When we are exposed to physical and/or emotional trauma a disruption is caused along the connective pathways in a specific region of the body as well as to the surrounding and other pathways leading all the way to the brain. For as long as there is trauma and the related memory patterns then dis-order physical pains and physiological deterioration will stay in place.

Michael Cohen’s simple analogy is to that of the traffic lights failing at a busy central London junction during peak hours. Not only will it cause chaos to those drivers in the immediate vicinity but before long it is causing backups to the wider area as well as a nightmare to the controllers let alone the commuters, businesses, families and every other person who is reliant on someone stuck in the traffic.

The perineural system is a (DC) direct current communication system that establishes a ‘current of injury’ that controls injury repair. The current of injury is generated at the site of a wound, and continues until repair is complete. One function of the current is to alert the rest of the body to the location and extent of an injury.

Injured cells give off light. The injury potential is a wave of energy emitted from the site of injury. The centriole is the eye of the cell. Light can regulate cells and cell division is activated by light.

It has been suggested that the current of injury is not confined to the skin, but will arise in any tissue, epidermal, vascular, muscular, nervous, or bone, that is injured. Which systems are activated will depend on the depth and severity of the injury.

This perspective is leading to a detailed explanation of how the body coordinates its responses to injuries of all kinds.”
Watch a little video with Dr. Oschman at the Annual World Congress of Anti-Aging Medicine at: http://www.worldhealthnet.tv/video/dr-james-oschman-energy-medicine

The post Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

In 1991 Dr. Rein accepted a position at the Heartmath Institute and together with Doc Childre performed various studies.Following we are listing a summary of their findings:

1) Heart rhythms and emotions:

The rhythmic beating of the heart at rest is not monotonously regular but varies dynamically from moment to moment. And there is an important link between emotions and changes in the patterns on the autonomic heart’s activity. Specifically they found that during the experience of negative emotions like anger, fear, anxiety there is less synchronization between the parasympathetic and the sympathetic branches of the Autonomic Nervous System. However, positive emotions, as appreciation, love or compassion are associated with highly ordered or coherent patterns in the heart rhythm, which reflect great synchronization between the two branches of the ANS.

2) The heart’s electromagnetic field:

The electromagnetic field generated by the heart is the most powerful dynamic electromagnetic field produced by the body. The heart’s field permeates every cell and may act as a synchronizing signal for all cells in the body to carry information as the same way of radio waves.

3) The theory of heart intelligence:

This theory suggests that that is an energetic connection between the structures in the quantum vacuum and the physical structure of the DNA in our cells. These structures that are highly dimensional organized in a holographic-like fashion are proposed to communicate information to the DNA, guiding cell organization and differentiation and setting the parameters for the physical, mental and emotional modulations.

4) The method:

In this main study, the experimental group consisted of ten individuals who were trained and experienced in heart-focused techniques. These participants self-generated focused feelings of love and appreciation while holding the intention to cause a sample of DNA to either wind or unwind. Eighteen individuals with no training served as controls.For each trial the conformation of DNA was measured before and after exposure to the subject’s intention using an ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectrophotometer.(The winding and unwinding of DNA is measured by changes in the absorption of UV light.

5) The results:

In the trials in which individuals practiced the heart-focused techniques were instructed to generate feelings of love and appreciation while holding a specific intention to cause a change in the DNA, there was a significant change in the conformation of the DNA. There was also a significant increase in the heart coherence field. In some cases the changes in the DNA conformation were up to 25%, indicating a very robust effect. IN contrast, the control group showed no significant increase in the heart coherence field and produced no significant increase in the DNA.

6) Non local studies:

The results shown so far could easily be mediated by the electromagnetic field of the heart. This hypothesis is supported by studies showing that DNA is sensitive to externally applied electromagnetic fields. However, a number of nonlocal studies in which people hold an intention to affect a biological system over longer distances have also revealed dramatic effects. And in these studies, the distance between the targets and the people holding the intention are well beyond the range of conventional electromagnetic fields.These results provide experimental evidence to support the hypothesis that aspects of the DNA molecule can be altered through intentionality. Individuals capable of generating high ratios of heart coherence were able to alter DNA conformation according to their intention.

These findings support the hypothesis that an energetic connection exists between structures in the quantum vacuum and corresponding structures on the physical plane, and that this connection can be influenced by human intentionality. The DNA molecule is proposed to act as an “antenna” and demodulator that is tuned to a nonlocal field existing outside of space-time, thus functioning as a conduit through which higher dimensional information is transmitted at the level of the physical organism.

Thus, the data presented here support the concept that cell-levels processes can be influenced by human intention, mediated via energetic interactions. Also intriguing is the finding that heart coherence generated through heart-focused positive emotions appears to be necessary for this typo of interaction to produce significant effects.

These findings may be holding the key of the contribution of positive feelings and attitudes to health and healing as well as other related, well acknowledged but poorly understood phenomena such as the placebo effect, spontaneous remissions in cancer, the health rewards of a strong faith and the positive effect of prayer.For more information, or to discuss this article, email me.

The post Changing Your Mind = Changing Your DNA appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

Theory of evolution?

We all somehow “know” that the mind/body connection is the key to real health. Are you tired of trying to find the words that describe how the mind and body are related, and why their relationships are important for proper health? A renaissance in

Cell Biology now provides the cutting edge science – real science – to prove how holistic health therapies work!

Research scientist Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., introduces a long-awaited paradigm shift in the biomedical sciences. The new science will inspire your spirit, engage your mind and challenge your creativity as you comprehend the enormous real potential for applying this information in your life and in your profession.

As we face the extinction of so many creatures in this planet we need to consider facing our own extinction. Because human activity is based on an old story about how we are and from where we come from: Traditional Biology.

What we need is a NEW BIOLOGY, in order to learn to connect better; to learn that we are all together in this planet. We are so together as all the trillions of cells that form our physical body are together, floating, eating, living, making love, working (pretty hard, actually) dying, reproducing … We need to learn we are all breathing the same air.

Let’s take a look at the rovers that NASA launched in Mars. They move around Mars and are controlling by NASA. They have an antenna there in the red planet and here, in Orlando, they have the remote control. In this way, NASA acquires information of what is going on there, in Mars. And if the battery in the Mars’ rovers dies, the controller here in Cape

Canaveral is not going to die. He is miles and miles distant from his rover. He is not even there.

Let’s say that we are the Earth rovers. What we really are it is not in our bodies. Whatever is controlling our body it is not IN THE BODY. So, if my “body’s rover” dies, I am not going to die. What I am, it is not even there (in the body).

The mistake of the traditional Biology is that it was looking only to the vehicle, not even understanding that it was suppose to be a driver.

If you believe you are a victim, you are a victim. You create the relation between you and the vehicle you drive.

Becoming aware is not going to change your life. But it will give you a new perspective: “Oh, I have a spiritual reality and a physical reality!”

Our cells naturally read movement. They have a very refined antenna (the rover?) and they have a system of interpretation that reads the signs that come from the outside. They live from and by the information from their environment.

We can learn a lot with the cells. The whole purpose to be here (in this planet) is to be sensitive to the environment around us. Is to live everyday the fullest you can, doing the best you can do.

Look the cell…look one cell… going micro.

You represent a community of cells; fifty million intelligent beings; fifty million citizens. Yes, the cells are living beings. We are a community.

95% of us have a complete gene to live healthy.

So what is happening? Why so many illnesses, so many unhealthy people?

Answer: we are failing to know what we are.

WE ARE NOT THE VEHICLE… WE ARE THE DRIVER.

What do you think, your opinion about things, that’s what’s important. And 70% of your thoughts are redundant and negative.

Every cell has its respiratory system, digestive system, nerve system, immune system. As we take one single cell we discover that it is just a miniature of what we are. If you are looking at a cell, you are looking at a human being.

It is why science should change as we evolve… Science cannot be static.

And science works like that: we have an idea. Then we find the science that fits and can measure that idea.

Where do we get this idea?

Democritus, known in antiquity as the ‘laughing philosopher’ because of his emphasis on the value of ‘cheerfulness,’ was one of the two founders of ancient atomist theory, from where our traditional biology is based on.

The atomists held that there are smallest indivisible bodies from which everything else is composed, and that these move about in an infinite void space. Basically, “What you see is what you get”.

1. everything is made of atoms
2. between atoms is space (vacuum)
3. and there is motion (when atoms collide)

Socrates and Descartes on Dualism Philosophy

Socrates had a dualistic philosophy: Most of the earlier pre-Socratic philosophers imagined that the primary stuff out of which things are made or from which they originate is not merely like something that is alive, but is indeedinstinct with life.

Dualism means the complete separation of the mental world and the physical world. In philosophy, it is the theory that the universe is explicable only as a whole composed of two distinct and mutually exclusive factors: the mind and the body.

Socrates and Plato are called dualists because they think that mind and body are separate and distinct substances. Mind is conscious and non-spatial and body is spatial but not conscious. While separate, these two substances interact. Both Socrates and Descartes argue that the mind and body are separable and immortal.

1. The forces are independent from a prior material world
2. The universe is perfect or ideal
3. The universe is unchanging

Sir Isaac Newton, 1643 –1727

He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian. HisPhilosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, is considered to be the most influential book in the history of traditional science.

In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries and is the basis for modern engineering. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

In mechanics, Newton enunciated the principles of conservation of momentum and angular momentum. In optics, he invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism decomposes white light into a visible spectrum. He also formulated an empirical law of cooling and studied the speed of sound.

In mathematics, Newton shares the credit with Gottfried Leibniz for the development of calculus. He also demonstrated the generalized binomial theorem, developed the so-called “Newton’s method” for approximating the zeroes of a function, and contributed to the study of power series.

Predicting the movements of the universe, Newton set up the understanding of the universe as a machine.

He made a clear separation between science and religion:

• (…) “We live in a material world”
• (…) “Do not focus on the invisible”
• (…) “We are biochemical machines controlled by genes”

Of course, if universe is matter, human is a piece of matter.

Then we dive into the Reductionism – where we study the whole taking the pieces apart; and into the Determinism – where we can predict what is going to happen.

The modern science’s purpose is to obtain knowledge so that can be used to dominate and control nature… And that is leading us to extinction.

Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. Darwin’s theory of evolutionary selection holds that variation within species occurs randomly and that the survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.

Darwin’s work had a tremendous impact on religious thought. Many people strongly opposed the idea of evolution because it conflicted with their religious convictions. Darwin avoided talking about the theological and sociological aspects of his work, but others used his theories to support their own theories about society.

He brought the question: “Where is the natural control of life….?”

His answer: “Traits are controlled by hereditary factors. Something physical must be passing from parents to child.”

In this way, his Theory of Evolution was/is: Evolution is controlled by a struggle of survival.

This Theory proclaims that life is a struggle. That’s the theory we all grew up with. We have a strong belief system that the world is made by competition. And there is a “favorable preservation of the fittest races, in this struggle for life”. The fittest is the one that is adapted to the environment so as to capable of surviving.

It has been supposed that Darwin renounced evolution on his deathbed. Shortly after his death, temperance campaigner and evangelist Lady Elizabeth Hope claimed she visited Darwin at his deathbed, and witnessed the renunciation. Her story was printed in a Boston newspaper and subsequently spread.

Now, the new sciences are putting a label “WRONG” to this ancient, untrue theory.

Evolution is not made by competition. Evolution is made of cooperation.

This is not a violent world. That’s a false understanding.

If you think this is a competitive world you are completely far to understand your true nature and your purpose in life.

New Biology:

Chromosomes are 50% DNA and 50% protein (where is the hereditary stuff?)

The characters of the human body are due to proteins. DNA is the code that reproduces and builds proteins. And what controls DNA?

DNA > RNA > Protein > neurons > mind
(matter) (matter) (matter) (matter) (energy)

That’s how information flows in the body ; matter give formation to energy. (Remember Newton’s Law of Physics)

In the genetic determinism: at the moment of conception your whole life was already pre-programmed. Your happiness was determined by happy genes. We are victims of our hereditary program. We are victims of beliefs. Because than you say: “I didn’t pick to be this way”; “I didn’t have any control of this to happen”. And the tragic conclusion: “Why bother with that?”

In the genetic determinism your own cells are struggling for life. Your own cells are attacking you!

Let’s rethink genetic determinism:

DNA (gene) is the blue print that builds a protein.

In one regular cell we have around 140.000 genes with the capacity to build 140.000 proteins. We still have some RNA regulatory genes adding around 40.000 genes to that amount.

A little worm has 1,227 cells – 20.000 genes

A human being has 50 trillions of cells and less than 25.000 genes

Iatrogenic disease is the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. Iatrogenic disease is a disease produced due to drugs and its strong chemicals.

This is a call up. It is a pharmaceutical industry failure.

Why traditional medicine is failing?

• Biological processes employ newtoniam mechanicals principles (only take matter in consideration)
• It is based on the control of the biology by genes
• Darwinian theory explaining evolution

Quantum Mechanics

Universe = energy

Energy moves in the universe like ripples in a pond. Energy moves through like waves in the water. We have energy waves all around us, in the space. Energy is interacting all the time. When waves come together they interfere to each other.

• 2 waves adding up – constructive interference – good vibes
• 2 waves canceling each other – destructive interference – bad vibes

All organisms communicate by the language of energy. Everything in this universe has vibrational energy. Everything interacts with energy. Then the humans created language, and forgot the truth language of the heart. Language was designed to hide feelings.

Shamans can do energy reading. Actually everyone can. The only difference is that the healers rediscovered the energetic language. They know if you go by your feeling you will never have problem. They allow their inner self talk the language of vibration.

For example: take a camera and try to take a picture of the minor particle of the atom. Your pix will be blank! You cannot take picture of a energy vortex. This is because there is no physical structure in the atom.

If you hit the base of a tornado, in its very middle there is no substance. Atoms are like little tornados. All atoms have equal number of protons and neutrons. Basically they are neutral inside. All atoms except one group have unequal electrons distribution. They spin in a perfect balance.

One side of the atom is more negative than the other side. The distribution is not equal. Therefore, each atom is a generator.

It creates a wave of energy when springs. Every atoms emits and absorbs light of different characteristic waves length. We, as energy beings, have our atoms irradiating out and interacting with other atoms of other beings.

We need to go wholeness. Doctors need to see the whole environment of the client, all aspects that can affect their life.

The post Theory of evolution? appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

After finishing our Structural Integration class in March, I was again in absolute awe of the miracle of life. My wonder and curiosity have been only increased during these 2 decades of studies of human body and movement. I have been teaching and practicing yoga since 1989. And I started my journey with the Body Talk System in 2002.

And the reason of my fascination is because the Structural Integration work just confirms my faith in the pure Supreme Consciousness that fashioned our ever-evolving body with this ingenious variety and flexibility shown in the somatic design and development.

However amazed and grateful for being able to live and experience this biological success that is to be a human being, when I read the news, I have confusing feelings of ambivalence as to whether humankind can or even should continue on this planet.
In the last articles we talked about the theory of evolution and the new vision of Noetic Biology, where we, as a species, need to move beyond our current dedication to collective greed – and the ignorance and alienation that comes from it – into a more cooperative and humane relationship with ourselves, each other and our environment.

The only hope is the development of a “holistic” view. Tomas Myers says it passionately: “This is a vital important front on which to fight the battle for a more human use of human beings and a better integration with the world around us”.

Check a lot more information at www.anatomytrains.com

And he continues, “the traditional mechanistic view of anatomy, as useful as it has been, has objectified rather than humanized our relationship with our insides”.

As such, Structural Integration jumps ahead the science to propose a new point of view, one that is still being literally fleshed out and refined.

Moving back to the standard anatomy analysis – which Myers termed as “isolated muscle theory” – almost every text presents muscle function by isolating an individual muscle of the skeleton. This traditional muscular analysis divides the “muscle” from its connection above and below, shorn of its neurological and vascular connections, (…).”

This traditional presentation defines the muscle’s function solely by what happens in approximating the proximal and distal attachment points.

This overwhelmingly accepted view is that muscles attach from bone to bone and that their sole function is to approximate the two ends together, or to resist their being stretched apart.

The absolute dominance of the isolated muscle presentation as the first and the last word in muscular anatomy – along with the naïve and reductionist conviction that the complexity of human movement and stability can be derived by summing up the action of these individual muscles) leaves the current generation of therapists unlikely to think in any other way.

In order to progress, contemporary therapist need to think “out of the box” of this isolated muscle concept. We will see a lot of research supporting this kind of systemic thinking.

Ex: Leonardo Da Vinci, drawing without the pervasive prejudice of the mechanism muscle bone view point, drew some remarkably “structural integration”-like figures in his anatomical notebook.

Early in the 20th century by means of Einstein, Bohr and others physics moved into a relativistic universe, a language of relationship rather than linear cause and effect, which Jung in turn applied to psychology and many others to different areas.

It is not very useful just to say: “everything is connected with everything else” and leave it at that. Even though this is ultimately true, such a premise leaves the practitioner in a nebulous, even vacuous world with nothing to guide him but pure “intuition”.

MYOFASCIA

The word myofascial connotes the bundled together, inseparable nature of the muscle tissue (myo) and its accompanying web of connective tissue (fascia).

In any case, the word myofascial is a terminological innovation only, since it has always been impossible, under whatever name, to contact muscle tissue at any time or place without also contacting and affecting the accompanying connective or fascial tissue.

According with Grey’s Anatomy: “Connective tissues play several essential roles in the body, both STRUCTURAL, since many of the extracellular elements possess special mechanical properties, and DEFENSIVE, a role which as a cellular basis.

They also often possess important trophic and morphogenetic roles in organizing and influencing the growth and differentiation of the surrounding tissues”.

EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX

Dr James Oschamn refers to the ECM as the living matrix, pointing out that “the living matrix is continuous and dynamic “supermolecular” webwork extending into every nook and cranny of the body; a nuclear matrix within a cellular matrix within a connective tissue matrix.

In essence when you touch a human body, you are touching an intimately connected system composed of virtually all the molecules within the body linked together”.

FASCIAL TENSEGRITYM

Tensegrity was first used by architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller from the phrase “tension integrity” to describe a principle for designing lightweight integrated structures that deliver great stability with minimal material.

“Fascia supports and lifts weight. Weight goes up, not down. Bones do not carry weight”. Ida Rolf

“TENSEGRITY IS GOD’S GEOMETRY” B.Fuller

Different than a “ground up” structure of stacking compressive elements as bricks in the house, tensegrity uses materials that are strong in both compression and tension.

Remember last time you were camping and you put up a tent. You start with all the structures: ropes, straps, tubes or rods and the fabric of the tent itself. They are all laying on the floor, flat.

Then, you begin to create some tension and compression (tensegrity), with the straps and rods and finally the fabric and behold! You have a structure up from the floor.

Every moving animal structure, including our own, must be independent, or able to hang together whether standing on your feet, on your head or flying through the air.

An amazing wide variety of natural systems including carbon atoms, water molecules, proteins, viruses, cells, tissues and even humans and other living creatures are constructed using… tensegrity!

All structures are compromised between stability and mobility and biological structures are placed in the middle of this spectrum, dancing between a wide range of needs for rigidity and mobility, which can change from second to second.

In the body: fascia serves to maintain appropriate spatial relationship between the skeletal elements.

If we could completely relax the muscles we would be left with a true tensegrity structure.

If everything (muscles, bones, ligaments, energies, etc.) were totally healthy in the body, the compressive forces would zero each other.

There is no way scientifically speaking that bones could support the weight of the body without a tensegrity structure.

With tensegrity included as part of our thinking, it pushes us to re-think our entire approach on how bodies initiates movement, develop, grow, move, stabilize, respond to stress and repair damage.

FASCIAL UNTANGLING

“Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense.” Henry Miller

It is scientifically proved that the body’s response to trauma, or inappropriate pressure, by compensating in the fascial system. And this “adjustment” can be expressed in various ways; hardening soft tissues, cutting energy supply, stopping growth, creating different tissues, mutating cells, etc.

If we come from the premises that scars, adhesions, cysts, tumors, calcifications and deteriorations in the body can be explained as adaptations of the fascia and extracellular matrix to new information we can begin to understand our body’s own language. We can learn to tap into that body’s wisdom and assist the to establish a healthier communication within our fascia.

Structural Integration is though a unique type of therapy that is integrating all of the structures within the bodymind to each other.

“Untangling” is a state of movement and as well as release of the fascial tissues.

By releasing areas of tension and restriction that have been held tight, we will be allowing relationships of all the systems and parts of the body mind to heal and function at optimum levels within themselves and with each other.

Structural Integration is all about the relationship between body parts.

Structural Integration is not only energy medicine… it is physical energy medicine!

The post Structural Integration Seminar Notes appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

When a person is under stress they shut off their growth, they shut off their immune system and they shut down their conscious processing in deference to doing reactive behavior, which means you become less intelligent. So, as the stresses in this world are mounting, what we are finding is people‘s health is adversely affected, the growth of the system is obstructed, and there‘s less intelligence in dealing with the issues because the fear is pushing us into reactive behavior. Fear is the worst enemy of our society because fear shuts down open communication; it shuts down the light of the heart.

A lot of people feel they have to protect themselves from toxic energy or a toxic environment, and they talk about psychic bubbles and that sort of thing, and I was so glad when I read what Lynne Taggart (The Field) has to say about this matter, because I agree completely whit her. She feels if we’re supposed to all be connected, the last thing we’d want to do is be protected from each other. She says: “Most of the times, what you’re picking up, it is because of what you’re sending out.”

One thing we know is that we’re all sending and receiving a constant conversation of quantum light. There’s a lot of synchronicity in the information going back and forth. In this quantum world of light (picture) we’re sending and receiving whether we know it or not, and so the likelihood is that if there is a negative situation you are experiencing now, it is partly of your own making because you’re sending out information to help make it so. The first thing Lynne would recommend is to start sending out positive information and energy. And this comes from very far before us, for the yogis, thousand years ago, used to teach about karma and the consequences of your actions and thoughts.

All there is, is consciousness

Manifestation is consciousness in appearance.

Paramahansa Yogananda

Working with Body Talk /PaRama Systems, we say that we facilitate the body’s own natural ability to heal itself. The body-mind’s own innate wisdom guides the process and the disease or problem gives way to health and well-being. And what really is this disease (or problem) that reaches us in the first place?

As our Body Talk/PaRama colleague Tim Hall says: “Our ability to experience is so inclusive that we can experience reality (that which exists) and we can experience illusion (that which does not exist). And physically we can have the same effects on both.” This means that it does not matter if the experience is real or not. Your mind and all the relationships with it is going to respond anyway.

We all have an inner call, right? We all have that natural yearning to bring forth a more natural, auspicious way to live. We do not want just to live. We want to live for the highest and go for the best of our ability.

What would mean to be the best of we could be? To shine the brightest light we can shine? To experience the best health and wealth we can?

Ancient yogis always have been said that when we understand the nature of light, it is easy to deal with darkness. Like in a room that has been in darkness for all times – simply turn on the light, the darkness will vanish. Health works the same way: introduce health to the body-mind and everything rises to a higher level of awareness and life improves.

And it is the increase in awareness that brings the body-mind-heart satisfaction we all crave and not the elimination of symptoms.

A few months ago I received a Goddess Kali myth story from our philosophy teacher: Douglas Brooks that speaks to vanquishing the “demons” (darkness) in life. So here we go:

“One of the fiercest adversaries that Kali (the goddess of destruction) faces is a demon named “Rakta Bija” (aka, blood seed). The story goes that this Rakta Bija was terrorizing the earth, and every time the gods tried to slay the demon, each drop of blood spilled became a new Rakta Bija. So very quickly, they had infinite Rakta Bijas on the loose and the gods were really worried. So they appealed to Shiva (the All-Consciousness), who was too busy meditating to be bothered much, but he sent Kali to deal with the demon.

The word for “demon” in Sanskrit is rakshasa, which literally means “the protected ones” (or the enlightened ones?). It’s a strange idea, but they are protected in the sense that they cannot be destroyed. The teaching of demons is that there are indeed real adversaries (darkness) in the world that we must face, AND that you can’t ever really get rid of anything that exists.

This way, we could consider there is no cause for light or for darkness to exist. Everything must have its place (and so the Tantric philosophy strategy is first one of radical affirmation of the world), and the key to peace and health is to place things so that what is truly adversarial doesn’t destroy us or create more demons.

How does Kali (picture) handle Rakta Bija? Well of course the first thing she tries is to slay him. Don’t we all? Whenever there’s anything challenging or adversarial that we’re up against, the impulse is to destroy it. But the teaching of Rakta Bija is that this doesn’t really work; if we try to slay a demon (to fight against darkness), it just creates more demons (it will attract more darkness).Kali’s response, then, is to roll out her huge tongue and swallow all of the Rakta Bijas whole. In this way she gives the protected ones a place, a place inside where they can be assimilated and turned into her nourishment and fortification.

The Kali/Rakta Bija myth can be applied to how we deal with darkness/diseases/problems. They are like demons; they’re adversaries that you have to confront. If we avoid engaging them, they wreak havoc on the world. If we try to deal with them piecemeal, by working on that part of the body in isolation from the rest, they just create more Rakta Bijas. We have to engage the situation whole, and, like Kali, swallow it so it becomes something that we assimilate and learn from, something we use as food.

Remember, the demons/darknesses in life are “protected”: you couldn’t really eliminate them if you wanted to, and you also wouldn’t really want a life without them. Why? Because if we never face any adversaries, if we never are put to the challenge: we never really grow ourselves. If we do not have darkness we can’t seek for the light. Which is to say, we need something to push up against in order to grow. We need to face darkness so we can inspire to look for the light.

Light and darkness and health and disease are not at war. They work together to bring out the essential nature, which is the pure experience of existence beyond health and disease.

By continually learning from darkness and introducing light, we move more and more into the light. By this process, we reach a point where the quality of fullness dominates, and we become illuminated by pure awareness that we essentially are. This does not eliminate darkness, it reveals its true nature, which is: light!

The yoga practice inspires all these alternative practices. It creates a consciousness-based depth of understanding and experience which we call a shift in perspective – from ignorance to truth; from suffering to awareness; from non-self to Self.

For more than 10 years I have been bringing all my yoga experience into this new field of what you may call: alternative medicine, informational medicine, natural healing, consciousness therapy… you name it. Besides being a senior yoga teacher I became a Reiki master and a BodyTalk/PaRama practitioner… Intuition was working by my side, blending and merging that ancient philosophy with all of the new noetic science.

And now, for my surprise, the new science is moving towards the ancient teachings of yoga philosophy!

We do not deny the experience of disease or darkness, or any problem in life, we simply recognize it for what it is: the gaining of a new awareness, higher-consciousness and deeper experience. I love this Tim’s phrase, which says: “Living life fully requires a perspective capable of standing in the gap to see and appreciate 100% light and 100% darkness.”

Our transcendent journey of self-realization requires a deep dive within. All your answers, the most deep and true answers are within us, within our heart, within our consciousness. In the ancient yoga scriptures we are moving from a dark age (Kali Yuga) to a more enlightened age (Dwapara Yuga). This means we are going to connect more through intuitive communication than exactly talking… a health state in the future will consider more the expression of the light of your soul than what your physical body can perform.

Lynn Taggart says that in 50 years time, the idea of using drugs or surgery is probably going to be considered barbaric. We’re moving much more towards an understanding of ourselves as being an energetic system, a light system… a light being.

If you think of our cells as just pure vibrating packets of nothingness, or energy, or light, then you have to deal with things in a very different way than just carving up pieces of flesh or giving drugs to try to change a chemical reaction.

Lynn continues: “We’re now understanding that we’re much more subtle than that and we don’t operate in a linear fashion. If you try to affect one part of us, you affect all parts of us. And so we have to approach things very differently than the idea of just fix the broken machine.”

The current medicine pattern we have available clearly demonstrates that it doesn’t work. Now we realize that we’ve been using the wrong paradigm, that we’re something very different from what medicine thinks we are, and so we have to deal with ourselves as an energetic system out of balance, and that‘s really what we should be looking at and trying to heal.

“There’s a real strong transformative power in group intention and communal intention,” Lynne reminds us. “In the face of adversity, get together with your friends and do some intentions together.” This can also be done at work, if you have people who are like-minded, and can also be done remotely.

As we transcend health and disease by practicing to be present, we open for the light within to shine outside and all around. Or we can choose to have consciousness-based BodyTalk sessions, Reiki sessions, or to move into gracious or challenging poses, or either dance, chant, meditate, or just walking on the beach with bare feet…

What eases all suffering in life is the power of revelation of our inherent nature that comes with greater awareness. This is Yoga. This is pure healing.And I just finish here saying that the question is not if we are doing Yoga. The question is not if we are in the path of growth and healing. Yoga and growth is in everything we do. The question is are we doing our best?

And this is our journey to our Truth.

The post Vanquishing Demons in Life! appeared first on BodyTalk San Diego.

Psychology of the body
Progressively, over the centuries, society has developed the use of clothing as a mask.
Clothing was originally used and designed to protect people from the elements of heat and
cold, to stop themselves from getting burned or frozen. It was also used as a method of
adornment to enhance attractiveness and for ritual and ceremonial reasons. In the latter
centuries, people developed a cultural dependency on clothing. Clothes became a mask and a
prop for perceived personality and character deficiencies.
We frequently see people who would not be seen “dead” without their clothing on. Clothing
is often used to portray an image that is different from the person’s perceived inner
deficiencies. It is a form of artificiality or masking that they outwardly project to cover up
any personality or emotional defects they think they have. People tend to feel that by hiding
behind clothing they can metaphorically cover themselves and deny others exposure to the
inner-self they perceive to be crippled. The need to do this most commonly occurs in people
with low self-esteem.
Fashion
This process is being encouraged by the cultural excesses of fashion magazines in an industry
with a very strong monetary interest in the promotion of clothing. These special interest
industries create the belief that clothing is an essential to life itself, rather than a practical and
fun auxiliary. The tragedy is that many have blindly accepted this. The average person thinks
of clothing as one of the necessities of life that transcends mere protection and expands into
the realm of personality, character and self-worth.
Guilt
Concurrent with this trend is a parallel trend to automatically associate nudity to sexual
activity. Many religions choose to perceive sexual activity as a sin, and by association,
choose to see nudity as a sin also. Some religions use this argument as a way of manipulating
people into feeling guilty about nudity. Guilty people then think they need the church to
forgive them. Also, guilty people can be controlled easily by authorities of any description.
Vibrant, healthy, guilt free people of high self esteem are traditionally very hard to `manage’
or control for churches or governments. Through the combination of the above influences,
many societies created laws to make it illegal to go as nature intended.
When is it wrong to be naked? A naked new born baby is not considered wrong or bad. At
what age does this child become bad? Is it 18 months or when they are three. A naked two
year old on the beach is generally considered normal and inoffensive. So when is a child not
a child? Is it four years old or is it ten years old? People with issues around nudity will often
say it is when they reach school age, and that would be five years old. That concept infers
that when a naked child on the beach is 4 years 364 days 23 hours and 59 minutes old it is a
healthy child with a good attitude to life. One minute later, when the child turns five it is
suddenly a naughty, sinful child because he/she is still naked! That concept is obviously a
farce.
Self-esteem
The creation of this absurd attitude often emerges from low self-esteem issues developed at a
very young age. Children are influenced by an environment producing many negative
attitudes about themselves. They are told, or it is inferred by certain actions, that they are not
perfect, not lovable, not good enough, naughty, etc. As adults, they feel a need to camouflage
these perceived inadequacies in our personality and character. We often create a series of
attitudes and belief systems to compensate for these inadequacies. They also develop a series
of masks to `cover up’ the weaknesses. For example, the person who feels weak deep down
will often put on a ‘tough’ personality mask and adopt an aggressive posture.
Clothes are used continuously in this process; the weak person uses powerful or aggressive
clothing. The ‘naughty’ person wears clothing designed to give them acceptance and make
them appear ‘good.’ The unloved person tries to show he/she doesn’t care wears rebellious
and ‘unacceptable’ clothing. The ‘guilty’ person portrays themselves in pious and ‘pure’ attire
with the ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
People who don’t approve of themselves deep down also cover up by becoming judgmental
of others. They feel that by pulling someone else down, they are bringing that individual
down to their lower level. They ensure they always wear the ‘right’ clothing for each occasion
so they wont be judged badly. People who hate being judged are the very people who tend to
be judgmental themselves.
This whole process is unfortunate because the inner low self image people think they are
hiding is not the true self. It is simply another mask at a deep level. The true self lies below
that set of belief systems they are taught as a child. In situations where people are able to
‘peel off’ the outer masks and expose the true self, they always find someone they love and
feel good about.
We are born pure, loving and innocent. The sooner we can get back in touch with that, the
sooner we get in touch with experiencing the joy of life. The only reason we are not
experiencing total abundance of joy, peace, love and financial security is because we are
actively resisting those things which are our birth right. We resist them by creating the masks
which act to separate us from our true inner selves and block us off from that abundance.
Shutting down
When people use clothing as a means of shutting out the world and covering up to stop the
world from seeing their distorted inner self image, they create a tragedy of immense
proportions. When hiding behind clothes, people are closing down their body energically and
psychologically. A healthy body has its energy, nervous system, and life forces flowing
freely throughout it. When shut down psychologically and physically, the body energy shuts
down, distorts and flows abnormally. This manifests major kinks in spiritual, emotional,
mental and physical growth.
A suppressed energy system becomes inflexible and rigid. This is easily seen in the inflexible
attitudes we encounter so often in our society, as well as the tendency for the human race to
develop rigid, inflexible, arthritic bodies.
Interacting with life
Closing down and isolating one’s energy also has a dramatic affect on their ability to relate to
other people and the world. There have been many books recently that demonstrate we are
energy systems constantly interacting with all the energy systems in our environment. We
draw energy from the world around us. Up to 40% of our oxygen intake is through our skins,
(unless we stifle that through excess synthetic clothing and makeup!) Healthy individuals
draw a large percentage of their energy through their skin from the atmosphere, the trees,
plants and all of nature. (Unhealthy, needy people will also draw energy from other human
beings like parasites.) This also involves a healthy exchange of energy. We draw in and give
out energy. Our ability to do this depends upon the openness and flexibility of our energy
systems.
When people psychologically and physically shut down, especially through the metaphor of
needing clothing to hide from the world, we are not just hiding from other people, they hide
from the world. They block the exchange of energy and reduce the total vitality available to
them. They also impair their ability to relate to, and interact with, the world. That interaction
is an essential criteria for any healthy organism. All cells, animals, plants and humans
survive according to their interrelationships with the world around them. Once people
insulate themselves, they cripple their ability to grow and process the world as they should.
The need for clothing
There are many ways of insulating and shutting down the processing of life. One prominent
method is to shut down through the need for clothing. It isn’t the actual wearing of clothing
that is the problem, it is the need for the clothing – when they cannot do without clothing
because they need it as a mask.
People say, “it doesn’t worry me if I have my clothes on or off.” That is great if it is really
true. How would you really feel going naked to work or naked in public? (Assuming that it
was legal for you to do it.) What impact would that have on you? How worried would you be
about the way people would judge you? We need to look very closely as to whether or not
our clothing is a way of masking and emotionally protecting ourselves.
Disempowerment
This masking, this covering up, this utilizing clothing to shut us down, disempowers us.
Society is too full of disempowered people who hand over financial responsibility to
accountants and bankers. They also hand over health responsibilities to doctors, emotional
responsibilities to their spouses and are constantly disempowering themselves by giving
away responsibility for many different aspects of their life. Even more serious is the way
people shut down their own ability to interact in life, draw energy and vitality from their
environment, and disempower themselves though their neediness for the masking aspect of
clothing.
Mind and health
The mind is a very powerful influence on your health. It is generally accepted in psychology
that many diseases are created through your mental attitudes towards your body and
ourselves. Unfortunately, our society cultivates a negative attitude to the very bodies they are
trying to maintain healthily. Many children are raised to believe their body is naughty and
should be covered up – something to be ashamed of. This has a lasting impression on the
inner self and the psychology of the persona. Distorted thinking like this can stay with you to
your grave unless you actively seek to correct it. In fact, it can put you in your grave much
earlier!
Stress
The negative effect of being ashamed of our body will affect our image of self and be a
constant source of stress. Negative body image can be considered a major cause of stress in
our society. This will have a profound influence on the body’s functioning and its ability to
remain healthy and vital because high stress levels are a significant predisposing factor to
disease. This can be seen particularly in children who are bought up with distorted body
attitudes. Many young children are being prescribed tranquillizers these days.
Delinquency in minors
Once children start thinking negatively about their body and regard their sexual organs as
bad, they become preoccupied with those negative aspects. People have a natural tendency to
focus on what is denied. When a child has a negative attitude toward his/her body there will
be a tendency to abuse it. The negative body attitude combines with a distorted self image
and low self esteem, resulting in a tendency to self-sabotage with substance abuse,
destructive sexual exploration, and to have rebellious tendencies towards delinquency. Many
studies have shown that people who have been bought up in nudist families with healthy
attitudes, tend to have a far greater respect for their bodies, and are far less likely to be caught
up in abusive systems such as alcohol or drugs. (See – ‘Growing up without shame’ by Dennis
Smith and Dr. William Sparks.)
The sexual aspect is very important. Adolescent children with hormones raging who have
been bought up with negative body/mind attitudes, will quickly distort their sexuality. The
sexual urge is the strongest force and drive people have. Nature was ensuring the survival of
the species by providing people with a strong, healthy sexuality. When such a strong urge is
distorted, suppressed, and confused they see abnormal behavior manifesting. The child
obsesses with the opposite sex and with their own sexuality. They start relationships with the
opposite sex with the attitude of competition – winners and losers. The opposite sex is
threatening and sex is a way to conquer.
The intelligent child has a natural, healthy curiosity around their body and the bodies of
others. When this natural curiosity is suppressed and distorted, problems occur. Further,
when that curiosity is colored with feelings of being naughty, they associate guilt with their
curiosity and desire to learn about life. This will reflect in all other aspects of their life
including the general pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
Children brought up in a nudist environment tend to relate far more easily to peers, and pass
through adolescence with less potential trauma. They have a healthier attitude towards
themselves and others. Statistically, they adapt to study and learning more effectively, and
have significantly less incidence of substance abuse, brushes with the law, and juvenile
delinquency.

Naked beneath the clothing
A case history
Janice and her husband Gary stumbled along the seemingly endless pathway towards that
beach. Her heart was pounding, she felt nauseous, on the verge of blacking out. Fear, guilt,
and panic overwhelmed her and yet there was somehow a deeper intuitive feeling that this
‘remedy’ prescribed by her doctor was the one that would work.
The prescription was for her and husband, Gary to walk to this nudist beach, undress and
spend at least one hour naked mingling with the other nudists. Janice could then come home
when she wanted. Why was something so simple engulfing her with such strong emotional
reactions?
At 33 years of age, Janice and Gary were both moderately successful professionals with a
good home, no children and an unhappy marriage. Janice was always very ill to the point that
it was threatening her ability to work. She had daily tension headaches, asthma, back pain,
stomach cramps and nausea after eating and her reproductive cycle was in chaos. Alcohol
relieved the pain but not the depressions. She was truly living the ‘dark side’ of her life and
had few friends to talk to.
After many specialists and tests, she decided to visit a highly recommended doctor who
practiced alternative medicine. After the consultation, Dr. Bill decided to physically examine
her and left her with instructions to change down to panties and bra. He returned to find that
Janice had removed her dress but still had four petty coats, tights, and the reversible gown
supplied in the changing room on. When Dr. Bill suggested that he will need to see more of
her body to conduct a physical examination the reactive, almost hostile, answer was that
nobody got to see her body.
Further questioning revealed that even Gary was denied that privilege. On the very few
occasions they made love (her words – “had a naughty”) she kept her nightie and bedclothes
on, the light off, and the nightie was lifted just far enough for the act to be done.
Janice was easy to talk to and intelligent. It became obvious through discussion with Janice
and Gary that the negative aspects of nudity, clothing, and body image were a major block in
her life. She was desperate to get better and had Gary’s total support. Her therapeutic choice
was between many long drawn out therapy sessions that often become bogged down in
cerebral dialectics or her other choice – cold turkey.
Janice and Gary struggled on until they reached the beach. At this point they could see about
two hundred naked people. The worst part was that many of them were actually playing
beach games. At least half were happy, laughing children. Janice was unable to undo the
buttons on her dress. Gary had to undress her. Four petty coats, tights and all! Janice later
said that she honestly thought she was going to have a heart attack. Gary stripped, with some
difficulty, and they started to walk (because they could not have stood still without passing
out).
Forty-five minutes later Janice and Gary were playing beach volleyball with a group of naked
people. They stayed the whole day, went back the next day, and are now regular visitors.
Since that day Janice has not had a severe headache or backache. All aspects of her health
have improved dramatically. Her marriage is strong, sex life prolific (making up for lost
time) and her career is flourishing. Her description later was that she suddenly felt released
within her body, and was finally in touch with her true life force. For the first time in her life
she was a sensual being without feeling guilty!
Janice’s case was an extreme example of what so many people are going through with the
distorted conditioning our society gave them as children. We are taught that the human body
is shameful. We are then conditioned to use our clothing as a mask to hide behind. Continued
use of this mask, eventually leads to identification with it. We really believe we are the mask.
Instead of clothing being something we use for protection, for fun, to tease and adorn our
bodies, we often use it to try and fool others into believing that we are something that we are
not and then believe in the sham ourselves! This artificiality is recognized intuitively and we
feel stifled by the falseness of life. Legally, we can’t remove the clothing mask so we look for
other outlets through illness, neurosis, and sensate indulgences.
Sensuality
The tragic aspect of this scenario is that people are also denying their sensuality. Sensuality is
the primary energic force that ‘moves and shakes’ the body. The chi (ki, prana) that people
hear about in acupuncture and martial arts is simply another manifestation of sensuality. A
healthy flow of sensuality determines the general health, vitality, sexuality, and feelings of
well-being. Although it ultimately goes deeper than that, the naked body is a metaphor for
our sensuality. Nudity symbolizes freedom, openness and sensuality better than any other
cognitive process.
People don’t have to be naked to reap the benefits of being naked. There are constant
situations where it is impossible to be naked because of weather, social, and legal
restrictions. We can, however, be ‘naked beneath our clothing.’
Being naked beneath our clothing goes way beyond the scope of sensuality. It is an attitude
to life. A constant reminder that life flows far better when we open up to it mentally,
emotionally, and energically.
There is a constant energy exchange going on between people. In ‘healthy’ individuals there
is a give and take mechanism where our own unique energy flows out to the people around
us, and then we, in turn, absorb the energy of others. This is very necessary for balancing the
body’s energy systems because of the variety of energy we can absorb. In much the same
way, it is unhealthy to live on a mono food diet.
People who are shut down, and closed off to the world, short circuit the system and
energically isolate themselves from the world. Their energy system stagnates and starts to
manifest ‘dis-ease’ within the system. Admittedly, there are many other reasons for ‘dis-ease’
but this one should not be ignored. Even if people don’t take it that far and just concentrate on
the obvious energic/interactive starvation in our relationships, they will find dramatic
decreases in our quality of life, personal growth and sense of well-being.

Bioenergetics of naturism
It is well known that there is a very strong flow of energy through the body, that the body is
made up of energy of many forms and frequencies. The slower frequencies are the physical
energy of the muscles, bones, tissues, etc. As those frequencies get higher they pass through
the spectrum of blood, lymph, nerve impulses, energy channels, chakras, auras, etc.
Acupuncture
Chi (Qi) is the name given to the specific energy frequencies that run along ‘meridians’
(pathways) in the body. This energy is utilized by acupuncturists and other health therapies to
influence their patients. The chi flow is a very important component of body function. A
healthy flow of chi promotes a healthy nervous system, blood vessels, lymph drainage, etc.
The effect of clothing on energy flow
Many interesting experiments have been done on the affect that clothing has on chi flow
within the body. During the authors’ years as Principal of the Brisbane College of Traditional
Acupuncture and Natural Therapies in Australia, many experiments were conducted using
highly sensitive equipment that could monitor and measure the flow of chi along the
meridians. An acupuncture needle could be inserted into an acupuncture point to demonstrate
the affect it has on the energy levels in other parts of the body along where that meridian
flowed. For example, a needle inserted just below the knee at a point called stomach 36,
would demonstrate an increased flow of energy along the whole stomach meridian running
up the leg, through the stomach, up into the chest, and up to the eyes. Stimulating the needle
can effectively help to balance, and heal, a stomach disorder (such as a stomach ulcer), or
perhaps increase the energy flow to the eyes and improve vision. Some interesting
experiments demonstrated the following:
When a patient was naked and had the needle stimulated, there was a measurable flow of
energy – we’ll call it 100 units. If that person then wore nylon underpants while this
experiment was being done, and the needle was being stimulated, the effective end result of
the flow was a reduction of energy flow of up to 60%. Repetitive experiments demonstrated
that if a patient wore nylon underwear while receiving acupuncture treatments, that patient
would need twice as many treatments to get the same results. [Cotton underwear reduced the
flow by 20%.]
The body as an electrical field
The surface of the skin is an electrical field that is constantly interacting with our
environment and our inner body systems. The nervous system is another set of electrical
circuits. The two combine to create varying electrical potentials that can easily be measured.
This electrical potential is altered by the influence of different types of clothing. Synthetic
clothing builds up a static charge on the body so that when a piece of metal is touched, the
person gets a shock. Practitioners who work with bioenergetic therapy have found the static
has detrimental effects on the body’s electrical network which, in turn, affects health.
Daily nude break
Wearing clothing, particularly synthetic clothing, has a detrimental effect on the electrical
potential of the body and the ability of the chi in the body to flow freely. From a bioenergetic
point of view, clothing builds up stress in the body with an accumulative effect. It is
important to allow the body time to normalize – give it some breathing space as it were – for
it to balance out the electrical flow throughout the skin. That is why it is so essential for us to
have a period of time each day without clothes.
Many of us have noticed that the stresses of the day can be diminished quite dramatically by
standing under a shower or sitting in water. There is a twofold effect here. One is the removal
of the clothing to allow energy to flow more freely. The other, is that running water has a
wonderful effect of neutralizing energy blockages, and deactivating electrical charge. The
body can also neutralize itself by simply being naked without the electrical and physical
interference of clothing.
That is why a period of being totally naked each day is so important. The longer the period
the better. Our bodies need a chance to recharge, revitalize and sort themselves out. The
accumulative effect of wearing synthetic, restrictive and tight clothing over the years is a
dramatic increase in stress levels, accelerated aging and reduced health.
The affect of bathing suits
When people go out into the sun wearing synthetic swim suits, there is an accumulative
negative effect. Firstly, a static electrical charge builds up from the material, interfering with
the energy circuits and irritating the skin. Then the sun beating down on the body creates a
temperature differential between where the clothing is, to where it is hitting bare skin. The
combination of temperature differential, electrostatic charge built up by the synthetic fiber,
and the disturbed flow of the chi through the area, creates electrical variations that can be
very detrimental to the skin. Objectively, we see that the area around the bathing costume is
where we burn more easily. There is an inch band where the bathing costume meets the skin
that is the first area to get red, burn, and blister. This appears to be a result of the interference
created by these electrical charges.
This also has a generalized effect on all the skin. When the electrical potential of the skin and
its function is upset at any part of the body, it will have ramifications on the rest of the body.
It is the author’s belief that this is one of the reasons why nudists tend to have a lower
incidence of skin cancer than the general public. (This has been reported extensively.) You
only have to look at people on a nude beach to see that there is a lower incidence of burning
than would normally be expected on textile beaches. Statistically, it has been shown that
naturalists manifest a lower incidence of skin cancer despite the fact that they are in the sun
longer, the whole of their body is exposed, and they generally use less sun creams. If this
evidence affects the incidence of skin cancer, it will obviously affect many skin diseases.
The skin is the largest organ of the body with a very complex relationship to the body. If
something goes wrong in the skin it will have ramifications on total general health. It has also
been shown that these affects occur even with very small strips of clothing. A g-string or
small bikini creates just as big a problem because that band of synthetic fiber across the skin
creates the same situation. So it doesn’t matter if you are wearing bikini or a one-piece, you
will still have a detrimental effect on health and an increase in stress load on the body.
The authors own observations involve a long personal history of skin disorders and genetic
tendency to skin cancers. My numerous moles developed white circles around them and
started going black whenever I went out in the sun, unless I used copious amounts of
sunblock. I found that whenever I was on nudist beaches with the same amount of sun, and
much less suntan cream, the opposite effect occurred. I tanned rather than burned, and my
moles progressively disappeared as a result of sunbathing naturally, compared to sunbathing
with clothes on. Recently, I have lived in parts of America where clothing is compulsory on
the beaches and my skin problems started to return! Because of the personal health risk
involved, I am reluctant to swim on a beach where I cannot be nude.
Breast disorders
This tragedy continues when women have to wear tops on their bikinis. They create an
electrical imbalance around the very sensitive tissue of the breast that helps to promote skin
cancer. Once cancer is in the system, it can promote any form of cancer. This has not yet
been scientifically proven because nobody has really bothered to look seriously into this
problem. Probably because they would be going up against a lot of ‘sacred cows’ when it
comes to the promotion of nudity in relation to health.
The bra
As an aside, it is worth looking at the whole concept of bras. Most bras these days are still
synthetic although there is a positive trend to cotton. The synthetic material builds up an
electrical charge that interferes with the energy meridians running through the breasts. These
hindered meridians form small eddy currents of energy rather than flowing smoothly in a
linear direction. These eddy currents cause a build up of stagnant energy that attracts fluid
(lymph) to the breasts. (In some body-types it does the opposite and reduces fluid flow to the
breast.) The combination of the eddy currents, and fluid build up, promotes the formation of
breast lumps, painful breasts, feeding disorders in nursing mothers, etc.
This is further compounded in bras that have metal wiring (such as the ‘Wonderbra’). The
wire sets up a magnetic field exacerbating everything even further. The author has
successfully treated many women with long histories of breast lumps. I have told them to
wear their bras only when necessary, spend time in the sun tanning their breasts, and
organized a few sessions of lymphatic drainage therapy around the breasts with excellent,
consistent results.
In the author’s opinion, any government that enforces women by law to cover their breasts
when they go out in the sun, is promoting disease. Not only the disease of physical illness,
but the disease of mental illness by creating negative attitudes towards the human body, and
negative attitudes towards one’s own sensuality and sexuality, which then flows on to major
problems within society.
[Note: Since writing this article, an excellent book has been published which documents the
affect of the bra on the lymphatic system and the high cancer risk it can create. This book
states:
"By wearing a bra more than 12 hours daily, a woman seems to increase her chances of
developing breast cancer by 11 percent compared with the general population."
It would appear that wearing a bra for fewer than 12 hours affords a 19 fold protection
against breast cancer, as compared with the general population. (Few women, however, wear
their bras for only part of the day.) Also women who wear bras for over 12 hours daily, but
not to sleep, had a 21 fold greater chance of developing breast cancer than women who
remove their bras before 12 hours.
And women to wear their bras 24 hours a day (some actually wear them to bed), have a 113
fold increase in breast cancer incidence compared to women to wear their bras only 12 hours
a day.
Conclusion: "It follows that going braless is associated with a 21 fold reduction in breast
cancer incidence compared with the general population."
The book is called - `Dressed to Kill, The Link between Breast Cancer and Bras.' Avery
press.]

Metaphysics and nudism
Wei Chi (protective energy)
Extending on our concept of energy in the body, we can now look at one of the high
frequency energies. The wei chi is a superficial energy that runs over the surface of the body
just inside, and above, the skin. Some people can see it in certain light as a etheric whitish
glow that can extend perhaps half an inch out from the body. (This should not be confused
with the human aura that is an even higher frequency and extends much further.) It is
classically referred to as our protective energy although, as we will see later, it has more far
reaching effects. It is really a mixture of frequencies, each controlling different aspects of
protection – physical, climatic, emotional, psychic, etc. One can have strong physical wei chi
but weak emotional wei chi.
When we are injured, the wei chi is the first energy to arrive in force and plan our defense
and repair. It encourages the flow of meridian energy, nerve impulses and, eventually, the
biochemical agents necessary for repair.
A person who has low or weak physical wei chi bruises or cuts easily. Whereas a person with
strong wei chi, such as a top athlete, tends not to bruise and cut as easily. Martial artists
develop the art of strengthening wei chi so they can take powerful blows or deflect sharp
objects and not damage their skin.
Wei chi protects us from our environment. A person with strong wei chi can withstand
sudden changes in climate and temperature. A person with weak wei chi suffers from sudden
climatic change even to the point of serious health problems.
Part of our environment includes the bombardment from energy fields around us. This
includes negative energies from electrical appliances, power lines, radiation and numerous
other man-made hazards. We can also be attacked by the negative output of people who are
very emotional. Emotions are energy frequencies that, when experienced reactively and
uncontrolled, can affect all the people around the emotionally charged person.
Wei chi depends on its ability to flow smoothly through the skin and over the body in order
to function optimally. As mentioned earlier, wei chi is not like the aura. It appears as a thin
film or envelope of glowing energy around the body of a healthy person. In some people it is
only just above the skin. In others, it can radiate from half an inch to an inch. (In extreme
cases – three inches.)
Clothing impedes wei chi
People who can see wei chi notice that it doesn’t flow through the clothing as well as it flows
along bare skin. It tends to dip into the body rather than tackle the fibers, colors, synthetics
and electrical charges of clothing. For example, if I look at a naked person clothed only in a
pair of pants, I will see the wei chi above the surface of the skin disappear where the pants
are, and then reappear where the pants end. This means that the area of the body where the
pants are is not being protected by the wei chi anywhere near as powerfully. That makes that
area of the body more vulnerable to negativity. This is important because, if the wei chi flow
is being impeded in any way, it reduces our ability to respond to life, and to respond to the
damaging things that happen in our life.
The liver and the SoulA
Wei chi has very strong metaphysical connections and implications. In natural (Chinese,
Indian, Sharmanic etc.) medicine, if the wei chi needs to be strengthened, the organ that we
have to treat is the liver and its associated energy systems.
In metaphysics the liver is the organ associated with the soul. There are many interpretations
of the soul. Simply put, the soul is the part of our body, or energy presence that helps us to
process life and records the processes of our life. (Whether it be just this life, and/or past
lives.) Medically, the liver is the central processor and chemical warehouse of the body. Most
cultures relate to the old concepts of cutting out a man’s liver to take his soul and various
other similar stories.
The soul processes life, sorts out our karma, and is constantly synthesizing all the events that
are happening. It is also involved with the process of planning and making decisions. In
Chinese medicine, each organ has a yin and a yang component. This is seen in other systems
as well. (They just use different terms to denote the duality principle of yang – yin; male -
female; positive – negative; expanding – contracting, hot – cold, etc..)
The yang aspect of the soul is the wei chi that is found on the surface of the body. Our wei
chi is not only there to protect us from life but it is also our first contact with the world
around us. All the inputs coming from our environment, people and events make contact with
the wei chi first. Although some of it penetrates directly into the body through the five
senses, most of the input is processed by the wei chi. Healthy wei chi determines how well
we can process and digest our life on a psychological, physical and energic level.
This processing in the wei chi builds up during the day. When we go to bed at night a
procedure occurs between 1am and 3am whereby the wei chi withdraws from the surface and
travels internally to the liver and other major organs to synthesize and ‘pass on’ this processed
information. (This time relates to the Chinese clock that demonstrates the internal
concentrations of body energy according to the time of day.) That is why when we lie in bed
at night (even on a warm night), our wei chi withdraws, and we feel more vulnerable, and
often feel colder and need to cover up for protection. This also explains why shift workers
who work through the night can often have many problems processing their lives and making
plans and decisions. It also accounts for many of the negative effects of jet lag where the
Chinese clock is disturbed, and the wei chi travels inside at the wrong times.
Healthy wei chi means healthy processing of life. Earlier it was stated that wei chi is best
treated through the liver. In a practical, clinical situation it is very difficult to obtain
significant results in this way. What works in theory doesn’t always work in practice.
Denying our soul
Wei chi is most profoundly affected by the attitudes of each individual. This is what we
talked about at the beginning of this article. When people are in denial of their body, when
they are closing down their emotional and psychological body and need to hide behind a
mask of clothing, they are also suppressing their wei chi. Their wei chi hardly extends above
their skin. It is thin and very weak. As a result of that denial and shutting down of the body,
they are also closing down the processing of life.
Our ability to process and synthesize the events that are occurring in our life is heavily
dependent on our healthy attitude to our body and our openness to allowing our body
energies to be ‘out there’ to do that processing. When people expose themselves to the world,
they are opening up their wei chi and opening up to the processing of life. When people who
can see wei chi observe people undressing, they can see the wei chi expanding as they
undress.
‘Baring the soul’
Throughout history in many different cultures, there has been a term relating to somebody
going naked publicly. We talk about them ‘baring their soul’ to the world. This is linked
directly to the wei chi being on the surface of the skin and it being the yang of the soul.
When a person ‘bares their soul’ by going naked publicly, they are opening themselves up to
the process of life, they are allowing themselves to synthesize life in a more powerful way,
metaphorically, psychologically, spiritually, and physically.
When people are experiencing major traumas or events in life and find that drugs or alcohol
only result in their shutting down the processing of the event, they often pass through a
period where they feel compelled to take their clothes off. It’s as if the shedding of clothes
represents the shedding of the problems of the world. Many naturists talk about the feeling of
leaving the world behind them once they have removed their clothes and mingled with other
people similarly naked.
Many non naturists in society have that inner urge to ‘bare their soul’ and take of their
clothes, because at some level their subconscious is saying that they need their wei chi out
there so that they can process what is going on in their life, and clear it all out. In general,
people in a crippled ‘mask’ orientated society do not handle life well. They deny themselves
the ability to process life, and proceed through the highs and low of living in this world in an
unhealthy way.
In ‘new age’ terms, many people want to realize their karma and purpose in life. They go to
seminars, read books, have realizations and paradigm shifts that they simply can’t synthesize
into reality. This is because their wei chi is so withdrawn it cannot perform its function of
metabolizing and digesting those experiences. This is particularly important when therapy is
involved.
Nudity in therapy
More and more people are attending processing type therapy sessions in psychotherapy,
psychoanalysis, rebirthing, holotropic breathing, life management, Reiki and many other
wonderful techniques. These techniques involve bringing out many issues in people, and
getting them in touch with important realizations about their lives. One problem is that those
people participating in that therapy are usually still clinging to their clothing mask, shutting
down their wei chi and are, therefore, unable to process what they are learning.
People often attend great seminars or therapy sessions, learn a great deal and go through
major ‘ah hah’ experiences. One month later they have made little progress because, although
they have intellectually realized a few things, they haven’t internally digested the experience.
The tendency is to drift back to the old ways.
One can undergo years of therapy only to make minor shifts because the fundamental
problem of opening up to the processing has not been addressed. In her excellent book,
‘Therapy, Nudity and Joy,’ Dr. Aileen Goodman gives many examples of the increased
benefits of therapies that utilize group and individual sessions where the participants are
naked. The openness and honesty that the nudity encourages greatly helps the process. The
consequent exposure of the wei chi facilitates the synthesis of the process and consolidates
the results.
Massage
We often see people going for a massage and having their whole body covered except for the
part being massaged. These people are denying themselves much of the effectiveness of the
massage. They are not allowing themselves to be open to the process. Massage helps to
distribute the wei chi and encourages it to flow more freely. If the therapist is good and
relaxed, the wei chi will also be encouraged to synthesize the accumulated stress. The
presence of coverings, both physically and psychologically, will discourage this process.
‘Naked’ versus ‘Nude’
On a day to day basis, you are constantly receiving input from your environment, family,
friends, work, television, traffic jams, etc.. It is essential that every day you give your body a
chance to breathe, clear, and process by removing the obstructions to that process. You need
to not only to take off your clothes, but to be totally open and vulnerable about it. Being
totally naked – deliberately undressing with the concept of allowing your body to be
physically and mentally open. Simply undressing doesn’t always achieve this. When you
undress for a shower, you are not necessarily naked in the sense of being totally open.
In the bathroom with the door locked, you can be clothed by the bathroom, by the
environment of the bathroom. That, in itself, can effectively reduce the impact on your wei
chi. It does something, of course. Simply being naked is always going to be more healthy, but
it won’t be as healthy as if you were psychologically totally open and naked as well. Being
naked in public, or out in nature, is more beneficial because there is an exposure, a
vulnerability, an openness, that will dramatically open you up to the exchange of energy.
You should take every possible opportunity to go naked and expose your body to life.
Weekends or holidays in the nude are very powerful therapies. They give your body, mind,
and soul a chance to recuperate, synthesize, and regenerate.
‘Naked’- a state of mind
It follows that ‘nakedness’ is a state of mind as well. Although it is extremely beneficial to
physically expose ourselves, to be naked physically, and go through periods of time when we
are naked, we should also realize that the state of mind of being ‘naked beneath our clothing’
is extremely important. (It is possible to be a nudist and not go ‘naked.’ There are nudists who
use their nudity as a mask. They are nude in a confrontational or sexual way rather than being
open.)
There are people who are unable to physically go naked because of climatic, religious, or
cultural reasons. Some of these people are still able to process life well and have healthily
functioning wei chi. These rare people have found a way to remain open to life in a positive
way. They have a healthy unrepressed attitude towards their bodies, and aren’t in denial of it.
They are ‘naked beneath their clothes.’
This state of mind is very important even for the practicing naturist. It means that no matter
what our situation, we can continue to live in the naturist philosophy even though our
environmental situation requires clothing. It isn’t necessary to be able to walk down the main
city street naked. That is silly because it needlessly confronts the sociological and cultural
conditions of the area. Although those attitudes may be wrong, we will not advance our cause
by being deliberately confrontational. However, there is no reason why we can’t walk down
the main street with clothing on and still be ‘naked beneath your clothing’ with all the
advantages attached to that state of mind.
This healthy state of being means that you will have many of the benefits of naturism, and
you will be more open and honest in you relationships with other people, and the world. You
will be drawing on the energy around you much better, and empowering yourself from that
energy. You will also be processing events as they occur rather than having them store up in
your body to cripple it later with mental and physical disease. It is a compromise from the
ideal situation of living naked. It is also an essential compromise for many people living
under various conditions. People in Alaska might have trouble spending the winter naked. By
being ‘naked beneath their clothing’, they can still enjoy the benefits of naturist philosophy.
Eliminating the mask
People who live naked or are ‘naked beneath their clothing’ are not using their clothing as a
mask. They are not using it as an emotional or psychological character prop. They are saying,
“I am good enough the way I am. I love and respect my body. I do not need my clothing to
hide me. I do not need this mask to relate to other people. I do not need the prop of makeup
and fancy clothes to try and get prestige or recognition from the people around me.” This
enables people to relate to themselves, and others, from a position of empowerment and
strength. They become part of the family of man, rather than a competitor in it.
Conclusion
It is a tragedy that the human race has allowed itself to create such a complexity of negative
rules and belief systems around the body they have to live in from birth to death. One would
think that when we have to spend so much time with something given to us by God, we
would learn to love and respect it. We would want to look after it, and nurture it. We would
want to train our children to grow up with healthy and positive feelings about it. To be able
to enjoy its magnificence of structure and feelings. To respect, enjoy, and love the bodies of
fellow life travelers without the denial, guilt, abuse, and hostility we see so commonly in this
world.
The philosophy and practice of naturism will not solve all these problems because they are so
ingrained into a system that has to much dependency on the negative fruits of disempowering
rules. However, those individuals who choose to embrace the openness, honesty, and vitality
of nudism, can at least profoundly enhance the experience of joy, health, and peace in their
own lives and have a positive effect on those around them.
By encouraging a healthy positive attitude to our bodies, we are encouraging a healthy
relationship with our mind, soul, spirit, and our environment. That will make a difference
within our own lives and, if enough of us do it peacefully and responsibly, the world.

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