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Rubber tubing lies passively and lets liquid flow through it. Your arteries, on the other hand, respond to everything that happens to you, and their responses have to be both active and intelligent. In biology textbooks, we get the idea that a cell divides again and again until its time is up, after about fifty divisions, at which point it dies. But this is a drastically simplified, even a false view. A cell has experien ces. It remembers what happens to it. It is capable of losing its skills if links in its innate knowledge are lost or damaged. By the same token, a cell could be new all the time, without decay , if it preserved its complete store of intelligence. The difference between life and death for a cell lies in its smriti , or memory . If you take the longest perspective, a perfect memory in a cell would lead to immortality , for there can be no death as long as renewal continues without flaws or mistakes. Science has never proved that DNA is limited in its ability to run a cell in good working order . Each of your arteries contains the same DNA that formed the arteries in Stone Age humans fifty thousand years ago. If DNA can manage to make perfect arteries for five hundred centuri es, each one containing milli ons of perfectly operating cells, there is no intrinsic reason why your DNA should botch the job after sixty years. But the botching takes place, and in a lot fewer than sixty years. By age 12, a typical artery changes markedly in appearance. It begins to develop irregularities in the form of yellow fatty streaks. At the microscopic level,one finds that these irregularitie s started as a result of tiny, nearly invisible cracks on the inside of the arterial wall. A cell biologist can look at one cell from such an artery and see the indisputable signs of age. Over the next five decades, the signs become obvious even to a layman. If you were attending open-chest surgery and touched a piece of old aorta, the major artery leading from the heart, it would feel like a stiff pipe (often as stiff as bone, if arteriosclerosis has advanced far enough). Inside, it would be riddled with fatty pockets called plaque. You would have no trouble seeing that a terrible mistake has been made somewhere. How does one close the gap between one reality—the immortality of DNA—and another—the frail life span of a human being? In fact the two realities are very close. There is no physical distance between us and our DNA. There is only a gap that exists in the nonphysical realm of knowledge. As I have made abundantly clear by now, Ayurveda makes a shift away from the idea of the cell as a physical package of molecules, adopting instead the idea of the cell as a package of knowledge. As the illustration below indicates , knowledge is dynamic. It is not packaged inertly , but in living form, as the constant interplay of three elements. To have living knowledge, there must be a knower , an object that it knows, and the process of knowing that connects the two. The Vedic terms for this basic triad are rishi (knower), devata (process of knowing), and chhandas (object of knowledge)—taken together , they form the totality of knowing, or Samhita , the undivided state of pure awareness. The humanmind, then, is a three-in-one creation. A human body requires the same simple ingredients, repeated countless times at different levels of the physiology . You are a knower , your body is the object you form with your knowledge, and the millions of cellular functions taking place inside you are the process of knowing. DNA too is a knower , but on a different scale, parceling out its knowledge in the form of biochemicals. On yet another scale, a red blood corpuscle is a knower , knowing how to attach itself to oxygen atoms for transport to all other cells in the body . This threefold model of knowle dge enables us to see how one thing—our inner intelligence—diversifies itself into endless combinations of things. Your 50 trillion cells, bound together as a community by hundreds of enzymes, proteins, peptides, amino acids, et cetera, represent an incredible display of one becoming many . Yet it is dangerous to get lost in the display . The “mistake of the intellect” occurs when the mind forgets its real source— the one intelligence flowing through every cell—and becomes hopelessly lost in the many . To prove that this is not just a philosophical point, let’s turn to some groundbreaking experiments that demonstrate a startlingly simple solution to the aging process. To understand these experiment s, we need a little background in physiology . Chronological age (how old you are according to your birth certificate) is one way to measure the aging process, but not the most accurate one, since people vary widely in how their bodies change over time. Physiologists therefore refer to a second measure, called biological age, which measures the actual rate of aging in a person’ s cells, tissues, and organ systems. Chronological age matches biological age only when you are young. Two healthy 20-year -olds are likely to look almost identical if you compare their hearts, livers, skin, eyesight, and so on. But after middle age no two people have aged the same. Two 70-year -olds present drastically different profiles: one has arthritis, the other heart disease; one is myopic, the other not; and so on. This means that biologi cal aging, though an accurate measure theoretically , is difficult to pin down, short of looking at every organ in the body . Fortunatel y, there are accepted ways to measure biological age, which include such things as near-point vision, acuity of hearing, and systolic blood pressure (the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is pumping).These biologica l markers of aging usually deteriorate steadil y over time; therefore, they give a reliable approximation of the biological age of the whole body at a given chronological age. Several years ago a team of researchers made the exciting discovery that the biological markers of aging can be retarded or even reversed through meditation. The research was headed by Dr. R. Keith Wallace, a physiologist who studied eighty-four meditat ors with an average chronological age of 53. He divided his subjects into two groups according to how long they had been regularly practic ing meditation. One group had meditated for at least five years, the other for fewer than five years. Wallace found that meditation made his subjects biologically younger than their years, and by a considerable amount: the short-term meditators were five years younger than their chronological age, the long-term meditators a full twelve years younger . In other words, a woman of 60 who had been practicing medit ation for at least five years would typically have the body of a 48-year -old, biologically speaking. (This does not include cosmetic changes in skin and hair, although many of the subjects did have strikingly youthful appear ances.) These results did not depend on any other factor; people were screened for diet, exercise, and other habits. Interestingly , the controls revealed that not eating red meat was correlated with a slightly younger biological age, in keeping with various findings on the longer life span of vegetarians. Wallace’ s findings were unprecedented at the time. Follow-up studies were soon cond ucted in England that confirmed his research. In one group, meditators were seven years younger in their biological age. When the same people were measured a year and a half later, they scored a further drop of one and a half years, implying that a year of meditation takes off a year of biological age. More recently , Dr. Jay Glaser , a physician with a strong background in meditation, decided to pursue one of the naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies that may be connected with longevity . He measured the level of an adrenal hormon e called DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) in meditators. Although the precise function of this hormone remains mysterious, it isknown that DHEA reaches its highest levels at around age 25 and then declines in almost a straight line, year by year, until by age 70 only 5 percent of it remains. Initial enthusiasm over DHEA developed when it was injected in large doses into laboratory animals and showed striking anti-aging properties. Older animals showed renewed vigor , improve d immunity , increased muscle tone, and better memory . Glaser found that levels of DHEA were significantly higher in all ages of meditators compared to a matched group of nonmeditators. This was true for both men and women, with the biggest difference showing up in the oldest subjects. For example, Glaser found that the older meditators had the same DHEA as nonmeditators five to ten years younger . He interpreted these finding to sugge st that meditation somehow increases the natural production of this interesting hormone. Researchers have studied the effects of giving DHEA to people with mixed results. Although experiments with DHEA have shown that it causes changes in hormonal levels and may improve people’ s mood, it has not yet been found to have the same convincing benefits on memory or vitality in humans as it does in animals. Still, it is intriguing that a simple mental meditation technique can induce changes in a hormone that seems to play a role in the aging process. This biochemical clue gives support to the experience of people meditating who often report that they feel mentally and physically younger . RASA YANAS—HERBS FOR LONGEVITY Herbs are an immense part of Ayurvedic medicine that we have not yet touched on. Many thousands of medicinal herbs are prescribed in Ayurveda, and experienced Ayurvedic doctors often include herbs as part of their treatment. This is because herbs are not the same as drugs, but are more general and milder in effect. The simplest way to view herbs is as concentrated food. One of the ways in which herbs are traditionally classified is according to taste, using the six rasas—sweet, sour, salty, bitter , pungent, and astringent—that apply to food.However , herbs are more potent and specific in their action. A bitter herb like quinine can bring Pitta down promptly , making it useful for reducing fever and inflammation. A pungent chili can instantly drain excess mucus as it reduces Kapha. An astringent spice like turmeric can dry the phlegm in a sore throat in a matter of minutes. In the section on diet in part III, I give some of the common household herbs that can be used at home to balance your doshas. Using herbs in combination with food is a safe approach. For treating disease, stronger herbs are employed, which need to be medically supervised. In our Center we use specific herbs in the context of a holistic approac h. Ayurvedic herbs are usually taken from the whole plant, which reduces the possibility of harmful side effects. The principle here is that the herb’ s active ingredient is packaged in the plant with other chemicals that buffer it, offsetting its possible undesirable actions. In other words, in Ayurveda the whole plant is part of nature’ s pharmacy . In Western medicine, however , only the active ingredient is regarded as useful. HOW AYUR VEDIC HERBS WORK As they apply to longevity , the Ayurvedic texts list some special herbs, alone or in combination, that are classified as rasayana . The word loosely translates as “nourishing the essence of life.” Rasayanas are not youth potions, they are correctives for loss of memory in the cells. Each herb is a packet of vibrations that specifically matches a vibration in the quantum mechanical body . The liver, for example, is built up from a specific sequence of vibrations at the quan tum level. In the case of liver malfunction, some disru ption of the proper sequence in these vibrations is at fault. According to Ayurveda, an herb exists with this exact same sequence, and when applied, it restores the liver’s functioning. The principle at work here is called complementarity . Complementarity holds that “nature thinks everywhere alike,” a Vedic slogan that means that nature uses the same materials when making plants, minerals, mantras, or human bodies. These are not just similar molecules (although it is the samecarbon that goes into coal, diamonds, sugar , and blood). What is more basic still are the subtle vibrations that hold molecules together; these are the real building blocks of nature, according to the Vedic sages. They are so universal that seemingly unrelated things, such as a Sanskrit word and a bay leaf, can be considered kindred, if you know how to look deep enough. Because there is likeness everywhere in nature, an Ayurvedic doctor looks upon herbs, primordial sounds, gemstones, colors, aromas, and foods as equally fit to act as medicine. As used in Ayurveda, herbs do not have the same effect on the body that Western medicines do. Our drugs kill pain, relax muscles, replace deficien t insulin or thyroid hormone, and so on; rasayanas introduce a subtle signal into the physiology— they “talk” to the doshas and directly influence the flow of inner intelligence. Rasayanas are closely associate d with Indian food and therefor e are sold in the United States as herbal food supplements, not medicine. Some sweet fruits, such as Indian gooseberry (called amla or amalaki ), are considered extremely good rasayanas. (In fact, this particular fruit forms the basis of most of the health tonics that have been taken since ancestral times in India as ginse ng is taken in China.) To anyone interested in medicinal herbs, the lore of rasayana is fascinating, but also extremely complex. Dozens of plants are said to be capable of rejuvenating the body . Among those that have common names in Western herbalism: Gotu kola and garlic are specifics for Vata Aloe vera and saf fron are specifics for Pitta Elecampane and honey are specifics for Kapha (although not an herb, honey is considered the shukra , or purest essence, of the plant world). But this list does not include the most powerful rasayanas, which only have Indian names, among them amla , guggul , shatavari, and ashwaghanda . What makes rasayanas comple x is not just their reliance on fruits and herbs. To extract the desired effect from an ingredient, one must know when to pick it, how long to cook it and by what method, and in what proportion toblend it with other herbs. The recipe for a single rasayana may call for fifty ingredients, each of which must be carefully blended. HERBAL REJUVENA TIVES After several years of investigation and trial, we feel that rasayana is a valuable field. It has yielded a few authentic formulas that have been re- created from the ancient recipe s. Although rasayanas have been used for thousands of years by Ayurvedic physicians to enhance energy and immunity , we are only beginn ing to scientifically research the purported health benefits of these herbal compounds. Regulations governing herbs in this coun try permit the distribution of rasayanas as an adjunct to diet only; as such we recomm end them for general use. No health claims are made for them nor are they to be used as medicine. (If you have been diagnosed with a specific illness, please do not take these or any other herbs without first consulting a physician trained in Ayurveda.) Among the best known rasayanas is Chavanprash , based upon the fruit Indian gooseberry . This fruit, which is one of the highest natural sources of vitamin C, is known as Amla or Dhatri in Sansk rit, whic h means having the healing qualitie s of a nurse or mother . It has been classically used as a rejuvenative for the blood, heart, lungs, and reproductive tissues. We have formulated a modern version of Chavanprash known as Biochavan . Another important classical Ayurvedic rasayana is Brahmi Rasayana , based upon the herb gotu kola. It is traditionally used as a revitalizer for the brain and nervo us system. It is said to both calm restlessness and enhance awareness. Intrigued by the vast classical Ayurvedic literature on rasayanas, researchers have undertaken studies in this country and Europe to determine what pharmacological actions these preparations have. The ingredients in these rasayanas seem to have potent antioxidant effects and may also inhibit the blood clotting cascade that is associated with the release of stress hormones.Although it is clearly too early to extrapolate these studies on animals to humans, it is encouraging that these ancient natural herbal compounds are now receiving serious scientific attention. Ongoing research should help to clarify the role that these form ulas can play in maintaining health and reversing disease. The explanations offered for the potential benefits suggested by preliminary studies point to the possible role of free radical chemicals in a wide range of diseases. Free radicals are undesirable peroxides that have long been implic ated in hastening the aging process; one of the main reasons for the popula rity of vitamins E, C, and beta-carotene as anti-aging supplements is their ability to attach to free radicals and scavenge them before they can do harm to living tissues. Hopefully further understanding the mechanism and action of rasayanas will help substantiate the ancient claims of the benefits of these natural tonics to enhance vitality throughout one’s life span. At the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, California, we have been using rasayana preparations to enhance energy and vitality in our patients. We have separate formulations for men and women and are encouraged by the subjective reports of our patients. Further information on how to access these formulations is provided in Appendix A. QUIZ: HOW WELL AM I AGING? There is no separate “life extension” program in Ayurveda, for the simple reason that all of its approaches—diet, exercise, daily and seasonal routines, meditation, and the various healing techniques—are meant to enhance longevity . Considering the superior health of our patients today , we have every hope that a breakthrough in aging has been made. The classic Ayurvedic texts define one hundred years as a normal life span without infirmity or disease. We are aiming for at least that. Can you prove to yourself that you are getting younger by following this program? Simple as it sounds, feeling happy and healthy is one good yardstick; being young at heart is recognized as a marker of long life. On amore objective basis, researcher s at Duke University have compiled a short list of health factors correlated with longevity . Statistically speaking, people who rate well on each of these points have the best chance of living longer than average. The following quiz is based on the Duke inventory . The most precise way to use it is in conjunction with a complete physical examination, but an informal person al rating will still tell you a lot. Being as honest and objective as you can, answer every question, giving yourself: 10 points for Excellent 5 points for Average 0 points for Below Average Having arrived at a final score, follow Ayurveda for six months, then rate yourself again. The chances are very good that you will notice a surprisingly large improvement, and it is likely to occur well before the six months are up. The following factors are listed in order of relative importance:To rate yourself: A perfec t score (90 points) indicates that you are very likely to live longer , perhaps much longer , than the national average (roughly age 78 for women and 72 for men). An above-average score (between 65 and 90) sugg ests that your life expectancy will be at least three years higher than the natio nal norm, more if you are already past middle age. An average score (45–65) indicates an average life expectancy . A below-average score (below 40) indicates that you need to pay more attention to your health. It is not a cause for panic, because following the programs of Ayurveda should lead to noticeable improvements very quickly . To gain a more accurate idea of where you stand, you can refine your score by considering a few other factors: Age: High scores mean more as you get older . If you are over 50, a score in the 75–90 range indicates an enhanced likelihood of long life; the same score would not be as significant if you are only 30.Lifestyle habits: All thing s being equal, regular habits are correlated with long life; these include eating three meals a day, getting eight hours of sleep each night, going to bed on time, and so on. Also, being married is indicative of a longer life expectancy than being single. Alcohol consumption should be minimal or none; alcoholism is known to reduce life expectancy . Weight: Maintaining an ideal weight is best, although there is no harm in being ten to fifteen pounds overweight. Life span is shortene d if you are obese (15 percent or more over your ideal weight) or if your weight has fluctuated drastically over a period of years. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE As a result of the extensive research done on meditation, we can validate that our Ayurvedic program may improve each of the Duke University longevity factor s. If we place the results in the context of Ayurveda as a whole, they become even stronger . Research with rasayanas suggests that they may of fset several deleterious aspects of the aging process, including a beneficial ef fect on blood clotting, and a reduced susceptibility to carcinogens. Preliminary studies suggest that rasayanas may be ef fective as free radical scavengers that would positively impact the aging process. A pilot study on the ef fects of panchakarma suggests that this purification procedure enhances the rejuvenating ef fect of meditation (ten meditating subjects became on average six years younger biologically over the period of a year while taking regular panchakarma, as opposed to one and a half years with meditation alone). What all of this implies is that a complete Ayurvedic program should be even more effective than meditation by itself, and in fact may lead to all the powerful rejuvenating effects promised in the ancient texts. A basic program would include meditation, the appropriate Ayurvedic body-type diet, supplemented with rasayanas, regular exercise, panchakarma treatment atleast once a year, and the major points given in the daily routine, or dinacharya , to be discussed in chapter 1 1. OceanofPDF .comPART II LIVING IN TUNE WITH NATURE OceanofPDF .comCHAPTER 10 THE IMPULSE TO EVOL VE The phrase “living in tune with nature” means something very precise in Ayurveda: havin g healthy desires that match what you actually need. As nature made you, what you need and what you want should not conflict. This is because all desires originate at the quantum level, as faint vibrations whose dynamic interaction is always balanced. If either the body or the mind tip out of balance, a correcting impulse is sent from the quantum body , and you register it as something you desire. At this moment, millions of impulses are flowing through your nervous system, turning into all the actions you perform every day. To want a drink of water , for example, satisfies the separate need of 50 trillion cells in your body , each of which sends a message to be decoded by special receptors in the hypothalamus. In turn, the hypothalamus makes the mind body connection by manufacturing the specific neurotransmitters, or messenger molecules, that make you think, “I’m thirsty .” A natural desire of any kind takes a similar path. A need arises somewhere in the quantum mechanical body , the mind body connection is made in the brain, and then you experience an impulse to act. As long as needs and desires match, you are living in tune with nature; the path of desire is not blocked. Ideally , every bite of food you eat should taste delicious to you and at the same time satisfy a precise demand for nutrients. Your skin may be asking for extra vitamin C to repair damage from a sunburn, a stressed hipbone may be asking for extra calcium, a flexed arm muscle for more potassium. Unfortunately , it is very easy to interfere with this pathway , and when we do so, we slip out of tune with nature. Instead of trusting the balanced body to tell us what nutrients it needs, all too often we indiscrim inately takevitamins, compulsively overeat, crave far too many sweets and junk foods of all kinds. The current vogue of “life extension” is based on distrust of the body , trying to second-guess its weaknesses by cramming it with megadoses of vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium, or whatever new nutriceutical has joined the list. It has not been proved that taking supplementary vitamins and minerals alone prolongs life. On the contrary, separate studies conducted in Southern California showed that older people who obsessively take vitamins and eat only “health food” do not live any longer than average, while people who have balanced lifestyle habits (going to bed on time, eating three meals a day, drinking alcohol only very moderately , and so on) live up to eleven years longer than the norm. You do not have to go to an extreme to get the most from your body . The body is intellige nt. At the quan tum level, it knows exactly what it needs, down to the last atom and molecule of food, the faintest breath you breathe, the smallest action you take. In the following chapters, I outline the kind of foods, exercise, and daily and seasonal routines that Ayurveda considers in tune with nature. Although very specific, these guidelines are not rules but pointers to put you in touch with your quantum mechanical body . Once you are back in touch , action goes much more smoothly , correct choices become more automatic, and mistakes become less frequent. Before getting into specifics, though, I’d like to say more about the evolutionary path itself. MAKING RIGHT CHOICES To conti nue evolving and progressing in life, you must make the right choices for yourself, day after day, minute after minute. The choices are endless because the challenges of life are endless, so to avoid all the wrong choices seems impossible. But Ayurveda says that in fact it is easy—once you begin to listen to your own deepest nature.For every decision you make, major or mundane, your quantum mechanical body sees only one correct choice, although your mind might recognize many . This confusion gives rise to internal conflict. Why does a smoker compulsively reach for another cigarette, knowing the harm it can do? Why does a compulsive eater take second helpings in the absence of hunger? Wrestling with these conflicts is futile— our actions are based on too many individual processes, all of them changing all the time. Defeating lethal viruses or bacteria is child’s play compared with trying to defeat people’ s self-destructive habits. For example, we all know chronically overweight people who have turned everywhere for a cure, to drugs, psychiatry , beha vior modificat ion, and even surgery, with little or no success. In Ayurveda we propose a simpler solution. Instead of wrestling with all the wrong choices people are likely to make in the grip of unhealthy desires, we put our patients in touch with the source of their desires. At the source, everyone has healthy desires. In Sanskrit, this is called sattva , a word often translated as “purity .” A better translation of sattva is “the impulse to evolve,” and I will demonstrate why . In Ayurveda there are three natural impulses at work in any given situation. One is sattva, the impulse to evolve, to go forward, to progress. The second impulse is tamas , the exact opposite, the impulse to stay the same or to regress. Fixed between these two opposites is rajas , a more neutral impulse that dictates action for its own sake. A diagram of the three looks like this: As you can see, rajas poses the question, “How should I act in this situation?” Sattv a favors the choice that is evolutionary , tamas the one that is stable. All three impulses are necessary to life. If you are sittin g up late at night, tempted to watch the second late movie on TV, one impulse tells you to go to bed, while its opposite tells you to continue sitting there. This is sattva and tamas in conflict, with rajas acting as the spur, urging you to choose. Nature has made us so that our minds instinctively operate according to these three guna s, or tendencies (they are also sometimes called “the mental doshas”). People can be classified according to which of these three gunas is generally dominant. Rajasic people like to act. Their minds work constantly and tend towar d impatience, impulsiveness, and kinetic outlets of all kinds. Sattvic people like to progress. Their minds do not dwell on action for its own sake, but only on action that is cr eative, life-supporting, and healthy . Tamasic people like to stay the same . Their minds do not like to act; they enjoy set r outines and tend towar d the status quo. These types are not cut and dried, since everyone contains elements of each. But all of us know pure rajasic types— extroverted, endlessly full of energy, people who rush in where angels fear to tread. And we know pure tamasic types—slow to move, resistant to new ideas, hard-core traditionalists for whom the best things in life are always in the past. (Ayurvedic doctors who come to America from India often shake their heads and say that we are a hopelessly rajasic people, whose creativity and ambition need more of the gentl e, purifying element of sattva.) However we were shaped by nature, becomin g more sattvic is a worthwhile goal, for it is sattva that makes a person more creative, healthier , and happier . The secret of sattvic people is that they have naturally healthy desires. Unhealthy desir es can arise in anyone because of mental ama. You will remember that “mental ama” is the term used for impurities, or negativetendencies in the mind. Sattva is the force of purity that combats them. The Ayurvedic sages say that mental ama is produced by: Negative emotions—anger , fear , self-criticism, greed, resentment Psychological stress—family problems, tensions at work, loss of money or job, divorce, death in the family Lethar gy, mental inertia Unwholesome surroundings Contact with other people’ s negativity Violent, crude, or shocking books or other forms of entertainment The debate over whether it is morally right to show violence on television misse s the essential point, according to Ayurveda. The issue is one of health. The sight of violence gets translated into unhealth y chemicals in the body , leading to the buildup of ama in our thoughts as well as in our cells. Everyone has a right to expose himself to any kind of influence he wants, but the physician’ s role is to warn against those influences that damage our well-being. Avoiding mental ama is therefore considered a preventive measure against the imbalances that lead ultimately to disease. You cannot force your body to make evolutionary choices. If you are eating the wrong foods, chain-smoking, drinking excessively , or making any other kind of unhealthy choice in your daily life, some block exists somewhere in your pathway of desire. Some impurity is keepin g you away from your quantum self. I have already given many techniques for removing such blockages. All of these, from panchakarma to meditation to the bliss technique, remove tremendous amounts of impurity every time you use them. After a while, as you continue using the Ayurvedic techniques, you will see your sattvic side emer ge, no matter how blocked your system was to begin with. When that happen s, you are approaching the place calledperfect health. Sattva lies closest to nature’ s heart, because everything in nature expands, evolves, and grows. Sattva exists in us as our instinct for balance, our life-enhancing attitudes, our innate dignity and respect for others, and our love. As you increase in sattva, you effortlessly live in purity and move in the direction of higher evolution. Then and only then does the phrase “living in tune with nature” reveal its real meaning. HOW TO INCREASE SA TTV A Ayurveda says that many different kinds of influences can increase sattva, while at the same time keeping ama at a minimum. Some recommendations are familiar to us: consuming pure food and water , avoiding obvious toxins such as pesticides, and getting a full night’ s sleep. Adequate rest is needed to bring out the clear , happy side of the mind. Spend time outside in nature, walking in the woods and mountains or beside the ocean, lakes, and streams; listen to the sound of the wind, the rustling of the trees, and the songs of birds—all of these purify the senses and bring them back to their source in nature. In Ayurveda we consider anything that is life-supporting to be sattvic, so nurturing positive emotions and secure relationships is vital—the absence of love and care from your life will damage sattva far more than any wrong diet. In addition, the following pointe rs, established thousands of years ago in the Vedic texts and echoed in the purest traditions of every culture, serve as time-tested guides for increasing sattva in daily life: Be pleasant and tolerant toward everyone. Act on due reflection, not on impulse. Refrain from anger or criticism, even when you feel it is justified (sattvic people do not point out others’ weaknesses “for their own good”). Take time every day for play , humor , relaxation, and good company .Wake with the sun in the morning, watch the sun set in the evening, and occasionally stroll in the moonlight, especially if there is a full moon. Eat light, natural foods, favoring milk, saf fron, rice, and ghee (clarified butter)—a complete list of sattvic foods is given on page 307, along with the deeper rationale for adhering to a pure diet. Be generous with others in every way—giving presents and compliments to people around you, pointing out the best in everyone, letting others make you great instead of trying to be great yourself. To a sattvic person, all relationships exist primarily as an opportunity to give. The complement to this basic attitude is that nature will always provide enough to fulfill one’ s needs. When this kind of generosity and trust truly blossoms, a sattvic person has nothing to fear from life and everything to receive from it; he can let life happen without forcing it. OceanofPDF .comCHAPTER 11 DAIL Y ROUTINE—RIDING NA TURE’S WAVES Every day the sun rises, the sun sets, and hundreds of different things happen in between. Nature is so beautifully arranged that no matter how different these things are, they fit into one rhythm. Actually , there are many rhythms nestled inside one another , wheels within wheels. Modern medicine has disclosed many of the more obvious cycles in our bodies— the heart beating every three-q uarters of a second, the lungs swelling to inhale air ten to fourteen times a minute. But many of the body’ s changes remain mysterious. Why does a person typically weigh the most at seven in the evening, as science has discovered? Why are our hands hottest at around two in the morning? Ayurveda’ s answ er is that there are “master cycles” in us governed by the quantum mechan ical body . Every day two waves of change pass through us, each bringing a Kapha cycle, then a Pitta, and finally a Vata cycle. These three phases take place from sunrise to sunset, then again from sunset to sunrise. The approximate times are as follows: One of the most basic aspects of living in tune with nature is to respect these master cycles that suppor t our physical existence. We are meant to ride nature’ s waves, not to fight against them. In fact, our bodies are already riding them, or doing the best they can in the face of our contrary habits.At dawn , the day begins in a Kapha period. It is easy to see why early morning is considered Kapha—waking up, the body feels slow, heavy , relaxed, and calm, all of which are Kapha qualities. The most physically active time and also the peak of appetite occur at noon, in the middle of the first Pitta period. Pitta is respon sible for metabolizing food, for distributing energy, and for more efficient physical functioning in general. This helps explain why factory work reach es a peak of efficiency at noon. This first cycle ends with a Vata period beginning at 2 P.M. Vata controls the nervous system, and in fact researchers have discovered that people do best in mental tests during the afternoon. The times when you can add numbers the fastest (3 P.M.) and exhibit the most manual dexterity (4 P.M.) fall into this Vata period. The day’s second cycle repeats the same sequence of Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, but they take on a different complexion. The evening is relaxed and slow, just like the early morning , but sunset brings the body back to a stable resting place. Now Kapha inclines toward inertia. Similarly , Pitta appetite is not as strong at night as at noon. Pitta digests dinner after you go to bed, but since the body is asleep, the heat is expended to keep you warm and to fuel the rebuilding of tissues, which occurs mostly at night. The Vata period in the early -morning hours expresses itself through the nervous system, but instead of thinking quickly as you do in the afternoon, you go into active dream sleep (called REM, or “rapid eye movement” sleep), when brain impulses are at their liveliest for the whole night. And thus the circle of the day is complete. ONE DA Y IN PERFECT RHYTHM If you learn to ride these large waves of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, your body will instinctively tune its subcycles, its many wheels withi n wheels, to follow suit. What would it be like to live a day in perfect rhythm? Ayurveda provides an ideal schedule called the dinacharya , or daily routi ne, that shows us how to find out.DINACHAR YA: THE DAIL Y ROUTINE Four pivotal times set the rhythm of the entire daily cycle: The hours given are for starting an activity—the morning begins between 6 and 8 A.M., lunch begins anyw here from noon to 1 P.M., and so on. These times are approximate and chan ge with the seasons. Ayurveda would prefer that you follow the sun and rise an hour before dawn every day of the year. By gettin g up during a Vata period, you take advantage of Vata’s qualities of lightness, exhilaration, and fresh ness. These are infused into your body just before sunrise and last throughout the day . Waiting too long into the Kapha period that follows (6 to 10 A.M.) causes you to wake up feeling duller , heavier , and less fresh. These qualities will also follow you all day; indeed, if you are a late riser year after year, you will train these Kapha qualities into your doshas and you will feel chronically “sleepy .” If you wanted to map out the ideal day, it would arrange itself naturally around the four pivotal points: Rising: 6–8 A.M. Wake up without an alarm clock Drink a glass of warm water (to encourage regular morning bowel movements)Urinate; move your bowels (without forcing) Brush your teeth Clean your tongue if coated Massage your body with sesame oil (abhyanga) Bathe (in warm water , not too hot or cold) Exercise: Sun Salute (page 326) Yoga positions (page 339) Balanced breathing (Pranayama, page 360) Meditate Eat breakfast Take a mid-morning walk (for one-half hour) Lunch: Noon–1 P .M. Eat lunch early (it should be lar gest meal of the day) Sit quietly for five minutes after eating Walk to aid your digestion (5 to 15 minutes) Meditate in the late afternoon Dinner: 6–7 P .M. Eat a moderate dinnerSit quietly for five minutes after eating Walk to aid your digestion (5 to 15 minutes) Bedtime: 9:30–10:30 P .M. Engage in light activity in the evening Get to bed early , but at least three hours after dinner Do not read, eat, or watch TV in bed Naturally this is a very full schedule, but I hasten to say that hundreds of our patie nts (and their families) observe the dinacharya and have abundant time left over to pursue active lives. If you hesitate to modify your schedule, rest assured that you can be as busy as a doctor if you know how to ride nature’ s waves. The whole point of making the day orderly is that all your activity becomes healthier , more enjoyable, and more efficient. You gain more time than you lose, and it is quality time. You will note that the main exercises are walking, plus gentle yoga poses coupled with meditation. Most of the other points are self-explanatory . I would just like to make a few additional points about each period of the day. RISING: 6–8 a.m. Morning is a special time in Ayurveda, when nature sends out its most delicate message s and you are most sensitive to them. Your nervous system has been built so that the sight of dawn, the still air on your skin, the faint sounds of birds and animals awakening, all set the stage for renewal. Alert to the slightest influence, the whole body is silent and poised in a delicate balance.When you wake up, you shou ld feel alert and clearheaded with no worries lingering from the day before, indicating that your nervous system is ready to be renewed. It is harmful to disturb or ignore this one opportunity to be naturally re-created. Writer Joan Mills has beautifully expressed the specialness of early rising: “From dawn’ s simplicities arise moments that are profound past explaining and powerful beyond sentiment. There are mornings when some small, isolated joy carries more conviction than a month of woe.” Medically speaking, the body precisely calibrates the correct biochemical balance for a full day’s activities. It also empties the system of wastes from the previous day, which is why morning elimination is valuable before starting the new day’s cycle. Having a bowel movement at this time is something you can gently encourage by drinking a glass of warm water and then allowing five minutes or so in the bathroom to see if your body wants to have a bowel movement. If not, don’t worry about it. In time, if they keep this practice up regularly , most people find that an instinct for morning elimination will emer ge. When you brush your teeth, Ayurveda says that you should clean the white coating from the tongue if one has appeared overnight. This is the residue of ama, either from last night’ s meal or from a deeper imbalance. Not everyone wakes up with a coated tongue, so this step is optional. As your diet impro ves and you get into better balance, the coati ng tends to disappear . The dinacharya asks you to do many different things in the early morning. It takes discipline to do all of them. You will be extending your routine by about an hour, which is a big change. But the rewa rds are big, too. When our patients stick to their morning routine in full, they report exhilarating health, unmatched by those who are careless or haphazard about it. Try adding a few new elements to your present schedule and see how comfortable you feel with them . In order , the most important things to add are:Early rising (at dawn) Meditation Ayurvedic exercises: Sun Salutes, Yoga positions Oil massage Meditation has already been discussed, and Ayurvedic exercise s will be covered later, in a separate section. That leaves the oil massage (abhyanga), which is one of the most enjoy able parts of the dinacharya as well as a prime way to balance Vata dosha. Lightly massaging the entire body with a thin film of oil before you bathe makes your skin feel warm and supple, a perfect balance for the cold dryness of Vata. Our Vata-type patients report that they are less prone to feel anxious or scattered during the day if they do their morning massage regularly . In fact, everyone would benefit enormously from balancing their Vata right at the start of the day. The skin contains thousands of cutaneous nerves that are connected to every part of the body . Science also recognizes that the skin is a major producer of endocrine hormones. In scientific terms, your morning massage works by soothing the two master systems of the body , the nervous system and the endoc rine system. No wonder that in ancient times Charaka lavished praise on the practice of abhyanga, holding that it rejuvenates the skin, tones the muscles, eliminates impurities, and promotes youth fulness. Massaging yourself is also a good way simply to start off the day relaxed, which Ayurved a considers extremely important. People who approach the day as a race against time do not have the best chance at perfect balance. Here is how abhyanga is done. HOW TO DO AN OIL MASSAGE (ABHY ANGA) Since this is a very light massage, it requires no more than a scant quarter cup of warm oil. Use a refined nut or seed oil sold in health-food stores. You can also order herbalized oils (page 378). Vata types do best with sesame or almon d oil; Pittas respond to olive or coconut and Kaphas benefit from light or warm oils such as sunflower or sesame. To heat the oil: Put three to four tablespoons of oil in a clear plastic cup or a squeeze bottle and set it in a bowl of very hot water . Wait a minute or two until the oil reaches skin temperature. Or, you can put the oil in a glass cup and heat it for ten to fifteen seconds in the microwave, being very careful not to over heat it . Technically , it is best to use cured oil that has been subjected to high heat for only a brief period. You can carefully heat your oil to 212 degrees F, making sure that you watch it the whole time to prevent a possible fire. The best place to perform your massage is in the bathroom. As good as it is for your body , there is no doubt that abhyanga is messy . No matter how careful you are, some oil will get splashed around. To minimize this, use a sheet of plastic (from a disposa ble trash bag) to cover the floor while you do your massage. Or put a small plastic stool in your tub and do your massage there. The mini-massag e given at the end of this section is also less messy . FULL BODY MASSAGE (5–10 MINUTES) Start with your head: Pour a tablespoon of warm oil on your scalp. Using the flat of your hand and fingers, massage the oil in vigorously . Cover your entire scalp with small circular strokes, as if you were shampooing. Move to your face and ears, massag ing more gently . Gentle massage of the temples and backs of the ears is especially good for settling Vata dosha. Apply a little oil to your hands and massage your neck, front and back, then your shoulders. Use the flat of your palm and fingers. Vigorously mass age your arms, using a circular motion at the shoulders and elbows and long, back-and-forth motions on the long parts.It is important not to be too vigorous when you get to your trunk. Using large, gentle circular motions, massage the chest, stomach, and lower abdomen. (Ayurveda traditionally advises moving in a clockwise direction.) A straight up-and-down motion is used over the breastbone. Apply a bit of oil to your hand s and reach around without straining to massage your back and spine—use up-and-down motions, or whatever you can do. Vigorously massage your legs as you did your arms— circular at the ankles and knees, straight back-and-forth on the long parts. Begin abhyanga with vigor ous scalp massage.With the remaining bit of oil, vigorously massage your feet and toes. Washing off the oil: Keeping a thin, almost undetecta ble film of oil on the body is consider ed very beneficial for toning the skin, balancin g Vata, and keeping the muscles warm during the day. Therefore, you should wash yourself with warm, not hot, water and mild soap. If you look good with glossy hair, leave a bit of oil on your scalp, too, but most people will need to use shampoo. MINI-MASSAGE (1–2 MINUTES) Doing a full-body abhyanga sometimes takes too long for everyone’ s morning schedu le, but it is so beneficial that we would rather have you do a short massage than none at all. The most important parts of the body to cover are the head and feet. They can be worked while you sit on the edge of the tub for a minute in the morning. This mini-massage takes only about two tablespoons of oil. Take one tablespoon of warm oil and rub it into your scalp, using the same small, circular motions described above. Use the flat of your hand, and your fingertips. Massage the forehead from side to side with your palm. Gently massage your temples, using circular motions, then gently rub the outside of the ears. Massage the back and front of your neck. Taking the second tablespoon of oil, massage both feet using the flat of your hand. Work oil around your toes with your fingertips. Vigorously massage the soles of the feet with brisk back-and-forth motions of your palms. Sit quietly for a few seconds to relax and soak in the oil, then bathe normally . LUNCH: NOON–1 P .M.To catch the Pitta time of day at its height, it is best to eat lunch early , at noon or just before. Pitta stokes agni, the digestive fire, to its bright est at this hour; therefore, Ayurveda recommends that lunch be the biggest meal of the day. Since most people do not perform heavy physical labor , lunch does not have to be huge and hearty . Simply eat what you norm ally would for dinner . To avoid becoming drowsy in the afternoon, do not drink alcohol at noon; warm water is the beverag e that best promotes good diges tion. In any event, minimize iced tea, ice water , or very cold soft drinks. All of these put out agni and make it harder to digest the meal. Two other steps will remind the body of its daily rhythm. The first is to sit quietly for five minutes at the table after you finish eating, preferably in silence. The second is to take a short walk outside or to lie down for five minutes after the meal. Both stabilize the system and help start the process of digestion. DINNER: 6–7 P .M. Just after you come home from work is the time for afternoon meditation. You can prepare for it with a set of yoga positions and five minutes of balanced breathing, just as in the morning. Lying down for a few minutes beforehand also removes the jagged edge of a long workday and makes the meditation much deeper . As with lunch, dinner comes early in order to catch a good time in the daily cycle. In this case, six o’clock is the beginning of a Kapha period, when the body wants to settle down. It is not a good idea to put too much fuel into your system at this time, since Pitta will not be along to digest your dinner until ten at night, when you are in bed. Your greatest digestive power is in the afternoon, which also allows ample time for complete digestion. Ayurveda is very strong on making sure that digestion is complete, since half-digested food is what creates ama.Dinner should be a smaller meal than lunch. For many people, a bowl of hot soup with toast, herb tea, and fresh fruit are adequate. You are probably not used to eatin g lighter at dinner than lunch, but try it for a change. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how settled and comfortable your body feels when it doesn’ t have to diges t full rations at night. Ayurveda cautions against fermented foods such as cheese, sour cream, and yogurt at night; red meat is best avoided since it is harder to digest. Warm water or herb tea is the beverage of choice at dinner . Ayurveda makes no bones about considering alcohol a toxin that has no place in a healthy life, but I recognize that many people drink liquor after work. The basic rule is not to drink alcohol by itself, and don’t have it ice cold. It is best to eliminate the cocktail hour altogether and eat an earlier dinner . Alcohol consum ption with your meal should be light—a glass of wine, for example, or one beer . A short walk after dinner helps promote digestion and prepares the system for a quiet evening spent reading, listening to music, or talking with friends and family . Avoid action-packed movies and TV late at night, since you don’ t want too much stimulation before bedtime. BEDTIME: 9:30–10:30 P .M. In order to get up at dawn, your bedtime has to be early . Attuned to the Kapha cycle that ends the eveni ng, Kapha types already favor going to bed around ten; this is the Ayurved ic ideal for everyone. It allows the body’ s rhythms to slow down naturally , gives a deeper , more relaxing sleep, and provides time for the body to generate new tissue, which happens mostly at night. (I have already mentioned that getting a full night’ s sleep has been correlated with longevity .) If you wait much past ten o’cloc k, the ensuing Pitta period will make you want to be active again—that is why people feel drowsy early in the evening, only to get a surge of energy around midnight, the absolute height of the Pitta period. Going to bed early is basically an all-or -nothingproposition, as far as your body rhythms are concerned. Therefore, I encourage you to try to get to bed at the Ayurvedic time. A week of self- discipline can be a revelation in terms of how good you feel the next day. To experience a day in perfect rhythm, you need a night of perfect sleep. OceanofPDF .comCHAPTER 12 DIET—EA TING FOR PERFECT BALANCE In Ayurveda, a balanced diet does not revolve around fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Nor are calories, vitamins, and minerals given direct attention. We know these nutrients intellectually , not through direct experience. You cannot detect the vitamin C in your orange juice, much less the difference between it and vitamin A. For the most part, Western nutrition comes out of laboratory analysis. Ayurvedic nutrition comes directly from nature. When your taste buds greet a bite of food, an enormous amount of useful information is delivered to the doshas. Working solely with this information, Ayurveda allow s us to eat a balanced diet naturally , guided by our own instincts, without turning nutrition into an intellectual headache. When food talks to your doshas, it says many things, because the different gunas—heavy and light, dry and oily, hot and cold—are present in it. But the primary information is containe d in its taste. Ayurveda recognizes six tastes, or rasas: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter are the four we already know , plus two others, pungent and astringent. All spicy food is pungent. Astringent is the taste that puckers your mouth. The tannin in tea is astringent, as is the dry, mealy taste of beans. In Ayurveda a balanced diet must contain all six rasas at every meal. The following dinner menu would be balanced: Bibb lettuce salad (Bitter , Astringent) Barbecued chicken with steamed rice (Salty , Sour , Pungent, Sweet) Vanilla ice cr eam (Sweet) Even if you eliminate the ice cream for dessert, this meal will remain in balance, since it still has all six tastes. If the barbecued chicken was replacedby bake d chick en, the rasas of pungent and sour would be missing; they could be made up by adding a few slices of tomato (sweet and sour) and radish (pungent) to the salad. It is not necessary to overload a meal with each taste. Just a hint of herbs and spices will add pungent and bitter to a meal. Nor is it good to let the same tastes dominate day after day. The basic rule is simply to give the body all six rasas at each meal so that it can respond to food completely . SATISFYING THE DOSHAS Taste can also be used to balance an aggravated dosha, since each dosha is on the lookout for the tastes that bring it into balance. Vata is balanced by salt, sour , and sweet. Pitta is balanced by bitter , sweet, and astringent. Kapha is balanced by pungent , bitter , and astringent. (The italicized taste has the strongest ef fect in decreasing a dosha.) This basic information opens the door for a wealth of knowledge about what your body type should eat. In the following sections, we will expand upon this immense field. Our discussion covers the following subjects:BODY -TYPE DIETS The most basic guide to what you should eat is your body type. If you are a Vata, this dosh a wants to be balanced with tastes different from those of either a Pitta or a Kapha. Let’s say that two people are eating lunch at an outdoor cafe and both order a chef salad, iced tea, and lemon sherbet. If one person is a Pitta, this is an excellent lunch, for the sweet tastes and coolness of the food help balance Pitta dosha. But if the other person is a Vata, this meal is not good at all. Raw greens, particularly if bitter , cool drinks, and the lack of solid nourishment all throw Vata out of balance. When lunch is over, the two people will walk away feeling different, even though they ate the same meal. The Pitta will feel buoyant and refreshed, the Vata will feel unsatisfied and unener getic. That is why it is important to match your prakruti, your natural makeup, with the correct diet. Following is a table of food qualities as they affect the doshas.As you can see, each section contains three tastes and three gunas, or qualities. The six tastes you already know: sweet, sour, salty, bitter , pungent, and astringent. The six gunas, which come in pairs, are: Heavy or light—wheat is heavy , barley is light, beef is heavy , chicken is light, cheese is heavy , skim milk is light Oily or dry—milk is oily , honey is dry , soybeans are oily , lentils are dry , coconut is oily , cabbage is dry Hot or cold (heats or cools the body)—pepper is hot, mint is cold, honey is hot, sugar is cold, eggs are hot, milk is cold These qualities speak directly to the tongue and stomach. The operative principle is “like speaks to like.” If you want to balance Pitta, avoid food that shares its qualities. A chili pepper , being pungent, hot, and oily, will naturally cause Pitta to become aggravated.It is not necessa ry to memorize these qualities. Although Ayurvedic texts offer long lists of foods matched to their tastes and gunas, this knowledge is already built into your body . If you are in balance, you will want hot food when you feel cold, light food when you feel heavy . The same is true of taste. If you are a Kapha type, having a taste for green salads would tell you that you are in balance, becaus e greens are generally bitter and astringent (these are two tastes that are good for you). In a nutshell, that is what living in tune with nature means—what you like to eat is what your body needs for balance. On the other hand, if you are the same Kapha person and exclus ively crave potato chips (salty), ice cream (sweet), and cheese (sour), your instincts are not in balance, and neither will be your Kapha dosha. The simple remedy is to start eating all six tastes again, moving away from your cravings. This will start to bring you back into balance, and as that happens, you will naturally regain your lost instincts. You won’ t abandon ice cream and potato chips, but a green salad will satisfy you just as much, because it satisfies your dominant dosha. HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT BODY -TYPE DIET Now that you know the general principles behind a balanced Ayurvedic diet, we can look at the specifics of each body type. Choosing which diet to follow is quite easy . Choose the diet that balances your dominant dosha. If you are a pure Vata, for example, you will generally follow a Vata-pacifying diet. The same is true if you are a Vata-Pitta, although you can lean in the direction of the Pitta diet when you need to (during hot weather or if you display signs of Pitta aggravation, for instance). If you are undec ided about which of two doshas you should pacify, reflect on what foods you naturally favor that make you feel healthy and balanced. These will generally point you in the direction of the right diet. If you are one of the rare three-dosha types, you can usually eat any kind of Ayurvedicdiet and remain in balance, but once again, let your instincts, the season of the year , and the state of your health be your guide. If an Ayurvedically trained doctor has told you to balance a specific dosha, follow that diet. Lean your diet in the direction indicated by the season of the year . Changes of season require certain modifications in your basic diet (you wouldn’ t drink iced tea in winter , for example, even if you are a strong Pitta type). These seasonal changes are covered in chapter 14, “Seasonal Routine.” Vata-Pacifying Diet Favor: Warm food, moderately heavy textur es Added butter and fat Salt, sour , and sweet tastes Soothing and satisfying foods Vata is a cold, dry dosha, and the warm, nourishing foods we associate with winter—he arty stews and soups, slow-cooked casseroles, fresh-baked bread and fruit pies—give a good diet that soothes this dosha. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the foods we gravitate to in summer—cold salads, iced drinks, raw vegetables and greens—are not very congenial to it. Vata types tend to have erratic digestion, so soft, thoroughly cooked food that is easily digested helps them. Vata dosha is also very sensitive to the atmosphere surrounding a meal. The best food in the world will not be good for you if tension at the table is curdling your stomach. Anythin g that makes dining a calmer , more restful experience will help to pacify Vata dosha. The Vata-pacifying diet given here is the first choice for all Vata types, unless diagnosis by a Ayurvedically trained physician has indicated something else. Within a few days of beginning this diet, you shoulddefinitely notice that your energy level is steady and that you feel more balanced, calmer , and happier . If you suffer from mild symptoms of Vata imbalance, such as insomnia, nervousness, or worry , this diet is also a natural choice. Try it for two weeks and see if your symptoms are alleviated. We find that the following points are helpful when you start a Vata- pacifying diet. All soothing foods are generally good for settling disturbed Vata: milk (preferably warm), cream, butter , warm soups and long-cooked stews, hot cereals, and fresh-baked bread. All contain sweet, the most soothing taste to the body; most are also warm and heavy . A nourishing breakfast, the more substantial the better , will improve Vata throughout the day . Cream of rice or wheat is the best hot cereal for Vata, but anything warm, milky , and sweet is beneficial. Many Vata types experience a drastic ener gy slump in the late afternoon. Having hot tea with cookies or some other sweet is a good idea. Think of the four o’clock English teatime. Herb tea is more soothing than regular tea, whose high caf feine content can disturb Vata types. You can try brewing gotu kola tea. This Indian herb, which is said to be excellent for calming the nerves, is available in health-food stores. You can also order Ayurvedic tea in bags (page 377). If you take five minutes for your tea break in a quiet spot before heading home from work, you will find the end of the day much less tiring. Pungent is not among the favored Vata tastes, but spicy food generally turns out to be satisfying to Vata types, because most spicy Mexican or Indian food is warm and has abundant oil in it. Ginger is the best pungent spice for Vata and is often used to improve Vata digestion (see page 301). Also, the use of sweet spices, such as cinnamon, fennel, and cardamom, helps restore a dull appetite, from which Vatas tend to suffer. Warm, moist food is very settling for Vata. Cooked grains and cereals are the best choices here. When you feel nervous, worried, or otherwiseunder pressure, a bowl of hot oatmeal or a cup of creamed vegetable soup will make you feel much better than a candy bar or a drink. Although sweet is good for Vata, sugar eaten by itself gives a quick energy boost that can make Vatas feel too restless. Warm milk is a sweet food in itself; it is very good for Vata, particularly with a little sugar or honey . Sugary sweets should be eaten in combination with nourishing ones like milk. Dry, salty snacks are not as good for Vata as salted nuts, which are heavier and oily , two qualities that pacify Vata. Almonds are the best choice. Ayurveda always recommends that almonds be skinned before they are eaten; standard advice is to soak a dozen whole almonds in water overnight, then peel and eat them in the morning to balance Vata. Since nuts and seeds are dif ficult to digest, Vatas need to eat them in small quantities, preferably ground into butters. Tahini (sesame paste) is an excellent source of sesame oil, one of the best foods for warming up and balancing Vata. All sweet fruits are good for Vata, and green grapes and mangoes are the best. Astringent fruits such as apples and pears need to be cooked before eating. Unripe fruit, being very astringent, is to be avoided, especially unripe bananas. Any cold, light, low-calorie food increases Vata and makes you feel dissatisfied. If you are partial to salads, let them come to room temperature and add oily dressing to make them more balancing. The same holds for raw vegetables. Eat them sparingly and not ice cold. In general, you should cook all your vegetables with a little oil rather than steaming them. This will make many “wrong” vegetables more acceptable to Vata dosha. When you go out for dinner , ask for warm water to sip in place of ice water , take the hot soup instead of salad, and feel free to eat bread and butter , as well as dessert (preferably a warm dessert like apple pie, rather than ice cream, whose coldness hampers Vata digestion).A hot breakfast cereal for dinner , although not the usual thing, tastes extremely good to anyone suf fering from a Vata attack. Rice served with buttered lentils is also very good, as is a hearty minestrone-style soup. Pasta in all forms is very soothing.

Perfect_Health_-_The_Complete_Mind_Body_Guide_by_Deepak_Chopra.txt

Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: Rubber tubing lies passively and lets liquid flow through it. Your arteries, on the other hand, respond to everything that happens to you, and their responses have to be both active and intelligent. In biology textbooks, we get the idea that a cell divides again and again until its time is up, after about fifty divisions, at which point it dies. But this is a drastically simplified, even a false view. A cell has experien ces. It remembers what happens to it. It is capable of losing its skills if links in its innate knowledge are lost or damaged. By the same token, a cell could be new all the time, without decay, if it preserved its complete store of intelligence. The difference between life and death for a cell lies in its smriti, or memory. If you take the longest perspective, a perfect memory in a cell would lead to immortality, for there can be no death as long as renewal continues without flaws or mistakes. Science has never proved that DNA is limited in its ability to run a cell in good working order. Each of your arteries contains the same DNA that formed the arteries in Stone Age humans fifty thousand years ago. If DNA can manage to make perfect arteries for five hundred centuri es, each one containing milli ons of perfectly operating cells, there is no intrinsic reason why your DNA should botch the job after sixty years. But the botching takes place, and in a lot fewer than sixty years. By age 12, a typical artery changes markedly in appearance. It begins to develop irregularities in the form of yellow fatty streaks. At the microscopic level,one finds that these irregularitie s started as a result of tiny, nearly invisible cracks on the inside of the arterial wall. A cell biologist can look at one cell from such an artery and see the indisputable signs of age. Over the next five decades, the signs become obvious even to a layman. If you were attending open-chest surgery and touched a piece of old aorta, the major artery leading from the heart, it would feel like a stiff pipe (often as stiff as bone, if arteriosclerosis has advanced far enough). Inside, it would be riddled with fatty pockets called plaque. You would have no trouble seeing that a terrible mistake has been made somewhere. How does one close the gap between one reality—the immortality of DNA—and another—the frail life span of a human being. In fact the two realities are very close. There is no physical distance between us and our DNA. There is only a gap that exists in the nonphysical realm of knowledge. As I have made abundantly clear by now, Ayurveda makes a shift away from the idea of the cell as a physical package of molecules, adopting instead the idea of the cell as a package of knowledge. As the illustration below indicates, knowledge is dynamic. It is not packaged inertly, but in living form, as the constant interplay of three elements. To have living knowledge, there must be a knower, an object that it knows, and the process of knowing that connects the two. The Vedic terms for this basic triad are rishi (knower), devata (process of knowing), and chhandas (object of knowledge)—taken together, they form the totality of knowing, or Samhita, the undivided state of pure awareness. The humanmind, then, is a three-in-one creation. A human body requires the same simple ingredients, repeated countless times at different levels of the physiology. You are a knower, your body is the object you form with your knowledge, and the millions of cellular functions taking place inside you are the process of knowing. DNA too is a knower, but on a different scale, parceling out its knowledge in the form of biochemicals. On yet another scale, a red blood corpuscle is a knower, knowing how to attach itself to oxygen atoms for transport to all other cells in the body. This threefold model of knowle dge enables us to see how one thing—our inner intelligence—diversifies itself into endless combinations of things. Your 50 trillion cells, bound together as a community by hundreds of enzymes, proteins, peptides, amino acids, et cetera, represent an incredible display of one becoming many. Yet it is dangerous to get lost in the display. The “mistake of the intellect” occurs when the mind forgets its real source— the one intelligence flowing through every cell—and becomes hopelessly lost in the many. To prove that this is not just a philosophical point, let’s turn to some groundbreaking experiments that demonstrate a startlingly simple solution to the aging process. To understand these experiment s, we need a little background in physiology. Chronological age (how old you are according to your birth certificate) is one way to measure the aging process, but not the most accurate one, since people vary widely in how their bodies change over time. Physiologists therefore refer to a second measure, called biological age, which measures the actual rate of aging in a person’ s cells, tissues, and organ systems. Chronological age matches biological age only when you are young. Two healthy 20-year -olds are likely to look almost identical if you compare their hearts, livers, skin, eyesight, and so on. But after middle age no two people have aged the same. Two 70-year -olds present drastically different profiles: one has arthritis, the other heart disease; one is myopic, the other not; and so on. This means that biologi cal aging, though an accurate measure theoretically, is difficult to pin down, short of looking at every organ in the body. Fortunatel y, there are accepted ways to measure biological age, which include such things as near-point vision, acuity of hearing, and systolic blood pressure (the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart is pumping). These biologica l markers of aging usually deteriorate steadil y over time; therefore, they give a reliable approximation of the biological age of the whole body at a given chronological age. Several years ago a team of researchers made the exciting discovery that the biological markers of aging can be retarded or even reversed through meditation. The research was headed by Dr. R. Keith Wallace, a physiologist who studied eighty-four meditat ors with an average chronological age of 53. He divided his subjects into two groups according to how long they had been regularly practic ing meditation. One group had meditated for at least five years, the other for fewer than five years. Wallace found that meditation made his subjects biologically younger than their years, and by a considerable amount: the short-term meditators were five years younger than their chronological age, the long-term meditators a full twelve years younger. In other words, a woman of 60 who had been practicing medit ation for at least five years would typically have the body of a 48-year -old, biologically speaking. (This does not include cosmetic changes in skin and hair, although many of the subjects did have strikingly youthful appear ances. ) These results did not depend on any other factor; people were screened for diet, exercise, and other habits. Interestingly, the controls revealed that not eating red meat was correlated with a slightly younger biological age, in keeping with various findings on the longer life span of vegetarians. Wallace’ s findings were unprecedented at the time. Follow-up studies were soon cond ucted in England that confirmed his research. In one group, meditators were seven years younger in their biological age. When the same people were measured a year and a half later, they scored a further drop of one and a half years, implying that a year of meditation takes off a year of biological age. More recently, Dr. Jay Glaser, a physician with a strong background in meditation, decided to pursue one of the naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies that may be connected with longevity. He measured the level of an adrenal hormon e called DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) in meditators. Although the precise function of this hormone remains mysterious, it isknown that DHEA reaches its highest levels at around age 25 and then declines in almost a straight line, year by year, until by age 70 only 5 percent of it remains. Initial enthusiasm over DHEA developed when it was injected in large doses into laboratory animals and showed striking anti-aging properties. Older animals showed renewed vigor, improve d immunity, increased muscle tone, and better memory. Glaser found that levels of DHEA were significantly higher in all ages of meditators compared to a matched group of nonmeditators. This was true for both men and women, with the biggest difference showing up in the oldest subjects. For example, Glaser found that the older meditators had the same DHEA as nonmeditators five to ten years younger. He interpreted these finding to sugge st that meditation somehow increases the natural production of this interesting hormone. Researchers have studied the effects of giving DHEA to people with mixed results. Although experiments with DHEA have shown that it causes changes in hormonal levels and may improve people’ s mood, it has not yet been found to have the same convincing benefits on memory or vitality in humans as it does in animals. Still, it is intriguing that a simple mental meditation technique can induce changes in a hormone that seems to play a role in the aging process. This biochemical clue gives support to the experience of people meditating who often report that they feel mentally and physically younger. RASA YANAS—HERBS FOR LONGEVITY Herbs are an immense part of Ayurvedic medicine that we have not yet touched on. Many thousands of medicinal herbs are prescribed in Ayurveda, and experienced Ayurvedic doctors often include herbs as part of their treatment. This is because herbs are not the same as drugs, but are more general and milder in effect. The simplest way to view herbs is as concentrated food. One of the ways in which herbs are traditionally classified is according to taste, using the six rasas—sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, and astringent—that apply to food. However, herbs are more potent and specific in their action. A bitter herb like quinine can bring Pitta down promptly, making it useful for reducing fever and inflammation. A pungent chili can instantly drain excess mucus as it reduces Kapha. An astringent spice like turmeric can dry the phlegm in a sore throat in a matter of minutes. In the section on diet in part III, I give some of the common household herbs that can be used at home to balance your doshas. Using herbs in combination with food is a safe approach. For treating disease, stronger herbs are employed, which need to be medically supervised. In our Center we use specific herbs in the context of a holistic approac h. Ayurvedic herbs are usually taken from the whole plant, which reduces the possibility of harmful side effects. The principle here is that the herb’ s active ingredient is packaged in the plant with other chemicals that buffer it, offsetting its possible undesirable actions. In other words, in Ayurveda the whole plant is part of nature’ s pharmacy. In Western medicine, however, only the active ingredient is regarded as useful. HOW AYUR VEDIC HERBS WORK As they apply to longevity, the Ayurvedic texts list some special herbs, alone or in combination, that are classified as rasayana. The word loosely translates as “nourishing the essence of life. ” Rasayanas are not youth potions, they are correctives for loss of memory in the cells. Each herb is a packet of vibrations that specifically matches a vibration in the quantum mechanical body. The liver, for example, is built up from a specific sequence of vibrations at the quan tum level. In the case of liver malfunction, some disru ption of the proper sequence in these vibrations is at fault. According to Ayurveda, an herb exists with this exact same sequence, and when applied, it restores the liver’s functioning. The principle at work here is called complementarity. Complementarity holds that “nature thinks everywhere alike,” a Vedic slogan that means that nature uses the same materials when making plants, minerals, mantras, or human bodies. These are not just similar molecules (although it is the samecarbon that goes into coal, diamonds, sugar, and blood). What is more basic still are the subtle vibrations that hold molecules together; these are the real building blocks of nature, according to the Vedic sages. They are so universal that seemingly unrelated things, such as a Sanskrit word and a bay leaf, can be considered kindred, if you know how to look deep enough. Because there is likeness everywhere in nature, an Ayurvedic doctor looks upon herbs, primordial sounds, gemstones, colors, aromas, and foods as equally fit to act as medicine. As used in Ayurveda, herbs do not have the same effect on the body that Western medicines do. Our drugs kill pain, relax muscles, replace deficien t insulin or thyroid hormone, and so on; rasayanas introduce a subtle signal into the physiology— they “talk” to the doshas and directly influence the flow of inner intelligence. Rasayanas are closely associate d with Indian food and therefor e are sold in the United States as herbal food supplements, not medicine. Some sweet fruits, such as Indian gooseberry (called amla or amalaki ), are considered extremely good rasayanas. (In fact, this particular fruit forms the basis of most of the health tonics that have been taken since ancestral times in India as ginse ng is taken in China. ) To anyone interested in medicinal herbs, the lore of rasayana is fascinating, but also extremely complex. Dozens of plants are said to be capable of rejuvenating the body. Among those that have common names in Western herbalism: Gotu kola and garlic are specifics for Vata Aloe vera and saf fron are specifics for Pitta Elecampane and honey are specifics for Kapha (although not an herb, honey is considered the shukra, or purest essence, of the plant world). But this list does not include the most powerful rasayanas, which only have Indian names, among them amla, guggul, shatavari, and ashwaghanda. What makes rasayanas comple x is not just their reliance on fruits and herbs. To extract the desired effect from an ingredient, one must know when to pick it, how long to cook it and by what method, and in what proportion toblend it with other herbs. The recipe for a single rasayana may call for fifty ingredients, each of which must be carefully blended. HERBAL REJUVENA TIVES After several years of investigation and trial, we feel that rasayana is a valuable field. It has yielded a few authentic formulas that have been re- created from the ancient recipe s. Although rasayanas have been used for thousands of years by Ayurvedic physicians to enhance energy and immunity, we are only beginn ing to scientifically research the purported health benefits of these herbal compounds. Regulations governing herbs in this coun try permit the distribution of rasayanas as an adjunct to diet only; as such we recomm end them for general use. No health claims are made for them nor are they to be used as medicine. (If you have been diagnosed with a specific illness, please do not take these or any other herbs without first consulting a physician trained in Ayurveda. ) Among the best known rasayanas is Chavanprash, based upon the fruit Indian gooseberry. This fruit, which is one of the highest natural sources of vitamin C, is known as Amla or Dhatri in Sansk rit, whic h means having the healing qualitie s of a nurse or mother. It has been classically used as a rejuvenative for the blood, heart, lungs, and reproductive tissues. We have formulated a modern version of Chavanprash known as Biochavan. Another important classical Ayurvedic rasayana is Brahmi Rasayana, based upon the herb gotu kola. It is traditionally used as a revitalizer for the brain and nervo us system. It is said to both calm restlessness and enhance awareness. Intrigued by the vast classical Ayurvedic literature on rasayanas, researchers have undertaken studies in this country and Europe to determine what pharmacological actions these preparations have. The ingredients in these rasayanas seem to have potent antioxidant effects and may also inhibit the blood clotting cascade that is associated with the release of stress hormones. Although it is clearly too early to extrapolate these studies on animals to humans, it is encouraging that these ancient natural herbal compounds are now receiving serious scientific attention. Ongoing research should help to clarify the role that these form ulas can play in maintaining health and reversing disease. The explanations offered for the potential benefits suggested by preliminary studies point to the possible role of free radical chemicals in a wide range of diseases. Free radicals are undesirable peroxides that have long been implic ated in hastening the aging process; one of the main reasons for the popula rity of vitamins E, C, and beta-carotene as anti-aging supplements is their ability to attach to free radicals and scavenge them before they can do harm to living tissues. Hopefully further understanding the mechanism and action of rasayanas will help substantiate the ancient claims of the benefits of these natural tonics to enhance vitality throughout one’s life span. At the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, California, we have been using rasayana preparations to enhance energy and vitality in our patients. We have separate formulations for men and women and are encouraged by the subjective reports of our patients. Further information on how to access these formulations is provided in Appendix A. QUIZ: HOW WELL AM I AGING. There is no separate “life extension” program in Ayurveda, for the simple reason that all of its approaches—diet, exercise, daily and seasonal routines, meditation, and the various healing techniques—are meant to enhance longevity. Considering the superior health of our patients today, we have every hope that a breakthrough in aging has been made. The classic Ayurvedic texts define one hundred years as a normal life span without infirmity or disease. We are aiming for at least that. Can you prove to yourself that you are getting younger by following this program. Simple as it sounds, feeling happy and healthy is one good yardstick; being young at heart is recognized as a marker of long life. On amore objective basis, researcher s at Duke University have compiled a short list of health factors correlated with longevity. Statistically speaking, people who rate well on each of these points have the best chance of living longer than average. The following quiz is based on the Duke inventory. The most precise way to use it is in conjunction with a complete physical examination, but an informal person al rating will still tell you a lot. Being as honest and objective as you can, answer every question, giving yourself: 10 points for Excellent 5 points for Average 0 points for Below Average Having arrived at a final score, follow Ayurveda for six months, then rate yourself again. The chances are very good that you will notice a surprisingly large improvement, and it is likely to occur well before the six months are up. The following factors are listed in order of relative importance:To rate yourself: A perfec t score (90 points) indicates that you are very likely to live longer, perhaps much longer, than the national average (roughly age 78 for women and 72 for men). An above-average score (between 65 and 90) sugg ests that your life expectancy will be at least three years higher than the natio nal norm, more if you are already past middle age. An average score (45–65) indicates an average life expectancy. A below-average score (below 40) indicates that you need to pay more attention to your health. It is not a cause for panic, because following the programs of Ayurveda should lead to noticeable improvements very quickly. To gain a more accurate idea of where you stand, you can refine your score by considering a few other factors: Age: High scores mean more as you get older. If you are over 50, a score in the 75–90 range indicates an enhanced likelihood of long life; the same score would not be as significant if you are only 30. Lifestyle habits: All thing s being equal, regular habits are correlated with long life; these include eating three meals a day, getting eight hours of sleep each night, going to bed on time, and so on. Also, being married is indicative of a longer life expectancy than being single. Alcohol consumption should be minimal or none; alcoholism is known to reduce life expectancy. Weight: Maintaining an ideal weight is best, although there is no harm in being ten to fifteen pounds overweight. Life span is shortene d if you are obese (15 percent or more over your ideal weight) or if your weight has fluctuated drastically over a period of years. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE As a result of the extensive research done on meditation, we can validate that our Ayurvedic program may improve each of the Duke University longevity factor s. If we place the results in the context of Ayurveda as a whole, they become even stronger. Research with rasayanas suggests that they may of fset several deleterious aspects of the aging process, including a beneficial ef fect on blood clotting, and a reduced susceptibility to carcinogens. Preliminary studies suggest that rasayanas may be ef fective as free radical scavengers that would positively impact the aging process. A pilot study on the ef fects of panchakarma suggests that this purification procedure enhances the rejuvenating ef fect of meditation (ten meditating subjects became on average six years younger biologically over the period of a year while taking regular panchakarma, as opposed to one and a half years with meditation alone). What all of this implies is that a complete Ayurvedic program should be even more effective than meditation by itself, and in fact may lead to all the powerful rejuvenating effects promised in the ancient texts. A basic program would include meditation, the appropriate Ayurvedic body-type diet, supplemented with rasayanas, regular exercise, panchakarma treatment atleast once a year, and the major points given in the daily routine, or dinacharya, to be discussed in chapter 1 1. OceanofPDF. comPART II LIVING IN TUNE WITH NATURE OceanofPDF. comCHAPTER 10 THE IMPULSE TO EVOL VE The phrase “living in tune with nature” means something very precise in Ayurveda: havin g healthy desires that match what you actually need. As nature made you, what you need and what you want should not conflict. This is because all desires originate at the quantum level, as faint vibrations whose dynamic interaction is always balanced. If either the body or the mind tip out of balance, a correcting impulse is sent from the quantum body, and you register it as something you desire. At this moment, millions of impulses are flowing through your nervous system, turning into all the actions you perform every day. To want a drink of water, for example, satisfies the separate need of 50 trillion cells in your body, each of which sends a message to be decoded by special receptors in the hypothalamus. In turn, the hypothalamus makes the mind body connection by manufacturing the specific neurotransmitters, or messenger molecules, that make you think, “I’m thirsty. ” A natural desire of any kind takes a similar path. A need arises somewhere in the quantum mechanical body, the mind body connection is made in the brain, and then you experience an impulse to act. As long as needs and desires match, you are living in tune with nature; the path of desire is not blocked. Ideally, every bite of food you eat should taste delicious to you and at the same time satisfy a precise demand for nutrients. Your skin may be asking for extra vitamin C to repair damage from a sunburn, a stressed hipbone may be asking for extra calcium, a flexed arm muscle for more potassium. Unfortunately, it is very easy to interfere with this pathway, and when we do so, we slip out of tune with nature. Instead of trusting the balanced body to tell us what nutrients it needs, all too often we indiscrim inately takevitamins, compulsively overeat, crave far too many sweets and junk foods of all kinds. The current vogue of “life extension” is based on distrust of the body, trying to second-guess its weaknesses by cramming it with megadoses of vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium, or whatever new nutriceutical has joined the list. It has not been proved that taking supplementary vitamins and minerals alone prolongs life. On the contrary, separate studies conducted in Southern California showed that older people who obsessively take vitamins and eat only “health food” do not live any longer than average, while people who have balanced lifestyle habits (going to bed on time, eating three meals a day, drinking alcohol only very moderately, and so on) live up to eleven years longer than the norm. You do not have to go to an extreme to get the most from your body. The body is intellige nt. At the quan tum level, it knows exactly what it needs, down to the last atom and molecule of food, the faintest breath you breathe, the smallest action you take. In the following chapters, I outline the kind of foods, exercise, and daily and seasonal routines that Ayurveda considers in tune with nature. Although very specific, these guidelines are not rules but pointers to put you in touch with your quantum mechanical body. Once you are back in touch, action goes much more smoothly, correct choices become more automatic, and mistakes become less frequent. Before getting into specifics, though, I’d like to say more about the evolutionary path itself. MAKING RIGHT CHOICES To conti nue evolving and progressing in life, you must make the right choices for yourself, day after day, minute after minute. The choices are endless because the challenges of life are endless, so to avoid all the wrong choices seems impossible. But Ayurveda says that in fact it is easy—once you begin to listen to your own deepest nature. For every decision you make, major or mundane, your quantum mechanical body sees only one correct choice, although your mind might recognize many. This confusion gives rise to internal conflict. Why does a smoker compulsively reach for another cigarette, knowing the harm it can do. Why does a compulsive eater take second helpings in the absence of hunger. Wrestling with these conflicts is futile— our actions are based on too many individual processes, all of them changing all the time. Defeating lethal viruses or bacteria is child’s play compared with trying to defeat people’ s self-destructive habits. For example, we all know chronically overweight people who have turned everywhere for a cure, to drugs, psychiatry, beha vior modificat ion, and even surgery, with little or no success. In Ayurveda we propose a simpler solution. Instead of wrestling with all the wrong choices people are likely to make in the grip of unhealthy desires, we put our patients in touch with the source of their desires. At the source, everyone has healthy desires. In Sanskrit, this is called sattva, a word often translated as “purity. ” A better translation of sattva is “the impulse to evolve,” and I will demonstrate why. In Ayurveda there are three natural impulses at work in any given situation. One is sattva, the impulse to evolve, to go forward, to progress. The second impulse is tamas, the exact opposite, the impulse to stay the same or to regress. Fixed between these two opposites is rajas, a more neutral impulse that dictates action for its own sake. A diagram of the three looks like this: As you can see, rajas poses the question, “How should I act in this situation. ” Sattv a favors the choice that is evolutionary, tamas the one that is stable. All three impulses are necessary to life. If you are sittin g up late at night, tempted to watch the second late movie on TV, one impulse tells you to go to bed, while its opposite tells you to continue sitting there. This is sattva and tamas in conflict, with rajas acting as the spur, urging you to choose. Nature has made us so that our minds instinctively operate according to these three guna s, or tendencies (they are also sometimes called “the mental doshas”). People can be classified according to which of these three gunas is generally dominant. Rajasic people like to act. Their minds work constantly and tend towar d impatience, impulsiveness, and kinetic outlets of all kinds. Sattvic people like to progress. Their minds do not dwell on action for its own sake, but only on action that is cr eative, life-supporting, and healthy. Tamasic people like to stay the same. Their minds do not like to act; they enjoy set r outines and tend towar d the status quo. These types are not cut and dried, since everyone contains elements of each. But all of us know pure rajasic types— extroverted, endlessly full of energy, people who rush in where angels fear to tread. And we know pure tamasic types—slow to move, resistant to new ideas, hard-core traditionalists for whom the best things in life are always in the past. (Ayurvedic doctors who come to America from India often shake their heads and say that we are a hopelessly rajasic people, whose creativity and ambition need more of the gentl e, purifying element of sattva. ) However we were shaped by nature, becomin g more sattvic is a worthwhile goal, for it is sattva that makes a person more creative, healthier, and happier. The secret of sattvic people is that they have naturally healthy desires. Unhealthy desir es can arise in anyone because of mental ama. You will remember that “mental ama” is the term used for impurities, or negativetendencies in the mind. Sattva is the force of purity that combats them. The Ayurvedic sages say that mental ama is produced by: Negative emotions—anger, fear, self-criticism, greed, resentment Psychological stress—family problems, tensions at work, loss of money or job, divorce, death in the family Lethar gy, mental inertia Unwholesome surroundings Contact with other people’ s negativity Violent, crude, or shocking books or other forms of entertainment The debate over whether it is morally right to show violence on television misse s the essential point, according to Ayurveda. The issue is one of health. The sight of violence gets translated into unhealth y chemicals in the body, leading to the buildup of ama in our thoughts as well as in our cells. Everyone has a right to expose himself to any kind of influence he wants, but the physician’ s role is to warn against those influences that damage our well-being. Avoiding mental ama is therefore considered a preventive measure against the imbalances that lead ultimately to disease. You cannot force your body to make evolutionary choices. If you are eating the wrong foods, chain-smoking, drinking excessively, or making any other kind of unhealthy choice in your daily life, some block exists somewhere in your pathway of desire. Some impurity is keepin g you away from your quantum self. I have already given many techniques for removing such blockages. All of these, from panchakarma to meditation to the bliss technique, remove tremendous amounts of impurity every time you use them. After a while, as you continue using the Ayurvedic techniques, you will see your sattvic side emer ge, no matter how blocked your system was to begin with. When that happen s, you are approaching the place calledperfect health. Sattva lies closest to nature’ s heart, because everything in nature expands, evolves, and grows. Sattva exists in us as our instinct for balance, our life-enhancing attitudes, our innate dignity and respect for others, and our love. As you increase in sattva, you effortlessly live in purity and move in the direction of higher evolution. Then and only then does the phrase “living in tune with nature” reveal its real meaning. HOW TO INCREASE SA TTV A Ayurveda says that many different kinds of influences can increase sattva, while at the same time keeping ama at a minimum. Some recommendations are familiar to us: consuming pure food and water, avoiding obvious toxins such as pesticides, and getting a full night’ s sleep. Adequate rest is needed to bring out the clear, happy side of the mind. Spend time outside in nature, walking in the woods and mountains or beside the ocean, lakes, and streams; listen to the sound of the wind, the rustling of the trees, and the songs of birds—all of these purify the senses and bring them back to their source in nature. In Ayurveda we consider anything that is life-supporting to be sattvic, so nurturing positive emotions and secure relationships is vital—the absence of love and care from your life will damage sattva far more than any wrong diet. In addition, the following pointe rs, established thousands of years ago in the Vedic texts and echoed in the purest traditions of every culture, serve as time-tested guides for increasing sattva in daily life: Be pleasant and tolerant toward everyone. Act on due reflection, not on impulse. Refrain from anger or criticism, even when you feel it is justified (sattvic people do not point out others’ weaknesses “for their own good”). Take time every day for play, humor, relaxation, and good company. Wake with the sun in the morning, watch the sun set in the evening, and occasionally stroll in the moonlight, especially if there is a full moon. Eat light, natural foods, favoring milk, saf fron, rice, and ghee (clarified butter)—a complete list of sattvic foods is given on page 307, along with the deeper rationale for adhering to a pure diet. Be generous with others in every way—giving presents and compliments to people around you, pointing out the best in everyone, letting others make you great instead of trying to be great yourself. To a sattvic person, all relationships exist primarily as an opportunity to give. The complement to this basic attitude is that nature will always provide enough to fulfill one’ s needs. When this kind of generosity and trust truly blossoms, a sattvic person has nothing to fear from life and everything to receive from it; he can let life happen without forcing it.

Warm milk before going to bed is a good idea, but eating very late at night is not—it may help you fall asleep, but your body will feel worse in the morning. Lassi, a traditional Indian drink, is good for ridding the body of excess Vata. To make it, whisk together one-half cup plain yogurt and one-half cup water; flavor with a pinch of powdered ginger , salt, or cumin. Sweet mango lassi, made from equal parts yogurt and mango pulp (fresh or canned) is particularly delicious and also balances Vata. For a lighter beverage, either lassi can be diluted with between one-half and one cup of water . One ef ficient and instant way to settle Vata is to sprinkle a special spice powder , called a Vata churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Vata-Pacifying FoodsDairyAll dairy is acceptable, unless you have a known lactase deficiency . Pitta-Pacifying Diet Favor: Cool or warm but not steaming-hot foods Moderately heavy textur es Bitter , sweet, and astringent tastes Less butter and added fat Pitta types are born with naturally strong, efficient digestion that remains that way unless disturbed. They come closest to the ideal of being able to eat a little of everything. Therefor e, they need to be careful to avoid dietary abuses. The continued use of too much salt, overindulgence in sour and spicy food, and overeating are the most common aggravating influences. Being the only hot dosha, Pitta appreciates cool foods, particularly in summer . It is a good idea to be especially scrupulous about having bitter and astringent tastes in your meals (supplied mainly through salads and legumes). These two rasas curb the appetite, dry up excessive moisture, and keep the palate sharp. They also counteract the dulling effect of too much salt and sugar on the taste buds, making it easier for Pittas to be moderate in their appetites, as nature intended them to be. Anything that makes dining a more soothing and orderly experience will also help to pacify this dosha. The Pitta-pacify ing diet given below is the natural choice for Pitta types, unless a Ayurvedically trained physician has indicated otherwi se. Our Pitta patients report that they feel more balanced on this diet, still energetic but with a “softer” energy. Their roaring appetites calm down, too. If you suffer from mild symptoms of Pitta imbalance, such as heartburn, irritability , or excessive thirst, this diet is also good. Try it for a month and see if your symptoms are alleviated. Some general points to help you implement this diet are as follows. Cool, refreshing food is best for Pitta types in summer , with a decrease in salt, oil, and spices, all of which are heating to the body . Salads contain two tastes, bitter and astringent, that balance Pitta and are also cold and light. Milk and ice cream are good, too. Excessive Pitta makes the body too sour; to counteract this, you should generally avoid pickles, yogurt, sour cream, and cheese. Fresh lemon juice is an exception and can be used, sparingly , instead of vinegar in your salad dressings. Fermented foods and alcoholic beverages are aggravating to Pitta because of their sourness, as are the acids in cof fee. Learning to drink herb tea, either mint, licorice root, or the specialPitta-pacifying tea you can order (see page 378), will often make a big difference in smoothing your moods. A breakfast of cold cereal, cinnamon toast, and apple juice is a good replacement for cof fee, doughnut, and orange juice, all of which disturb Pitta. The fat in red meat, which also heats the body , is not needed by Pitta people. Although they like to eat meat, particularly if they are high- powered movers and shakers, Pittas do better on a vegetarian diet than any other body type. If you are not vegetarian, make sure that your diet includes abundant amounts of milk, grains, and vegetables. All of these make Pittas feel extremely good. Once they become accustomed to health-food restaurants, Pittas like them better than their old steak houses because they feel calmer and more satisfied afterward. Fried foods are oily , hot, salty , and heavy , all qualities that Pittas need to avoid. On the other hand, starchy foods—vegetables, grains, and beans—are satisfying and cut ravenous Pitta hunger . The steady ener gy of a high-carbohydrate diet will counteract the tendency to overeat under stress. Processed and fast foods lean heavily on salt and sour tastes; it is a good idea for Pitta types to avoid them as much as possible. Since Pittas are fond of luxury , a subdued, elegant restaurant brings out the best in them. Japanese and Chinese food, being relatively low in fat and meat, are good choices for Pittas. When you eat out, order cool, not iced, water , take salad instead of hot soup, have the bread with a small amount of butter , and feel free to order dessert. Spicy food is too intoxicating to Pitta; if you like Mexican food, minimize the cheese and sour cream, and have a cool guacamole salad to counteract the heavy aggravation of Pitta caused by chilies. Pittas respond well to low-salt diets, but if forced to eat tasteless food, they will quickly rebel. Keeping salt of f the table and adding it only in the kitchen while you cook is a good compromise. Cocktail hour with salty snacks is worse for Pitta types than anyone else. The dry , saltyfood and the alcohol combine to inflame their appetites and stomach linings. To bring down aggravated Pitta, a standard recommendation is to take two teaspoons of ghee (clarified butter) in a glass of warm milk. This also acts as a laxative, which helps flush excess Pitta from the system. Have your ghee and milk in place of dinner or two hours after a light dinner . You can also have it in place of breakfast. (Do not take ghee, however , if you have a problem with elevated cholesterol.) One ef ficient and instant way to settle Pitta is to sprinkle a special spice powder , called a Pitta churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Pitta-Pacifying Foods SweetenersAll sweeteners are acceptable, except honey and molasses. Plus small amounts of cumin and black pepperKapha is a slow dosha to be affected by food, but over time, Kapha types become imbalan ced as a result of eating too many sweet, rich foods. Other problems can develop, but in Western society , where sugar and fat account for more than half of the calories consumed by the average person, Kaphas have to be on guard against this influence. Salt also needs to be watched, since it too is greatly overused and promotes fluid retention in many Kaphas. Anything that increases lightness should be favored—a small, light meal at breakfast and dinner , lightly cooked foods (no deep-frying), raw fruits and vegetables. Eating spicy food will promote better digestion and warm your body; bitter and astringent foods will help to curb your appetite. In general, anything that makes eating stimulating will help balance Kapha and avert the danger , ever -present with most Kapha types, of overindulging at the table. The Kapha-pacifying diet given below is the natural choice for Kapha body types, unless contrary advice has been given by a Ayurvedically trained physician. Switc hing to this diet helps many of our Kapha patients feel more balanced, energetic, lighter , and happier about themselves. If you suffer from mild symptoms of Kapha imbalance, such as a stuffed or runny nose, being slow to start in the morning, or oversleeping, this diet is also good. Try it for six weeks and see if your symptoms are alleviated. The following suggestions will help people implement a Kapha-pacifying diet. Given a choice, pick hot food over cold at every meal—a hot luncheon entree instead of a sandwich, hot apple pie instead of ice cream, grilledfish instead of tuna salad. Warming up cold Kapha digestion is always good for balance. Dry cooking methods (baking, broiling, grilling, sautéing) are better for Kaphas than moist ones (steaming, boiling, poaching). Before you eat, stimulate your appetite with bitter or pungent tastes instead of salty or sour . The bitterness of romaine lettuce, endive, or tonic water will wake up your taste buds without encouraging you to overeat. Ginger tea or even a pinch of fresh gingerroot is also highly recommended. In general, you want to be sure that bitter and astringent tastes are present in every meal. To get them, it is not necessary to seek out bitter food in quantity . A little bitterness in a salad or the astringency of herbs supplies enough. Among the household spices, cumin, fenugreek, sesame seed, and turmeric are both bitter and astringent. Adding pungent tastes to your diet with spices is one of the best ways to balance Kapha. Anything spicy is good, including very hot Mexican or Indian food that makes your eyes water . This action flushes out all the mucous membranes. Contrary to what we tend to think, hot, spicy food is best not in the summer but in the winter; it of fsets the cold, damp quality that Kapha resents. Kaphas need to eat breakfast mainly to get them started in the morning, not for solid nourishment. Rather than relying on a jolt of caf feine from coffee, wake your body up with light, Kapha-reducing foods, such as hot spiced cider , buckwheat pancakes with apple butter , corn muf fins, and bitter cocoa made with skim milk and a touch of honey . In general, anything hot and light is good, while anything cold, heavy , or sweet is not so good. Cold cereals, cold juice or milk, and sugary pastries tend to create congestion, particularly in damp winter weather . Bacon and sausage are Kapha-aggravating because of their salt and oil. If you don’t feel hungry in the morning, it is all right to skip breakfast, which Ayurveda considers optional, especially for Kapha types. If you wake up feeling congested in the morning, a sign of excess Kapha, the best things to take are honey , hot water , lemon juice, andginger . Hot ginger tea (page 301) is excellent for Kapha types in general, since it stimulates the system and flushes out excess Kapha. If you occasionally skip a meal—a good idea for many Kaphas—a spoonful of honey in hot water will tide you over . Cutting back on sweets is dif ficult for many Kaphas, but a trial week on a low-sugar diet generally does result in feeling lighter and more energetic. Honey is extensively recommended for Kapha types, but you should not take more than a tablespoon or so per day; honey is not suitable to cook with, either , since heating honey makes it unwholesome, according to Ayurveda. Out-of-balance Kapha types overindulge in dairy products, but butter , ice cream, and cheese are among the worst for you, since they make your system colder and more congested. Low-fat milk is best, preferably pre-boiled to aid digestion, with only a minimum of other dairy products. Sesame seeds on rolls and bread help to counteract the sweet, heavy quality of the wheat, which is not the best for Kapha, either . Because they combine too much heavy sweetness, a hambur ger and milkshake, or even a sandwich with milk, should be eaten only infrequently . Raw fruits, vegetables, and salads are extremely good, since their fiber tones the intestinal tract, in addition to the benefits of their astringent tastes. Generally speaking, Ayurveda prefers all food cooked, but we find that this is an exception that helps most Kapha types. Deep-fried foods of any kind will aggravate Kapha; they are among the few things you should try to eliminate from your diet. There is no need to banish all fats, but make an ef fort to use less butter and oil in your cooking. Corn oil is heating to the body; it is a good choice for you in small quantities, along with almond and sunflower oils. Crisp-steamed vegetables with a little ghee (clarified butter) drizzled over them is good for a light supper; anything crisp, fresh, and stimulating balances Kapha.Restaurant food has to be carefully chosen by Kapha people. Fast food is far too oily , salty , and sweet—head for the salad bar and use a minimum of salad dressing. If you are eating out in better restaurants, Oriental cooking is the lightest, particularly if you concentrate on more vegetables than meat. Wherever you go, order a glass of hot water instead of iced, take salad instead of hot soup (except in cold weather), avoid the rolls and butter , and make dessert small and not too rich—hot fruit pies are probably the best choice. One ef ficient and instant way to settle Kapha is to sprinkle a special spice powder , called a Kapha churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Kapha-Pacifying Foods THE SIX TASTES Each of the six tastes speaks directly to the quantum mechanical body , and each carries a different message. Our tongues know this instinctively . The voluptuous sweetness of vanilla custard is diametrically opposed to the bitterbite of lemon peel; one is soothing, the other is a shock. Your whole body reacts to the difference, which begins on your tongue but continues throughout your body . Taste leaves a trail of reactions from your mouth to the food’ s final destination, your cells. Without knowing about nutritional balance in terms of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, native cultures around the world have realized that their diets had to be dynamic. They had to have tastes that wake up the body , like bitter and astringent, and others that soothe it, primarily sweet. Digestion sometimes need ed to be increa sed with “hot” tastes—pungen t, sour, and salty—and at other times decreased with “cold” tastes—bitter , astringent, and sweet. All of this was understood instinctively . In Mexico, the limited fare of corn and beans could not by itself have supported a healt hy, balanced existence, but with the addition of red chilies, it has served the native people for many centu ries. Red chili adds vitamin C to a diet, but the more important additi on it brings are the sweet and pungent tastes that round out the six rasas. Curry spices serve the same purpose in India, where the staples of rice, lentils, and wheat bread would be dramatically limited without them. MESSAGES FROM NA TURE Every food has its own profile of tastes. Simple foods, such as white sugar or vineg ar, have only one taste, but most others have at least two: lemon is sour, but also sweet and bitter; carrots are sweet, bitter , and astringent; cheese is sweet and sour. Milk is considered a complete food, having the subtle presence of all six rasas besides its obvious sweetness; for this reason, Ayurveda recommends drinking milk alone rather than combin ing it with a meal. (Having milk with other sweet foods—fruit, grains, and sugar—is good, however; in fact, milk is the best buffer for refined white sugar , which enters the system in a rush if digested alone.) The major food groups all revolve around the rasa of sweet, but with the five other tastes carefully blended in:Fruits—primarily sweet and astringent, with citrus fruits adding sour Vegetables—primarily sweet and astringent, with leafy gr eens adding bitter Dairy—primarily sweet, with yogurt and cheese adding sour and astringent Meat—primarily sweet and astringent Oils—primarily sweet Grains and Nuts—primarily sweet Legumes—primarily sweet and astringent Herbs and Spices—primarily pungent, with all other flavors added secondarily Just as most foods are sweet, so is Kapha dosha, the builder of tissues; the human body as a whole is therefore sweet, too. Herbs and spices fill in the spectrum of tastes, but, more important, they evoke a complete range of bodily responses. Black pepper makes your mouth water , fenugreek dries it up; mustard heats the body , mint cools it off. The only blank space is salt, which is provided by salt itself. Using its taste profile, every food can be described as either increasing or decreasing one or more dosha s, as we saw. Since the three doshas are connected, an increase of one is so crucial that Ayurveda has described every food according to whether it will increase or decrease a particular dosha. Cabbage, for instance, is known to increase Vata, onions to increase Pitta, all oils to increase Kapha. Considering that half a dozen messages are being relayed to the body simultaneously by any one food, you can get just as strong a headache computing the six rasas as trying to compute every gram of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. This complex job belongs to a Ayurvedic doctor . To him, food is medicine, and its properties must be scrutinized as closely as any other medic ine. He needs to know that cabbage is sweet and astringent, dry and cooling, and therefore a strong aggravator of Vata (that is whycabbage tends to form gas in the colon, the seat of Vata). He would then be able to prescribe an offsetting food (such as fennel) to counteract Vata aggravation. He also knows that every food delivers an “aftertaste” (vipak ) that affects the body once the food has been digested. Cabbage’ s aftertaste is pungent, for example. Vipak is an important consideration when a doctor is prescribing a therapeutic diet, because he needs to know every aspect of the food that is affecting his patient’ s doshas. At home you do not have to be so specific. The aftertaste of food once it has been digested is something we will leave to the doctor , but for the sake of completion, vipak is classified as follows: Sweet and salty tastes lead to sweet vipak Sour taste leads to sour vipak Pungent, bitter , and astringent tastes lead to pungent vipak Thus the six tastes are reduced to three after digestion is completed. In the following pages we delve more deeply into the six rasas and what they say to your doshas. I hope you will read this section at least once, but do not memorize it. Your taste buds, not your mind, should be the final judge of taste. Sweet is a taste that strongly increases Kapha. Eating sweet foods will bring on Kapha qualities in the body—coldness, heaviness (by adding fat), steadiness, and physical energy. Just as Kapha people are naturally the mosteasily satisfied, sweet is the most satisfying taste. It is very Kapha to be sweet-natured and motherly—from childhood on, two Kapha foods, milk and sugar , represent motherlines s. Any food that feels nourishin g and brings satisfaction generally has a sweet component. For instance, all meats, oils, and most grains are considered sweet. Ayurveda looks upon rice and wheat, the two grains that are the staff of life in the East and West, as sweet in taste. Ghee (clarified butter) is another sweet food, being derived from milk; it is considered the best remedy for balancing Pitta. Sweet foods are also soothing and relieve thirst. If you are in a nervous, unsettled mood, which is a sign of aroused Vata, sweet will calm you; it also puts out the fire of Pitta (an angry baby is pacified by givin g it milk or sugar). However , too much sugar is not stabilizing; it makes the mind dull and drow sy. Complacency , greed, and emotional dependency come from too much sweet. Too much sweet becomes cloying. It leads to negative qualities that come from pushing Kapha too far: sluggishness, overweight, mental dullness, excess mucus, congestion, and sleepiness. Kapha people are endowed with qualities of satisfaction and well-being that Vata and Pitta types have to seek through sweet tastes. However , in the case of any Kapha imba lance, sweet foods are considered undesirab le and should be reduced or avoided. Only honey is an exception to this rule. It is better than any other sweet food for balancing Kapha. Salt increases both Pitta and Kapha. It sparks digestion, a Pitta function. Its taste adds savor to food, stokes the appetite, and starts the flow of saliva and stom ach juices. Salt is hot like Pitta (all the digestive processes heat up the body). Too much of it, however , and the other tastes are overwhelmed, making nothing taste good. The Kapha connection is through two otherqualities Ayurveda associates with salt—oiliness and heaviness. By attaching itself to water molecules, salt makes your tissues heavier . Excessive salt will make it harder to control food cravings, which Kapha types must do to remain on a balanced diet. By making you eat too much, salt adds fat and leads to overweight. In the West, the connection between salt and hypertension has been convincing enough that many patients with high blood pressure have been forbidden to eat any but the smallest amounts of salt. This implied that salt was somehow an enemy . Now it is known that such restrictions were too severe—a norm al person can eat moderate amounts of salt without harm to his blood pressu re. The basic reason not to overindulge is that a moderate diet promotes health in every way, not just by averting hypertension. Ayurveda would point out that salt doesn’ t raise blood pressure , the doshas do. It takes a dosha imbalance before the salt will do any harm. Too much salt also leads to Pitta-related skin inflammation, acne, and overheating. If there is a Pitta or Kapha imbalance in the body , salty food is considered undesirable. Emotionally , salt gives life its zest, but too much salt nullifies this effect, just as too many potato chips kills the appetite instead of stimulates it. If you overuse salt, it takes more and more of it to register at all—this is why salty foods are compulsive. Excess salt in general is associated with cravings and compulsive desires. Like salt, sour is a Pitta-Kapha taste that sparks the digestion and adds savor to food. It is refreshing to eat sour food, but it increases thirst, which is connected to Pitta—the heat generated by extra Pitta has to be slaked with lots of water . Sour food can therefore add to fluid retention, making the body heavier (more Kapha). Pitta’ s sharp qualities, such as sharp intellect and wittiness, are increased by sour foods, but “turning sour” is also possible, since too much Pitta is connected with resentment and envy , popularly called “sour grapes.” Cheese and yogurt derive their sourness from fermentation. In small quantities, sour foods make the digestive juices flow. However , Ayurveda is distinctly opposed to fermented sourness in general—vinegar and fermented alcohol are considered toxic, reflecting the Pitta-Kapha quality of this taste. Out-of-balance Pitta brings toxicity to the blood; out-of-balance Kapha makes the tissues stagnant with ama. Excess of sour foods leads to acidic difficulties in the body , such as ulcers, disturbed blood chemistry , skin irritations, and heartburn. If there is a Pitta or Kaph a imbalance in the body already , sour foods are considered undesirable. Fermented foods are undesirable at any time except in small amounts. Bitter is the most Vata of tastes, being light, cold, and dry in its effects on the body . It is a corrective taste, bringing the cravings for sweet, sour, andspicy foods back into balance. Bitter quickens the palate by waking it up, not by satisfying it, a very Vata property , since Vata is responsible for alertness. A dash of bitters or a glass of tonic water is effective in getting the digestion going for people with slow digestion; the bitterness instantly makes the palate want the more satisfying tastes. Bitter tones the tissues, a proper ty that gave tonic water its name. Bitter is the best taste, along with sweet, for cooling you off in hot weather . When the body has beco me toxic, inflamed, hot, or itchy as a result of Pitta aggravation, bitter is considered the best corrective. (Bitter quinine bark soothes fever , for example.) In excess, bitter aggravates Vata, leading to typical Vata complaints—loss of appet ite, weight loss, headaches, unsteadiness, dry skin, and a hollow feeling of weakness. The braci ng alertness associated with bitter turns to bitter feelings in excess, associated with lack of satisfaction—anything that is too Vata is not satisfying, because Vata’s nature is constantly to seek change. Grief, which destroys the balance of Vata and makes life seem completely without satisfaction, is bitter . In Ayurveda, hot, spicy food is considered to have its own taste, called pungent. Pungen cy is immediately recognizable because it causes a burning sensation (the increased Pitta) and thirst (the drying effect of increased Vata). Pungency heats up the body and makes fluids flow out of it. As a result, digestion is increased and congested tissues are cleaned out. Sweat, tears, saliva, mucus, and the blood all start flowing when pungency is present.Because it flushes out your sinus cavities, pungent food is the best for balancing Kapha, which when aggravated leads to congestion of mucous membranes. Western medicine long thought that spicy food must be bad for anyone with irritated mucous membranes, but the effect of opening and flushing out the tissues is now considered extremely beneficial; sufferers of chronic bronchitis and asthma have sometimes been put on Mexican food laden with chili pepper . The antitoxic effect of pungent is said to help clear the skin, even though Pitta is increased—the Vata dryness clean s out the oily pores that exacerbate acne. In excess, pungency turns to pain—eating a raw chili causes swollen lips and eyes, burni ng skin, and hot sweat. Too much spicy food makes you overly thirsty , dizzy , and unsett led, reflecting the Vata influence (too much Vata makes for light-headednes s and dryness). The sharpness of pungent, if pushed too far , will not excite the body but irritate it. The same is true of the emotio ns. Pungent humor is invigorating, but it can also be sharp and hurtful. Excitable, extroverted people are already inclined to be pungent—if you add more, they turn feverish. If a Vata or Pitta imbalance is present in the body , pungent food is not desirable. Astringent, the taste that makes your mouth dry and puckered, is the least familiar of the six rasas. It is an alkaline taste, equal but opposite to the puckering of sour lemons. Like bitter , astringent is Vata—the gas produced by boile d cabbage and the dry, mealy taste of beans are both Vata effects. Astringency is light like bitter but more appetizing; traditional cultures around the world have subsisted on beans, and in the Middle Ages, cabbagewas a staple food throughout Europe. Astringency is settling; potatoes, carrots, and other earthy foods bring out this satisfying ef fect. Astringent is cooling and constr ictive; it stops the flow of secretions such as sweat and tears (making beans a good pairing for chili peppe rs, since they offset each other). In excess, its constricting effect may lead to Vata complaints of constipation and dry mouth, along with gas or distension in the lower abdomen. People who have a dry wit are astringent. It is a quality that dampens excitement and brings you back to yourself. Taken too far, however , astringency becomes shriveling. The sudden constriction when you are seized by fear and the dry mouth that anxiety brings are both negative astringent qualities. Astringent emotions lack warmth in general; to be old, cold, and shriveled up is what makes people into old prunes if they age badly . If there is a Vata imbalance in the body , astringent food is undesirable. AGNI—THE DIGESTIVE FIRE Most people have never consulted a physician about their digestion. As a society used to good health, we take for granted our ability to process food, and, in the absence of a seriou s problem like peptic ulcers or colitis, we ignore the occasional upset stomach or uncomfortable night spent after “eating the whole thing.” Ayurveda, on the other hand, considers poor digestion a major factor in the disea se process and extols good digestion as the giver of health. Every cell has been created from food. If the food has been used well, then the cells will be built well; if it has been used badly , then the disease process has already started. The Ayurvedic sages liked to say that if you could digest it properly , poison would be good for you, while with poor digestion, a person can die from drinking nectar . DIGESTION AND THE DOSHASAyurveda says that there are no absolutely good or bad foods, only food that is good or bad for you. Being able to extract every life-giving value from what you eat is of the utmost importance. People are not born equal in this regard— the three major body types have very different powers of digestion. Vata digestion tends to be variable and often delicate. Pitta digestion tends to be str ong and intense. Kapha digestion tends to be slow and often heavy . As with everyth ing that the doshas touch, each style of digest ion has its advantages and drawbacks. Vatas may not be thrilled to discover that they tend to have delicate or unreliable digestion, but this makes them more discriminating eaters, and they rarely have to worry about the runaway appetites of Pittas or the discouraging slide into overweight experienced by many Kaphas. The important thing is to make maximum use of the digestion you were born with and improve it as much as possible. The digestive tract not only extracts nutrition for your body , it is highly responsive to your emotions. Your “gut feelings” have been put there by nature so that the mind and body can communicate. Vata imbalance often shows up as disturbed feelings that create pain in the intestines. Pitta dosha is responsible for correct metabolism and “pure blood” (absence of toxins) ; it is also the dosha that controls the proper rate of digestion. This is called agni, or “the digestive fire.” Agni is one of the most impor tant principles in Ayurveda, equal to the doshas. A primary sign of good health is that your agni is burnin g bright, that is, you are digesting your food efficiently , distributing all the necessary nutrients to every cell, and burning off waste products without leaving deposits of toxins. Therefore, by balancing agni, one keeps all these things in balance at the same time. Nature has set up everyone’ s body in such a way that agni follo ws a cycle throughout the day; unless agni’ s daily rhythm is correctly set, digestion willsuffer. One of the most valuable things to know is how to reset a flickering agni and coax it back into its natural groove. HOW TO RESET AGNI Agni’ s daily rhythm rises and falls, making you slightly hungry in the morning, very hungry at noon, and moderately hungry in the early evening. In between these times, agni shuts down your appetite so that it can proceed to diges t the food you have already eaten. When your stomach is empty again, agni renews your appetite once more. If this basic cycle is thrown off, the body becomes confused—ap petite and digestion start to overlap. Your agni will tell you if this has happened by a wide range of symptoms: Heartburn and acid stomach Fluttering stomach or nervous digestion Loss of appetite at mealtimes Constipation or diarrhea Lack of interest in food Overweight or underweight Serious digestive disorders: irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, diverticulitis, et cetera The first and most important thing to do if any of these symptoms appears is to reset your agni to its natura l cycle. It is also a good idea to do this just to tone your digestion, even if you have no digestive problems. Vata types can reset agni once a month.Pitta types can reset agni twice a month (it is also good to do it when ever your appetite has become ravenous and you begin to overeat). Kapha types can reset agni up to once a week, unless there are serious digestive compl aints. Kapha dosha benefits from this routine more than the other doshas, since digestion tends to be heavy and slow . No matter what your body type, do not attempt to reset your agni if you are feeling sick. Being sick usually indicates that agni is down (or at least not running correctly); that is not a good time to be tampering with it. If you have an ulcer , colitis, or any other serious digestive complaint , do not restart agni, except under a doctor ’s care. The method for resetting agni is as follows: Weekend Pr ogram It takes roughly two days to reset agni. Since rest is one of the requirements on the day you do not eat, doing the program over the weekend is best for most people. FRIDA Y ROUTINE Eat normally at breakfast and lunch. Do not have an afternoon snack or any alcohol after noon. Eat a light dinner of nourishing food, making sure that it is satisfyi ng but not heavy; exclude spicy food and cheese . Just before bedtime, take a laxative—three tablets of senna (Sennokot®), followed by a small glass of hot water . Go to bed early . Some people will wake up during the night for a bowel movement , others will wait until morning —either way is normal. SATURDA Y ROUTINEBefore you can reset your agni, it is necessary first to lower it. This is done by not eating meals and only drinking liquids during the day. Vata and Pitta types shou ld drink fruit juice diluted with warm water . Apple or grape juice are good; orange juice is too acidic. Drink one glass of juice at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinnertime; three or four more can be taken between meals, but do not drink more than that unless it’s water . The aim is to have no appe tite and only a minimum of calories to digest. Kapha types can follo w this routine or drink only warm water , if they are comfortable with that. Spend the day reading, watchin g TV, or performing light activi ty. A short walk in the morning and in the afternoon is a good idea. Do not travel any distance or undertake heavy physical tasks. If you run or exercise heavily , skip it for a day and relax. If you feel faint with hunger , take one tables poon of honey with a glass of warm water and lie down for five minutes. It is normal to feel lightness in your limbs, but if you start to tremble or feel dizzy , lie down and rest. If the feeling persists, eat a small meal. You may be unsettled from unusually high stress that has thrown you of f balance. SUNDA Y ROUTINE Now you want to restart your agni and let it adjust itself to its normal cycle. To do this, eat a light breakfast of hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of rice, or cream of wheat) with a little butter , milk, and sugar . Herb tea is also good in the morning to soothe the stomach—licorice root for Vatas, peppermint for Pittas and Kaphas. If you followed the program correctly on Saturday , this will be all the breakfast you’ll want. If you still feel very hungry , have more cereal or a glass of juice. Coffee, tea, and cigarettes will throw off your agni rhythm and defeat your purpose. (Kapha types, who are slow starters in the morning, can drink gotu kola tea as a stimulant—this herb is sold in health-food stores.) Do not eat again until noon.At exactly noon, have a good lunch, one that satisfies you without being heavy or immoderate. It is best not to excite your digestion with salty or spicy food or alcohol, but do not have just a salad and water , either . Ginger tea is a good idea. If you are Vata and have no appetite, drink it before the meal; otherwise, during or after the meal is fine. If you do not have ginger tea, sip a glass of warm water with your meal. Do not eat again until dinner . Have an early dinner (at least three hours before you go to bed), eating a nourishing meal that suits your body type. Make this meal smaller than lunch. Rice, lentils, and steamed vegetables are good. Even a repeat of breakfast would be good for most Kaphas and Pittas, or for anyone who tends to overeat. Now that your agni is reset, your hunger cycle will naturally tend to make you want a light breakfast a substantial lunch, eaten at the same time every day a light supper , eaten early and at the same time every day The following things will throw your agni off again and should be avoided. Eating between meals. The rule here is not to stimulate your appetite if you are not going to eat. Agni likes to finish what it starts; therefore, it is thrown of f by empty stimulation from chewing gum, hard candy , or breath mints taken throughout the day . However , having tea and cookies in the afternoon is a good idea for Vata types or for anyone who gets fatigued at the end of the workday . Strong stimulants . Caf feine, salt, and alcohol are strong stimulants and should be taken moderately . The indigestion most people feel at a cocktail party comes from the mixing of salty food, alcohol, and noise.If you like to drink cof fee, always have it with food, not alone. The same applies to salt and alcohol. Being addicted to any of these stimulants makes it impossible to balance the digestion. Skipping meals. Agni wants something to do three times a day and resents it if you do not eat. Kapha types can skip meals because their agni moves slowly and burns low , but it is still a good rule to eat three times a day . AGNI AND AMA The Ayurvedic ideal is that agni be kept operating efficiently under all conditions; it must not be so cold that food is not complete ly digested. Partially digeste d food turns into ama, a cold, foul-smelling residue whose “stickiness” prevents the doshas from circulating freely as they should. There is also the opposite dange r that agni will burn too high, in which case the nutrients in food will not be extracted but burned away . Then digestion becomes feverish, leading to weakness instead of strength. Agni and ama form the most important pair of opposites in the body , making the difference between a state of dynamic health and a state of slow deterioration. The most obviou s difference between the two is that agni makes you feel well, while ama makes you feel sick. There are some specific signs as well. Agni gives one: Glowing complexion and bright eyes Strong digestion without constipation or diarrhea Ability to eat all foods Clear , straw-colored urine Normal feces without strong smellIf there is ama in the body , it can vary from a minor to a major serious condition. Among the earlier signs are: Dull skin and eyes Unpleasant taste in the mouth, with coated tongue in the morning Strong bad breath Urine that is cloudy , dark, or discolored Weak digestion, chronic constipation and/or diarrhea Loss of appetite (food tastes bad) Aching joints Once the digestive fire has returned to normal and the collected ama from the past is flush ed out, agni by itself will continue to purify the body . Your digestion is self-correcting, because nature has set things up so that agni burns ama. This is another example of how you can trust your body to know what to do. IMPROVING YOUR AGNI Certain foods, spices, and herbs are effective in improving the quality of agni in everyone, according to Ayurveda. They are used to stimulate appetite, increase the power of digestion, and remove ama. GINGER Dried into a powder or used fresh, ginger is praised as the best spice for helping the agni of all body types. Powdered ginger , sold in grocery-store spice racks, is stronger , more drying, and more pungent than fresh gingerroot, which is sold in the fresh produce department (or in health-foodstores if your supermarket does not carry it). Fresh ginger is considered the better digestive aid. Ginger can be used in various ways: As a tea. Boil a large pinch of dry ginger in a cup of water over a low flame until a quarter of the water boils away , then strain. This tea is drunk before meals to whet the appetite. A small glass of it can be sipped during or after meals to aid digestion. Fresh ginger tea is made by first boiling your water and then, with the heat off, dropping in a few thin slices of unpeeled gingerroot (about one tablespoon per cup of water). Allow to steep for five minutes, then strain. You can make a much stronger tea by boiling the slices of gingerroot with the water , but this would be considered a medicinal tea, not to be drunk every day . As a spice . Ayurveda recommends a variety of ways to use ginger in cooking. Either the powder or the root can be added to recipes for steamed vegetables, curri es, gingerbread, cakes, and cookies. You can lightly sprinkle ginger on your food at the table or chew on a sliver of fresh ginger during the meal. Although it may be too strong for everyone, scatter ing chopped gingerroot over your food as a garnish (like parsley) is also considered worthwhile. Try one approach at a time, however; it does not take much ginger to kindle agni.Fresh ginger tea aids digestion. Different body types are advised to take ginger in slightly different ways: Vata types can mix the choppe d fresh root with salt. Pitta types need less pungency , so weak ginger tea is enough for them, sweetened with sugar to make the ginger less spicy . Kapha types (and anyone who is overweight) want it for eliminating excess Kapha from the system, so they can take a good deal of ginger tea sweetened with honey . If your appetite and/or digestion become poor as the result of nervousness, stress, or illness, an excellent way to restore it is with the following ginger routine. Ginger Routine In a small glass, metal, or ceramic bowl, mash four tablesp oons each powdered ginger , brown sugar , and ghee (melted, clarified butter , see page 304). Mix to a uniform consistency , cover , and store in a cool place.Take a little bit of this ginger mixture every day before breakfast, making sure that you follow it with a good breakfast (hot cereal, grape juice, muffins, and herb tea with cinnamon in it is a good menu). Consume the ginger mixture according to the following schedule. After finishing the ginger routin e, your digestion should be norm alized. If you still experience digestive difficulty , see a doctor; at the first sign of digestive cramps and pain, do not attempt this routine—consult a physician instead. Ginger Follow-up If you are trying to cure a long-standing Vata imbalance or want to keep your digestion at its peak, takin g a little fresh ginger every day is a good idea. It is also considered the best preventive against build ing up ama through improper digestion. Cut a thin, nicke l-sized slice from the end of a fresh gingerroot, cut off the peel, and chop very fine. Add a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Eat this mixture a half-hour before lunch and dinner to stimulate your digestion. If that is incovenient, the mixture can be eaten just before the meal. GHEEGhee, or clarified butter , is prized because it increases agni without simultaneously fueling Pitta. Ghee in fact is considered excellent for balancing Pitta. Kapha types generally need to avoid too much oil of any kind, but ghee is the best for them, too. Ghee is used: As a cooking oil. Small amounts of ghee are good for sautéing vegetables (not for deep-fr ying). Ghee does not work as well as butter in baking— breads and desserts need the moisture and milk solids in regular butter . As a flavoring in place of butter . Since ghee is a prepared food, using butter is not the same as using ghee. Where you would ordina rily butter a vegetable dish or a baked potato or mix it into your oatmeal, ghee is a better choice. As a digestive. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee over food at the table (more is not better , since too much oil of any type is not healthy). How to Make Ghee Place one pound unsalted butte r in a one-quart saucepan over low heat. Allow to melt completely , then raise heat to medium. Skim off foam as it rises. When the butter starts to boil, giving off its water conten t, lower heat again and cook slowly for abou t ten minutes. The ghee is done when all the moisture has cooked out and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan have turned light golden brown (there will also be a nutty aroma, but no hint of burning). Remov e from heat, let cool, and pour into a clean glass jar or bowl. Ghee keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator but can also be stored at cool or even room temperature for several weeks. OTHER SPICES FOR GOOD AGNI Herbs and spices can be selected for each body type, as we did in the Vata-, Pitta-, and Kapha-pacify ing diets. But certain ones are good for generally improving the quality of agni. (Pitta types have to be careful to use these in small amounts, since they tend to increase Pitta dosha.) Building up excess Kapha will make digestion difficult by decreasing agni; it is also bad for buildin g up ama, since both are cold, heavy , and viscous. Using bitter and pungen t herbs will reduce Kapha and also “scrape” ama out of the tissues. Ayurve da specifically recommends bitter taste for purification. Among the more common spices that attack ama are: As you can see, these are some of the spices recommended for stimulating agni. The regula r but moderate use of these flavorings in your cooking will help prevent ama from forming. Chewing fennel seed after a meal and sweetening your herb tea with raw, uncooked honey are also standard practices for balancing agni. A BLISSFUL DIET If bliss is basic to life, there should be a physical counterpart for it in the body , and indeed there is. According to Ayurveda, the body’ s counterpart to pure joy is a subtle substance called ojas, which is extrac ted from food once it has been perfectly digested. Like the doshas, ojas is just on the edge of being physical; one could call it a subtle substance that registers on both mind and body . The final and most valuable result of eating a good diet is toextract every drop of this subtle substance from your food. That enables the cells to “feel happy ,” to experience the cellular equivalent of bliss. Twenty years ago, the idea of a happy cell would have made little sense in scientific terms. Now we know that the body in fact is capable of generating a complex network of chemic als (neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and related molecules) that the brain uses to communicate emotions throughout the body . It is also known that a single meal can change the brain’ s biochemistry quite radically . A brain chemical connected with feelings of well-being, such as serotonin, goes up and down in response to the food being digested in the intestinal tract. This has opened up the exciting possibility of a “food pharmacy ” to correct depression, anxiety , and other mental disorders, just as fiber helps to correct cholesterol. In Ayurveda we can bypass the bewildering complexity of brain chemistry . Natur e has given us ojas, a single substance for happiness that the body makes all the time. THE SA TTVIC DIET Ideally , any food you eat is turne d into ojas. At the breast, a baby naturally turns his mother ’s milk into ojas, but it would take a remarkable digestive tract to produc e ojas from three-day -old leftover pizza. An excellent, balanced diet can be planned around the foods that turn into ojas with the least effort on your body’ s part. Ayurveda calls these the sattvic, or pure, foods. To this list one often sees added wheat, mung beans, coconut , oranges, dates, and honey . You do not need to be compulsive about these few foods, or eat them exclusively . Just include them in your diet on a regular basis. On a more general level, a sattvic diet contains: Light, soothing, easily digested food Fresh produce Spring water Balance of all six tastes Moderate portions According to Ayurveda, this is the best diet for physical strength, a good mind, good health, and longevi ty. It is conducive to happines s and loving emotions becau se it is in tune with nature as a whole. The list of sattvic foods is short and would not fulfill a normal person’ s dietary requirements, although if well managed, a diet limited to milk, vegetables, rice, and fruit would certainly be excellent for one’s health. The famous Duke University rice diet, based only on boiled rice and fruit, is recognized as an effective therapeutic regime for heart patients, diabetics, and obese people. Milk is currently unfashionable among health-conscious people, who tend to link it with digestive problem s, allergies, and high cholesterol. Ayurveda holds that most of the objections to milk have to do with consuming it improperly . Milk should be boiled before drinking, which makes it more digestible. It can be drunk hot, warm, or cool, but never ice cold, straight out of the refrigerat or. Milk should not be taken with tastes that conflict with it (pungent, sour, salty) but only with other sweet foods (such as grains, sweet fruits, and cereals). Whenever possible, drink milk from organic dairies that do not use hormones or pesticides and have a stated commitment to treat their cows compassionately . Sweet foods aside, it is recomm ended that you drink milk alone rather than with your meals, since this is easier on your digestive tract. Low-fatmilk may be best for Kapha types, but whole milk is preferred for all other body types (unless there is a problem with high cholesterol, in which case skim milk is best). If you still have trouble digesting milk after it is boiled, or if it seems to create mucous congestion, try adding two pinches of either turmeric or dry ginger before boiling (adding a little raw sugar or honey will cut the bitter taste of the turm eric). These measures remove most of the current objections to milk, which Ayurveda traditionally considers an excellent food for bodily strengt h, longevity , and peace of mind. Cow’ s milk is favored above others as the most sattvic. To move in the direction of a more sattvic diet, try having your next plate of pasta with butter , cream, and Parmesan cheese instead of tomato sauce with meat, onions, and garlic. Any such change, even for one or two meals, should amply demonstrate that sattvic eating makes digestion easier , gives you more energy after you eat, and infuses a light, buoyant feeling throughout the body . (If you want to measure this difference accurately , don’t drink alcohol with your meals while you are experimenting.) If your cholesterol is elevated, go easy on the butter and cream; tossing the pasta with olive oil, fresh basil, and a touch of Parmesan is a delicious substitute. Another example of a sattvic food is sweet lassi, an excellent digestive aid that can be drunk during mild or warm weather (it may tend to promote excessive Kapha in the chill of winter). Sweet Lassi For four people , place a scant quarter teaspoon of cardamom, a pinch of saffron threads, and three tablespoons of hot water in a blender . Blend for ten seconds. Add two cups plain yogurt, two cups cool water , and two tablespoons sugar; blend until smooth. If your mixture tastes too sharp, add a quarter cup heavy cream. Adding a few drops of rose water at the end is quite sattvic and cools Pitta (rose water is available at Indian and Middle Eastern groceries and many health-food stores).BITS—BODY INTELLIGENCE TIPS In Ayurveda, how you eat is just as important as what you eat. The reason goes back to ojas, which is the end product of all the signals that reach your body during a meal. Although eating food that tastes good is important, the other senses— sight, hearing, touch, and smell—also need to send signals that make your body happy; that is the only way to completely make use of the mind body connection. An attractive plate of food served steaming hot from the kitchen sends all the right signals to nourish the doshas, but if you leave that plate on the table for five hours, it will be unfit to eat, despite the fact that its raw nutrients have not significantly changed. Your whole body is tremendously alert while you are eating. Your stomach cells are aware of the conversation at the dinner table , and if they hear harsh words, the stomach will knot with distress. Then everything you digest at that meal will be affected, because you have taken in indigestible sounds. Your stomach cells cann ot literally hear, but the brain, taking in what the ears hear, sends out chemical messages to update the stomach and every other organ. So you cannot fool any part of your digestive tract into thinking that a tense meal is a happy one; your “gut feelings” know better . According to Ayurveda, your duty to your body is to nourish every cell in it in every way— that is the larger purpose of a sattvic diet. If you are careful about nourishing your cells completely , they will reward you with ojas, the perfect expression of their satisfaction. To make that happen, I have provided sixteen BITS, or Body Intelligence Tips, each of which helps to expand the satisfaction your body derives from eating. As you follow these BITS, you will be surprised at how much more enjoyment every meal can give you. Your body can bubble with joy after every breakfast, lunch, and dinner , once you know the secret of turning food into ojas. BITS—BODY INTELLIGENCE TIPS Eat in a settled atmosphere.Never eat when you are upset. Always sit down to eat. Eat only when you feel hungry . Reduce ice-cold food and drink. Don’ t talk while chewing your food. Eat at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow . Wait until one meal is digested before eating the next (i.e., intervals of two to four hours for light meals, four to six for full meals). Sip warm water with your meal. Eat freshly cooked meals whenever possible. Minimize raw foods—cooked food (preferably well cooked) is much easier to digest. Do not cook with honey—heated honey is considered to produce ama. Drink milk separately from meals, either alone or with other sweet foods. Experience all six tastes at every meal. Leave one-third to one-quarter of your stomach empty to aid digestion. Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal. This concise list gives you a great head start on getting the most out of any diet. The basic principle here is that food that is easiest to digest is best for you, which explains why well-cooked food is preferred over raw, hot over cold, fresh over processed . Making digestion easier is also the reason for sipping warm water with your meal, eliminating milk, and sitting brieflyat the table once you are finishe d eating in order for your body to settle into its digestive rhythms. Another important principle is moderation. Moderate amounts of food are taken at regular mealtimes—the Ayurvedic texts consider a double handful of food to be an ideal portion. Take this amount as a first serving and go back for more if you still feel hungry . It is advisable to leave one-third to one-quarter of your stomach empty at the end of your meal. Your digestive tract will work more efficiently on smaller portions, and your body will find it much easier to control its weight automatically . Don’ t be afraid that you will walk away from the table hungry . Being satisfied is not the same as being stuffed. If you leave a little empty room in your stomach, you will feel light, buoyant, energetic, and much fresher an hour after you eat. That is how a properly eaten meal feels, leading naturally to a properly digested one. BITS for Weight Loss If you have a problem with overweight, try using these BITS before going on any kind of calorie-cutting diet. You will be surprised to find that your excess weight is caused not just by what you’ve been eating but by how you’ve been eating it— carelessly or compulsively , on the run instead of sitting down, between meals instead of at regular hours. These are simple things, of course, but they make a big dif ference. Leaving aside the very small minority who actually have a hormone or metabolic problem, most overweight people are the victims of conditioning —bad habits that have been unconsciously built into their bodies over time. Everyone’ s body has the intellig ence to know the right amount to eat; nature gave us the hunger reflex to tell us when our bodies want food and its opposite, the satiation reflex, to tell us when our stomachs are satisfied. People who have lost these instincts have surrendered an important aspect of their body’s intelligence. They eat like machines, switched on by automatic cues—the sight and smell of food, or just the thought of it. But by following these BITS they can return to “conscious eating,” guided by their body’ s inner intelligence.WHEN OJAS IS LESS Besides overeating, other abuses at the table can suppress our healthy instincts for eating. If you consume a meal while feeling angry , an Ayurvedic doctor would say that you are producing mental ama from your food, while a Western physici an would say that a stress reaction is throwing off your endocrine balanc e. The end result is the same, a damaging chemical message going straight to your cells. Even before you eat the first bite of food, disturbances in the doshas can negate your body’s attempt to produce ojas. As usual, Vata dosh a comes into play here—wha tever throws off Vata dosha also damages ojas—worry , loud noise, going without sleep, and drastic diets and fasting. On the positive side, anything that calms Vata during mealtimes is good for ojas. Most people do not eat a strict ly sattvic diet in this country , so I would like to give a few more reasons why changing to one would benefit your health. You will notice that a sattvic diet is vegetarian, and it is now common knowledge that vegetarians have excellent blood pressure (18 percent lower than average) and lower rates of heart disease and cancer . In addition, the federal governm ent has warned us for twenty-five years that Americans eat far too much salt, protein, and animal fat, most of which come s from meat (much of the excess salt also comes from processed foods). If you started reducing your meat intake today , moving gradually in the direction of a meatless diet, you would almost certainly lessen your chance of having a heart attack in the future. By including sweet foods on the list, Ayurveda does not mean to condone the huge amounts of refined white sugar that most of us now consume. The sweetness of pasta, rice, and bread is enough. Like everything else, there are two extremes in diet. Certain foods are not easily turned into ojas; among them are the following: Non-Ojas Diet Meat, poultry , and fishHeavy and oily foods Cheese Leftovers and processed food Excess of sour , salty tastes Overeating For the sake of economy and convenience, many cooks like to save leftovers, but Ayurveda frowns on this practice. Food is meant to be eaten fresh, right off the stove if not right out of the garden—the fresher the produce, the more the ojas. Old, cold food, even when reheated, will not produce ojas in the same amou nts. Frozen food in general is also good to avoid. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes destroys ojas and prevents other foods from producing it. Air and water pollution are equally detrimental. All of these influences are called tamasic, which means that they produce dullness and inertia by promoting the buildup of ama. Kapha types should be especially wary , since their naturally slow digestion makes it easier for ama to form. Finally , here are a few time-ho nored rules about a blissful diet handed down in the Ayurvedic tradition, each aimed at maximizing ojas. Eat fresh food suitable to the season and your geographical area. The best possible foods for the body are fruits, vegetables, and dairy products raised in your area— foods have thrived on the same air , water , nutrients, and sunlight that you grow on. Have your lar gest meal at lunch, when digestion is strongest. Dinner should be a modest meal that can be digested before bedtime; breakfast is optional and in any case should be your smallest meal of the day . Eat at the same time every day . Besides not snacking, avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and easily promotes ama as you sleep from the food that is undigested.Dine either alone or with people you genuinely like. Negative emotions, whether yours, the cook’ s, or those of the people around you, have a harmful ef fect on digestion. Be grateful for nature’ s unending gift of food, and respect it as you do yourself. OceanofPDF .comCHAPTER 13 EXERCISE—THE MYTH OF “NO P AIN, NO GAIN” From an Ayurvedic standpoint, much of the exercise recommended today falls short of ideal. Why do we need physical activity in the first place? Charaka, the greatest writer on Ayurveda, gave this answer: “From physical exercise one gets lightness, a capacity for work, firmness, tolerance of difficulties, elimination of impurities, and stimulation of digestion.” Aerobics for your heart or weight training for your muscles achieve some of these goals, but these are not comprehensive enough activities to fit Charaka’ s description. The ideal is to balance the whole system , mind and body . It is also vital that exercise give more energy than it takes, a consideration that people tend to ignore. One very simple exercise, walking, comes close to being ideal because it is a natural activity that satisfies all three doshas. Vata types find that taking a long walk tranquilizes them. Pitta types react quite differently . They like being slowed down from the driving pace that so often overtakes them during their workday . Kaphas feel stimulated and lighter; a brisk walk clears out any minor congestion they might have built up and makes their typically slow digestion more efficient. For these reasons, a brisk half-hour walk every day is one of the prime recommendations we make to patients at the Chopra Center . Patients are also taught a new approach to exercise in which the aim is not to strain or to pound their muscles into shape. They are shown that exercise is meant to forge a closer link between themselves and their quantum mecha nical bodies—it thus becomes a powerful tool for balance. We call this approach “three-d osha exercise.” It is embodied in a set of short, connected routines:The Sun Salute ( Surya Namaskara )—a morning exercise that combines stretching, balance, and calisthenics (1 to 6 minutes) Neuromuscular integration—a set of gentle yoga positions (10 to 15 minutes) Balanced breathing—a simple form of Pranayama , a traditional yogic breath exercise (5 minutes) The description of these exercises begins on page 325. Performing them in connection with meditation, for which they are ideally suited, raises mind body integration to a new level. To begin with, these exercises are natural and comfortable forms of activity that the doshas welcome. They can also be performed by all age groups and do not require you to be in shape. From the very first session, people discover the intimacy that nature has established between awareness and physiology . The body is not just a shell or a walking life-support system. It is your self intimately clothed in matter . Getting back in touch with this intimacy is very reassuring and delightful, particularly for people who have given up on exercise and become virtual strangers to their bodies. SUCCESS WITHOUT PAIN Before explaini ng these points further , let’s consider conventional exercise. Since life is generally meant to be comfortable and happy , Ayurveda views exercise as a means to that end. It holds that exercise should always leave you ready for work. Exercise shouldn’ t be work itself. Yet, many Americans see it that way. They feel that without a grim and determined attitude, they are not doing much good for themse lves. (Go to the park early tomorrow mornin g and count how many frowns there are on the faces of the runners you see.) If you get only one benefit from Ayurveda’ s approach to exercise, it should be that “no pain, no gain” is a myth.A good way to see this is in terms of Vata dosha. All physica l activity increases Vata. A moderate increase makes you feel more vigorous, alert, and clearheaded, as well as stronger physically . You are getting mental and physical benefits together , in a natural balance. But overstimulating Vata destroys all these benefits. It makes you feel restless, fatigued, and shaky . How much is enough, then? As a general rule, Ayurveda wants us to exercise to 50 percent of maximum capacity . If you can bicycle ten miles, go for five; if you can swim twenty laps, make it ten. These lower limits are not detrimental to fitness; in fact they make exercise more efficient, because you are not givin g your body so much repair work to do afterwa rd, and your cardiovascular system will have an easier time returning to normal after your workout. Another simple guideline has to do with exertion. Rather than exerting yourself to the point where you are sweating heavily and panting for breath, just go until you break out into a light sweat and start to mouth breathe. Those are natural signals that you are at the right limit. You are going too far if you begin to pant or sweat profusely , if you feel your heart pounding violently , or if your knees feel rubbery . At the first sign of overe xertion, stop exercising , give yourself a few minutes of walking around to let the system cool down by stages, and then rest for another few minutes until your pulse and breathing are back to normal. In the heat of competitive sports such as tenni s and racquetball, you may not notice how strenuously you are exerting yourself. If it is fun to play, then keep on. But if you are pushi ng yourself to win the game or to prove that you can keep up with someone else, your attitude is needlessly punishing your body . Vata types especially should be careful not to overdo; their constitutions generally have lower exercise thresholds than Pittas, and Pittas lower than Kaphas. Exertio n also needs to be adjusted for age: over the age of 45 or 50, everyone begins to have increased Vata, which should be comp ensated for by not exercising as hard as before. As in everything else, you need to respect your doshas.

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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: Warm milk before going to bed is a good idea, but eating very late at night is not—it may help you fall asleep, but your body will feel worse in the morning. Lassi, a traditional Indian drink, is good for ridding the body of excess Vata. To make it, whisk together one-half cup plain yogurt and one-half cup water; flavor with a pinch of powdered ginger, salt, or cumin. Sweet mango lassi, made from equal parts yogurt and mango pulp (fresh or canned) is particularly delicious and also balances Vata. For a lighter beverage, either lassi can be diluted with between one-half and one cup of water. One ef ficient and instant way to settle Vata is to sprinkle a special spice powder, called a Vata churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Vata-Pacifying FoodsDairyAll dairy is acceptable, unless you have a known lactase deficiency. Pitta-Pacifying Diet Favor: Cool or warm but not steaming-hot foods Moderately heavy textur es Bitter, sweet, and astringent tastes Less butter and added fat Pitta types are born with naturally strong, efficient digestion that remains that way unless disturbed. They come closest to the ideal of being able to eat a little of everything. Therefor e, they need to be careful to avoid dietary abuses. The continued use of too much salt, overindulgence in sour and spicy food, and overeating are the most common aggravating influences. Being the only hot dosha, Pitta appreciates cool foods, particularly in summer. It is a good idea to be especially scrupulous about having bitter and astringent tastes in your meals (supplied mainly through salads and legumes). These two rasas curb the appetite, dry up excessive moisture, and keep the palate sharp. They also counteract the dulling effect of too much salt and sugar on the taste buds, making it easier for Pittas to be moderate in their appetites, as nature intended them to be. Anything that makes dining a more soothing and orderly experience will also help to pacify this dosha. The Pitta-pacify ing diet given below is the natural choice for Pitta types, unless a Ayurvedically trained physician has indicated otherwi se. Our Pitta patients report that they feel more balanced on this diet, still energetic but with a “softer” energy. Their roaring appetites calm down, too. If you suffer from mild symptoms of Pitta imbalance, such as heartburn, irritability, or excessive thirst, this diet is also good. Try it for a month and see if your symptoms are alleviated. Some general points to help you implement this diet are as follows. Cool, refreshing food is best for Pitta types in summer, with a decrease in salt, oil, and spices, all of which are heating to the body. Salads contain two tastes, bitter and astringent, that balance Pitta and are also cold and light. Milk and ice cream are good, too. Excessive Pitta makes the body too sour; to counteract this, you should generally avoid pickles, yogurt, sour cream, and cheese. Fresh lemon juice is an exception and can be used, sparingly, instead of vinegar in your salad dressings. Fermented foods and alcoholic beverages are aggravating to Pitta because of their sourness, as are the acids in cof fee. Learning to drink herb tea, either mint, licorice root, or the specialPitta-pacifying tea you can order (see page 378), will often make a big difference in smoothing your moods. A breakfast of cold cereal, cinnamon toast, and apple juice is a good replacement for cof fee, doughnut, and orange juice, all of which disturb Pitta. The fat in red meat, which also heats the body, is not needed by Pitta people. Although they like to eat meat, particularly if they are high- powered movers and shakers, Pittas do better on a vegetarian diet than any other body type. If you are not vegetarian, make sure that your diet includes abundant amounts of milk, grains, and vegetables. All of these make Pittas feel extremely good. Once they become accustomed to health-food restaurants, Pittas like them better than their old steak houses because they feel calmer and more satisfied afterward. Fried foods are oily, hot, salty, and heavy, all qualities that Pittas need to avoid. On the other hand, starchy foods—vegetables, grains, and beans—are satisfying and cut ravenous Pitta hunger. The steady ener gy of a high-carbohydrate diet will counteract the tendency to overeat under stress. Processed and fast foods lean heavily on salt and sour tastes; it is a good idea for Pitta types to avoid them as much as possible. Since Pittas are fond of luxury, a subdued, elegant restaurant brings out the best in them. Japanese and Chinese food, being relatively low in fat and meat, are good choices for Pittas. When you eat out, order cool, not iced, water, take salad instead of hot soup, have the bread with a small amount of butter, and feel free to order dessert. Spicy food is too intoxicating to Pitta; if you like Mexican food, minimize the cheese and sour cream, and have a cool guacamole salad to counteract the heavy aggravation of Pitta caused by chilies. Pittas respond well to low-salt diets, but if forced to eat tasteless food, they will quickly rebel. Keeping salt of f the table and adding it only in the kitchen while you cook is a good compromise. Cocktail hour with salty snacks is worse for Pitta types than anyone else. The dry, saltyfood and the alcohol combine to inflame their appetites and stomach linings. To bring down aggravated Pitta, a standard recommendation is to take two teaspoons of ghee (clarified butter) in a glass of warm milk. This also acts as a laxative, which helps flush excess Pitta from the system. Have your ghee and milk in place of dinner or two hours after a light dinner. You can also have it in place of breakfast. (Do not take ghee, however, if you have a problem with elevated cholesterol. ) One ef ficient and instant way to settle Pitta is to sprinkle a special spice powder, called a Pitta churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Pitta-Pacifying Foods SweetenersAll sweeteners are acceptable, except honey and molasses. Plus small amounts of cumin and black pepperKapha is a slow dosha to be affected by food, but over time, Kapha types become imbalan ced as a result of eating too many sweet, rich foods. Other problems can develop, but in Western society, where sugar and fat account for more than half of the calories consumed by the average person, Kaphas have to be on guard against this influence. Salt also needs to be watched, since it too is greatly overused and promotes fluid retention in many Kaphas. Anything that increases lightness should be favored—a small, light meal at breakfast and dinner, lightly cooked foods (no deep-frying), raw fruits and vegetables. Eating spicy food will promote better digestion and warm your body; bitter and astringent foods will help to curb your appetite. In general, anything that makes eating stimulating will help balance Kapha and avert the danger, ever -present with most Kapha types, of overindulging at the table. The Kapha-pacifying diet given below is the natural choice for Kapha body types, unless contrary advice has been given by a Ayurvedically trained physician. Switc hing to this diet helps many of our Kapha patients feel more balanced, energetic, lighter, and happier about themselves. If you suffer from mild symptoms of Kapha imbalance, such as a stuffed or runny nose, being slow to start in the morning, or oversleeping, this diet is also good. Try it for six weeks and see if your symptoms are alleviated. The following suggestions will help people implement a Kapha-pacifying diet. Given a choice, pick hot food over cold at every meal—a hot luncheon entree instead of a sandwich, hot apple pie instead of ice cream, grilledfish instead of tuna salad. Warming up cold Kapha digestion is always good for balance. Dry cooking methods (baking, broiling, grilling, sautéing) are better for Kaphas than moist ones (steaming, boiling, poaching). Before you eat, stimulate your appetite with bitter or pungent tastes instead of salty or sour. The bitterness of romaine lettuce, endive, or tonic water will wake up your taste buds without encouraging you to overeat. Ginger tea or even a pinch of fresh gingerroot is also highly recommended. In general, you want to be sure that bitter and astringent tastes are present in every meal. To get them, it is not necessary to seek out bitter food in quantity. A little bitterness in a salad or the astringency of herbs supplies enough. Among the household spices, cumin, fenugreek, sesame seed, and turmeric are both bitter and astringent. Adding pungent tastes to your diet with spices is one of the best ways to balance Kapha. Anything spicy is good, including very hot Mexican or Indian food that makes your eyes water. This action flushes out all the mucous membranes. Contrary to what we tend to think, hot, spicy food is best not in the summer but in the winter; it of fsets the cold, damp quality that Kapha resents. Kaphas need to eat breakfast mainly to get them started in the morning, not for solid nourishment. Rather than relying on a jolt of caf feine from coffee, wake your body up with light, Kapha-reducing foods, such as hot spiced cider, buckwheat pancakes with apple butter, corn muf fins, and bitter cocoa made with skim milk and a touch of honey. In general, anything hot and light is good, while anything cold, heavy, or sweet is not so good. Cold cereals, cold juice or milk, and sugary pastries tend to create congestion, particularly in damp winter weather. Bacon and sausage are Kapha-aggravating because of their salt and oil. If you don’t feel hungry in the morning, it is all right to skip breakfast, which Ayurveda considers optional, especially for Kapha types. If you wake up feeling congested in the morning, a sign of excess Kapha, the best things to take are honey, hot water, lemon juice, andginger. Hot ginger tea (page 301) is excellent for Kapha types in general, since it stimulates the system and flushes out excess Kapha. If you occasionally skip a meal—a good idea for many Kaphas—a spoonful of honey in hot water will tide you over. Cutting back on sweets is dif ficult for many Kaphas, but a trial week on a low-sugar diet generally does result in feeling lighter and more energetic. Honey is extensively recommended for Kapha types, but you should not take more than a tablespoon or so per day; honey is not suitable to cook with, either, since heating honey makes it unwholesome, according to Ayurveda. Out-of-balance Kapha types overindulge in dairy products, but butter, ice cream, and cheese are among the worst for you, since they make your system colder and more congested. Low-fat milk is best, preferably pre-boiled to aid digestion, with only a minimum of other dairy products. Sesame seeds on rolls and bread help to counteract the sweet, heavy quality of the wheat, which is not the best for Kapha, either. Because they combine too much heavy sweetness, a hambur ger and milkshake, or even a sandwich with milk, should be eaten only infrequently. Raw fruits, vegetables, and salads are extremely good, since their fiber tones the intestinal tract, in addition to the benefits of their astringent tastes. Generally speaking, Ayurveda prefers all food cooked, but we find that this is an exception that helps most Kapha types. Deep-fried foods of any kind will aggravate Kapha; they are among the few things you should try to eliminate from your diet. There is no need to banish all fats, but make an ef fort to use less butter and oil in your cooking. Corn oil is heating to the body; it is a good choice for you in small quantities, along with almond and sunflower oils. Crisp-steamed vegetables with a little ghee (clarified butter) drizzled over them is good for a light supper; anything crisp, fresh, and stimulating balances Kapha. Restaurant food has to be carefully chosen by Kapha people. Fast food is far too oily, salty, and sweet—head for the salad bar and use a minimum of salad dressing. If you are eating out in better restaurants, Oriental cooking is the lightest, particularly if you concentrate on more vegetables than meat. Wherever you go, order a glass of hot water instead of iced, take salad instead of hot soup (except in cold weather), avoid the rolls and butter, and make dessert small and not too rich—hot fruit pies are probably the best choice. One ef ficient and instant way to settle Kapha is to sprinkle a special spice powder, called a Kapha churna, over your plate at the table. An Internet source for churnas is on page 378. Kapha-Pacifying Foods THE SIX TASTES Each of the six tastes speaks directly to the quantum mechanical body, and each carries a different message. Our tongues know this instinctively. The voluptuous sweetness of vanilla custard is diametrically opposed to the bitterbite of lemon peel; one is soothing, the other is a shock. Your whole body reacts to the difference, which begins on your tongue but continues throughout your body. Taste leaves a trail of reactions from your mouth to the food’ s final destination, your cells. Without knowing about nutritional balance in terms of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, native cultures around the world have realized that their diets had to be dynamic. They had to have tastes that wake up the body, like bitter and astringent, and others that soothe it, primarily sweet. Digestion sometimes need ed to be increa sed with “hot” tastes—pungen t, sour, and salty—and at other times decreased with “cold” tastes—bitter, astringent, and sweet. All of this was understood instinctively. In Mexico, the limited fare of corn and beans could not by itself have supported a healt hy, balanced existence, but with the addition of red chilies, it has served the native people for many centu ries. Red chili adds vitamin C to a diet, but the more important additi on it brings are the sweet and pungent tastes that round out the six rasas. Curry spices serve the same purpose in India, where the staples of rice, lentils, and wheat bread would be dramatically limited without them. MESSAGES FROM NA TURE Every food has its own profile of tastes. Simple foods, such as white sugar or vineg ar, have only one taste, but most others have at least two: lemon is sour, but also sweet and bitter; carrots are sweet, bitter, and astringent; cheese is sweet and sour. Milk is considered a complete food, having the subtle presence of all six rasas besides its obvious sweetness; for this reason, Ayurveda recommends drinking milk alone rather than combin ing it with a meal. (Having milk with other sweet foods—fruit, grains, and sugar—is good, however; in fact, milk is the best buffer for refined white sugar, which enters the system in a rush if digested alone. ) The major food groups all revolve around the rasa of sweet, but with the five other tastes carefully blended in:Fruits—primarily sweet and astringent, with citrus fruits adding sour Vegetables—primarily sweet and astringent, with leafy gr eens adding bitter Dairy—primarily sweet, with yogurt and cheese adding sour and astringent Meat—primarily sweet and astringent Oils—primarily sweet Grains and Nuts—primarily sweet Legumes—primarily sweet and astringent Herbs and Spices—primarily pungent, with all other flavors added secondarily Just as most foods are sweet, so is Kapha dosha, the builder of tissues; the human body as a whole is therefore sweet, too. Herbs and spices fill in the spectrum of tastes, but, more important, they evoke a complete range of bodily responses. Black pepper makes your mouth water, fenugreek dries it up; mustard heats the body, mint cools it off. The only blank space is salt, which is provided by salt itself. Using its taste profile, every food can be described as either increasing or decreasing one or more dosha s, as we saw. Since the three doshas are connected, an increase of one is so crucial that Ayurveda has described every food according to whether it will increase or decrease a particular dosha. Cabbage, for instance, is known to increase Vata, onions to increase Pitta, all oils to increase Kapha. Considering that half a dozen messages are being relayed to the body simultaneously by any one food, you can get just as strong a headache computing the six rasas as trying to compute every gram of fat, carbohydrate, and protein. This complex job belongs to a Ayurvedic doctor. To him, food is medicine, and its properties must be scrutinized as closely as any other medic ine. He needs to know that cabbage is sweet and astringent, dry and cooling, and therefore a strong aggravator of Vata (that is whycabbage tends to form gas in the colon, the seat of Vata). He would then be able to prescribe an offsetting food (such as fennel) to counteract Vata aggravation. He also knows that every food delivers an “aftertaste” (vipak ) that affects the body once the food has been digested. Cabbage’ s aftertaste is pungent, for example. Vipak is an important consideration when a doctor is prescribing a therapeutic diet, because he needs to know every aspect of the food that is affecting his patient’ s doshas. At home you do not have to be so specific. The aftertaste of food once it has been digested is something we will leave to the doctor, but for the sake of completion, vipak is classified as follows: Sweet and salty tastes lead to sweet vipak Sour taste leads to sour vipak Pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes lead to pungent vipak Thus the six tastes are reduced to three after digestion is completed. In the following pages we delve more deeply into the six rasas and what they say to your doshas. I hope you will read this section at least once, but do not memorize it. Your taste buds, not your mind, should be the final judge of taste. Sweet is a taste that strongly increases Kapha. Eating sweet foods will bring on Kapha qualities in the body—coldness, heaviness (by adding fat), steadiness, and physical energy. Just as Kapha people are naturally the mosteasily satisfied, sweet is the most satisfying taste. It is very Kapha to be sweet-natured and motherly—from childhood on, two Kapha foods, milk and sugar, represent motherlines s. Any food that feels nourishin g and brings satisfaction generally has a sweet component. For instance, all meats, oils, and most grains are considered sweet. Ayurveda looks upon rice and wheat, the two grains that are the staff of life in the East and West, as sweet in taste. Ghee (clarified butter) is another sweet food, being derived from milk; it is considered the best remedy for balancing Pitta. Sweet foods are also soothing and relieve thirst. If you are in a nervous, unsettled mood, which is a sign of aroused Vata, sweet will calm you; it also puts out the fire of Pitta (an angry baby is pacified by givin g it milk or sugar). However, too much sugar is not stabilizing; it makes the mind dull and drow sy. Complacency, greed, and emotional dependency come from too much sweet. Too much sweet becomes cloying. It leads to negative qualities that come from pushing Kapha too far: sluggishness, overweight, mental dullness, excess mucus, congestion, and sleepiness. Kapha people are endowed with qualities of satisfaction and well-being that Vata and Pitta types have to seek through sweet tastes. However, in the case of any Kapha imba lance, sweet foods are considered undesirab le and should be reduced or avoided. Only honey is an exception to this rule. It is better than any other sweet food for balancing Kapha. Salt increases both Pitta and Kapha. It sparks digestion, a Pitta function. Its taste adds savor to food, stokes the appetite, and starts the flow of saliva and stom ach juices. Salt is hot like Pitta (all the digestive processes heat up the body). Too much of it, however, and the other tastes are overwhelmed, making nothing taste good. The Kapha connection is through two otherqualities Ayurveda associates with salt—oiliness and heaviness. By attaching itself to water molecules, salt makes your tissues heavier. Excessive salt will make it harder to control food cravings, which Kapha types must do to remain on a balanced diet. By making you eat too much, salt adds fat and leads to overweight. In the West, the connection between salt and hypertension has been convincing enough that many patients with high blood pressure have been forbidden to eat any but the smallest amounts of salt. This implied that salt was somehow an enemy. Now it is known that such restrictions were too severe—a norm al person can eat moderate amounts of salt without harm to his blood pressu re. The basic reason not to overindulge is that a moderate diet promotes health in every way, not just by averting hypertension. Ayurveda would point out that salt doesn’ t raise blood pressure, the doshas do. It takes a dosha imbalance before the salt will do any harm. Too much salt also leads to Pitta-related skin inflammation, acne, and overheating. If there is a Pitta or Kapha imbalance in the body, salty food is considered undesirable. Emotionally, salt gives life its zest, but too much salt nullifies this effect, just as too many potato chips kills the appetite instead of stimulates it. If you overuse salt, it takes more and more of it to register at all—this is why salty foods are compulsive. Excess salt in general is associated with cravings and compulsive desires. Like salt, sour is a Pitta-Kapha taste that sparks the digestion and adds savor to food. It is refreshing to eat sour food, but it increases thirst, which is connected to Pitta—the heat generated by extra Pitta has to be slaked with lots of water. Sour food can therefore add to fluid retention, making the body heavier (more Kapha). Pitta’ s sharp qualities, such as sharp intellect and wittiness, are increased by sour foods, but “turning sour” is also possible, since too much Pitta is connected with resentment and envy, popularly called “sour grapes. ” Cheese and yogurt derive their sourness from fermentation. In small quantities, sour foods make the digestive juices flow. However, Ayurveda is distinctly opposed to fermented sourness in general—vinegar and fermented alcohol are considered toxic, reflecting the Pitta-Kapha quality of this taste. Out-of-balance Pitta brings toxicity to the blood; out-of-balance Kapha makes the tissues stagnant with ama. Excess of sour foods leads to acidic difficulties in the body, such as ulcers, disturbed blood chemistry, skin irritations, and heartburn. If there is a Pitta or Kaph a imbalance in the body already, sour foods are considered undesirable. Fermented foods are undesirable at any time except in small amounts. Bitter is the most Vata of tastes, being light, cold, and dry in its effects on the body. It is a corrective taste, bringing the cravings for sweet, sour, andspicy foods back into balance. Bitter quickens the palate by waking it up, not by satisfying it, a very Vata property, since Vata is responsible for alertness. A dash of bitters or a glass of tonic water is effective in getting the digestion going for people with slow digestion; the bitterness instantly makes the palate want the more satisfying tastes. Bitter tones the tissues, a proper ty that gave tonic water its name. Bitter is the best taste, along with sweet, for cooling you off in hot weather. When the body has beco me toxic, inflamed, hot, or itchy as a result of Pitta aggravation, bitter is considered the best corrective. (Bitter quinine bark soothes fever, for example. ) In excess, bitter aggravates Vata, leading to typical Vata complaints—loss of appet ite, weight loss, headaches, unsteadiness, dry skin, and a hollow feeling of weakness. The braci ng alertness associated with bitter turns to bitter feelings in excess, associated with lack of satisfaction—anything that is too Vata is not satisfying, because Vata’s nature is constantly to seek change. Grief, which destroys the balance of Vata and makes life seem completely without satisfaction, is bitter. In Ayurveda, hot, spicy food is considered to have its own taste, called pungent. Pungen cy is immediately recognizable because it causes a burning sensation (the increased Pitta) and thirst (the drying effect of increased Vata). Pungency heats up the body and makes fluids flow out of it. As a result, digestion is increased and congested tissues are cleaned out. Sweat, tears, saliva, mucus, and the blood all start flowing when pungency is present. Because it flushes out your sinus cavities, pungent food is the best for balancing Kapha, which when aggravated leads to congestion of mucous membranes. Western medicine long thought that spicy food must be bad for anyone with irritated mucous membranes, but the effect of opening and flushing out the tissues is now considered extremely beneficial; sufferers of chronic bronchitis and asthma have sometimes been put on Mexican food laden with chili pepper. The antitoxic effect of pungent is said to help clear the skin, even though Pitta is increased—the Vata dryness clean s out the oily pores that exacerbate acne. In excess, pungency turns to pain—eating a raw chili causes swollen lips and eyes, burni ng skin, and hot sweat. Too much spicy food makes you overly thirsty, dizzy, and unsett led, reflecting the Vata influence (too much Vata makes for light-headednes s and dryness). The sharpness of pungent, if pushed too far, will not excite the body but irritate it. The same is true of the emotio ns. Pungent humor is invigorating, but it can also be sharp and hurtful. Excitable, extroverted people are already inclined to be pungent—if you add more, they turn feverish. If a Vata or Pitta imbalance is present in the body, pungent food is not desirable. Astringent, the taste that makes your mouth dry and puckered, is the least familiar of the six rasas. It is an alkaline taste, equal but opposite to the puckering of sour lemons. Like bitter, astringent is Vata—the gas produced by boile d cabbage and the dry, mealy taste of beans are both Vata effects. Astringency is light like bitter but more appetizing; traditional cultures around the world have subsisted on beans, and in the Middle Ages, cabbagewas a staple food throughout Europe. Astringency is settling; potatoes, carrots, and other earthy foods bring out this satisfying ef fect. Astringent is cooling and constr ictive; it stops the flow of secretions such as sweat and tears (making beans a good pairing for chili peppe rs, since they offset each other). In excess, its constricting effect may lead to Vata complaints of constipation and dry mouth, along with gas or distension in the lower abdomen. People who have a dry wit are astringent. It is a quality that dampens excitement and brings you back to yourself. Taken too far, however, astringency becomes shriveling. The sudden constriction when you are seized by fear and the dry mouth that anxiety brings are both negative astringent qualities. Astringent emotions lack warmth in general; to be old, cold, and shriveled up is what makes people into old prunes if they age badly. If there is a Vata imbalance in the body, astringent food is undesirable. AGNI—THE DIGESTIVE FIRE Most people have never consulted a physician about their digestion. As a society used to good health, we take for granted our ability to process food, and, in the absence of a seriou s problem like peptic ulcers or colitis, we ignore the occasional upset stomach or uncomfortable night spent after “eating the whole thing. ” Ayurveda, on the other hand, considers poor digestion a major factor in the disea se process and extols good digestion as the giver of health. Every cell has been created from food. If the food has been used well, then the cells will be built well; if it has been used badly, then the disease process has already started. The Ayurvedic sages liked to say that if you could digest it properly, poison would be good for you, while with poor digestion, a person can die from drinking nectar. DIGESTION AND THE DOSHASAyurveda says that there are no absolutely good or bad foods, only food that is good or bad for you. Being able to extract every life-giving value from what you eat is of the utmost importance. People are not born equal in this regard— the three major body types have very different powers of digestion. Vata digestion tends to be variable and often delicate. Pitta digestion tends to be str ong and intense. Kapha digestion tends to be slow and often heavy. As with everyth ing that the doshas touch, each style of digest ion has its advantages and drawbacks. Vatas may not be thrilled to discover that they tend to have delicate or unreliable digestion, but this makes them more discriminating eaters, and they rarely have to worry about the runaway appetites of Pittas or the discouraging slide into overweight experienced by many Kaphas. The important thing is to make maximum use of the digestion you were born with and improve it as much as possible. The digestive tract not only extracts nutrition for your body, it is highly responsive to your emotions. Your “gut feelings” have been put there by nature so that the mind and body can communicate. Vata imbalance often shows up as disturbed feelings that create pain in the intestines. Pitta dosha is responsible for correct metabolism and “pure blood” (absence of toxins) ; it is also the dosha that controls the proper rate of digestion. This is called agni, or “the digestive fire. ” Agni is one of the most impor tant principles in Ayurveda, equal to the doshas. A primary sign of good health is that your agni is burnin g bright, that is, you are digesting your food efficiently, distributing all the necessary nutrients to every cell, and burning off waste products without leaving deposits of toxins. Therefore, by balancing agni, one keeps all these things in balance at the same time. Nature has set up everyone’ s body in such a way that agni follo ws a cycle throughout the day; unless agni’ s daily rhythm is correctly set, digestion willsuffer. One of the most valuable things to know is how to reset a flickering agni and coax it back into its natural groove. HOW TO RESET AGNI Agni’ s daily rhythm rises and falls, making you slightly hungry in the morning, very hungry at noon, and moderately hungry in the early evening. In between these times, agni shuts down your appetite so that it can proceed to diges t the food you have already eaten. When your stomach is empty again, agni renews your appetite once more. If this basic cycle is thrown off, the body becomes confused—ap petite and digestion start to overlap. Your agni will tell you if this has happened by a wide range of symptoms: Heartburn and acid stomach Fluttering stomach or nervous digestion Loss of appetite at mealtimes Constipation or diarrhea Lack of interest in food Overweight or underweight Serious digestive disorders: irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers, diverticulitis, et cetera The first and most important thing to do if any of these symptoms appears is to reset your agni to its natura l cycle. It is also a good idea to do this just to tone your digestion, even if you have no digestive problems. Vata types can reset agni once a month. Pitta types can reset agni twice a month (it is also good to do it when ever your appetite has become ravenous and you begin to overeat). Kapha types can reset agni up to once a week, unless there are serious digestive compl aints. Kapha dosha benefits from this routine more than the other doshas, since digestion tends to be heavy and slow. No matter what your body type, do not attempt to reset your agni if you are feeling sick. Being sick usually indicates that agni is down (or at least not running correctly); that is not a good time to be tampering with it. If you have an ulcer, colitis, or any other serious digestive complaint, do not restart agni, except under a doctor ’s care. The method for resetting agni is as follows: Weekend Pr ogram It takes roughly two days to reset agni. Since rest is one of the requirements on the day you do not eat, doing the program over the weekend is best for most people. FRIDA Y ROUTINE Eat normally at breakfast and lunch. Do not have an afternoon snack or any alcohol after noon. Eat a light dinner of nourishing food, making sure that it is satisfyi ng but not heavy; exclude spicy food and cheese. Just before bedtime, take a laxative—three tablets of senna (Sennokot®), followed by a small glass of hot water. Go to bed early. Some people will wake up during the night for a bowel movement, others will wait until morning —either way is normal. SATURDA Y ROUTINEBefore you can reset your agni, it is necessary first to lower it. This is done by not eating meals and only drinking liquids during the day. Vata and Pitta types shou ld drink fruit juice diluted with warm water. Apple or grape juice are good; orange juice is too acidic. Drink one glass of juice at breakfast, at lunch, and at dinnertime; three or four more can be taken between meals, but do not drink more than that unless it’s water. The aim is to have no appe tite and only a minimum of calories to digest. Kapha types can follo w this routine or drink only warm water, if they are comfortable with that. Spend the day reading, watchin g TV, or performing light activi ty. A short walk in the morning and in the afternoon is a good idea. Do not travel any distance or undertake heavy physical tasks. If you run or exercise heavily, skip it for a day and relax. If you feel faint with hunger, take one tables poon of honey with a glass of warm water and lie down for five minutes. It is normal to feel lightness in your limbs, but if you start to tremble or feel dizzy, lie down and rest. If the feeling persists, eat a small meal. You may be unsettled from unusually high stress that has thrown you of f balance. SUNDA Y ROUTINE Now you want to restart your agni and let it adjust itself to its normal cycle. To do this, eat a light breakfast of hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of rice, or cream of wheat) with a little butter, milk, and sugar. Herb tea is also good in the morning to soothe the stomach—licorice root for Vatas, peppermint for Pittas and Kaphas. If you followed the program correctly on Saturday, this will be all the breakfast you’ll want. If you still feel very hungry, have more cereal or a glass of juice. Coffee, tea, and cigarettes will throw off your agni rhythm and defeat your purpose. (Kapha types, who are slow starters in the morning, can drink gotu kola tea as a stimulant—this herb is sold in health-food stores. ) Do not eat again until noon. At exactly noon, have a good lunch, one that satisfies you without being heavy or immoderate. It is best not to excite your digestion with salty or spicy food or alcohol, but do not have just a salad and water, either. Ginger tea is a good idea. If you are Vata and have no appetite, drink it before the meal; otherwise, during or after the meal is fine. If you do not have ginger tea, sip a glass of warm water with your meal. Do not eat again until dinner. Have an early dinner (at least three hours before you go to bed), eating a nourishing meal that suits your body type. Make this meal smaller than lunch. Rice, lentils, and steamed vegetables are good. Even a repeat of breakfast would be good for most Kaphas and Pittas, or for anyone who tends to overeat. Now that your agni is reset, your hunger cycle will naturally tend to make you want a light breakfast a substantial lunch, eaten at the same time every day a light supper, eaten early and at the same time every day The following things will throw your agni off again and should be avoided. Eating between meals. The rule here is not to stimulate your appetite if you are not going to eat. Agni likes to finish what it starts; therefore, it is thrown of f by empty stimulation from chewing gum, hard candy, or breath mints taken throughout the day. However, having tea and cookies in the afternoon is a good idea for Vata types or for anyone who gets fatigued at the end of the workday. Strong stimulants. Caf feine, salt, and alcohol are strong stimulants and should be taken moderately. The indigestion most people feel at a cocktail party comes from the mixing of salty food, alcohol, and noise. If you like to drink cof fee, always have it with food, not alone. The same applies to salt and alcohol. Being addicted to any of these stimulants makes it impossible to balance the digestion. Skipping meals. Agni wants something to do three times a day and resents it if you do not eat. Kapha types can skip meals because their agni moves slowly and burns low, but it is still a good rule to eat three times a day. AGNI AND AMA The Ayurvedic ideal is that agni be kept operating efficiently under all conditions; it must not be so cold that food is not complete ly digested. Partially digeste d food turns into ama, a cold, foul-smelling residue whose “stickiness” prevents the doshas from circulating freely as they should. There is also the opposite dange r that agni will burn too high, in which case the nutrients in food will not be extracted but burned away. Then digestion becomes feverish, leading to weakness instead of strength. Agni and ama form the most important pair of opposites in the body, making the difference between a state of dynamic health and a state of slow deterioration. The most obviou s difference between the two is that agni makes you feel well, while ama makes you feel sick. There are some specific signs as well. Agni gives one: Glowing complexion and bright eyes Strong digestion without constipation or diarrhea Ability to eat all foods Clear, straw-colored urine Normal feces without strong smellIf there is ama in the body, it can vary from a minor to a major serious condition. Among the earlier signs are: Dull skin and eyes Unpleasant taste in the mouth, with coated tongue in the morning Strong bad breath Urine that is cloudy, dark, or discolored Weak digestion, chronic constipation and/or diarrhea Loss of appetite (food tastes bad) Aching joints Once the digestive fire has returned to normal and the collected ama from the past is flush ed out, agni by itself will continue to purify the body. Your digestion is self-correcting, because nature has set things up so that agni burns ama. This is another example of how you can trust your body to know what to do. IMPROVING YOUR AGNI Certain foods, spices, and herbs are effective in improving the quality of agni in everyone, according to Ayurveda. They are used to stimulate appetite, increase the power of digestion, and remove ama. GINGER Dried into a powder or used fresh, ginger is praised as the best spice for helping the agni of all body types. Powdered ginger, sold in grocery-store spice racks, is stronger, more drying, and more pungent than fresh gingerroot, which is sold in the fresh produce department (or in health-foodstores if your supermarket does not carry it). Fresh ginger is considered the better digestive aid. Ginger can be used in various ways: As a tea. Boil a large pinch of dry ginger in a cup of water over a low flame until a quarter of the water boils away, then strain. This tea is drunk before meals to whet the appetite. A small glass of it can be sipped during or after meals to aid digestion. Fresh ginger tea is made by first boiling your water and then, with the heat off, dropping in a few thin slices of unpeeled gingerroot (about one tablespoon per cup of water). Allow to steep for five minutes, then strain. You can make a much stronger tea by boiling the slices of gingerroot with the water, but this would be considered a medicinal tea, not to be drunk every day. As a spice. Ayurveda recommends a variety of ways to use ginger in cooking. Either the powder or the root can be added to recipes for steamed vegetables, curri es, gingerbread, cakes, and cookies. You can lightly sprinkle ginger on your food at the table or chew on a sliver of fresh ginger during the meal. Although it may be too strong for everyone, scatter ing chopped gingerroot over your food as a garnish (like parsley) is also considered worthwhile. Try one approach at a time, however; it does not take much ginger to kindle agni. Fresh ginger tea aids digestion. Different body types are advised to take ginger in slightly different ways: Vata types can mix the choppe d fresh root with salt. Pitta types need less pungency, so weak ginger tea is enough for them, sweetened with sugar to make the ginger less spicy. Kapha types (and anyone who is overweight) want it for eliminating excess Kapha from the system, so they can take a good deal of ginger tea sweetened with honey. If your appetite and/or digestion become poor as the result of nervousness, stress, or illness, an excellent way to restore it is with the following ginger routine. Ginger Routine In a small glass, metal, or ceramic bowl, mash four tablesp oons each powdered ginger, brown sugar, and ghee (melted, clarified butter, see page 304). Mix to a uniform consistency, cover, and store in a cool place. Take a little bit of this ginger mixture every day before breakfast, making sure that you follow it with a good breakfast (hot cereal, grape juice, muffins, and herb tea with cinnamon in it is a good menu). Consume the ginger mixture according to the following schedule. After finishing the ginger routin e, your digestion should be norm alized. If you still experience digestive difficulty, see a doctor; at the first sign of digestive cramps and pain, do not attempt this routine—consult a physician instead. Ginger Follow-up If you are trying to cure a long-standing Vata imbalance or want to keep your digestion at its peak, takin g a little fresh ginger every day is a good idea. It is also considered the best preventive against build ing up ama through improper digestion. Cut a thin, nicke l-sized slice from the end of a fresh gingerroot, cut off the peel, and chop very fine. Add a few drops of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Eat this mixture a half-hour before lunch and dinner to stimulate your digestion. If that is incovenient, the mixture can be eaten just before the meal. GHEEGhee, or clarified butter, is prized because it increases agni without simultaneously fueling Pitta. Ghee in fact is considered excellent for balancing Pitta. Kapha types generally need to avoid too much oil of any kind, but ghee is the best for them, too. Ghee is used: As a cooking oil. Small amounts of ghee are good for sautéing vegetables (not for deep-fr ying). Ghee does not work as well as butter in baking— breads and desserts need the moisture and milk solids in regular butter. As a flavoring in place of butter. Since ghee is a prepared food, using butter is not the same as using ghee. Where you would ordina rily butter a vegetable dish or a baked potato or mix it into your oatmeal, ghee is a better choice. As a digestive. Drizzle a teaspoon of ghee over food at the table (more is not better, since too much oil of any type is not healthy). How to Make Ghee Place one pound unsalted butte r in a one-quart saucepan over low heat. Allow to melt completely, then raise heat to medium. Skim off foam as it rises. When the butter starts to boil, giving off its water conten t, lower heat again and cook slowly for abou t ten minutes. The ghee is done when all the moisture has cooked out and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan have turned light golden brown (there will also be a nutty aroma, but no hint of burning). Remov e from heat, let cool, and pour into a clean glass jar or bowl. Ghee keeps indefinitely in the refrigerator but can also be stored at cool or even room temperature for several weeks. OTHER SPICES FOR GOOD AGNI Herbs and spices can be selected for each body type, as we did in the Vata-, Pitta-, and Kapha-pacify ing diets. But certain ones are good for generally improving the quality of agni. (Pitta types have to be careful to use these in small amounts, since they tend to increase Pitta dosha. ) Building up excess Kapha will make digestion difficult by decreasing agni; it is also bad for buildin g up ama, since both are cold, heavy, and viscous. Using bitter and pungen t herbs will reduce Kapha and also “scrape” ama out of the tissues. Ayurve da specifically recommends bitter taste for purification. Among the more common spices that attack ama are: As you can see, these are some of the spices recommended for stimulating agni. The regula r but moderate use of these flavorings in your cooking will help prevent ama from forming. Chewing fennel seed after a meal and sweetening your herb tea with raw, uncooked honey are also standard practices for balancing agni. A BLISSFUL DIET If bliss is basic to life, there should be a physical counterpart for it in the body, and indeed there is. According to Ayurveda, the body’ s counterpart to pure joy is a subtle substance called ojas, which is extrac ted from food once it has been perfectly digested. Like the doshas, ojas is just on the edge of being physical; one could call it a subtle substance that registers on both mind and body. The final and most valuable result of eating a good diet is toextract every drop of this subtle substance from your food. That enables the cells to “feel happy,” to experience the cellular equivalent of bliss. Twenty years ago, the idea of a happy cell would have made little sense in scientific terms. Now we know that the body in fact is capable of generating a complex network of chemic als (neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and related molecules) that the brain uses to communicate emotions throughout the body. It is also known that a single meal can change the brain’ s biochemistry quite radically. A brain chemical connected with feelings of well-being, such as serotonin, goes up and down in response to the food being digested in the intestinal tract. This has opened up the exciting possibility of a “food pharmacy ” to correct depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders, just as fiber helps to correct cholesterol. In Ayurveda we can bypass the bewildering complexity of brain chemistry. Natur e has given us ojas, a single substance for happiness that the body makes all the time. THE SA TTVIC DIET Ideally, any food you eat is turne d into ojas. At the breast, a baby naturally turns his mother ’s milk into ojas, but it would take a remarkable digestive tract to produc e ojas from three-day -old leftover pizza. An excellent, balanced diet can be planned around the foods that turn into ojas with the least effort on your body’ s part. Ayurveda calls these the sattvic, or pure, foods. To this list one often sees added wheat, mung beans, coconut, oranges, dates, and honey. You do not need to be compulsive about these few foods, or eat them exclusively. Just include them in your diet on a regular basis. On a more general level, a sattvic diet contains: Light, soothing, easily digested food Fresh produce Spring water Balance of all six tastes Moderate portions According to Ayurveda, this is the best diet for physical strength, a good mind, good health, and longevi ty. It is conducive to happines s and loving emotions becau se it is in tune with nature as a whole. The list of sattvic foods is short and would not fulfill a normal person’ s dietary requirements, although if well managed, a diet limited to milk, vegetables, rice, and fruit would certainly be excellent for one’s health. The famous Duke University rice diet, based only on boiled rice and fruit, is recognized as an effective therapeutic regime for heart patients, diabetics, and obese people. Milk is currently unfashionable among health-conscious people, who tend to link it with digestive problem s, allergies, and high cholesterol. Ayurveda holds that most of the objections to milk have to do with consuming it improperly. Milk should be boiled before drinking, which makes it more digestible. It can be drunk hot, warm, or cool, but never ice cold, straight out of the refrigerat or. Milk should not be taken with tastes that conflict with it (pungent, sour, salty) but only with other sweet foods (such as grains, sweet fruits, and cereals). Whenever possible, drink milk from organic dairies that do not use hormones or pesticides and have a stated commitment to treat their cows compassionately. Sweet foods aside, it is recomm ended that you drink milk alone rather than with your meals, since this is easier on your digestive tract. Low-fatmilk may be best for Kapha types, but whole milk is preferred for all other body types (unless there is a problem with high cholesterol, in which case skim milk is best). If you still have trouble digesting milk after it is boiled, or if it seems to create mucous congestion, try adding two pinches of either turmeric or dry ginger before boiling (adding a little raw sugar or honey will cut the bitter taste of the turm eric). These measures remove most of the current objections to milk, which Ayurveda traditionally considers an excellent food for bodily strengt h, longevity, and peace of mind. Cow’ s milk is favored above others as the most sattvic. To move in the direction of a more sattvic diet, try having your next plate of pasta with butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese instead of tomato sauce with meat, onions, and garlic. Any such change, even for one or two meals, should amply demonstrate that sattvic eating makes digestion easier, gives you more energy after you eat, and infuses a light, buoyant feeling throughout the body. (If you want to measure this difference accurately, don’t drink alcohol with your meals while you are experimenting. ) If your cholesterol is elevated, go easy on the butter and cream; tossing the pasta with olive oil, fresh basil, and a touch of Parmesan is a delicious substitute. Another example of a sattvic food is sweet lassi, an excellent digestive aid that can be drunk during mild or warm weather (it may tend to promote excessive Kapha in the chill of winter). Sweet Lassi For four people, place a scant quarter teaspoon of cardamom, a pinch of saffron threads, and three tablespoons of hot water in a blender. Blend for ten seconds. Add two cups plain yogurt, two cups cool water, and two tablespoons sugar; blend until smooth. If your mixture tastes too sharp, add a quarter cup heavy cream. Adding a few drops of rose water at the end is quite sattvic and cools Pitta (rose water is available at Indian and Middle Eastern groceries and many health-food stores). BITS—BODY INTELLIGENCE TIPS In Ayurveda, how you eat is just as important as what you eat. The reason goes back to ojas, which is the end product of all the signals that reach your body during a meal. Although eating food that tastes good is important, the other senses— sight, hearing, touch, and smell—also need to send signals that make your body happy; that is the only way to completely make use of the mind body connection. An attractive plate of food served steaming hot from the kitchen sends all the right signals to nourish the doshas, but if you leave that plate on the table for five hours, it will be unfit to eat, despite the fact that its raw nutrients have not significantly changed. Your whole body is tremendously alert while you are eating. Your stomach cells are aware of the conversation at the dinner table, and if they hear harsh words, the stomach will knot with distress. Then everything you digest at that meal will be affected, because you have taken in indigestible sounds. Your stomach cells cann ot literally hear, but the brain, taking in what the ears hear, sends out chemical messages to update the stomach and every other organ. So you cannot fool any part of your digestive tract into thinking that a tense meal is a happy one; your “gut feelings” know better. According to Ayurveda, your duty to your body is to nourish every cell in it in every way— that is the larger purpose of a sattvic diet. If you are careful about nourishing your cells completely, they will reward you with ojas, the perfect expression of their satisfaction. To make that happen, I have provided sixteen BITS, or Body Intelligence Tips, each of which helps to expand the satisfaction your body derives from eating. As you follow these BITS, you will be surprised at how much more enjoyment every meal can give you. Your body can bubble with joy after every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, once you know the secret of turning food into ojas. BITS—BODY INTELLIGENCE TIPS Eat in a settled atmosphere. Never eat when you are upset. Always sit down to eat. Eat only when you feel hungry. Reduce ice-cold food and drink. Don’ t talk while chewing your food. Eat at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow. Wait until one meal is digested before eating the next (i. e. , intervals of two to four hours for light meals, four to six for full meals). Sip warm water with your meal. Eat freshly cooked meals whenever possible. Minimize raw foods—cooked food (preferably well cooked) is much easier to digest. Do not cook with honey—heated honey is considered to produce ama. Drink milk separately from meals, either alone or with other sweet foods. Experience all six tastes at every meal. Leave one-third to one-quarter of your stomach empty to aid digestion. Sit quietly for a few minutes after your meal. This concise list gives you a great head start on getting the most out of any diet. The basic principle here is that food that is easiest to digest is best for you, which explains why well-cooked food is preferred over raw, hot over cold, fresh over processed. Making digestion easier is also the reason for sipping warm water with your meal, eliminating milk, and sitting brieflyat the table once you are finishe d eating in order for your body to settle into its digestive rhythms. Another important principle is moderation. Moderate amounts of food are taken at regular mealtimes—the Ayurvedic texts consider a double handful of food to be an ideal portion. Take this amount as a first serving and go back for more if you still feel hungry. It is advisable to leave one-third to one-quarter of your stomach empty at the end of your meal. Your digestive tract will work more efficiently on smaller portions, and your body will find it much easier to control its weight automatically. Don’ t be afraid that you will walk away from the table hungry. Being satisfied is not the same as being stuffed. If you leave a little empty room in your stomach, you will feel light, buoyant, energetic, and much fresher an hour after you eat. That is how a properly eaten meal feels, leading naturally to a properly digested one. BITS for Weight Loss If you have a problem with overweight, try using these BITS before going on any kind of calorie-cutting diet. You will be surprised to find that your excess weight is caused not just by what you’ve been eating but by how you’ve been eating it— carelessly or compulsively, on the run instead of sitting down, between meals instead of at regular hours. These are simple things, of course, but they make a big dif ference. Leaving aside the very small minority who actually have a hormone or metabolic problem, most overweight people are the victims of conditioning —bad habits that have been unconsciously built into their bodies over time. Everyone’ s body has the intellig ence to know the right amount to eat; nature gave us the hunger reflex to tell us when our bodies want food and its opposite, the satiation reflex, to tell us when our stomachs are satisfied. People who have lost these instincts have surrendered an important aspect of their body’s intelligence. They eat like machines, switched on by automatic cues—the sight and smell of food, or just the thought of it. But by following these BITS they can return to “conscious eating,” guided by their body’ s inner intelligence. WHEN OJAS IS LESS Besides overeating, other abuses at the table can suppress our healthy instincts for eating. If you consume a meal while feeling angry, an Ayurvedic doctor would say that you are producing mental ama from your food, while a Western physici an would say that a stress reaction is throwing off your endocrine balanc e. The end result is the same, a damaging chemical message going straight to your cells. Even before you eat the first bite of food, disturbances in the doshas can negate your body’s attempt to produce ojas. As usual, Vata dosh a comes into play here—wha tever throws off Vata dosha also damages ojas—worry, loud noise, going without sleep, and drastic diets and fasting. On the positive side, anything that calms Vata during mealtimes is good for ojas. Most people do not eat a strict ly sattvic diet in this country, so I would like to give a few more reasons why changing to one would benefit your health. You will notice that a sattvic diet is vegetarian, and it is now common knowledge that vegetarians have excellent blood pressure (18 percent lower than average) and lower rates of heart disease and cancer. In addition, the federal governm ent has warned us for twenty-five years that Americans eat far too much salt, protein, and animal fat, most of which come s from meat (much of the excess salt also comes from processed foods). If you started reducing your meat intake today, moving gradually in the direction of a meatless diet, you would almost certainly lessen your chance of having a heart attack in the future. By including sweet foods on the list, Ayurveda does not mean to condone the huge amounts of refined white sugar that most of us now consume. The sweetness of pasta, rice, and bread is enough. Like everything else, there are two extremes in diet. Certain foods are not easily turned into ojas; among them are the following: Non-Ojas Diet Meat, poultry, and fishHeavy and oily foods Cheese Leftovers and processed food Excess of sour, salty tastes Overeating For the sake of economy and convenience, many cooks like to save leftovers, but Ayurveda frowns on this practice. Food is meant to be eaten fresh, right off the stove if not right out of the garden—the fresher the produce, the more the ojas. Old, cold food, even when reheated, will not produce ojas in the same amou nts. Frozen food in general is also good to avoid. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes destroys ojas and prevents other foods from producing it. Air and water pollution are equally detrimental. All of these influences are called tamasic, which means that they produce dullness and inertia by promoting the buildup of ama. Kapha types should be especially wary, since their naturally slow digestion makes it easier for ama to form. Finally, here are a few time-ho nored rules about a blissful diet handed down in the Ayurvedic tradition, each aimed at maximizing ojas. Eat fresh food suitable to the season and your geographical area. The best possible foods for the body are fruits, vegetables, and dairy products raised in your area— foods have thrived on the same air, water, nutrients, and sunlight that you grow on. Have your lar gest meal at lunch, when digestion is strongest. Dinner should be a modest meal that can be digested before bedtime; breakfast is optional and in any case should be your smallest meal of the day. Eat at the same time every day. Besides not snacking, avoid eating at night, which disturbs your digestive rhythms and easily promotes ama as you sleep from the food that is undigested. Dine either alone or with people you genuinely like. Negative emotions, whether yours, the cook’ s, or those of the people around you, have a harmful ef fect on digestion. Be grateful for nature’ s unending gift of food, and respect it as you do yourself. OceanofPDF. comCHAPTER 13 EXERCISE—THE MYTH OF “NO P AIN, NO GAIN” From an Ayurvedic standpoint, much of the exercise recommended today falls short of ideal. Why do we need physical activity in the first place. Charaka, the greatest writer on Ayurveda, gave this answer: “From physical exercise one gets lightness, a capacity for work, firmness, tolerance of difficulties, elimination of impurities, and stimulation of digestion. ” Aerobics for your heart or weight training for your muscles achieve some of these goals, but these are not comprehensive enough activities to fit Charaka’ s description. The ideal is to balance the whole system, mind and body. It is also vital that exercise give more energy than it takes, a consideration that people tend to ignore. One very simple exercise, walking, comes close to being ideal because it is a natural activity that satisfies all three doshas. Vata types find that taking a long walk tranquilizes them. Pitta types react quite differently. They like being slowed down from the driving pace that so often overtakes them during their workday. Kaphas feel stimulated and lighter; a brisk walk clears out any minor congestion they might have built up and makes their typically slow digestion more efficient. For these reasons, a brisk half-hour walk every day is one of the prime recommendations we make to patients at the Chopra Center. Patients are also taught a new approach to exercise in which the aim is not to strain or to pound their muscles into shape. They are shown that exercise is meant to forge a closer link between themselves and their quantum mecha nical bodies—it thus becomes a powerful tool for balance. We call this approach “three-d osha exercise. ” It is embodied in a set of short, connected routines:The Sun Salute ( Surya Namaskara )—a morning exercise that combines stretching, balance, and calisthenics (1 to 6 minutes) Neuromuscular integration—a set of gentle yoga positions (10 to 15 minutes) Balanced breathing—a simple form of Pranayama, a traditional yogic breath exercise (5 minutes) The description of these exercises begins on page 325. Performing them in connection with meditation, for which they are ideally suited, raises mind body integration to a new level. To begin with, these exercises are natural and comfortable forms of activity that the doshas welcome. They can also be performed by all age groups and do not require you to be in shape. From the very first session, people discover the intimacy that nature has established between awareness and physiology. The body is not just a shell or a walking life-support system. It is your self intimately clothed in matter. Getting back in touch with this intimacy is very reassuring and delightful, particularly for people who have given up on exercise and become virtual strangers to their bodies. SUCCESS WITHOUT PAIN Before explaini ng these points further, let’s consider conventional exercise. Since life is generally meant to be comfortable and happy, Ayurveda views exercise as a means to that end. It holds that exercise should always leave you ready for work. Exercise shouldn’ t be work itself. Yet, many Americans see it that way. They feel that without a grim and determined attitude, they are not doing much good for themse lves. (Go to the park early tomorrow mornin g and count how many frowns there are on the faces of the runners you see. ) If you get only one benefit from Ayurveda’ s approach to exercise, it should be that “no pain, no gain” is a myth. A good way to see this is in terms of Vata dosha. All physica l activity increases Vata. A moderate increase makes you feel more vigorous, alert, and clearheaded, as well as stronger physically. You are getting mental and physical benefits together, in a natural balance. But overstimulating Vata destroys all these benefits. It makes you feel restless, fatigued, and shaky. How much is enough, then. As a general rule, Ayurveda wants us to exercise to 50 percent of maximum capacity. If you can bicycle ten miles, go for five; if you can swim twenty laps, make it ten. These lower limits are not detrimental to fitness; in fact they make exercise more efficient, because you are not givin g your body so much repair work to do afterwa rd, and your cardiovascular system will have an easier time returning to normal after your workout. Another simple guideline has to do with exertion. Rather than exerting yourself to the point where you are sweating heavily and panting for breath, just go until you break out into a light sweat and start to mouth breathe. Those are natural signals that you are at the right limit. You are going too far if you begin to pant or sweat profusely, if you feel your heart pounding violently, or if your knees feel rubbery. At the first sign of overe xertion, stop exercising, give yourself a few minutes of walking around to let the system cool down by stages, and then rest for another few minutes until your pulse and breathing are back to normal. In the heat of competitive sports such as tenni s and racquetball, you may not notice how strenuously you are exerting yourself. If it is fun to play, then keep on. But if you are pushi ng yourself to win the game or to prove that you can keep up with someone else, your attitude is needlessly punishing your body. Vata types especially should be careful not to overdo; their constitutions generally have lower exercise thresholds than Pittas, and Pittas lower than Kaphas. Exertio n also needs to be adjusted for age: over the age of 45 or 50, everyone begins to have increased Vata, which should be comp ensated for by not exercising as hard as before. As in everything else, you need to respect your doshas. Section summary: This passage discusses aspects related to maintaining overall wellness via optimal consumption patterns tailored towards individual constitutional typologies, i.

Going the extra mile at any age is just another way of inviting serious Vata problems. (Recent studies in sports medicine indicate that 50 percent of serious women athletes have significant menstrual disturbances, a symptom of highly aggravated Vata. )BODY -TYPE EXERCISE Every time you move your body , you are talking to your doshas. Because each dosha has its own emphasis, there are three kinds of benefits that all balanced exercise brings: Vata: poise, agility , limberness, coor dination, and inner exhilaration Pitta: warming up the body , circulation of blood to all parts, increased heart capacity Kapha: increased strength and stability , steady ener gy If you never get out of your armchair to exercise, obviously you will not experience these benefits. But many active people with firm muscles and sound hearts do not experience them either . Most exercise programs today are dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cardiovascular system, which puts a heavy emphasis on Pitta dosha. I would like to list balanced activities that are broader in scope and more suited to the major body types. VATA-TYPE EXERCISE Vata types have bursts of energy but tire quickly . They excel at balancing and stretching exercises. Being light and lithe, they like yoga and walking, as long as these do not beco me too tiring. Because of their natural enthusiasm, Vata types also feel good doing bouncy dance aerobics to music. Any exercise that takes place indoors is good in winter , since Vatapeople are averse to the cold and do not have enough fat and muscle to protect them from the elements. Everyone dominated by Vata must always be careful not to get carried away and push themselves too far. This is the primary caution for them, since Vata dosha typically starts with a bang but does not know its limits, particularly when out of balance. Half an hour of mild exercise a day is enough. If you are exhausted, trembling, dizzy , or on the verge of cramping, you have gone much too far . These are all signs of Vata imbalance. PITT A-TYPE EXERCISE Pitta types tend to have more drive than endurance. They are good at all exercise in moderation. Because they like a challenge above all, Pittas enjoy skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and other sports that bring a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day . Athletes in competitive sports must have a good deal of Pitta to give them a fighting spirit, but this is not the dosha for intense competition. Pittas hate to lose; this motivates them more than the satisfaction of winning. (Sports studies have shown this among professional tennis players, some of whom are notorious for Pitta-type anger .) Pittas will grimly make themselves run, jog, or weight train but gain very little inner contentment from their ef forts. Probably you already know whether you are falling into this trap. If you stew over every bad shot on the golf course or want to drill your tennis opponent with the ball, give up these sports. If you chew yourself or anyone else out in any sport, walk away from it. Anyone who needs to killsomebody on the court is suffering from gross Pitta imbalanc e. Also, the start-stop rhythm of competition sports is not as good for your body as half an hour of continuous motion. Walking briskly for half an hour a day will take the feistiness out of your system better than a competitive sport. Swimming is even better—many Pitta types who drive themselves on the job find that a plunge in the pool at five o’clock cools them off and dissolves the day’s tensions. Winter sports of all kinds also appeal to Pittas because they take to the cold better than Vata and Kapha types. Because they are stimulated visually , Pittas gain a large benefit from a leisurely stroll in the woods; it provides a change from their usual determined pace. The beauty of nature will sink deep into them when they pause long enough to experience it. KAPHA-TYPE EXERCISE Kapha types have strong, steady energy but often lack agility. They generally are good at all exerc ises and become better when they become more limber and balanced. Because of their physical strength, Kaphas excel at endurance sports—they have the natural build for a long run or distance rowing. The combination of Pitta and Kapha gives determination and endurance. This is a common prakruti among professional baseball and football players.Pushing the blood through their veins feels good to Kaphas, which is why they take to weight training in gyms and health clubs. It is good to combine this with exercis e that gets the circulation going; bringing up a good sweat (without exhaus tion) will clear out Kapha congestion. Many Kaphas have excess fat and water that need to be pushed out. Being a cold dosha, Kapha resents it if you go out into the cold and damp to run or row. In winter , Kapha types should stay indoors and stick with aerobics or calisthenics. Dance classes provide a good alternative for Kaphas. Although a Kapha may not have a dancer ’s build, they feel much better about their natural shape, once they gain the poise and balance that dance training instills. A few general pr ecautions apply to all body types. Do not exercise: Just befor e or after a meal. Exercising at these times lowers your agni, which you want at its highest. Allow at least half an hour before a meal and one to two hours afterward without exercising. Walking right after a meal, however , is an exception. Taking a leisurely fifteen-minute walk after lunch and/or dinner stimulates digestion (anything longer or harder would compete with it). Exercising after sundown is discouraged by Ayurveda; it is better to let your body slow down in the evening and prepare itself for bed. In the wind or the cold. Both Vata and Kapha dosha resent the cold, as we have mentioned. If you go out for a walk in winter , keep yourself bundled up and do not breathe strenuously . Heavy breathing of cold, damp air is bad for the respiratory tract. Also, any strong wind upsets Vata dosha and removes the calming ef fect of a good walk. In the br oiling sun. The reason only mad dogs and English-men go out in the noonday sun is that harsh sun inflames Pitta dosha, raising your body heat at a time when exercise is raising it enough already . Along with moderation, the key to balanced exercise is regularity . The doshas always tend to reinforce themselves. If you have neglec ted physical activity for a while, your body will be used to inertia. Once you return to even a little activity, your doshas will rise to a level of better balance andwant to stay there. So, do everything you can to start a progra m that you will enjoy for years, preferably for life. THREE-DOSHA EXERCISES Now I would like to describe the three-dosha exercises taught at our Center: the Sun Salute, the set of gentle yoga positions, and balanced breathing. More people in the West are becoming familiar with these postures and discovering the benefits that have been appreciated in the East for thousands of years. The following exercises are very easy to do. Only the Sun Salut e requires some patience to master; the others do not take any special skill. The whole emphasis on perfect performan ce is misplaced. These are exercises for tuning in to your body . Anyone can do that, simply by letting the mind relax into each pose. Don’ t even think of how you look or how close you are coming to the ideal positions. Whatever you achieve is right for you. This approach makes each exercise feel good as you do it and even better afterward. Everyone feels pleas antly relaxed for the next few hours after doing a short Ayurvedic routine. The following descriptions were provided by Bija Bennett, an expert, talented yoga therapist who has taught yoga at many of our seminars over the years. SUN SALUTE (Surya Namaskara) Time: 1 to 2 minutes for each cycle, moving slowly Repetitions: 1 to 6 cycles in the morning, mor e as you become experienced The Sun Salute (Surya Namaskara) is a complete Ayurvedic exercise that simultaneously integrates the whole physiology—mind, body , and breath. It strengthens and stretches all the major muscle groups, lubricates the joints,conditions the spine, and mass ages the internal organs. Blood flow and circulation is increased throughout the body . With regular practice, you will gain stability , suppleness, flexibility , and grace. Here is a cycle of 12 postures. Perform them in a fluid sequence one right after another . Synchronize each motion with the breath. Move smoothly into each pose, breathing fully and easily so that each cycle takes about 1 minute. Start slowly , avoiding strain, and listen to your body as you gradually increase the number of Sun Salute cycles you do. This step-by-step progression eliminates the possibility of pulling or tiring your muscles, especially if you haven’ t been exercising regularly . Stop when you notice that you are breathing and perspiring heavily or feeling too tired. If this occurs, lie down and rest for a minute or two until the breath is free. With regular performance, your capacity will easily and naturally increase. In the Sun Salut e, a specific pattern of breathing is encouraged. Inhale to extend your spine vertically or to open, lengthen, or fully elonga te the body . Exhale to bend or fold the body , creating a flexing of the spine. Each of your movements should be an extension of the breath in order to facilitate the motion. There is one transit ional position in the Sun Salut e where the breath pauses for a moment before you continue into the next pose. Otherwise, let your breathing be fluid and continuous throughout the entire exercise. HOW TO PERFORM THE SUN SALUTE Perform the following postures in a flowing, moving sequence one right after another . Remember to use the breath to connect each pose with the one following it. Emphasize the expansion of the chest on inhale and the contraction of the abdomen or belly in a bending motion on exhale. Salutation position ( Samasthiti ). Begin by standing tall with the feet together in a parallel position. Stand evenly on both feet and lengthenthe spine upward. Place the palms of your hands together in front of your chest. Lift the chest and expand the ribs as you look straight ahead. Raised arm position ( Tadasana ). On the inhalation, slowly extend the arms over the head. Lift and expand the chest as you continue lengthening the spine while allowing the head to look upward. Keep breathing evenly as you continue right into the next pose. Hand to foot position ( Uttanasana ). As you exhale, bend the body forward and down, lengthening the spine, arms, and neck. Let the knees soften or bend freely , bringing the hands to the floor . Avoid collapsing the chest or overrounding the upper back. Keep the elbows and shoulders relaxed, and don’ t lock the knees. Equestrian position ( Ashwa Sanchalanasana ). On your next inhalation, extend the left leg back and drop the back knee to the ground. The front knee is bent and the supporting foot remains flat on the floor . Simultaneously extend or lift the spine and open the chest. Allow the head and neck to lengthen vertically .Figure 1. Salutation position.Figure 2. Raised arm position.Figure 3. Hand to foot position. Mountain position ( Adhomukha Svanasana ). On the exhalation, bring the left leg back to meet the right leg—legs both at hip width apart, hands at shoulder distance. As you raise the buttocks and hips, press down with the hands, allowing the spine to release upward and back. Stretch the heels down toward the floor and lengthen through the backs of the legs. Relax and free the head and neck. The body forms an even inverted V from the pelvis to the hands and from the pelvis to the heels.Figure 4. Equestrian position. Eight limbs position ( Ashtanga Namaskara ). Gently drop both knees to the ground and slowly slide the body down at an angle as you bring the chest and chin to the ground. All eight limbs—both the toes, knees, chest, hands, and chin—touch the floor . Hold this very briefly and then continue to move into the next pose. Cobra position ( Bhujangasana ). On the inhalation, lift and expand the chest forward and up as you press down with the hands. Keep the elbows close to the body and continue to extend the spine upward. Open and widen the chest and move the shoulders down and away from the ears to free the neck and head. Let the upper back widen and lengthen. Do not initiate this movement with the head or lift the body with the neck.Figure 5. Mountain position. Figure 6. Eight limbs position.Figure 7. Cobra position. Mountain position ( Adhomukha Svanasana ). Repeat position 5. On the exhalation, raise the buttocks and hips, press down with the hands, and allow the spine to release upward and back. Stretch the heels down toward the floor and lengthen through the backs of the legs. Relax and free the head and neck. Equestrian position ( Ashwa Sanchalanasana ). Repeat position 4. Inhale and swing the right leg forward between the hands. The left leg stays extended back, knee to the ground.Figure 8. Mountain position. The front knee should be bent with the foot flat on the floor . Extend the spine, lifting the chest forward and up. Allow the head and neck to lengthen upward. Hand to foot position ( Uttanasana ). Repeat position 3. As you exhale, step forward with the left leg and continue to bend the body forward and down, lengthening the entire spine. The arms and head follow in line with the spine. Both hands remain on the floor . Let the knees soften or bend freely . Avoid collapsing the chest or overrounding the upper back. Keep the elbows and shoulders relaxed.Figure 9. Equestrian position. Raised arm position ( Tadasana ). Repeat position 2. On the inhalation lift the arms from the upper back as you open the chest forward and up. Do not lift the body from the head or neck. Continue to lift and expand the chest as you come up, extending the arms over the head. Keep the breathing smooth, deep, and continuous. Salutation position ( Samasthiti ). Repeat position 1. Exhale as you lower the arms and bring the palms of your hands together in front of your chest. You are standing tall with the feet in a parallel position at hip distance. Lift the chest and expand the ribs as you look straight ahead. Vertically lengthen the spine and neck.Figure 10. Hand to foot position. This completes one cycle of the Sun Salute. Hold the Salutation position while continuing to breathe for a few breaths. Then begin the secon d cycle. This standing Salutation position becomes positio n 1 of the second set. On the next inhalation, continue into position 2—the raised arm position—and repeat the movements in a fluid sequence.Figure 11. Raised arm position.Figure 12. Salutation position. On subsequent sets of the Sun Salute, you will alternate which foot is extended back and which swings forward in positions 4 and 9—the Equestrian posit ion. In the first cycle, the left foot extends back in positions 4 and 9, with the right foot forward. Alternate which leg extends back on the next set and continue to alternate sides with each new cycle. After you have completed the sequence of Sun Salutes, lie on your back, lengthen the spine, and let the body completely relax. Close your eyes and rest for a minute or two. Allow your breath to be free and easy . YOGA POSITIONSTime: 10 to 15 minutes, moving slowly Repetitions: 1 set in the morning and 1 set in the afternoon The following easy poses, which take about 15 minutes to perform, are considered the basic Ayurvedic exercise. A set can be practiced before morning and afternoon meditati on, with or without the Sun Salute. These positions are taught as part of the neuromuscular integration program at our Center and are comfortable for anyone in good health, regardless of age or previous physical training. What follows is a specific seque nce that begins with toning and warming up the body . The set continues with seated and forward bends, standing postures, inverted poses, backbending postures, twists, a restin g pose, and ends with a short breathing exercise. Each of the postures in this sequence has a specific therapeutic effect on the physiology . We will mention a few of the well-known benefits of each pose, as given in the ancient texts. In general, the toning and warm-up exercises increase circulation and improve blood flow to the entire body . Seated poses help to create stability , proper spinal alignment, and good posture, while the forw ard bends stimulate digesti on, increase the spine’ s flexibility , and calm the physiology . Backbends create mobility and suppleness in the spine—especially in the upper back—and at the same time are invigorating. Inverted poses stimulate the endo crine system and allow for increased circulation, while twists aid digestion, elimin ation, and tone the spinal column. All of these postures are succeeded by the resting pose and breathing exercises, which bring increased awareness, orderliness, and balance. A sequence of postures is important because it first prepares the body in order to warm it up and remove stiffness. It progresses to invigorate, strengthen, and stretch the entire body . This is why it is valuable to practice in an orderly sequence, as each pose is a preparation for the following posture or a counterbalance for the preceding one. Here are a few guidelines to follow befor e practicing:Perform the postures slowly , making sure you inhale and exhale, without holding the breath or controlling it in any way. Breathing should be easy, fluid, and continuous. No pain, most gain. If you can’ t touch your toes without excruciating effort, do not push. Let the knees soften or bend freely . Never strain or push the body in these exer cises. Hold the postures for a few seconds and then release easily . Movements should be performed slowly and comfortably . Never move in or out of the postures abruptly or bounce in a pose. Use the breath to facilitate the movement. How far should you reach? In each pose, go to the point where you feel the stretch. Just move as far as you easily can without ef fort. Allow your awareness to naturally go to the area of the body that is being stretched. Don’ t overextend, force, or overstretch. Sometimes it helps to release or back of f completely from the stretch, then easily stretch it again. Do not forget to br eathe! Over the months you’ll notice increased strength, flexibility , and suppleness. So it is not necessary to push the body to reach a desired goal. In fact, these postures are not designed to impose a specific structure on your body , and there is no “ideal” pose. Rather , your progress comes from the integrated functioning of awareness, movement, and breath. All Ayurvedic exercise involves the mind as well as the body . In each exercise, a particular area is stretched. Allow your awareness to naturally go to that area. The softening of the accumulated stress is said to come from letting the attention be on the area of stretch. For that reason, allow the exercises to have your full attention. Don’ t play the radio or TV in the background. Just let your mind be easily aware of your body . Wear comfortable, loose clothing. Use a flat, nonslippery surface, but avoid performing these exercises on a bare floor . Rather , use a folded wool blanket, rug, exercise mat, or other semisoft surface.Note: It is important to mention that all postures should be adapted to meet the needs of the individual. In certain situations, such as acute illness, pregnancy , menstruation, and specific structural problems, the posture may be adjusted or changed in order to be more ef fective and to serve one’ s particular requirement. In any of these special cases, please check with a qualified yoga instructor . I. TONING-UP EXERCISES (1 to 2 minutes) We begin with a few exercises that invigorate and tone the body . The first exercise consist s of progressively massaging the body with the hands and fingers, moving in the direction of the heart. First come to a comfortable sitting position. Using the palms and fingers of both hands, press the top of your head and gradually continue to press and release with the hands moving forward over the face and down the neck and chest. Again start at the top of the head and press the head with the palms and fingers moving down and over the back of the neck, coming around to the chest. Figure 1. Toning-up exer cise, head. To tone the hands and arms, begin by massaging the right side first. Grasp the fingers of the right hand with your left hand and continue to press and release upward along the top of the right arm all the way to the shoulder and across the chest. Repeat by pressing and releasing along the underside of the right arm, from the hand up to the forearm, shoulder , and chest. Your pressure should be firm and the massage should be gradual and continuous. Repeat on the left side, making sure to massage both the top and underside of the arm. Figure 2. Toning-up exer cise, hands. Bring the tips of the fingers to your navel and with both hands on the belly , begin to press and release around the abdomen, gradually moving the pressure up to the heart. Massage by pressing and releasing your lower back, kidney area, and ribs, moving up toward the heart.Start with the right foot, grasping and massaging the toes, soles, and tops of the feet, moving up the calves, thighs, hips, and stomach, continuing the motion up toward the heart. Repeat on the left leg, moving up to the hips and continuing all the way to the heart. Figure 3. Toning-up exer cise, feet. Lie on your back and lengthen the spine, keeping the head and neck long and free. Bring the knees up to your chest, clasp your hands over the knees, and begin to roll slowly and easily from side to side. Always allow your neck to be relaxed and free. Breathe normally . Roll 5 times to each side and then release the arms and slowly extend your legs out from the hips. Let the body be completely relaxed. Figure 4. Toning-up exer cise, side r oll. Figure 5. Toning-up exer cise, side r oll. II. SEA T FIRMING POSE— Vajrasana (30 seconds to 1 minute) Begin by kneeling and sitting with the buttocks on the heels. The feet should be slightly apart and the big toes crossed. Lengthen the spine, widen the rib cage, and slightly lift the chest. The head and neck should be long and free. Look straight ahead and breathe easily . Place your hands in your lap with the right hand on top of the left, palms up. As you inhale, lift the buttocks of f the heels and come up to a kneeling position. Keep the spine lengthened and the chest open and lifted. Relax the shoulders. On the exhalation, slowly lower the body and sit back down on the heels. Repeat again smoothly , with even breaths. Move slowly . Breathe deeply and easily , keeping the front and back of your body lively , long, and free. Benefits : This asana strengthens the pelvic region, removes tension from the knees and ankles, and builds a strong foundation for the back. III. HEAD TO KNEE POSE— Janu Sirsasana (About 1 minute)Sit down and extend your legs straight out in front of you. Stretch through the backs of the legs and heels, toes pointing up toward the head. Figure 6. Seat-firming pose, starting position. Bend your left knee and place the sole of your left foot against the inside of the right thigh. Inhale and lift your arms straight up from the upper back, stretching them over your head. On the exhalation, bend your body forward and down, elongating the spine. Keep lengthening the spine, arms, and neck as you come forward. Avoid collapsing your chest or overrounding your upper back. You may soften the front knee slightly to further release your lower back. Hold the pose for a few breaths. Then inhale and release your arms from the upper back, opening the chest forward and up as you bring your arms over the head. Repeat again on the same side, moving slowly and comfortably . Inhale as you raise your body and exhale as you lower your arms down to your sides.Figure 7. Seat-firming pose, er ect position. Figure 8. Head to knee pose. Perform this posture on the other side. Fully extend your left leg in front of you. Bend your right knee and place the sole of your right foot against the inside of your left thigh.Breathe and move into the posture slowly . Exhale as you bend your body forward and down and inhale as you come up. Then repeat the pose again on the same side. Breathe normally and hold for a few breaths without strain. After you come up, exhale and lower your arms down to the sides. Benefits: This pose strengthens and relax es the spine, tones the abdome n, liver, and spleen, and aids in digestion. IV. SHOULDER ST AND—Sarvangasana (Start by holding for 30 seconds; gradually increase to 2 minutes if you are comfortable in the Pose.) Note of Caution: If you are a beginner or have stiffness or problems in the upper back and neck, practice this posture with one or two blankets placed under the shoulders to protect the neck, or do a half shoulder stand rather than completely straightening the body in the full pose. Perform this posture slowly . If you have a chronic back problem or high blood pressure, be sure to check with your doctor before performing this pose. (Ayurveda advises against standing on the head, as it can injure the brain, neck, and spine if practiced improperly .) Lie on your back and press your arms and hands flat against the floor . Relax your shoulders and lengthen the spine. As you exhale, bend your knees and slowly raise your legs over the waist. Push your palms against the floor and swing your knees up and over your head. Bend the elbows, keeping them in toward the body and in line with your shoulders. Support your back with your hands above the hips. The elbows and the shoulders should create a stable platform to support your body .Figure 9. Shoulder stand. Straighten your legs by lengthening through both heels and the balls of your feet. Allow your spine to stretch up toward the ceiling. Fully stretch your legs out from the hips to keep your body in a straight line from the ankles to the shoulders. Extend the spine upward. If you choose to do the half shoulder stand, don’ t straighten your body all the way . Support the weight of your body with your hands, while making an angle with your legs. The feet point in the direction of the head. ( Note : This is a shoulder stand, not a neck stand, so there should be no strain in the neck or throat. This is very important.) Keep the breath smooth and let your face relax. Hold the posture for a few breaths, increasing the time you stay in this pose as is comfortable. Benefits : This asana enlivens the entire endocrine system, increases circulation to the thyroid gland, relieves mental fatigue, brings flexibility tothe spine, and has a soothing ef fect on the body . V. PLOW POSE—Halasana (15 seconds to 1 minute) Continue into this next posture as you exhale and bend from the pelvis to bring both legs down over the head. Keep the legs stretching straight out through the heels so that the legs are at a right angle to the torso. Let the spine lengthen to avoid overcurving the upper back. Keep your breath smooth and continuous. Allow your legs to go back only as far as you feel comfortable, without collapsing the spine or chest. Be careful not to put too much strain on the neck. (If you feel pain, slowly release and come out of the pose.) Now extend the arms straight out behind you in the opposite direction, away from your legs and head. The torso should rest on the tops of the shoulders, the hips maintaining a vertical line with the shoulder joints. Lengthen your spine. Figure 10. Plow pose, arms extended.Figure 1 1. Plow pose, arms behind head. Fold the arms over your head and hold for a few breaths. To come down, exhale, bend your knees, and support the lower back with your hands. Slowly and easily uncurl the spine with the knees bent until you are lying flat. Rest comfortably for a few moments. Be sure to let your breathing be smooth, especially in the Shoulder Stand and Plow . The quality of your breath will be an indication of whether you are straining or pushing too far . Benefits : The Plow pose strengthens and relaxes the back, neck, and shoulders. It improves perform ance of the liver and spleen and removes fatigue. Both the Shoulder Stand and the Plow stimulate and normalize functioning of the thyroid gland. VI. COBRA POSE— Bhujangasana (30 seconds to 1 minute) Lie facedown on your stomach, bring the feet together and the hands directly under your shoulders, fingers pointing forward. Slightly elongate the spine to protect your lower back.On the inhalation, lift and expand the chest forward and up as you press down with the hands. Keep your elbows close in to the body and continue to extend the spine upward. Open and widen the chest and move the shoulders down and away from your ears to free the neck and head. Let the upper back widen and lengthen. Hold for a few breaths, then exhale and come down slowly . Repeat the pose 1 to 3 times, beginning with the inhalation and lifting from the chest. Be careful not to initiate this movement from your head or lift the body with your neck. Keep the spine long and breathe normally . Allow your breath to be fluid and easy . Exhale and slowly come down. Let the body relax completely . Benefits : This pose stren gthens the back, stretches the abdominal musc les, and is helpful with uterine and ovarian problems. Figure 12. Cobra pose. VII. LOCUST POSE— Salabhasana (30 seconds to 1 minute)Continue to lie facedown and stretch the arms back by your sides, either next to your hips or under the thighs. Face your palms to the ceiling. Bring your feet together and feel the entire back lengthen. Rest your chin gently on the floor . On the inhalation, raise both legs, lengthening them out from your hips. Keep lengthening the entire spine as the legs extend upward and back. Stretch the thighs and keep both legs fully extended and straight. Keep breathing easily , hold for a few breaths, then release the legs down slowly . Repeat the pose 1 to 3 times. Be careful not to hold the breath in this pose. Use the inhalation to lift the legs. Keep lengthening the spine to prevent straining or hyperextending the lower back. Don’ t force your body to try to achieve a perfect pose. You may wish to raise one leg at a time, lengthening each leg out from the hips, then progressing to raise both legs at once. Figure 13. Locust pose. Benefits : This posture strengthens the lower back, aids in digestion, and benefits the bladder , prostate, uterus, and ovaries.VIII. SEA TED TWISTING POSE— Marichyasana (About 1 minute) Sit with the legs extended straight out in front of you. Keep the spine lengthened, the head and neck free. Bend your left knee and keep the sole of the foot on the ground. Bring your heel toward the buttocks just above the inner part of the right knee. The inner side of the your left foot should touch the inner side of the outstretched right thigh. Actively extend your right leg straight out in front of you, lengthening through the back of your leg and heel. Bring your left hand on the floor behind you, and the right arm on the outside of the left knee. If it is dif ficult to do this, just grasp the knee with your hand. Inhale, lift the rib cage, lengthen your spine vertically upward, and as you exhale, twist from the base of your spine to the left. Figure 14. Seated twisting pose. As you twist, keep opening the chest to the left and let your head follow the movement of your spine, following in the direction of the twist. Continue to elongate your spine and open your chest as you breathe. Try not to collapse the front of your body . If you can comfortably keep the spine long in this posture, continue to bring theleft hand around the back onto the right thigh. Go only as far as you can without strain. Keep breathing normally and hold the pose for a few breaths. Release slowly , then repeat on the other side. It is especially important to use your breath in this pose and to allow the twist to come from the exhalation. Always twist on a lengthened rather than a compressed spine. Benefits : This posture increases circulation to the abdominal organs, relieves tightness in the shoulders and upper back, stretches the neck, and stimulates the adrenal glands, liver , and kidneys. IX. ST ANDING FOR WARD BEND— Uttanasana (UP to 1 minute) Stand up and bring your feet together in a parallel position, about hip distance apart. Stand evenly on both feet and lengthen the spine as you lift and open your chest. Keep your head and neck long and free. Look straight ahead and breathe normally . Allow your arms to hang loosely at your sides and keep the shoulders relaxed. Look straight ahead and breathe normally .Figure 15. Standing forward bend. On the inhalation, slowly extend your arms over the head as you lift and expand the chest. On the exhalation, bend the body forward and down, lengthening the entire spine. The arms and head follow in the same line with the spine. Let your knees soften or bend freely and bring your hands to the floor . Keep your elbows and shoulders relaxed and don’ t lock the knees. Keep breathing easily . Hold the pose for a few breaths. On the inhalation, lift your arms from the upper back as you open the chest forward and up. Come all the way up to a vertical position, arms over your head. Exhale and lower your arms down to the sides. Benefits : This posture tones the liver, stomach, spleen, kidneys, and spine, and soothes and cools the mind.Figure 16. Standing forward bend. X. AWARENESS POSE—Chitasana (At least 1 minute) Lie down on your back so that both sides of the spine rest evenly on the floor . Lengthen your legs away from the pelvis and let them fall open to the sides. Release your head, neck, shoulders, and hips. Allow the arms to rest loosely next to the body . Face your palms upward. Now let your body be completely relaxed. Close your eyes and rest for at least 1 minute. Allow the breath to be easy and free. Benefits : This pose invigorates and refreshes both the body and the mind, removes fatigue, and is soothing for the entire system.Figure 17. Awareness pose. BALANCED BREA THING ( Pranayama ) Time: 5 minutes Repetitions: 1 set in the morning and 1 set in the evening Breathing exercises in Ayurveda are a gentle form of balancing the breath —moving from one nostril to the other—a technique called Pranayama. Its purpose is to make the respiratory rhythm more regular , which in turn has a soothing effect on the entire nervous system (that is why we call this a “neuro-respiratory ” exercise at our Center). A few minutes of balanced breathing, sittin g quietly with eyes closed, is very relaxing; many people feel a pleasant lightness in the head afterward and a warm glow inside. Pranayama is the best prelude to meditation, since it effortlessly focuses your attention inward and reduces the scattered thoughts and “noise” that usually fill the mind. Modern medicine has discovere d that brain function is divided between the right and left cerebral hemi spheres, each of which contributes its own emphasis. Right-brain activity is intuitive and feeling; left-brain activity is rational and organized. Using the technique of Pranayama, Ayurveda has found a way to “talk” to both hemispheres and bring them into balance. When the breath becomes more balanced, several things happen: you switch your breathing from the right to the left nostril at regular intervals, your mind becomes more clear and alert, and one side of the body is not noticeably weaker than the other .We recommend 5 minutes of Pranayama morning and evening every day as part of the ideal Ayurvedic daily routine. A few pointers before you start: Any form of straining must be avoided—if you begin to feel dizzy or start to pant, stop for a moment and sit quietly with your eyes closed until you feel normal again. Do not snort in order to clear a clogged nostril. It is not advised to use antihistamines to open your nose before starting. If aller gies or a cold have blocked your sinuses, just skip Pranayama until they clear up naturally . It is normal for the mucous membranes to contract when you first learn to do this exercise. Just let them relax. Within a few days, they will adjust normally to the new routine. Perform Pranayama in a quiet room without radio, music, or TV. Keep your eyes closed. If you feel anxious at any time, stop the exercise for a minute, but do not get up immediately . Sit quietly with your eyes closed until you feel relaxed again. If the uncomfortable sensation persists, lie down for a few minutes until it passes. Never hold your breath or count how many seconds you inhale and exhale. These instructions are sometimes seen in yoga books or are given out by yoga teachers. All such practices run contrary to the purpose of this exercise, which is to allow the body to balance the breath itself. Your natural breathing rhythm is right for you. HOW TO PERFORM BALANCED BREA THING (Pranayama) Find a comfortable chair that allows you to sit upright with your spine straight and both feet on the floor—it is best not to lounge back ward while doing Pranayama. Close your eyes, let your mind rest, and place your righthand in the illustrated position—your thumb goes beside your right nostril, your two middle fingers beside your left nostril. To perform the exercise, gently close one nostril, then the other , as you breathe normally . To keep your arm from getting tired, it helps to tuck your right elbow in close to your ribs, but don’t prop it up on your chair or on a table. The basic rhythm of Pranayama is: Gently close the right nostril with your thumb and slowly exhale through your left nostril. Inhale easily through your left nostril. Close the left nostril with the two middle fingers and exhale out of the right nostril. Inhale easily through the right nostril. In Pranayama, the hand changes positions with each exhalation of breath.In Pranayama, the hand changes positions with each exhalation of breath. Alternate nostrils for 5 minutes. Then lower your arm and sit back comfortably with eyes closed for 1 or 2 minutes. You can proceed immediately to meditation if that is your next activity . Note that you begin each breath on the exhale and finish on the inhale— this is different from most Western breathing exercises, which begin by taking in a deep breath. In Pranayama, you do not need to take deep breaths. Just let your breathing come naturally but a little slower and deeper than usual. If at any time you feel like breathing through your mouth, go ahead, then return to the exercise as soon as you feel comfortable again. For many people the pattern of breathing changes at times; this is normal and a good sign that you are reaching a more balanced style of respiration. OceanofPDF .comCHAPTER 14 SEASONAL ROUTINE— BALANCING THE WHOLE YEAR One of the lesso ns of the quant um mechanical body is that a person does not stop at the boundary of his skin. His existence continues outward throughout nature. Vata, Pitta, and Kapha are at play everywher e around us, linking our physiologies to the world at large. That is why your body changes with the weather , sensi ng rain in its bones or growing lazy during the first awakening days of spring. Your doshas are keeping a weather watch for heat, cold, wind, humidity , and all the other variations that the seasons bring. When a cold, dry wind begins to blow , the Vata inside you responds, because it too is cold, dry, and moving. It senses that someth ing akin to itself has begun to dominate the scene. Each dosha recognizes a particular kind of weather that brings it out, according to the principle of “like speaks to like.” Cold, dry weather , along with wind, accumulates Vata. Hot weather accumulates Pitta, more so if it is also humid. Cold, wet weather or snow accumulates Kapha. The word accumulate means that a dosha is increasing in response to surrounding influences; if it increases too much, the accumulation goes on to aggravation, a serious stage of imbalance. The reason a dosha can affect you out of seaso n, as when you get a cold in summer , is that there is a delay , or a spillover effect. It takes time for a dosha to accumulate to the point where it begins to disrupt your body’ s functioning. The first weeks of autumn may seem perfectly comfortable until you suddenly notice some anxiety or a twinge in your joints, signs of Vata aggravation.The principle at work here is the same as with a morning hangover: It takes a while for your body to process a mistake and spit it out in the form of a symptom. Vata moves the quickest, so its imbalances tend to show up fastest, followed by Pitta, which might take a month before causing visible trouble, and finally Kapha, which typically remains “stuck ” like cold molasses all winter , only to “melt down” and flow in the spring (having a runny nose and sinus problems in April or May indicates that you needed to take better care of Kapha in February). DOSHAS AND THEIR SEASONS As with the rhythms of the day, there are master cycles matched to the doshas that run throughout the year. Our bodies automatically flow with these changes as long as we do not interfere. Ayurveda divides the year into three seasons in place of the usual four . Kapha season falls in spring—mid-Mar ch to mid-June. Pitta season falls in summer and early autumn—mid-June to mid-October . Vata season bridges late autumn and winter—mid-October to mid-Mar ch. A complete yearly cycle takes us through Kapha, Pitta, and Vata, in that order , mirroring the daily cycle. The calendar season that gets absorbed is autumn, because it is divided between two doshas. Autumn is considered Pitta as long as hot weather prevails and Vata as soon as it turns cold, dry, and windy. Peop le who have a predominance of Vata will walk outside on a crisp October day and feel that the weather is extremely conge nial to them —perhaps too much so. The lively, exhilarating quality of fall is only a step away from the fatigue and depression that some people feel at this time of year. The Vata wind seems to fan their inner spark and then blow it out. So one has to be attentive to balancing the whole year, particularly when your body type approaches its vulnerable period. The three Ayurvedic seasons are only approximate and have to be adjusted accordi ng to local conditions. In India, for example, there are sixseasons, in keeping with the arrival of the monsoon and other climatic changes that we do not have in the continental United States. On the other hand, many areas of Florida have practically year-round Pitta conditions, giving way to a brief Vata or Kapha winter . It is not really the calendar but nature itself that tells us when the doshas will be influenc ed. Any damp, cold, overcast day will cause an increase of Kapha, whether it occurs in fall, winter , or spring. The doshas have the keenest of weather eyes. Even in Florida, they adapt to the minor shifts that prevail in the climate, enabling one to experience a comple te cycle of Kapha, Pitta, and Vata during the year . FOLLOWING A SEASONAL ROUTINE Traditionally , Ayurveda advises that everyone should follow a seasonal routine (ritucharya ) to preserve balance as the seasons change. This routine does not involve major alterations in your lifestyle, only a shift of emphasis. You should always maintain your Ayurvedic daily routine—that remains of primary importa nce—and continue to follow the diet that pacifies your major dosha (or the one speci fied by a Ayurvedic doctor), with certain variations to blend into the season. KAPHA SEASON (Spring and Early Summer) Favor a diet that is lighter , drier, and less oily than during other seasons. Heavy dairy products (cheese, yogurt, and ice cream) should be reduced, since they especially tend to aggravate Kapha. Favor warm food and drink. Eat more foods with pungent, bitter, and astringent tastes and fewer with sweet, sour , and salty tastes. PITT A SEASON (Midsummer Through Early Autumn)Agni is naturally low during hot weather , so you may find that your appetite decreas es in summer . Respect this change by not overe ating. Favor cool food and drink, but not ice cold. Your body will want more liquids in hot weather , but it is important not to douse the digestive fire by drinking cold liquids after a meal. Favor sweet, bitter , and astringent tastes and reduce sour , salty , and pungent ones. VATA SEASON (Late Autumn Through Winter) Favor warm food and drink, heavier food, and a more oily diet than you do durin g the rest of the year. Make sure your food is well cooked and easy to diges t, accompanied by plenty of warm liquids (hot water or Vata tea is best). Eat more of the sweet, sour, and salty tastes and less of the bitter , astringent, and pungent. Avoid dry or uncooked foods (especially salads and raw fruits and vegetables). Don’ t worry if your appetite increase s—this is a natural tendency in winter and helps pacify Vata dosha; however , be sure not to eat more than you can comfortably digest. Two other general points apply: Eat fresh produce at all times of year , preferably those that are grown locally . Avoid foods that are not locally in season—for example, fewer tomatoes or lettuce in winter , fewer grains in summer , no fruits shipped half-ripened from other locales, and so on. As you can see, the seasonal routine involves mostly the commonsense adjustments in eating habits that we already follow . But look around a restaurant on a frigid February day and notice how many diners still order chilled salads and ice cream; not knowing any better , almost everyone will be drinking ice water , beer, or cold white wine—all of which are aggravating to Vata during its most prominent season.In general, the season to be most vigilant about is the one your body type matches—summer for Pittas, winter for Vatas, spring for Kaphas. These are times when you want to be especially faithful to your body-ty pe regimen. Also, at the turn of every season Vata dosha tends to become more vulnerable, so it is good to be careful about Vata when winter turns to spring, spring to summer , and so on, because this is typically when seasonal colds and flu strike. If you have two doshas prominent in your prakruti, as most people do, you can balance each one as its season comes around. Let’s give a practical example. If you are a Vata-Pitta, you would follow a Vata-pacifying diet in late fall and early winter (Vata season) and a Pitta-pacifying diet in summer (Pitta season). The only season left is Kapha, which falls in spring. Here you would blend the Vata diet, which matches your primary dosha, with a Kapha diet, which is naturally suited to the season. To blend two diets means to take half your food from the “favor” column of the Vata diet and half from the “favor” column of the Kapha diet. Life becomes too complicated if you make an obsession out of changing your diet to suit the weather . The Ayurvedic seasonal routine should be just another way to encourage your body’ s own natural instincts to emer ge. OceanofPDF .comEpilogue FLOWERS IN A QUANTUM FIELD Most people assume without question that their bodies had a definite beginning and are moving inexorably toward a definite end. Each of us began life as a single cell in the womb and will end as “dust unto dust.” However , these are cultural beliefs, not absolute facts. The human body has no definite beginning or end. It is constantly creating itself, again and again, every day. This means that every minute is a kind of genesis and at the same time an ending in which we give up a bit of dust unto dust. If we are creating ourselves all the time, then it is never too late to begin creating the bodies we want instead of the ones we mistakenly assume we are stuck with. Every breath you take is a creative act. The molecules in the air are random and chaotic. If they happen to enter your body , they magically acquire a purpose and an identity . Could any act be more creative? Consider what happens to a single oxygen atom as you breathe it in. Within a few thousandths of a second it passes through the moist, nearly transparent membranes of the lungs. It immediately attaches itself to the hemoglobin inside one of your red blood cells. In an instant, a remarkable transformation occurs. The blood cell changes color , from the dark blue-b lack of oxygen- starved hemoglobin to the bright red of oxygen-rich hemoglobin, and a stray atom of air suddenly becomes you. It has crossed the invisible boundary dividing the lifeless from the living. In another sixty seconds the same oxygen atom will make a complete circuit of your body via the bloodstream (the journey takes only fifteen seconds if you are exercising vigorously). In that time, about half of the body’ s new oxygen will exit the blood to turn into a kidney cell, a biceps muscle, a neuron, or any other tissue. The atom will reside in that tissue anywhere from a few minutes to a year, perfo rming as many functions as you are capable of. An oxygen atom might become part of a happy thought by linking into a neurotransmitter . Or it might instead send a shiver of fear through you by joining a molecule of adrenaline. It could feed a brain cell with glucose or sacrifice itself on the battle line by becoming part of a white cell sent to attack invading bacteria. This is how the river of life—the river of the body—moves along, with utmost fluidity , intelligence, and creativity . Now that we have surveyed the principles of Ayurveda, it becomes clear that our responsibility to ourselves is also creative. We are placed here in this world to manage a project that is equivalent to building a new universe every day. Creating yourself is not just a full- time job, it is a staggering one. With every single breath, you expose 5 trillion red blood corpuscles to the air. Each corpuscl e contains 280 millio n molecules of hemoglobin. Each molecule of hemoglobin can pick up and transport 8 atoms of oxygen. If you think of each oxygen atom as a new building block, then with a single breath you are adding 11 × 1021 (or 11,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) new “bricks” that will be delivered to various sites around your body . They will all fit inside you with exact precision, and not a single new brick willdisrupt the position of an old one. The old gives way to the new as smoothly and effortlessly as a river runs. The only reason we are all not perfectly healthy today is that we are constantly taking these infinite new bricks and putting them into the same old slots. Why do we do that? Ultimately it is a matter of awareness, of how we see ourselves. If you look closely at your own life, you will realize that you are sending signals to your body that repeat the same old beliefs, the same old fears and wishes, the same old habits of yesterday and the day before. That is why you are stuck with the same old body . HANDLING LIFE AS A WHOLE The new bricks that enter your body do not just fall into place; they are positioned by a bit of inner intelligence that knows how to build your heart, kidneys, skin, enzymes, hormones, DNA, and everything else. This intelligence is literally infinite, and all of it is under our control. Yet, for the most part, we take the boundless creativity of the quantum field and bombard it with narrow beams of attention. Any thought you have is just a beam of focused attention sent out from your quantum self. It takes only a few of these narrow beams, or thoughts, to make life a little longer or a little better . You can add five years to your life, on the average, by deciding to quit smoking . You can add a few more years by losing excess weight or eating good food or taking regular exercise. But these narrow beams of focused attention are limited. They will not make you perfectly healthy . They will not extend your life by two times or ten times, if that is even possible, or improve the quality of life by that much. It takes breakthrough thinking to do that, as we noted when we began. How can you activate the full potential of your quantum mechanical body? The answer is surprisingly simple. The gigantically complex project of creating yourself can be broken down into just a few processes that come under your control every day: Eating . Eating is the creative act that selects the raw matter of the world that will be turned into you. To make sure that this process proceeds correctly , you need only to know your body type and follow the diet that matches it. Look back at the section on your body-type diet; let the information sink in by rereading it until you have absorbed the guiding principles. Now eat according to those principles, easily and comfortably . Digestion and assimilation. Digestion and assimilation are the creative acts that turn the “bricks” of matter into living tissue. Your body’ s digestive fire, its agni, handles both of these processes, coordinating them perfectly . Look back again at the section on agni, learn how yourparticular kind functions, and then respect your digestive fire by resetting it regularly . Elimination . Elimination is the creative act that purifies the body , excreting undigested food and ridding the cells of toxins and other “old bricks.” You can improve elimination by being regular in your daily routine and also by taking advantage of Ayurvedic purification therapies. Under the section on agni we talk about purifying herbs; a sattvic diet is also a great help, since it reduces to an absolute minimum the intake of impurities. If you can, incorporate seasonal panchakarma into your annual routine, preferably three times a year or at least once. This is the most powerful therapy for aiding elimination. Breathing . As the basic rhythm of life that supports all other rhythms, breathing could be called the most creative act we perform with the body . Correct breathing tunes our cells to the rhythms of nature, and the more natural and refined our breathing, the more in tune we become. Many Ayurvedic routines help to bring breathing back into balance—all forms of the three-dosha exercises are good, as well as the gentle Pranayama, or balanced breathing, that you can do for a few minutes every day . Finally , we can gather all these separate processes under one heading: Living in tune with your quantum mechanical body . This is the total creative act of life. If you live in tune with your quantum mechanical body , all of your daily activities will proceed as smoothly as the parts—breathing, eating, digestion, assimilation, and elimination. The most impo rtant routine to follow here is transcending, the act of getting in touch with the quantum level of yourself. Review the section on meditation and incorporate a few minutes of quieting your mind into your schedule every morning and evening. According to Ayurveda, this is the way to boost ordinary existence to a higher plane. If we handle a few processes correctly , then the body’ s own tendency to remain in balance will take care of the rest. At the quantum level, we are all master builders; it is necessary only to follow the guiding intelligence of our nature—our prakruti—and the vast complexity of the body will run as perfectly as the seasons, the tides, and the stars that surround us. RIPPLES IN THE OCEAN OF CONSCIOUSNESSAt its heart, the “science of life” is a very personal and reassuring kind of knowledge. It returns you to yourself. Now we are ready to send you out on your own to live the knowle dge. When you opened this book and read the phrase perfect health , you may have been a bit shocked. Every person expects to be sick at some time in his life; to expect otherwise seems almost illegal. Yet the Ayurvedic sages looked at life through different eyes. A famous Vedic verse says, “It is our duty to the rest of mankind to be perfectly healthy , because we are ripples in the ocean of consciousness, and when we are sick, even a little, we disrupt cosmic harmony .” Now you understand the basis for this extraordinary saying. It is not correct to see yourself as an isolated organism in time and space, occupying six cubic feet of volume and lasting seven or eight decades. Rather , you are one cell in the cosmic body , entitled to all the privileges of your cosmic status, including perfect health. Nature made us thinkers so that we could realize this truth. As another Vedic verse declares, “The inner intelligence of the body is the ultimate and supreme genius in nature. It mirrors the wisdom of the cosmos.” This genius is inside you, a part of your inner blueprint that cannot be erased. At the quantum mechanical level, there is no sharp boundary dividing you from the rest of the universe. Each of us is balanced between the infinite and the infinitesimal. The same protons found in the hearts of stars, which have lived at least 5 billion years, take up residence inside us. The neutrinos that streak through the earth in a few millionths of a second are part of us for a brief instant, too. You are a flowing river of atoms and molecules collected from every corner of the cosm os. You are an outcropping of energy whose waves exten d to the edges of the unified field. You are a reservoir of intelligence that cannot be exhausted, because nature as a whole is inexhaustible. Ayurveda has come on the scene at a ripe moment, when “the reenchantment of nature” is taking place at the cutting edge of physics. The idea that the universe is a living, breathing, thinking organism, which would have been ridicule d a generation ago, may prove to be the first principle of a new science. If so, Ayurveda will quickly rise to prominence as the quantum medicine of our time. For modern man, disease is not a necessity but a choice— nature did not impose a bacterium or virus that causes heart attacks, diabetes, cancer , arthritis, or osteoporosis. These are largely man’ s dubious creations. But what man has built he can also unbuild. If this book has helped to put your mind on the journey of self-knowledge, you will never again see yourself as trapped by the same old boundaries. If the body, stubborn and solid-looking as it appears, can also undertake this journey , something much greater will be achieved. We will no longer just dream of freedom from the ills that flesh is heir to, we will really become free, clothed in flesh that has become as perfect as our ideals. OceanofPDF .comAppendix A SOURCES FOR AYUR VEDA You do not need special supplies or expert advice to balance your doshas and live in accord with Ayurvedic principles. However , there are times in most people’ s lives when they can use an extra boost to help reestablish optimal health. Specialized foods, spices, and herbs have served an important role in Ayurveda for thousands of years. Many of these traditional products are now available in the West. Foods : Any wholesom e food raised naturally and free of additives is Ayurvedic, but there are also a few specialty foods that make a pleasing addition to the diet: Rose petal jam is super b for pacifying Pitta and is also considered extremely Sattvic, or pure. Sweetened almond butter is traditionally considered excellent for vitality and mental alertness. If you do not want to take the time to make your own ghee (clarified butter) , commercially made varieties are available. Herbs and food supplements : It is convenient to buy tea bags of specially prepared Vata-, Pitta-, or Kapha-pacifying herb teas, to be alternated with changes in the season. Spice mixtures called churnas are also a convenience, since they can be sprinkled over your food at the table to give a Vata-, Pitta-, or Kapha-pacifying effect. More complex, and not duplicable at home , are the traditional rasayanas (herbal food supplements), which often involve dozens of separate preparations and various exotic ingredients.Aromatic and massage oils: These specially prepared oils are used for abhyanga and aromatherapy and are designed to balance the appropriate dosha. Miscellaneous : Specia l raw silk gloves used for garshana (dry massage) and silver tongue-scrapers are useful additions to support an ideal daily routine. Many of these products, foods, or supplements may be availab le at your local health food store or Indian grocery . Visit the Chopra Center for Well Being . Some of the specialized therap ies described in this book require supervision by a physician trained in Ayurveda. These include panchakarma , the seasonal purification routine, and marma therapy . Courses to enhance wellness and to support individuals facing illness are available year round at the Chopra Center for Well Being in beaut iful Carlsbad, Californi a. To learn more about the programs and services offered at the Center , call (888) 424-6772 or visit our website at www .chopra.com . Courses in Meditation, Ayurveda, and Mind Body Medicine. We have certified hundre ds of instructors throughout the world to offer programs developed at the Chopra Center for Well Being. For information on any of the following courses, call the Chopra Center at (888) 424-6772 or visit our website at www .chopra.com . Primor dial Sound Meditation. Learn an effective mantra meditation technique to quiet your mind, reduce stress, and tap into your reservoir of energy and creativity . Creating Health . Learn how to apply the principles of Ayurveda to make your daily life happier and healthier . Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives. This course for expectant parents teaches the essential tools for a conscious pregnancy and delivery .Return to Wholeness. This program guides people facing cancer to their inner place of healing. OceanofPDF .comAppendix B GLOSSAR Y abhyanga— daily oil massage agni— digestive fire ama— residual impurit ies deposited in the body as a result of improper digestion. Also mental ama, toxic emotions or negative thoughts as a result of incompletely metabolized emotional experiences ananda— bliss, synonymous with “pure joy” asana— a yoga pose dhatu— one of the body’ s seven basic constituents, synonymous with “tissue” in Western medicine dinacharya— the Ayurvedic daily routine dosha— one of the three basic metabolic principles connecting the mind and body ghee— clarified butter guna— any fundamental natural quality (e.g., dry, moist, hot, cold, etc.). Also applied to sattva , rajas, and tamas— the “three gunas” Kapha— the dosha responsible for bodily structure marma— the junction point between consciousness and matter (107 marmas on the skin are accessible through the sense of touch)ojas— the purest expression of metabolism; the final end product of correct digestion and assimilation of food panchakarma— purification treatments (literally , “the five actions”) Pitta— the dosha responsible for metabolism pragya aparadh— the mistake of the intellect (i.e., identifying with the part and losing the whole) prakruti— nature, referring to one’ s mind body constitution Pranayama— Ayurvedic respiratory exercises rajas— the innate impulse to act rasa— of the six tastes; also, the first tissue layer (dhatu) rasayana— Ayurvedic rejuvenative herbal formula Rishi— a Vedic seer ritucharya— the Ayurvedic seasonal routine sattva— purity; the innate impulse to evolve Surya Namaskar— the “Sun Salute,” a twelve-part Ayurvedic physical exercise tamas— inertia; the innate impulse to remain the same Vata— the dosha responsible for all movement in the body Veda— literally “science” or “knowledge.” Ayurveda (“the science of life” or “knowledge of lifespan”) is an of fshoot of Veda. vipak— the post-digestive ef fect of food on the bodyyoga— Vedic knowledg e for attaining union with the domain of pure consciousness. The branch of yoga involving physical exercise is known as Hatha yoga . OceanofPDF .comBibliography The following is a selected bibliography that offers insights into some of the ideas expressed in this book. Chopra, Deepak. Creating Health. Boston: Houghton Mif flin Company , 1987. ———. Quantum Healing: Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. ———. Ageless Body , Timeless Mind. New York: Harmony Books, 1993. Dash, Bhagwan. Fundamentals of Ayurvedic Medicine. Delhi, India: Bansal & Company , 1978. Frawley , David. Ayurvedic Healing—A Compr ehensive Guide. Salt Lake City, UT: Passage Press, 1989. Lad, Vasant. Ayurveda—The Science of Self-Healing. Santa Fe, NM: Lotus Press, 1984. Ranade, Subash. Natural Healing Thr ough Ayurveda. Salt Lake City , UT: Passage Press, 1993. Simon, David. The W isdom of Healing. New York: Harmony Books, 1997. ———. Vital Ener gy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000. Simon, David, and Deepak Chopra. The Chopr a Center Herbal Guide: Natural Prescriptions for Perfect Health. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000. Svoboda, Robert. Ayurveda—Life, Health and Longevity . London: Arkana Penguin Books, 1992. OceanofPDF .comAlso by Deepak Chopra OceanofPDF .comCopyright © 1991, 2000 by Deepak Chopra, M.D. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher . Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York Member of the Crown Publishing Group.

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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: Going the extra mile at any age is just another way of inviting serious Vata problems. (Recent studies in sports medicine indicate that 50 percent of serious women athletes have significant menstrual disturbances, a symptom of highly aggravated Vata. )BODY -TYPE EXERCISE Every time you move your body, you are talking to your doshas. Because each dosha has its own emphasis, there are three kinds of benefits that all balanced exercise brings: Vata: poise, agility, limberness, coor dination, and inner exhilaration Pitta: warming up the body, circulation of blood to all parts, increased heart capacity Kapha: increased strength and stability, steady ener gy If you never get out of your armchair to exercise, obviously you will not experience these benefits. But many active people with firm muscles and sound hearts do not experience them either. Most exercise programs today are dedicated to increasing the capacity of the cardiovascular system, which puts a heavy emphasis on Pitta dosha. I would like to list balanced activities that are broader in scope and more suited to the major body types. VATA-TYPE EXERCISE Vata types have bursts of energy but tire quickly. They excel at balancing and stretching exercises. Being light and lithe, they like yoga and walking, as long as these do not beco me too tiring. Because of their natural enthusiasm, Vata types also feel good doing bouncy dance aerobics to music. Any exercise that takes place indoors is good in winter, since Vatapeople are averse to the cold and do not have enough fat and muscle to protect them from the elements. Everyone dominated by Vata must always be careful not to get carried away and push themselves too far. This is the primary caution for them, since Vata dosha typically starts with a bang but does not know its limits, particularly when out of balance. Half an hour of mild exercise a day is enough. If you are exhausted, trembling, dizzy, or on the verge of cramping, you have gone much too far. These are all signs of Vata imbalance. PITT A-TYPE EXERCISE Pitta types tend to have more drive than endurance. They are good at all exercise in moderation. Because they like a challenge above all, Pittas enjoy skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and other sports that bring a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Athletes in competitive sports must have a good deal of Pitta to give them a fighting spirit, but this is not the dosha for intense competition. Pittas hate to lose; this motivates them more than the satisfaction of winning. (Sports studies have shown this among professional tennis players, some of whom are notorious for Pitta-type anger. ) Pittas will grimly make themselves run, jog, or weight train but gain very little inner contentment from their ef forts. Probably you already know whether you are falling into this trap. If you stew over every bad shot on the golf course or want to drill your tennis opponent with the ball, give up these sports. If you chew yourself or anyone else out in any sport, walk away from it. Anyone who needs to killsomebody on the court is suffering from gross Pitta imbalanc e. Also, the start-stop rhythm of competition sports is not as good for your body as half an hour of continuous motion. Walking briskly for half an hour a day will take the feistiness out of your system better than a competitive sport. Swimming is even better—many Pitta types who drive themselves on the job find that a plunge in the pool at five o’clock cools them off and dissolves the day’s tensions. Winter sports of all kinds also appeal to Pittas because they take to the cold better than Vata and Kapha types. Because they are stimulated visually, Pittas gain a large benefit from a leisurely stroll in the woods; it provides a change from their usual determined pace. The beauty of nature will sink deep into them when they pause long enough to experience it. KAPHA-TYPE EXERCISE Kapha types have strong, steady energy but often lack agility. They generally are good at all exerc ises and become better when they become more limber and balanced. Because of their physical strength, Kaphas excel at endurance sports—they have the natural build for a long run or distance rowing. The combination of Pitta and Kapha gives determination and endurance. This is a common prakruti among professional baseball and football players. Pushing the blood through their veins feels good to Kaphas, which is why they take to weight training in gyms and health clubs. It is good to combine this with exercis e that gets the circulation going; bringing up a good sweat (without exhaus tion) will clear out Kapha congestion. Many Kaphas have excess fat and water that need to be pushed out. Being a cold dosha, Kapha resents it if you go out into the cold and damp to run or row. In winter, Kapha types should stay indoors and stick with aerobics or calisthenics. Dance classes provide a good alternative for Kaphas. Although a Kapha may not have a dancer ’s build, they feel much better about their natural shape, once they gain the poise and balance that dance training instills. A few general pr ecautions apply to all body types. Do not exercise: Just befor e or after a meal. Exercising at these times lowers your agni, which you want at its highest. Allow at least half an hour before a meal and one to two hours afterward without exercising. Walking right after a meal, however, is an exception. Taking a leisurely fifteen-minute walk after lunch and/or dinner stimulates digestion (anything longer or harder would compete with it). Exercising after sundown is discouraged by Ayurveda; it is better to let your body slow down in the evening and prepare itself for bed. In the wind or the cold. Both Vata and Kapha dosha resent the cold, as we have mentioned. If you go out for a walk in winter, keep yourself bundled up and do not breathe strenuously. Heavy breathing of cold, damp air is bad for the respiratory tract. Also, any strong wind upsets Vata dosha and removes the calming ef fect of a good walk. In the br oiling sun. The reason only mad dogs and English-men go out in the noonday sun is that harsh sun inflames Pitta dosha, raising your body heat at a time when exercise is raising it enough already. Along with moderation, the key to balanced exercise is regularity. The doshas always tend to reinforce themselves. If you have neglec ted physical activity for a while, your body will be used to inertia. Once you return to even a little activity, your doshas will rise to a level of better balance andwant to stay there. So, do everything you can to start a progra m that you will enjoy for years, preferably for life. THREE-DOSHA EXERCISES Now I would like to describe the three-dosha exercises taught at our Center: the Sun Salute, the set of gentle yoga positions, and balanced breathing. More people in the West are becoming familiar with these postures and discovering the benefits that have been appreciated in the East for thousands of years. The following exercises are very easy to do. Only the Sun Salut e requires some patience to master; the others do not take any special skill. The whole emphasis on perfect performan ce is misplaced. These are exercises for tuning in to your body. Anyone can do that, simply by letting the mind relax into each pose. Don’ t even think of how you look or how close you are coming to the ideal positions. Whatever you achieve is right for you. This approach makes each exercise feel good as you do it and even better afterward. Everyone feels pleas antly relaxed for the next few hours after doing a short Ayurvedic routine. The following descriptions were provided by Bija Bennett, an expert, talented yoga therapist who has taught yoga at many of our seminars over the years. SUN SALUTE (Surya Namaskara) Time: 1 to 2 minutes for each cycle, moving slowly Repetitions: 1 to 6 cycles in the morning, mor e as you become experienced The Sun Salute (Surya Namaskara) is a complete Ayurvedic exercise that simultaneously integrates the whole physiology—mind, body, and breath. It strengthens and stretches all the major muscle groups, lubricates the joints,conditions the spine, and mass ages the internal organs. Blood flow and circulation is increased throughout the body. With regular practice, you will gain stability, suppleness, flexibility, and grace. Here is a cycle of 12 postures. Perform them in a fluid sequence one right after another. Synchronize each motion with the breath. Move smoothly into each pose, breathing fully and easily so that each cycle takes about 1 minute. Start slowly, avoiding strain, and listen to your body as you gradually increase the number of Sun Salute cycles you do. This step-by-step progression eliminates the possibility of pulling or tiring your muscles, especially if you haven’ t been exercising regularly. Stop when you notice that you are breathing and perspiring heavily or feeling too tired. If this occurs, lie down and rest for a minute or two until the breath is free. With regular performance, your capacity will easily and naturally increase. In the Sun Salut e, a specific pattern of breathing is encouraged. Inhale to extend your spine vertically or to open, lengthen, or fully elonga te the body. Exhale to bend or fold the body, creating a flexing of the spine. Each of your movements should be an extension of the breath in order to facilitate the motion. There is one transit ional position in the Sun Salut e where the breath pauses for a moment before you continue into the next pose. Otherwise, let your breathing be fluid and continuous throughout the entire exercise. HOW TO PERFORM THE SUN SALUTE Perform the following postures in a flowing, moving sequence one right after another. Remember to use the breath to connect each pose with the one following it. Emphasize the expansion of the chest on inhale and the contraction of the abdomen or belly in a bending motion on exhale. Salutation position ( Samasthiti ). Begin by standing tall with the feet together in a parallel position. Stand evenly on both feet and lengthenthe spine upward. Place the palms of your hands together in front of your chest. Lift the chest and expand the ribs as you look straight ahead. Raised arm position ( Tadasana ). On the inhalation, slowly extend the arms over the head. Lift and expand the chest as you continue lengthening the spine while allowing the head to look upward. Keep breathing evenly as you continue right into the next pose. Hand to foot position ( Uttanasana ). As you exhale, bend the body forward and down, lengthening the spine, arms, and neck. Let the knees soften or bend freely, bringing the hands to the floor. Avoid collapsing the chest or overrounding the upper back. Keep the elbows and shoulders relaxed, and don’ t lock the knees. Equestrian position ( Ashwa Sanchalanasana ). On your next inhalation, extend the left leg back and drop the back knee to the ground. The front knee is bent and the supporting foot remains flat on the floor. Simultaneously extend or lift the spine and open the chest. Allow the head and neck to lengthen vertically. Figure 1. Salutation position. Figure 2. Raised arm position. Figure 3. Hand to foot position. Mountain position ( Adhomukha Svanasana ). On the exhalation, bring the left leg back to meet the right leg—legs both at hip width apart, hands at shoulder distance. As you raise the buttocks and hips, press down with the hands, allowing the spine to release upward and back. Stretch the heels down toward the floor and lengthen through the backs of the legs. Relax and free the head and neck. The body forms an even inverted V from the pelvis to the hands and from the pelvis to the heels. Figure 4. Equestrian position. Eight limbs position ( Ashtanga Namaskara ). Gently drop both knees to the ground and slowly slide the body down at an angle as you bring the chest and chin to the ground. All eight limbs—both the toes, knees, chest, hands, and chin—touch the floor. Hold this very briefly and then continue to move into the next pose. Cobra position ( Bhujangasana ). On the inhalation, lift and expand the chest forward and up as you press down with the hands. Keep the elbows close to the body and continue to extend the spine upward. Open and widen the chest and move the shoulders down and away from the ears to free the neck and head. Let the upper back widen and lengthen. Do not initiate this movement with the head or lift the body with the neck. Figure 5. Mountain position. Figure 6. Eight limbs position. Figure 7. Cobra position.

Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney , Auckland www .randomhouse.com Three Rivers Press is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chopra, Deepak. Perfect health, revised: the complete mind body guide by Deepak Chopra.—1st ed. 1. Medicine, Psychosomatic. 2. Mind and body . I. Title. RC49.C46 2000 615.5’3—dc21 00-032595 Revised Edition www .randomhouse.com eISBN: 978-0-307-42143-2 v3.0 OceanofPDF .com

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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland www. randomhouse. com Three Rivers Press is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chopra, Deepak. Perfect health, revised: the complete mind body guide by Deepak Chopra. —1st ed. 1. Medicine, Psychosomatic. 2. Mind and body. I. Title. RC49. C46 2000 615. 5’3—dc21 00-032595 Revised Edition www.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE SPENT ON DRUG-ADVERTISING - WHILE DRUG-FREE HEALING IS ALMOST UNKNOWN EVEN SOCALLED ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE USUALLY PROMOTES DRUGS - HELP SPREAD KNOWLEDGE OF DRUG-FREE HEALINGREMARKABLE RECOVERIES FROM SEVERE HEALTH PROBLEMS by Stanley S. BassN.D., D.C., Ph.C., Ph.D., D.O., D.Sc., D.D., Orthopathic & Natural Hygiene doctor Information you can use to gain a complete understanding of how the human body works in health and disease. DRUG-FREE NATURAL HEALING ---- Dr. Stanley S. Bass uses this booklet as required reading for his patients - to give an introduction to drug-free natural healing. What do you know about drug-free healing? Is it possible to reverse cancer through diet alone? What recovery method requires bed-rest and is popular in USA? What recovery method allows you to work and is used in Europe? Do you know a simple, effective way to improve intelligence? How is heart disease, ulcers, epilepsy, asthma easily reversed? What is the secret of multiple sclerosis recovery? Contents:INTRODUCTION by Stanley S. Bass page 2 THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES OF RAW FOOD by Arnold DeVries page 2 WHAT SYMPTOMS TO EXPECT WHEN YOU IMPROVE YOUR DIET (original version) by Stanley S. Bass page 9 A MOST INTERESTING CASE OF RECOVERY FROM CANCER - ON ONE MEAL A DAY ON A RAW FOOD REGIMEN by Wong Hon Sun page 12 For personal assistance by telephone consultation for a successful management of all the steps of the entire process of recovery, call Dr. Stanley S. Bass, N.D., D.C., Ph.D. at (718) 648-1500 Download this and other free booklets about drug-free natural healing at Dr. Bass website www.drbass.com copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 2REMARKABLE RECOVERIES FROM SEVERE HEALTH PROBLEMS THROUGH DETOXICATION, JUICE PROGRAMS AND RAW FOOD INTRODUCTION It is with great anticipation and hope that I have gathered together, from more than 40 years of experience, a collection of some of the most remarkable and inspiring cases of recoveries from a large group of diseases, many of which were classified as “incurable”. These people, through the use of raw juice programs, have either completely restored their health or greatly improved. While in America, water fasting has been popular, in Europe the use of raw vegetable juices has been preferred and used in many large medically supervised institutions, While water-fasting requires mostly bed rest, the use of juices allows one to continue working, since the use of juices provides some nutrition interspersed with detoxication, the removal of toxic materials from the body and the simultaneous replacement of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, a limited amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, etc. There is sufficient energy present in most cases and frequently more, since the body is spared from the use of enormous amounts of energy required by the digestive processes. This liberated energy is immediately directed by the body into the healing processes, thus allowing great changes to occur in a limited period of time - months and even years of regeneration will manifest in just weeks of time. And all this can be done at home, with a minimum of expense, so that healing is possible for all who have the will to undertake the process. There is nothing more inspiring than to look into a mirror every day and to see more youthful changes occurring along with better feelings, so that each day brings more hope and encouragement to continue on till the goal of daily living is reached. Yet, at the same time, the appetite can be reasonably content with the taste of delicious and refreshing juices, taken periodically several times during the day and carried in a thermos wherever you go. After just 2 or more weeks, other foods such as easily digested proteins and fats may be introduced into the diet, allowing the rebuilding and recasting of the body to proceed after the initial cleansing period has prepared the proper foundation for the reception of higher quality and more vital food materials. Usually, within a few weeks, people feel much better and in 4 months time, the body becomes stabilized and feels consistently well. And within a period of less than one year, almost all health problems will have disappeared - even large tumors and growths. Without further ado, I would like to begin with a presentation of some amazing cases of recoveries from all types of illnesses and diseases, collected from some internationally famous institutions under the direction of well-known medical doctors who, by using natural foods and methods alone, were able to successfully cure diseases which today cannot be duplicated, even in the largest hospitals using the most modern medical methods. Dr. Stanley S. Bass New York , April 2003 The following pages are from “The Elixir of Life” by Arnold DeVries, by whom I have kindly been given permission to reproduce, based upon extensive research from 81 sources over a period of many years. THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES OF RAW FOOD by Arnold DeVries SCIENTIFIC CLINICAL WORK Individual raw food histories are important, but even more so is the applied clinical work in the field of science. Here also we find strong evidence of the value of raw foods. In America this was noted as early as August of 1907, when an announcement was made by the New York Post Graduate Hospital that a cure for long-standing and obstinate cases of consumption was found in certain raw foods. Under the supervision of Dr. John F Russell, eleven patients were given four ounces of raw vegetable juices each day in addition to their regular meals. The juices were extracted from such vegetables as potato, rhubarb, summer squash, beet, turnip, cabbage, celery, carrot, parsnip, radishes, string-beans, and peas. Later fifty additional patients were placed on the same dietary regime. Within seven months the eleven patients were discharged copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 3as fit subjects for a life insurance risk, and the fifty patients who started later were described as well on the road to recovery. TUBERCULOSIS At a later period, in California, raw vegetable juices were again used in the treatment of tuberculosis. In this instance, Dr. H. E. Kirshner was placed in charge of 200 tuberculosis patients for the county of Los Angeles at the Olive View Sanatorium. Some of the patients had spent as long as nine years on their backs with very little progress towards recovery. The diet was composed largely of spaghetti, macaroni, and other cooked foods. Dr. Kirshner added a glass of "green drink’ consisting of the raw juices of alfalfa, spinach, and parsley, to the diet of each of these patients every day. Results were highly favorable, and the course of the patients was changed to recovery. Some of the patients who had been considered hopeless were able to get out of bed in six to eight months. In Dr. Kirshner’s private practice, raw carrot juice, addition to the green juice mixture, was included in the diet of tubercular patients, which brought about more rapid recovery than did the green juice alone. HEART DISEASE, ARTHRITIS, LEUKEMIA Dr. Kirshner has also reported that other chronic ailments can be treated very successfully with raw vegetable juices, taken in some cases in amounts exceeding two quarts per day. He has cited recoveries from heart disease, prostrate gland disease, cancer, neuritis, arthritis, and hemorrhoids through the use of raw juices. In one diabetic case, remarkable improvement was noted within the first 21 days of treatment, and the insulin dosage was reduced from 15 to 5 units per day. The most remarkable case history cited by Dr. Kirshner, however, was that of a severe case of splenic leukemia. The patient in this instance was given raw carrot juice — small quantities at first, with gradual increases to very large quantities — and her weight increased from 65 to 135 lbs. Recovery was complete within 18 months, and at no later time was there any recurrence of the disease. CANCER The famous cancer specialist, Dr. Max Gerson, has employed a diet containing large amounts of raw vegetable juices as part of his treatment for cancer. Some of Dr. Gerson’s patients are given as much as 16 glasses of raw juice each day, but most of them are given somewhat smaller amounts, including daily doses of 4 glasses of carrot and apple juice, 4 glasses of green leaf juice, 2 to 3 glasses of calf’s liver juice and 1 glass of orange juice. About 75 per cent of Dr. Gerson’s cancer diet, including all juices, is uncooked; the balance consists of vegetable broths and other foods which are cooked by the least destructive methods. Dr. Gerson has reported gratifying results in about 50 per cent of his cancer cases, with many complete recoveries. Indeed, Dr. Gerson’s experience in treating cancer at the Gotham Hospital in New York was so successful that he was called upon to testify before a subcommittee in the U. S. Senate in 1946. In Canada, Dr. Gerson’s counterpart may be found in the person of Dr. J. R. Davidson, formerly of the University of Toronto, who has also reported curing a number of cancer patients on diets which consisted of raw foods and foods subjected to a minimum of cooking. Among other foods, Dr. Davidson prescribes rare meats , raw milk, raw vegetables, and raw vegetable juices made from carrots, celery, and lettuce. RAW JUICES In Great Britain, physicians have been equally successful in utilizing freshly-extracted raw juices for therapeutic purposes. The Ministry of Health and Public Health Service Laboratory has issued a report pointing out the value of using the juices of cabbage, kale, parsley, and other uncooked vegetables in the treatment of a wide variety of diseased conditions. The report states: "Juices are valuable in relief of hypertension, cardiovascular and kidney diseases and obesity. Good results have also been obtained in rheumatic, degenerative and toxic states. Juices have an all-around protective action. Good results can be obtained in treatment of peptic ulceration, also in treatment of chronic diarrhea, colitis and toxemia of gastro and intestinal origin." The dental scientist, Dr. Harold F Hawkins, has reported that correct dietary control, with at least half of all foods used in their raw state, is of much value in treating the symptoms of pyorrhea, including infection of the alveolar bone which supports the teeth and gums. According to Dr. Hawkins, in caring for the pyorrhea patient, it is "essential to work out a plan of eating that will include food that can be eaten raw such as raw milk, raw eggs, oysters on the half shell, raw vegetable salads and raw fruit." Dr. Hawkins states that when an adequate dietary is followed, "the gum tone usually shows a definite improvement in 60 or 90 days, and the X-rays show an improvement in bone density in about a year.” During the years 1929, 1930, and 1931, Dr. Milton T. Hanke , working through the facilities provided by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Dental Research Club, studied hundreds of school children in the city of Mooseheart , Illinois, to determine the effects of adding the uncooked juices of citrus fruits to a conventional diet. During the first year the children were studied as controls; the second year was the test period, and the third the recheck period. Approximately 16 ounces of freshly extracted raw orange juice, plus the raw juice of one lemon, was added to the diet of each of 341 children on each day of the test period. This brought about a sharp increase in growth rate over the control period, as well as a 50 per cent reduction in the incidence of dental caries and the almost complete disappearance of gingivitis. During the recheck period, when the quantity of juice was reduced to three ounces a day, the accelerated growth was maintained, though dental decay again increased and most of the gingivitis reappeared. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 4Other fruits and juices also have therapeutic qualities. The "grape cure" is well known in parts of Europe and has found extensive employment in the sanitariums and resorts of Merano, Italy, parts of France, and southern Germany. The patients of these institutions are fed almost exclusively upon raw grapes for four to six weeks at a time, starting with about a pound a day and gradually increasing the amount to five to eight pounds a day. Johanna Brandt reported a number of cures from cancer through the employment of the raw grape diet, and others have used it successfully in the treatment of constipation, rheumatism, catarrh, gallstones, eczema, jaundice, malaria, hemorrhages, and other ailments. Grape cures are even recommended in certain mental disturbances and in weakened conditions of the entire muscular system, including the heart. Raw cabbage juice has been used with remarkable success in treating ulcers. Dr. Garnett Chaney at Stanford University treated 63 ulcer patients with one quart of raw cabbage juice per day, and 60 of these showed pronounced healing. In most cases, the pain disappeared within a few days and recovery was complete within three weeks or less. Six patients with "huge" ulcers required 56 days of treatment. The three patients who failed to respond had dense scar tissue in the stomach and liver damage before treatment started. Dr. Chaney’s experience was almost duplicated by Dr. William Shive and his colleagues at the University of Texas. Dr. Shive found that raw cabbage juice — as well as the juices of some other vegetables — tends to prevent ulcers and to cure them. He studied 100 cases in which the ulcerous condition was so severe that the use of the bland diet and anti-ulcer drugs had failed. But the drinking of one quart of fresh, raw cabbage juice per day by these patients brought about marked beneficial results. The use of raw cabbage juice in amounts less than one quart per day promotes less rapid recovery than does the full quota but it is of definite value, and even a glass of juice per day tends to reduce or eliminate the pain in some cases. The raw cabbage juice is also an important aid to normal elimination and it improves the general health of the ulcer patient as well as promoting recovery of his primary affliction. SCRAPED APPLE DIET The "scraped apple" diet is an old German folk remedy for both diarrhea and constipation. Modern scientists have employed raw apple in the treatment of these same conditions with very good effects. T. L. Birnberg treated diarrhea in children with raw, grated apple and obtained completely successful results in 88 per cent of all cases. He noted relief from abdominal pain achieved almost immediately, normal stools achieved in 24 hours, reduction of fever within 48 hours, and disappearance of mucus in 60 hours. The beneficial effects of raw apple in these cases are attributed to the presence of “hydrophilic colloids" in the food which absorb excessive water and furnish bulk to control peristalsis. RAW HONEY Of particular interest is the therapeutic value of raw honey. This food has long been known as a "folk medicine" for hay fever and asthma, and recent experimental studies conducted at the William Beaumond General Hospital in El Paso, Texas have shown that raw honey containing the pollen of the offending grasses or weeds builds up a natural resistance to these agents in the body, thereby offering relief to the hay fever victims. Studies made by P E. Weesen of the Frauenfelder Sanitarium of Europe showed that patients given raw honey exceeded all others both in strength and healthy appearance. Dr. Paula Emrich tested 100 children, and found that those given raw honey achieved a 12 per cent increase in hemoglobin content of their blood over the others. Dr. Rolleder gave a smaller quantity of raw honey to 58 children of an Austrian orphanage and noted a hemoglobin increase of 8 1/2 per cent. Dr. Schacht of Wiesbaden claimed to have cured many supposedly hopeless cases of gastric and intestinal ulcers with raw honey, and the celebrated Father Sebastian Kneipp remarked that "smaller ulcers in the stomach are quickly contracted, broken and healed by it." Surprisingly, raw honey has even been given to treat diabetes. Dr. A. Y. Davidov of Russia noted that it tended to prevent acetonemia, and in spite of its high sugar content, its use was associated with the actual reduction of sugar in the urine. The American physicians, Dr. L. R. Emerick of Eaton, Ohio, and the late Dr. R. J. Goss of Middlebury, Vermont, have treated hundreds of diabetic patients with raw honey, achieving remarkable success and vast improvement in the weight, strength, and appearance of many patients. RAW LIVER The value of raw liver in treating pernicious anemia is now well known. As early as 1926 Drs. Murphy and Minot were curing severe cases of this disease with raw liver, and they claimed there was some unidentified factor in the food which stimulated the growth of red corpuscles. At first this was called the "red blood vitamin." It is now known that there are two such factors, folic acid and vitamin B12, both of which are destroyed by heat. Thus, whereas well-cooked liver is practically useless in these cases, raw liver brings about consistent and rapid recovery. For perhaps the same reason raw liver, given to weak and undersized children, has been reported to increase vigor and improve the rate of growth. RAW MEAT PRODUCTS Other raw meat products are also of unquestioned therapeutic importance. When tuberculosis was still a common disease in this country, frail and consumptive people would be seen going to slaughterhouses to obtain draughts of fresh blood, which were believed to be of great value in such cases. In countries where tuberculosis remains prevalent, this practice is still followed, with reportedly good results. On a clinical basis the celebrated French physiologist, Prof. Charles Richet, was among the first to use raw beef juice in the treatment of tuberculosis, and he reported excellent results in this practice. More recently other European physicians are following this same method, and they apply the term, " zomotherapy" to designate copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 5treatment of disease with raw meat or raw meat-juice. They claim success with zomotherapy in treating many conditions, including anemia, neurasthenia, debility, convalescence, and latent, incipient, or active tuberculosis. RAW SEEDS Few raw foods have been as highly recommended as sunflower seeds, squash seeds, pumpkin seeds, and watermelon seeds in the treatment of disease. Several years ago, J. I. Rodale noticed that sunflower seeds, when used in their raw state, effected a remarkable cure for some cases of bleeding gums. After his report on this subject was published, new evidence accumulated which indicated that raw sunflower seeds were also useful in treating sores, dermatitis, rheumatism, rheumatic fever, arthritis, and kidney disease. The teeth were said to improve under the sunflower seed treatment, as was the condition of the eyes. Raw squash and pumpkin seeds have been recommended as worm expellents. An infusion made by soaking dried watermelon seeds in water was an old Indian folk treatment for kidney and bladder infections, and many in modern life have also testified as to the efficiency of this treatment. The watermelon seeds may also be eaten in their fresh state with good results. While much of the evidence in favor of these uncooked seed foods is in the form of testimonials rather than clinical data, it is too extensive to be ignored. Whether we consider the seeds as effective "folk medicine" or just good food, they are doubtless of much value in modern nutrition. IMPROVED INTELLIGENCE Raw foods have even been used to improve the intelligence quotients and mental attitudes of backward children. In Germany, Dr. Lottner reported an experiment in which 33 children, having low intelligent quotients and attending a school for backward children, were given a raw breakfast each morning. This was in the form of " muesli ” an uncooked porridge made from oat flakes, milk, fruits, nuts, and honey. The children given the raw breakfasts rapidly improved over all the others. They did better work in dictation, arithmetic, letter-canceling, and drawing completion tests. They were also less restless, did not become tired as rapidly as before, and showed better concentration in accomplishing their daily work. CLINICAL APPLICATION OF THE RAW FOOD DIET IN CALIFORNIA If the simple addition of certain raw foods to a normal diet produces such startling changes in human health, it may be expected that a diet composed entirely, or nearly so, of raw foods would be much more beneficial and achieve more rapid and far-reaching results. This has been shown to be true at the Pottenger Sanitarium in California, where a large variety of raw foods has been employed for therapeutic purposes. Dr. Pottenger writes that "the highest grade of raw milk, raw meat, raw vegetables and fruit products obtainable" are used in the clinical work. He points out that "we have been able to improve the physiologic response of children who have previously been developing in a deficient manner" similar to the experimental animals which were fed upon heat-processed foods. Even defective facial growth has been improved, and Pottenger states that "when additional growth stimulation is applied to certain deficient children at the right time, before they have attained facial growth, material changes in the contour of the face can brought about without the application of surgical appliances." IN EUROPE In Europe a diet composed primarily of raw foods was employed in the treatment of disease as early as the latter part of the nineteenth century. At that time the " Jungborn" a health resort located in the Hartz mountain region between Isenburg and Hartzburg of Germany, was opened. The director of this institution was Adolph Just, a philosopher and naturalist, who concluded from his observations of wild and domestic animal life that only raw foods were capable of building the health, strength, and vigor that are normal in nature. At his resort, Mr. Just provided sun and air baths, special water baths, and earth compresses as treatment in addition to raw foods. The diet consisted in the main of fruits, berries, nuts, and milk in the uncooked state. In 1896, Mr. Just issued a number of case history records illustrating the results of his raw food and natural treatment therapy. Among the diseases reported cured or benefited were inflammatory rheumatism, consumption of the spinal cord, tuberculosis of the bones, dropsy, incipient dropsy, fistula of the rectum, cancer, nervous spasms, deafness, and various digestive ailments and sexual disorders. Recoveries were often rapid as well as complete. Recovery from severe nervous disorders was achieved in ten weeks, from deafness in eight weeks, from inflammatory rheumatism in nine days, and from incipient dropsy in less than a week. Great improvement in cases of different forms of consumption was noted during the first two weeks of treatment. In almost all cases treated at the " Jungborn" some benefit was reported, and the general success was attributed largely to the use of raw foods. BIRCHER-BENNER During the year, 1897, another great raw food institution was opened in Europe, this being the famous Bircher- Benner clinic and sanitarium in Zurich, Switzerland, which continues operation in the present day. Here extensive use has been made of raw foods, and some patients have been placed on an exclusive raw diet for a limited period of time when this was deemed necessary. The late founder of the institution, Dr. Bircher- Benner, stated that "raw vegetable food is the most potent healing copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 6factor that exists" which is able "to bring healing to very many widely spread disorders of health and serious diseases, in quite astonishing fashion, where all other curative measures have failed." He called raw food "sunlight food" and referred to his delicious preparations of fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey, milk and other foods, all in their raw state, as "sunlight dishes." The success of this sanitarium has been so phenomenal that it has attracted patients from all over the world. It is best known for its treatment of digestive diseases. So astonishing was the recovery, on a strictly raw diet, of one supposedly incurable patient suffering from the Herter-Heubner disease that it attracted the attention of the children’s hospital in Zurich, which in turn introduced a raw diet for its coeliac patients. The medical director of the hospital at the time published a monograph giving an account of the "staggering success" thus achieved. Today Dr. Ralph E. Bircher carries on the important work of his father at the clinic and sanitarium, with equally satisfactory results. He describes raw food in relation to "the five zones of its influence." In the first zone the effects are noticeable within a few days, with the "return of appetite, rapid fading of unnatural thirst" and "much better digestion." In the second zone, embracing weeks of time, the circulatory system responds to the curative effects of raw food. The third zone "needs months to become effective," though some improvement may be noticed almost immediately. It covers the endocrine glands and metabolism. The fourth zone, embracing the capillary system and secondary effects on all parts of the organism, is reported by Dr. Bircher to require one to three years, sometimes less, "to show the effects of its domain." The entire four-fold action, according to Dr. Bircher, "generally brings about a complete change in obstinate cases of many chronic conditions such as stomatitis and ulcers, spine, amoebic dysentery, lambliosis and malaria, kidney troubles, jaundice, eczemas and urticaria, headaches, and schizophrenias , also in cases of varicose, thrombophlebitis and many other conditions." The fifth zone applies to the constitution itself, from which our diseases and infections originate. It means a fundamental change in the physiological efficiency of the entire body, with new vitality and vigorous health. At the First Medical Clinic of the University of Vienna, two scientists, Eppinger and Kaunitz, tested the Bircher- Benner raw food diet as a means of improving the interchange of energies and substances between the ends of the blood vessels (capillaries) and the tissue cells of the body. Under normal conditions of life, the blood gives up its nutritive substances, and the cells give up their waste substances in this interchange through two fine membranes and a narrow dividing interstice. Often, however, the cells lose a part of their "selective capacity" because of salt penetrating the cell wall, distortion and spasms of the capillaries, a sticky coating of blood globules, waste products ,being scattered around the cells, and reduction of the chemical, physical, and electrical tensions which promote the nutritive interchange. When this happens, cells cannot rejuvenate fast enough; bacteria tend to multiply too rapidly, and the general cause of many clinical symptoms of disease is in existence. Eppinger and Kaunitz studied this condition and tried every possible means of restoring normal selective power in the cells once this had been lost. Only one measure was found to be successful. This was the application of an exclusive raw food diet "exactly according to the prescriptions of Dr. Bircher- Benner." Under the influence of this diet, the life-giving tensions between capillaries and cells grew and the capillaries were slowly restored to a normal, vigorous condition. HUMLEGAARDEN In Denmark an exclusive raw diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, cornmeal, sprouted grains and legumes, honey, and milk is given for all patients who visit the " Humlegaarden" a sanitarium located near Humlebek. Dr. Kristine Nolfi, medical director of this sanitarium, was formerly associated in medicine and surgery with the Communal Hospital in Copenhagen and also with the State Hospital in Pediatrics. During her years of hospital training she suffered from weak digestion and catarrh of the stomach, and in the winter of 1940 and 1941 she observed the symptoms of cancer. A trial microscopy taken at the Radium Centre in Copenhagen was positive, indicating there were cancer cells. Dr. I. Nolfi treated herself with an exclusive raw diet and recovered excellent health. This success prompted her to open the " Humlegaarden" where not only all patients, but even members of the hospital staff, live entirely upon foods which have not been treated by heating. About one thousand patients annually visit this sanitarium, and doctors from Denmark and foreign countries also visit the place and make observations which are later utilized in their practice. The therapeutic successes attained at the " Humlegaarden" are said to be phenomenal. Dr. Nolfi attributes this to the consumption of raw foods, and in particular to the use of raw garlic and raw potatoes. Patients at this sanitarium recover from all manner of diseases, including cancer, sterility, obesity, diabetes, heart debilitation, high blood pressure, rheumatism, epilepsy, asthma, and many others. In some cases even grey hair darkens in color. According to Dr. Nolfi, the raw diet "has a curative effect not only for a particular disease and on an individual organ, but on the organism as a whole. It cures not only the diseases contracted during our short span of life, but also those determined by hereditary predispositions." OTHERS Dr. K. Eimer, of the University Medical Clinic at Marburg-Lahn, has employed the raw diet in the treatment of many different diseases. He reports that no gastric disturbances occur on the diet and that the relatively large amounts of cellulose in the raw vegetable foods appear to aid peristalsis. He found the raw diet to be especially suitable in cases of renal or cardiac oedema or the oedema of obesity, with the elimination of superfluous water and salt being rapidly achieved. In diseases of the circulatory system, the diet was found to usefully supplement other treatment, and high blood pressure and diabetes were found to be benefited through the use of raw food. The blood was improved on the raw diet, and the alkali reserve was copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 7raised an average of 20 per cent among the patients. Dr. Eimer also reported that the refractive index of the serum increased through the use of raw foods. Of equal importance is the experience of Dr. Joseph Evers in Germany, who has treated 600 cases of multiple sclerosis with diets containing no refined foods, and consisting chiefly of raw fruits, raw nuts, raw vegetable roots, raw honey, raw grain sprouts, uncooked coarse rolled oats, wholemeal bread, raw ham, raw bacon, and raw chopped beef. Dr. Ever’s dietary treatment was set up under the controls of recognized scientists and tested in different universities, clinics, hospitals, and sanatoriums. Results were surprisingly good, and 42 per cent of all patients showed improvement or complete recovery. This percentage might appear to be low, but for multiple sclerosis, which consistently fails to yield to orthodox medical treatment, a single recovery is worthy of mention. In the city of Munich, the German physicians, Friedrich and Peters, employed a raw diet consisting chiefly of fruits and vegetables, and small amounts of meat. Many very severe cases of liver cirrhosis, with ascites were treated. Results, surprisingly, were quite successful, and a number of most striking cases have been cited by the physicians to show the value of raw foods in the treatment of this disease. Other physicians and scientists who have studied the raw diet in relation to therapeutic uses are D. C. Hare, J. F Kinderheilk, W Heupe, I. Kanai, and M. Kuratsune. Dr. Hare, of the Royal Free Hospital in England, placed arthritic patients on an exclusive raw diet for two weeks followed by a predominantly raw diet for several weeks. Most of the patients began to feel better within one to four weeks, with marked improvement continuing thereafter. Kinderheilk found the raw diet to be of value in avitaminosis, nephritis, diabetes, and chronic constipation. In cases of cardiac disease he noted that it promoted the excretion of superfluous water and was thus helpful to the patients. Dr. Heupe, working at the University Medical Polyclinic in Frankfurt, reported the diet to aid in the treatment of diarrhea of children, in heart and kidney diseases, and in obesity and diabetes. Kanai of the University of Berlin, studied the effect of raw and cooked vegetarian diets on the oxidation of the body. He noted that oxidation was impaired by cooked vegetarian foods. On the raw diet the urinary output of nitrogen was greater, indicating better absorption, and the weight increase was better. Dr.Kuratsune, of Kyushu University, Japan, also tested raw and vegetarian diets, and reported results were decidedly better on the raw regime. Heated vegetables tended to produce anemia, which was cured when raw vegetables were eaten. Other diseases, which had failed to yield to conventional medical care, responded favorably to the raw diet. The sum total of all human experience with raw foods has thus been remarkably successful. As in the case with animals, the efficiency of physiological function within the body, as well as the proportion of both infectious and degenerative diseases, appears to correspond to a large degree with the relative quantity of raw and cooked foods in the diet. In the case of raw and heated milk the evidence is especially conclusive, particularly with reference to the growth and bone and dental development of children. In the clinics and sanitariums of the world, where a raw food diet has been employed, evidence of the value of all types of raw foods has been obtained, and the raw diet is found to be of definite therapeutic value in the treatment of many common diseases. Its value in this capacity is most pronounced, as it is associated with no adverse side- effects, which so frequently follow the use of conventional medical treatments. THE POTTENGER EXPERIMENTS Perhaps the most important of all the animal experiments with raw and cooked foods are those of Dr. Francis Pottenger, Jr., one of the world’s great physicians and food scientists. These were conducted at the long established Pottenger Sanitarium in Monrovia, California, and covered a ten-year period. Both white rats and cats were employed. Rats given heated milk suffered from many kinds of deterioration, and the change in trabeculation of the bones was particularly noticeable. With the cats the experiments were reported in great detail and covered a large number of animals. A total of 900 cats were studied, and complete records were kept of nearly 600 of them. Through generation after generation the animals were studied, and Dr. Pottenger has issued the detailed results of the experiments as they apply to growth, reproduction, and all phases of the animals’ health. In these tests the animals were fed upon meat-scraps (including the muscle, bone, and viscera), milk, and cod liver oil. The animals were divided into various groups, depending upon the condition, whether heated or unheated, in which their foods were given. Some of the cats were fed entirely upon raw meat and raw milk; others were given two-thirds cooked meat and one-third raw milk. In some cases raw meat and pasteurized milk were used. A number of cats were also fed sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, or raw metabolized vitamin D milk with raw meat. Cod liver oil was used by all animal groups. The cats fed entirely upon raw meat and raw milk remained in excellent health in all cases. Physical development was virtually perfect and the cats reproduced in homogeneity from one generation to the next, maintaining large skulls an thoraxes, broad faces with prominent malar and orbital arches, broad and well-formed dental arches, adequate nasal cavities, and large and long bodies. The cats were quite free from vermin, infections, and parasites. The membranes were firm and of good pink color. All evidence of degeneration was absent. Abortion occurred very seldom; the size of the average litter was five, and all of the mother cats nursed their young in a normal manner. The cats possessed excellent copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 8equilibrium. Organic development was complete and normal physical and mental function was the general rule. Death resulted only from old age or injuries sustained in fighting. None of the cats died from disease. Cats which were fed the cooked-meat scraps were defective in many respects. They were smaller in build and the bones were smaller in diameter. In some cases the bones would grow out of proportion, with the hind legs being much longer than the forelegs. The animals did not reproduce in homogeneity, each kitten being of a different skeletal pattern. There were variations of facial structure similar to those of human beings. Configuration of the skulls was different in each individual cat. Often there would be marked failure in the development of the upper lip and in some cases a mandibular protrusion. Dental conditions would usually remain fairly good in the first generation, though gingivitis occasionally developed. Second generation animals usually had much smaller primary teeth than normal and there was irregular spacing of teeth. Bleeding of gums would increase considerably. Some teeth would be lost. In the third generation loss of most of the teeth through decalcification and pyorrhea would be common. Dental development was generally so irregular that the development of the whole face was interfered with. There was severe impairment of bone composition in all cases. The calcium content would fall from the normal 12 to 18 per cent of bone weight in healthy animals to 8 to 12 per cent in the first generation, 3 1/2 to 7 per cent in the second generation, and finally 1 1/2 to 3 per cent in the third generation. The phosphorus content also became progressively less, and the third generation the bones would be very porous and similar to rubber. This resulted in bowlegs, distorted spines, and other deformities. Reproductive efficiency was greatly lowered. Abortion ran from 25 per cent in the first generation to as high as 70 per cent in the second generation. Deliveries were very difficult and many cats died in labor. Often the mother was unable to lactate. The mortality rate of the kittens was very high, many of them being even too frail to nurse. In a number of cases the mother would steadily decline in health following birth of the kittens and die about three months later. Others had increasing difficulty with subsequent pregnancies and some failed to become pregnant. In the males there was disturbance of genital development and descent of the testes. Sterility was so common that raw-food males had to be used for all breeding purposes. Development of the secondary sexual characteristics was incomplete. The degree of masculinity and femininity was lessened and cats of both sexes tended to become more neutral in appearance. For instance, X-ray pictures showed that skulls of third generation cooked-fed animals had neutral profiles for both sexes, as contrasted to the difference in raw-fed animals. At the same time sex interest was very slack; in many cases it was perverted, with some cats developing into true homosexuals. Most of the cats fed cooked meat were very irritable and would occasionally viciously bite the keeper. Intestinal parasites and vermin were very common. Skin lesions and allergies became worse from one generation to the next. Pneumonia and empyema were the most common causes of death in the adult stock; a great number died from diarrhea followed by pneumonia. No cats survived the sixth month of life in the third generation. Among the diseased conditions that were found upon autopsy were: osteomyelitis, cardiac lesions, hyperopia, thyroid disease, hepatitis, nephritis, paralysis, meningitis, cystitis, arthritis, rickets, enlarged colon, bronchitis, fatty infiltration of the muscles, rachitic rosary of the ribs, and enlarged bladder. Cats fed upon a combination of two-thirds pasteurized milk and one-third raw meat presented much of the same deterioration as the other animals. Reproductive efficiency was lowered; skeletal structures were severely impaired; dental irregularity and gingivitis were common, and all kittens showed some form of deficiency in development. Cats fed evaporated milk were damaged even more, and sweetened condensed milk produced the most marked deficiencies of all. Even the raw metabolized vitamin D milk (from cattle fed irradiated yeast) proved harmful. The males showed osseous disturbances following its use, and the adult males died within 10 months, with the young males failing to live beyond even the second month. In some instances cats which had been fed either cooked meat or one of the forms of heated or vitamin D milk would be placed upon a completely raw diet, which would be continued in subsequent generations. Improvement in resistance to disease was noticed in the first and second generations in the "regenerating" animals, though there were still allergic manifestations and reproduction was erratic. In the third generation there was considerable further improvement, and by the fourth generation some of the animals returned to completely normal skeletal and tissue form. From these experiments as well as all others which have been reported, results of feeding raw and cooked foods under laboratory conditions become readily apparent. It follows that, almost without exception, experimental animals thrive well upon an exclusive diet of raw foods. With general uniformity they immediately suffer from various forms of deterioration — physical, sexual, and mental — when given various forms of cooked foods. It has indeed been shown that members of certain animal species fail to reach maturity and reproduce if sufficient cooked foods are included in their diet. The degree of damage may vary to some degree with different animals, but in no instance have large quantities of heat-processed foods been consumed over a long period of time without some harm being observed. The contrast is clearly observed in all copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 9cases, and the many different animals used in the experiments show that the results do not apply to only certain kinds of experimental animals, but may be accepted as a general principle in all such nutritional work. The following article which I wrote many years ago, and was published in “Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review” entitled “What to Expect When You Improve Your Diet” will give you a preview of what most probably will be in store for you, and the reasons why, as you begin your journey to a new and more beautiful life. This is the slightly longer original version of the article available from my website www.drbass.com. WHAT SYMPTOMS TO EXPECT WHEN YOU IMPROVE YOUR DIET(original version) by Stanley S. Bass If I were asked “which is the area of greatest misunderstanding and confusion in the field of nutrition? ”, I would immediately be forced to reply, “It is the failure to properly understand and interpret the symptoms and changes which follow the beginning of a better nutritional program.” What is meant by a better nutritional program? It is the introduction of foods of higher quality in place of lower quality ones. For example - if a person replaces a protein rich food such a pork with beef, the beef may be considered the superior of the two - due to its easier digestibility, lower and less saturated fat content, etc. Similarly chicken is superior to beef, and fish is superior to chicken because of its more rapid digestibility and lower saturated fat content. Lima beans, lentils or chick peas, which are eaten at the same meal with vegetables, are superior in all the nutrients needed to rebuild health than those already mentioned. As we go higher on the scale of quality, we begin to include protein rich food which may be eaten in the unfired (raw) state, such as cheese which is made from raw milk and unsalted. Then we ascend to the nuts and seeds which are eaten in the natural state (raw and unsalted). To summarize - the closer the food comes to the natural state in which it occurs, or the closer we come to its raw, unfired (raw) form, the higher the quality is. In this condition, all the enzymes are found intact. The amino acids are in their finest form. The minerals, vitamins, trace elements, carbohydrates and life force are present. This life force, in turn, is capable of reproducing tissue which is full of life and longer lasting in structure. This same classification of quality which we analyzed in relation to protein rich foods applies to the carbohydrates (the starches and sugar-rich foods), the fats and the mineral-rich foods (vegetables), etc. The quality of a nutritional program is dramatically improved by OMITTING toxic substances such, as coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco, salt, pepper, etc. What is the relation of quality of foods to recovery from illness? It is this in a nutshell - the HIGHER the quality of food we eat, the QUICKER we recover from disease - provided we are able to properly digest and assimilate the quality-level To this must be added the knowledge of A) proper food-combining B) proper order of eating the different kinds of food at a meal (e.g. the most easily digested food should be eaten first, the more complex one second, and the most concentrated item last) C) the correct quantity of food to be consumed (of each type) in the meal D) the correct time for eating (when hungry, and not by the clock) WHEN DIET IMPROVES THE BODY CASTS OUT ACCUMULATED TOXINS AND UNFIT TISSUES Now - what happens when a person follows these rules and makes a decided improvement in the quality of food consumed? Remarkable things begin to happen to the body (as well as the mind). The amazing intelligence present in every cell of the body and the wisdom of the body in its operation, immediately becomes manifest. The rule may be stated thusly: When the quality of the food coming into the body is of higher quality than the tissues which the body is made of, the body begins to discard the lower grade materials and tissues, to make room for the superior materials which it uses to make new and healthier tissue. This is the plan of Nature - of evolution. The body is very selective and always aims for improvement - for better health. The body always tries to produce health and always will, unless our interference is too great. Only then do we fail to recover and degenerate further into disease. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 10The remedial nature of many conditions such as colds, fevers, cuts, swellings, injuries, etc., furnish endless examples of how the body tends towards health - always - unless we do something to stop the process. “WITHDRAWAL” SYMPTOMS FOLLOW USE OF IMPROVED DIET What are the symptoms or signs which become evident when we first begin to omit the lower grade foods and instead introduce superior foods - those which are most alive, more natural than we are accustomed to? When the use of toxic stimulant such as coffee, tea or cocoa is suddenly stopped, headaches are common and a let-down occurs. This is due to the discard by the body of the toxins called caffeine and theobromine which are removed from the tissues and transported through the blood stream to the eliminating organs. When the blood circulates through the brain during its many bodily rounds before the noxious agents reach their final destination for elimination, these irritants register in our consciousness as pain - in other words, headache. The let-down is due to the slower action of the heart - the resting phase which follows the stimulation or more rapid heart action forced upon the body by certain poisons called stimulants. The more rapid heart beat (or pulse) produces a feeling of exhilaration and the slower action produces a depressed state of mind. Usually within three days, the symptoms vanish and we feel stronger due to the recuperation which follows. To a lesser extent the same process occurs when we abandon lower quality foods and replace them with better foods. Lower quality foods have undergone more preparation. Spices, salt and other ingredients have been added, as they tend to be more "stimulating" than less prepared and more natural foods. Animal foods such as meat, fowl, fish etc. are more stimulating than cheese, nuts and vegetable proteins. Consequently the withdrawal of stimulation which follows the abandonment of animal food produces a slower heart action - a resting phase - which registers in the mind as relaxation or a decrease of energy. This initial letdown lasts about ten days or slightly longer, and is followed by an increase of strength, a feeling of diminishing stress and greater well-being. DON’T JUDGE RESULTS PREMATURELY Now let us return to the symptoms which occur in the process of regeneration. The person who starts a better diet, stays on it for three days to a week and then quits will say, "Oh, I felt better on the old diet - the new one makes me feel weak." He failed because he didn't give his body a chance to adjust and complete its first phase of action - recuperation. If he had waited a while longer, he would have begun to feel better than before he started. During the initial stage (lasting about ten days on the average to several weeks in others), the vital energies which are usually in the periphery or external part of the body such as the muscles and skin, begin to move to the vital internal organs and start reconstruction. This shunting of much of the power to the internal region produces a feeling of less energy in the muscles, which the mind interprets as some weakness. Actually, the power is increased, but most of it is being used for rebuilding the more important organs and less of it is available for muscular work. Any weakness which is felt here is not true weakness, but merely a re-deploying of forces to the more important internal parts. Here it is important for the person to stop wasting energy, and to rest and sleep more. This is a crucial phase , and if the person resorts to stimulants of any kind, he will abort and defeat the regenerative intent of the body. It is important that he have patience and faith here and just wait it out, and after a while he will get increasing strength which will exceed by far what he felt before he began the new program. Success in recovery or improvement of health hinges upon the correct understanding of this point - realizing that the body is using its main energies in more important internal work and not wasting it in external work involving muscle movements. Be wise - take it easy here and relax. Just coast in your work and social obligations until you're out of the woods. As one continues on the improved diet and gradually raises the food quality, interesting symptoms begin to appear. The body begins a process called “retracing.” The cellular intelligence reasons something like this - “Oh! Look at all these fine materials coming in. How wonderful - now we have a chance to get rid or this old garbage and build a beautiful new house. Let's get started immediately. Let's get this excess bile out or the liver and gall bladder and send it to the intestines for elimination. Let's get the sludge moving out of the arteries, veins and capillaries. These smelly, gassy, brain-stupefying masses have been here too long - out with them! These arthritic deposits in the joints need cleaning up! Let's get these irritating food preservatives, aspirins, sleeping pills and drugs out of the way, along with these other masses of fat which have made life so burdensome for us for so long. Let's get going till the job is done - till we have a beautiful house - and from there on we'll keep it a beautiful ideal model house." copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 11THE THREE PHASES OF METABOLISM (SUM TOTAL OF BODY FUNCTIONS) 1. During the first phase - called Catabolism - the accent is on elimination, or breaking down of tissue. The body begins to clean house - to remove the garbage deposited in all the tissues - everywhere. During this period the body removes the ashes from the furnace preparatory to getting a better fire. Here the accentuation is on removal of the gross and immediate body obstructions. Wastes are discarded more rapidly than new tissue is made from the new food. This becomes evident as weight loss. 2. This persists for awhile and is then followed by the second phase - called Stabilization . Here the weight remains more or less stable. During this phase, the amount of waste material being discarded daily is equal to the amount of tissue which is being formed and replaced by the newer, more vital food. This occurs after the excess of obstructing material in the tissues has been removed. 3. This stage persists for a while and is then followed by a third phase - a building-up period called Anabolism, wherein weight starts to go up, even though the diet is lower in calories than it was before. At this point, much or most of the interfering wastes have already been discarded - the tissues which have been formed since the diet was raised in quality are more durable and do not break down easily. Also new tissues are now being formed faster. This is due to the improved assimilation and increase of enzyme efficiency which resulted from the recuperation of the digestive mechanism - made possible by the ceasing of wrong food-combining. The body's need for the usual amounts of food decreases, and we are able to maintain our weight and increased energies with less food. Many are able to function very efficiently on two meals a day, and eventually even on one meal a day. As the body progressively increases in efficiency and decreases in tissue breakdown under exercise, so do we gradually need less and less food to maintain life . The higher the percentage of raw food one lives on, the slower the rate of tissue deterioration which one evolves into. A sick body requires a gradual carefully worked-out entry into this stage - where one is able to live on a 100% unfired (raw) diet. Returning to the symptoms which occur on a superior nutritional program - people who have had tendencies in the past to recurring skin rashes or eruptions will frequently tend to eliminate poisons and harmful drugs through the skin with new rashes or eruptions. If they go to a physician now who is not familiar with this aspect of nutrition, he will diagnose it as an allergy. They ask. "How come I'm eating better now than I ever did before, and instead I'm getting worse?" They don't understand that the body is “retracing”. The skin is getting more alive and active. It's throwing out more poisons more rapidly now that the body is building more power which is saved from those hard-to-ingest meals which have been discontinued. These toxins being discarded are saving you from more serious disease which will result if you keep them in your body too much longer - possibly hepatitis, kidney disorders, blood disease, heart disease, arthritis, nerve degenerations or even cancer - depending upon your structural weaknesses. Be happy you're paying your bills now on an easy-payment plan. With some, colds which haven't appeared for a long time may occur, or even fevers. This is nature's way of housecleaning. Understand that these actions are constructive , even though unpleasant at the moment. Don't , but don't , try to stop these symptoms by the use of certain drugs, or even massive doses of vitamins, which will act as drugs in huge concentration. These symptoms are part of a remedial process. Don't try to “cure” the remedial process! These are not deficiency conditions or allergic manifestations - not if you're eating properly in quality, quantity, combination and sequence. Here is where experienced advice is of great value. Unfortunately, there are few books present today which give full guidance to the average reader. Try to find guidance through a doctor or teacher who has the requisite experience in this most confusing of all subjects - Nutrition in relation to health and disease. BODY PURIFICATION CAN BE A LONG DRAWN OUT PROCESS You may he eating perfectly in regard to quantity, quality and observing all the correct rules, and still symptoms will occur. Those who have lived better lives in the past - who have eaten better foods and who have abused their bodies less with overeating will have reactions ranging from almost none at all or very mild symptoms which may be uncomfortable or acute. Those who have lived worse lives and poisoned themselves more will experience more severe symptoms - if their liver, kidneys, or other important eliminating organs have been damaged. When they have been renovated to the point of fair working order, they will no longer produce symptoms. Headaches may occur at the beginning. Fever, colds, the skin may break out, a short interval of bowel sluggishness, occasional diarrhea, feelings of tiredness and weakness, disinclination to exercise, nervousness, irritability, negativity or mental depression, frequent urination, also may occur. However, the great majority of people find their reactions tolerable and are encouraged to bear with them, because of the many improvements which have already occurred and are becoming more evident with each day. This acts as an inspirational force to them. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 12The symptoms will vary according to the materials being discarded, the condition of the organs involved in the elimination and the amount of energy you have available. The more you rest and sleep when symptoms are present, the milder they are and the more quickly they are terminated. Be happy you are having symptoms. Realize deeply that your body is becoming younger and healthier every day, because you are throwing off more and more wastes which would eventually have brought pain, disease and much suffering. Those who have the worst symptom-reactions and follow through to their successful termination are thus avoiding some of the worst diseases which would eventually have developed had they continued their careless eating habits. BLISSFUL STATE OF HEALTH COMES EVENTUALLY Don't expect to go on an ascending scale of quality, that improving your diet will make you feel better and better each day until you reach perfection. The body is cyclical in nature. and health returns in a series of gradually diminishing cycles. For example - you start a better diet and for a while you feel much better. After some time, a symptom occurs - you feel nauseous for a day and have diarrhea with a foul-smelling stool. After one day you feel even better than before and it goes fine for awhile. Then you suddenly develop a cold , feel chills and lose your appetite. After about two or three days (assuming you don't take drugs or do anything else about it), you suddenly recover and feel better than you did for years. Let us say this wellbeing continues for two months, when you suddenly develop an itch or rash. You don't take anything special for it. This rash flares up, gets worse and continues for ten days, and suddenly subsides. Immediately after this you find that your hepatitis is gone and your energy has increased more than ever before. The rash became an outlet for the poisons in the liver which produced the hepatitis. This is how recovery occurs - like the cycles in the Dow-Jones Average at the beginning of a bull market recovery. You feel better, a reaction occurs and you don't feel as well for a short while. You recover and go even higher. And so it goes, each reaction milder than the last as the body becomes purer, each becoming shorter in duration, feeling better than ever before, until you reach a level plateau of vibrant health. Here you become relatively disease-free and are filled with ever-increasing joy, life and the happiness which comes from sheer well-being. The mind opens up and expands to ever-higher horizons and your soul will shout for joy. You begin to love the world, the universe and everything in it. This is the natural state of the mind - blissful, joyful and at peace with the universe - and it can only be attained by alignment with biological laws. The first laws we must learn to obey are the laws of Nature. We must learn to eat simple pure and natural foods, properly prepared and combined, and our bodies in return will cast off all the evil we have taken in during our lives. Nowhere is the principle of forgiveness of sins more manifest than here - in our own bodies - when we forsake our evil and destructive ways of eating (the defiling of the temple of the soul). God (or Nature, if you please) gives us a whole new chance for a new glorious life. All repentance must begin here in the body, through pure diet and natural foods. Then, just have faith, sit back and watch what happens. Before your own eyes, you will daily see signs that will cause you to wonder at this vast intelligence in operation that staggers the comprehension. The mysteries of the body, the operations of Nature, the vital forces working in Nature and the Cosmos are far beyond what our minds are prepared to understand at present. Every great physician or scientist who ever lived marveled in awe and humility at the wonders of nature. Yes - we are "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made." Let us give ourselves a chance to experience what it means to be really healthy and fully ALIVE - to feel the joy of living by aligning ourselves to (God’s) Nature’s laws as intended for man, through the eating of natural (normal) foods. This indeed is the prime prerequisite in man’s physical, mental and spiritual unfoldment. Stanley S. Bass, 1973 Published in Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review, January 1973 (NOTE: The above article is written to explain the process of body regeneration, thanks to improved diet using natural foods, and is not to be associated with the recommendation of any specific product offered for sale . ) Finally, I would like to include a brief case-history of a most impressive recovery from “How I Overcame Inoperable Cancer” by a Naturopath, Wong Hon Sun, N.D. It is also included as Appendix B in “Discovery of the Ultimate Diet.” A MOST INTERESTING CASE OF RECOVERY FROM CANCER ON ONE MEAL A DAY ON A RAW FOOD REGIMEN by Wong Hon Sun The following is from the book How I Overcame Inoperable Cancer by Wong Hon Sun, ND, with a forward by Dr. Ralph Bircher (Exposition Press, Hicksville, N.Y. 1975). copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 13 At the age of 32, Wong Hon Sun found himself to be a victim of a critical form ( anaplastic epidermoid carcinoma) of nose and throat cancer, large and inoperable, in 1960, and by employing principles of natural healing on his own initiative, made an unexpected complete recovery (as confirmed by medical checkups), with no recurrence of any symptoms of the disease for the past 14 years. Before he began his self-care, he had a lump at the back of his throat which began to interfere with both his speech and swallowing. He was constitutionally anemic, had chronic nasal catarrh with intermittent nose bleeds, was extremely emaciated and undernourished. He had radiation treatment five times a week for two weeks. This was followed by a biopsy. After the radiation, an agonizing parchedness of his mouth and throat followed by nausea caused him to go on nothing but occasional sips of coconut water after which his weight dropped to 75 lbs. His nausea ended after a three day water fast after which he began drinking fresh squeezed pineapple juice alternating with liver extract every four hours. He soon recovered his strength. He began daily walking to induce sweating for “detoxication purposes.” When he returned at noon-time, he drank large quantities of the liver extract (made by steaming the liver) and fresh pineapple juice. In order to completely eliminate the toxemia in his system, he believed that short of complete fasting the cancer patient may have to restrict himself to one meal a day. “This Single Meal Routine acted as the best natural safeguard against excessive nutrient intake, while providing the minimum quantity necessary for normal physiological function.” “It is also tantamount to a 24-hour fast in its therapeutic effects, can be carried on indefinitely, because it vitalizes (provided that the ensuing diet is of high nutritive value), rather than weakens as prolonged fasting does.” The body adapts itself to a reduced daily food intake by lowering the basal metabolic rate, which, within limits, is favorable to early recovery from cancer, provided vitality is maintained. The resulting conservation of energy enhances the body’s intrinsic healing power for the fight against cancer. On the Single Meal Routine, he took solid liver, about 100 grams of raw liver, 3 1/2 oz.

Natural_Hygiene_Recoveries.txt

Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE SPENT ON DRUG-ADVERTISING - WHILE DRUG-FREE HEALING IS ALMOST UNKNOWN EVEN SOCALLED ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE USUALLY PROMOTES DRUGS - HELP SPREAD KNOWLEDGE OF DRUG-FREE HEALINGREMARKABLE RECOVERIES FROM SEVERE HEALTH PROBLEMS by Stanley S. BassN. D. , D. C. , Ph.

in weight, equal to approximately 30 grams of protein) which he felt he needed for his anemia and sub-normal blood count. Also, he was unable to digest cheese, nuts, or pulses without gastric discomfort, thus necessitating the use of liver for tissue building protein and iron. Then, too, the use of 100% raw foods, both animal and vegetable, provided hormones, enzymes, and other vital elements needed for regeneration. To make the raw liver palatable, he immersed it in scalding water for several minutes, which made it taste enjoyably good. He gradually reduced the scalding time to a few seconds and was able to eat it with relish. This he alternated with raw eggs of various species, but mostly hen’s. One day liver and the next day some eggs. Since he couldn’t handle the leafy vegetables, tubers, or nuts, he used fresh, ripe, and uncooked fruits of a softer variety. He was able to maintain his nitrogen balance on some eggs one day and 3 1/2 oz. of liver the following day. This was rather remarkable, since when he felt unwell, he always fasted on water, so that he took much less than 100 grams of liver on the average, on the alternative liver days. The balance of the diet was made up of fresh fruits which formed its main basis. To ensure an adequate supply of sugar, he took a few spoonfuls of honey or molasses as a dessert. On the raw liver (or raw egg) and fruit diet, he found that he was able, not only to maintain, but gradually to increase, his vitality. And one day he felt energetic enough to indulge in running exercises in the open fields (more than three months after the cessation of the radiation treatments). He ran daily to sweat out the toxins – rested in the afternoon – and then in the evenings he went on a hike. Then working up a great thirst he would stop at stalls and have a hot beverage of boiled juices of certain melons and herbaceous plants (leaves boiled and diluted with water). At night he took a warm bath followed by a brisk rubdown. He gradually increased the running to one, two, and three miles, and the tumor gradually regressed, and the breathing became easier. “My diet of raw liver, eggs, and fresh fruits provided me with a good supply of B complex containing B 6 , vitamin C, iron and lecithin, and I further took some honey, red palm oil, brewer’s yeast, and wheat germ as nutritive supplements.” It took more than six months for the inflammation on his face to subside completely and more than a year for his features to become normal. The irradiated areas eventually healed, but some permanent scars remained. “I had to depend upon eggs and fish liver for my supply of vitamin D.” Fish liver also contains some calcium and phosphorus, but these two minerals occur in greater quantities in egg, which also contain vitamins A and D. RAW VEGETABLE THERAPY With gradual digestive improvement, he was able to add raw tomatoes and cucumbers and by dipping lettuce, celery, and cabbage in boiling water for only a few seconds, they were made palatable. He juiced hard raw vegetables like carrots. With advancing years, he reduced his intake of liver, totally excluding other animal flesh. He accustomed himself to some cheese in addition to eggs, getting a good supply of essential amino acids. He then added plant proteins such as soybean in the form of easily digestible curds, adding a dressing of ground nut oil. Also added were legumes, ground nuts, lotus seeds, and natural supplements like wheat germ and yeast. As his anemic condition improved, he took liver once a week or two weeks and relied mainly on sugar cane, beans, spinach, and other iron-rich plant foods. Thus, he gradually learned to maintain his nitrogen equilibrium without having to take meat every day. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 14 On his almost meatless and low starch diet, he was constantly on guard against the development of hypoproteinemia and hypoglycemia. On some occasions he did experience mild symptoms of these conditions, but by repeatedly adjusting his menu, he was gradually able to assess his daily requirements of protein and sugar. He always made allowance for vital food factors as yet undiscovered, so he followed no fixed menu based on known nutrients, but constantly altered his menu. “Raw vegetable therapy, when judiciously carried out, could be a great help to the cancer patient in his fight for survival, but for the therapy to be successful, a sound knowledge of the nutrients – particularly of essential amino acids – present in various types of food is essential.” Wong was convinced of the importance of auto-psychotherapy, wherein the patient understood that the human body is self-healing and the natural tendency in illness is always towards recovery (called homeostasis), provided that the causation of the illness is removed. Faith and determination in one’s recovery are essential, and if the physician can instill in the patient the faith in the intrinsic power of the body to fight off the disease, and assure him of the chances of a final victory, the best chances of success are then possible. Add to this the inspiration and confidence which comes when the patient sees progressive improvement in his condition, the gradual abatement and regression of his cancerous growth, as well as the steady increase in strength and vigor, and success is assured. In his recovery from cancer, all his chronic afflictions which existed prior to his developing cancer disappeared – viz. colds, sore throat, sinusitis, gingivitis, hay fever, indigestion, and insomnia. His sense of smell and taste gradually returned , the tumor continued to regress slowly but surely, and within eight months he was completely cleared of nasal obstruction. He was carefully examined at a hospital and the doctor stated, “You seem to be all right. There’s no trace of the tumor.” He learned to avoid the cancer recurrence which he so greatly feared, by constant vigilance. By his 35th birthday, he was so improved in health and vigor that he was able to jog for hours without feeling unduly tired. “And all the while I had adhered to the Single Meal Routine – a diet which gave me little more than 1000 calories of energy daily. On the Single Meal Routine I have been able to maintain my body weight constant at 100 lbs. – not an abnormally low weight for an Asian of average height. This amounts to a loss of only about 10 lbs. compared to my body weight in early youth, when I was eating three or four meals a day. But paradoxically, my reduction in weight was compensated by increased vigor, a keen appetite, and – most important of all – a gradual abatement of all my chronic ailments and complete eradication of cancer.” For the past 14 years since his biopsy, free from colds, hay fever, and catarrhal troubles and in recent years, with further improvement in health and vigor, he was able to indulge in strenuous sports like badminton, judo, and weight lifting in addition to running. “I must add that, despite my increasing daily expenditure of energy, I haven’t increased substantially the quantity of food eaten daily. Yet, during the past few years, I have been able to gain a few pounds in weight. The mechanism of human metabolism is certainly more complex than can be simply explained in terms of calorie requirements. ’” The treatment for cancer does not end with the cure – the cure is just the beginning of the treatment. It is appalling to think of the number of supposedly “cured” cancer patients who continue to die needlessly because they won’t make any personal effort to guard against recurrence of the disease! “My recovery from cancer is in no way extraordinary or unique. The recuperative power of the human body from illness to health can only be described as little short of amazing. The cure for cancer must ultimately lie with the patient himself, and the reward of recovering is only for those who are prepared to undergo with fortitude some degree of self-denial. “It is one of the most remarkable attributes of the human body that it can adapt itself to changes in habits of eating and living with extreme flexibility. My Single Meal Routine, initially employed as a desperate measure to check a fatal disease, has now become to me an established habit, inasmuch as I have come to look upon the three-meal-a-day routine as something bothersome and tedious. I still adhere – though it is no longer necessary to do so with rigidity – to the raw food diet, as I consider it a natural preventative against cancer recurrence. “My daily solo running has lost its initial boredom and become a pleasing habit. It has helped me build up a satisfactory level of health; it has helped me, in my late forties, to maintain my blood pressure at around 120 mm (systolic) and to regain and relive a youth long lost to ill health and disease. “To those cancer sufferers whose prospects of recovery seem dim, I would say ‘as long as there is still breath in the body and the will to live, there is always hope... there will always be hope’.” The recuperative power of the human body from illness to health can only be described as little short of amazing. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 15Interview with Dr. Bass What problems can people run into during natural healing? When sick people begin to heal and detoxify they often seem to get even sicker. They may get new disease symptoms, like headaches, colds, skin breakouts, fevers. This can cause some to panic and seek help from medical doctors, who will prescribe drugs. Not a good idea, since drugs have an immediate effect of stopping the ongoing detox. So using drugs is a serious mistake. By avoiding necessary inner cleansing, people only prolong their disease, or even make it worse. By allowing the detox, they will get well maximally fast. Is it possible to avoid detoxification symptoms? Orthopathic doctors can either design the natural recovery to be short and efficient with strong symptoms, if they think the patient can handle it. Or design a really slow detox with very few, if any, symptoms. An example: As a young doctor I had a woman in her 60's who consulted me for high blood pressure. I noticed her fingers seemed crooked from rheumatism, but didn't ask about it. I gave her an easy-to-follow diet of 3 meals per day - two raw and one mixed cooked/raw. No water fasting. I adjusted the diet every month or 2 weeks when she came to visit. This was such a slow detox that she didn't get detoxification symptoms. Her blood pressure improved steadily. When she came to visit the 8th month I noticed that her fingers looked straight, and asked her about it. Yes, she said, my fingers have straightened out - and by the way, the diabetes I was suffering from is gone as well. I was elated , this was the first time I had seen an example of how our bodies heal all our diseases if given a chance. Can you give an example of detox symptoms? Currently I have a patient who has been using a walker for many years. His legs used to be normal, but were so severely damaged by poisonous salves that he lost his ability to walk. The salves were prescribed by doctors for a parasitic infection. A very difficult case to solve. After going on a strict diet, his body started breaking out in severe blisters allover, which is a sign of detoxification via the skin. Since this was very uncomfortable he was on the verge of giving up. It took three 21-day water fasts and a strict diet during 9 months before the blisters disappeared. By now he has recovered most of his walking ability, and is well on his way to full recovery. For more examples of detox symptoms, read "What Symptoms to Expect When You Improve Your Diet." Does it often take months to recover? It depends on the patient, and on what method is used, what combination of strict diet and fasting. This summer I have had a patient in his 30's who was in terrible shape. When he came to me he feared he would die soon. He had many tumors and a chronic backache, and had been to multiple doctors but only gotten worse. I asked him 2 questions: Are you willing to go on a strict diet? Are you willing to have a short water fast? He was, and the result was a real miracle, in his own words. In less than 2 months his back ache is gone, his blood pressure is down, his tumors have almost disappeared, and he has lost 40 lb of weight. What other methods or therapies do you use? I only use the most efficient methods available, which also are as close to nature as possible, in essence a combination of high-quality diets and fasting. Together with general advice about improved lifestyle, e.g. sleep, rest, meditation, exercise, breathing, sunshine, etc. E.g. to get rid of pain in shortest possible time, fasting is the best choice. Drugs, herbs and similar, even products that claim to be detoxification-enhancing, only delay healing and must be avoided. Have you had any remarkable recoveries? Of the over 30,000 patients I have taken care of I would call almost all remarkable, and many miraculous. Especially since people usually come to me in very serious condition, often as a last resort after having tried everything else for years, but only getting worse. The more toxic people are due to dangerous drugs taken during many years, the more necessary correct detoxification is. This interview was made 9-2005 by the Natural Hygiene Network of Houston, a non-profit organization. Dr. Stanley S. Bass in 2002 Stanley S. Bass , 3119 Coney island Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11235 PHONE: 718-648-1500 copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www.drbass.com 16Visit Dr. Stanley S. Bass website www.drbass.com

Natural_Hygiene_Recoveries.txt

Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: in weight, equal to approximately 30 grams of protein) which he felt he needed for his anemia and sub-normal blood count. Also, he was unable to digest cheese, nuts, or pulses without gastric discomfort, thus necessitating the use of liver for tissue building protein and iron. Then, too, the use of 100% raw foods, both animal and vegetable, provided hormones, enzymes, and other vital elements needed for regeneration. To make the raw liver palatable, he immersed it in scalding water for several minutes, which made it taste enjoyably good. He gradually reduced the scalding time to a few seconds and was able to eat it with relish. This he alternated with raw eggs of various species, but mostly hen’s. One day liver and the next day some eggs. Since he couldn’t handle the leafy vegetables, tubers, or nuts, he used fresh, ripe, and uncooked fruits of a softer variety. He was able to maintain his nitrogen balance on some eggs one day and 3 1/2 oz. of liver the following day. This was rather remarkable, since when he felt unwell, he always fasted on water, so that he took much less than 100 grams of liver on the average, on the alternative liver days. The balance of the diet was made up of fresh fruits which formed its main basis. To ensure an adequate supply of sugar, he took a few spoonfuls of honey or molasses as a dessert. On the raw liver (or raw egg) and fruit diet, he found that he was able, not only to maintain, but gradually to increase, his vitality. And one day he felt energetic enough to indulge in running exercises in the open fields (more than three months after the cessation of the radiation treatments). He ran daily to sweat out the toxins – rested in the afternoon – and then in the evenings he went on a hike. Then working up a great thirst he would stop at stalls and have a hot beverage of boiled juices of certain melons and herbaceous plants (leaves boiled and diluted with water). At night he took a warm bath followed by a brisk rubdown. He gradually increased the running to one, two, and three miles, and the tumor gradually regressed, and the breathing became easier. “My diet of raw liver, eggs, and fresh fruits provided me with a good supply of B complex containing B 6, vitamin C, iron and lecithin, and I further took some honey, red palm oil, brewer’s yeast, and wheat germ as nutritive supplements. ” It took more than six months for the inflammation on his face to subside completely and more than a year for his features to become normal. The irradiated areas eventually healed, but some permanent scars remained. “I had to depend upon eggs and fish liver for my supply of vitamin D. ” Fish liver also contains some calcium and phosphorus, but these two minerals occur in greater quantities in egg, which also contain vitamins A and D. RAW VEGETABLE THERAPY With gradual digestive improvement, he was able to add raw tomatoes and cucumbers and by dipping lettuce, celery, and cabbage in boiling water for only a few seconds, they were made palatable. He juiced hard raw vegetables like carrots. With advancing years, he reduced his intake of liver, totally excluding other animal flesh. He accustomed himself to some cheese in addition to eggs, getting a good supply of essential amino acids. He then added plant proteins such as soybean in the form of easily digestible curds, adding a dressing of ground nut oil. Also added were legumes, ground nuts, lotus seeds, and natural supplements like wheat germ and yeast. As his anemic condition improved, he took liver once a week or two weeks and relied mainly on sugar cane, beans, spinach, and other iron-rich plant foods. Thus, he gradually learned to maintain his nitrogen equilibrium without having to take meat every day. copyright © Dr. Stanley S. Bass (718) 648-1500 www. drbass. com 14 On his almost meatless and low starch diet, he was constantly on guard against the development of hypoproteinemia and hypoglycemia. On some occasions he did experience mild symptoms of these conditions, but by repeatedly adjusting his menu, he was gradually able to assess his daily requirements of protein and sugar. He always made allowance for vital food factors as yet undiscovered, so he followed no fixed menu based on known nutrients, but constantly altered his menu. “Raw vegetable therapy, when judiciously carried out, could be a great help to the cancer patient in his fight for survival, but for the therapy to be successful, a sound knowledge of the nutrients – particularly of essential amino acids – present in various types of food is essential. ” Wong was convinced of the importance of auto-psychotherapy, wherein the patient understood that the human body is self-healing and the natural tendency in illness is always towards recovery (called homeostasis), provided that the causation of the illness is removed. Faith and determination in one’s recovery are essential, and if the physician can instill in the patient the faith in the intrinsic power of the body to fight off the disease, and assure him of the chances of a final victory, the best chances of success are then possible. Add to this the inspiration and confidence which comes when the patient sees progressive improvement in his condition, the gradual abatement and regression of his cancerous growth, as well as the steady increase in strength and vigor, and success is assured. In his recovery from cancer, all his chronic afflictions which existed prior to his developing cancer disappeared – viz. colds, sore throat, sinusitis, gingivitis, hay fever, indigestion, and insomnia. His sense of smell and taste gradually returned, the tumor continued to regress slowly but surely, and within eight months he was completely cleared of nasal obstruction. He was carefully examined at a hospital and the doctor stated, “You seem to be all right. There’s no trace of the tumor. ” He learned to avoid the cancer recurrence which he so greatly feared, by constant vigilance. By his 35th birthday, he was so improved in health and vigor that he was able to jog for hours without feeling unduly tired. “And all the while I had adhered to the Single Meal Routine – a diet which gave me little more than 1000 calories of energy daily. On the Single Meal Routine I have been able to maintain my body weight constant at 100 lbs. – not an abnormally low weight for an Asian of average height. This amounts to a loss of only about 10 lbs. compared to my body weight in early youth, when I was eating three or four meals a day. But paradoxically, my reduction in weight was compensated by increased vigor, a keen appetite, and – most important of all – a gradual abatement of all my chronic ailments and complete eradication of cancer. ” For the past 14 years since his biopsy, free from colds, hay fever, and catarrhal troubles and in recent years, with further improvement in health and vigor, he was able to indulge in strenuous sports like badminton, judo, and weight lifting in addition to running. “I must add that, despite my increasing daily expenditure of energy, I haven’t increased substantially the quantity of food eaten daily. Yet, during the past few years, I have been able to gain a few pounds in weight. The mechanism of human metabolism is certainly more complex than can be simply explained in terms of calorie requirements. ’” The treatment for cancer does not end with the cure – the cure is just the beginning of the treatment. It is appalling to think of the number of supposedly “cured” cancer patients who continue to die needlessly because they won’t make any personal effort to guard against recurrence of the disease. “My recovery from cancer is in no way extraordinary or unique. The recuperative power of the human body from illness to health can only be described as little short of amazing. The cure for cancer must ultimately lie with the patient himself, and the reward of recovering is only for those who are prepared to undergo with fortitude some degree of self-denial. “It is one of the most remarkable attributes of the human body that it can adapt itself to changes in habits of eating and living with extreme flexibility. My Single Meal Routine, initially employed as a desperate measure to check a fatal disease, has now become to me an established habit, inasmuch as I have come to look upon the three-meal-a-day routine as something bothersome and tedious. I still adhere – though it is no longer necessary to do so with rigidity – to the raw food diet, as I consider it a natural preventative against cancer recurrence. “My daily solo running has lost its initial boredom and become a pleasing habit. It has helped me build up a satisfactory level of health; it has helped me, in my late forties, to maintain my blood pressure at around 120 mm (systolic) and to regain and relive a youth long lost to ill health and disease. “To those cancer sufferers whose prospects of recovery seem dim, I would say ‘as long as there is still breath in the body and the will to live, there is always hope. there will always be hope’. ” The recuperative power of the human body from illness to health can only be described as little short of amazing.

Deepak’s Guide to THE CHOPRA CENTER © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | [email protected] 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009HOLISTIC HEALTHDeepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009DEEPAK’S GUIDE TO HOLISTIC HEALTH Learn Daily Practices for Health and Wholeness by Deepak Chopra, M.D. Co-founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing The word holistic has come to refer to everything from organic food and massage therapy to herbal supplements and Eastern healing practices, all of which are undeniably valuable and evidence of a growing consciousness that earlier generations only dreamed of. At the Chopra Center, we define holistic in its original sense – as related to wholeness. Wholeness is the union of mind, body, and spirit. It means that you are a totality, not the sum of countless moving parts. In wholeness, you aren’t divided against yourself, and the choices you make benefit you at every level. Just as the quality of your food, water, and exercise directly affects the health of your body and mind, so the energy and information you take in through your mind and sensory organs influence your body and spirit. There is a growing body of research establishing the inextricable connection of the mind, body, and spirit – and the value of health practices that encompass all three aspects. The following guide to holistic health won’t tell you what kind of diet to follow or whether you need to take vitamins. It will instead help you experience your own innate wholeness – and your own inextricable connection to the universe – as you nurture your mind, body, and spirit. THE BODY IS A FLOWING RIVER Your body is not a structure; it is a river that never stays the same. In every moment, your body is changing, continuously exchanging its atoms and molecules with the rest of the universe. Right now hundreds of thousands of chemical changes are taking place at the cellular level, transforming your body faster than you can change your clothes. These changes aren’t random but are focused on serving the purpose of moving life forward and preserving what’s best from the past. Yet change is also a choice. Your body has an infinite number of unknown possibilities, but it looks to you for direction. When you introduce an intention, your body finds a way, on its own, to adapt to anything you want – even to experiences that most people would describe as “spiritual. ” For example, researchers have known for the past twenty years that the brain is “plastic” – that it isn’t fixed at birth as previously believed but adapts to change. They have found that simple daily activity can quickly create new neural networks. Even more remarkably, studies are now showing that mental activity alone can alter the brain. With the cooperation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a group of brain researchers conducted a study of Tibetan Buddhist monks who had been meditating regularly for between fifteen and forty years. In a laboratory, the monks were hooked up to a functional MRI, a brain scan that can monitor changes in real time. When the monks meditated on compassion, the scans showed that their brains generated the most intense gamma waves Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009ever seen in a normal brain. Gamma waves are associated with keeping the brain functioning as a whole and with higher cognitive processes. The monks displayed the most intense area of activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area associated with happiness and positive thoughts. This study was remarkable because it was the first time that anyone had been able to show conclusively that mental activity alone can alter the brain. We now have evidence that a mere intention or desire (in this case, the desire to be compassionate) can train the brain to adapt. EXERCISE: TAKING SUBTLE ACTION While gross actions involve direct contact with the physical world, subtle actions involve only the mind. Subtle action comes naturally to all of us, but it can be easier to apply when you break it down into the following steps: 1. Enter a state of restful awareness (through practices such as meditation and yoga) and make your intention known. 2. Believe in getting results. 3. Flow with the process of change, letting go of resistance. At this point, the body will shift effortlessly at the physical level. Then you can repeat your subtle action until you have experienced the change you desire. DISCOVER YOUR TRUE NATURE Our authentic true self is pure, unconditioned consciousness. Until we remember that, however, we tend to accept the illusion that we are our ego. The ego is essentially a gatekeeper. It allows in certain experiences, which become “mine, ” and rejects other experiences. The ego is fundamentally insecure and defensive because it believes that it is separate from the world and therefore must struggle to survive. The ego’s perspective inevitably leads us to experience unnecessary suffering, stress, and often even illness. But what can we do? This tendency to accept and reject comes naturally to the ego, for its job is to define “I, ” and you can’t be everything to everybody – you must define yourself as “I” in some way. I have never favored trying to defeat, kill, or discipline the ego. My reasoning is that if life isn’t meant to be a struggle, then it isn’t meant to be a struggle against the ego, either.Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009BEFRIENDING THE EGO Instead of simply trying to get rid of the ego, which only puts it on the defensive, it is more effective to apply yourself to discovering your real essence, your foundation of being. This is most effectively experienced through meditation or other mindfulness practices. As you meditate, the presence of your deepest self will radiate its own truth to every cell in your body. It may display its quality as peace or joyfulness. For others, it may have more of a flavor of universal love and compassion. Still others may experience the presence as divine light, creativity or intelligence. As self-awareness dawns, the ego no longer has to be a worried gatekeeper, a defender of the status quo. I also recommend a simple form of self-inquiry, such as the method taught by Byron Katie, to dismantle the ego’s unexamined beliefs. You can learn more about Byron Katie’s inquiry process at thework.com . LISTEN TO YOUR BODY’S WISDOM Without a sense of the rhythms and intelligence inherent in our physiology and consciousness, we ignore the critical signals that our body has been cultured over eons to express in order to maintain balance. We neglect to sleep and exercise, indulge beyond our capacities, go to bed too late, and then arise when the sun is well aloft, wondering why we feel out of synch. We sabotage the delicate harmony and order encoded in our chromosomes, our genetic gift of longevity that comes from keeping our tissues free from plaque and debris. A little imbalance in time becomes a disorder and then a disease, bringing on more stress and neglect. On the other hand, when we flow in harmony with our body’s natural rhythms, getting restful sleep, feeding our senses with experiences, tastes, touch, aromas, sounds, and sights that uplift and nourish us, we usually experience a greater state of health and wellbeing. Such a life promotes an integrated interaction of our brain’s one trillion neurons, allowing us to be present to the multitude of perceptions that incessantly bombard us, to enjoy them for their beauty, to process them into creative action, and to intuit the future and our role within it. TUNING IN . . . How do you make choices that keep you in harmony with your inner intelligence and rhythms? By tuning into your body’s messages. The body always expresses itself through signals of comfort and discomfort. When choosing a certain path or behavior, ask your body, “How do you feel about this?” If your body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress, pay attention and consider a different choice. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, you may proceed. Whereas the mind lives in the past and the future, the body resides in the now and never doubts itself. It knows the truth and will guide you toward the most evolutionary choices.Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009TAKE TIME TO BE SILENT The silent witness within each of us is the light of our pure consciousness. It is present at all times, in every experience. Interestingly, Agni, the Vedic god of fire, is also known as the eternal witness. In Ayurvedic physiology, the eight agnis are the fires of digestion, which must all be functioning properly for our body to extract the full essence and benefits of the food, experiences, and sensory impressions we ingest. If these are not fully digested, a metabolic residue or toxin known as ama remains in the body and can impair our health. When the light of our consciousness is awakened, our silent witness is fully present in every moment. That light of witnessing completely metabolizes whatever experience we are having, whether pain or pleasure. It also prevents the experience from becoming a future source of attachment, suffering, or delusion. The silent witness keeps us in the present, unencumbered from our past conditioning or fear of the future. THE INNER QUIET OF MEDITATION When you meditate, your internal dialogue becomes quiet. In silence, you experience the light of pure consciousness. There are many ways to meditate. At the Chopra Center we teach Primordial Sound Meditation, which is a form of mantra meditation. The mantra is selected based on your Vedic astrology chart. A mantra is a sound that has no history or meaning associated with it, which allows you to bypass the mind’s natural tendency to get wrapped up in stories and thoughts. EXERCISE: THE I AM MEDITATION If you don’t have a mantra, another meditation technique you can use is to close your eyes and simply repeat I am silently to yourself. Remember that when Moses went to the burning bush and asked God his name, God said, “I am that I am. ”  I am represents infinite possibilities. There is no baggage attached to it. In Sanskrit, the word aham refers to this same concept. Start with five minutes of meditation, then gradually build up to longer meditation periods. You’ll notice that when you introduce the repetition of I am into your consciousness, it competes with your other thoughts until gradually both your thoughts and the words I am become vague and abstract. Ultimately you’ll experience no thought and no repetition . . . just the silence and peace of pure consciousness.Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009CULTIVATE SELF-REFERRAL Self-referral is identifying with your inner self – the unchanging essence of your soul. This state has certain characteristics, including an internal sense of joy or wellbeing regardless of what is happening in the exterior world. In self-referral, you’re not attached to outcome or obsessed with power, money, or control; you’re in touch with your feelings and you feel what you feel. You’re not easily offended and you don’t feel superior or inferior. In self-referral you have infinite freedom and are able to make spontaneous evolutionary choices. You’re not anticipating a response and you’re not victimized by memory. You’re literally in the flow of the evolutionary impulse of the universe. EXERCISE: THE FIRE IN YOUR EYES Conscious inner dialogue is a powerful tool for expanding the state of self-referral. Whenever you look in the mirror, even if just for a few seconds, make eye contact with yourself and silently repeat the three principles of self-referral: • I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. • I am beneath no one, and no one is beneath me. • I am fearless in the face of any all challenges. Look into your eyes to see these attitudes reflected back at you. Look just at your eyes, not at your facial expression. Look for the shine in your eyes that reflects the fire in your soul. If you do this exercise for a few minutes every day, it can create profound shifts in your life.Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009BE GENEROUS OF SPIRIT Wholeness is generous because it feels no lack. No matter how much you give, if you give freely more will come to you. On the other hand, if you feel a pinch of lack underneath, it won’t be easy to give and you won’t experience the joy of giving and receiving. Generosity begins at the level of the soul, which has an inexhaustible source of the two things that are vital to life: energy and awareness. When you know at the deepest levels that you can never run short of these two things, you will become generous of spirit and giving on any level will feel natural and easy. Here are the major gifts we all can give when we’re generous of spirit: Offer yourself first. This means sharing the real you instead of the false self that most people offer the world. The false self is a something we develop to fit into society’s expectations and win external approval, while the real self is open and vulnerable. It doesn’t feel a division between one soul and another. While social conditioning can make it feel frightening to offer the real you, remember that fear often gives false counsel. When you offer the real you, you become stronger, stripping off the flimsy suit of armor that was an illusion all along. When you share your true self, you offer your wholeness of spirit. Don’t withhold the truth. Whatever is false blocks spirit and prevents the flow of energy and awareness. Every time you speak your truth, you establish your own wholeness and evolution. This isn’t about standing up for “absolute truths” but about being authentic and honest on the most intimate scale. In families where someone has an alcohol or drug addiction and the other family members keep silent, they feel a sense of helplessness and the problems fester. Speaking the truth opens up options and empowers. It shows caring. Be a force for harmony and coherence. Wholeness is a state of harmony, while fragmentation is a state of conflict. The soul is a harmonizing influence that can transform any situation if you stay aware and focus your intentions. In the face of conflict, you can act as a peaceful influence, whether silently or speaking up if that is needed. Place your trust in abundance. Since wholeness contains everything, it draws on the infinite resources of spirit. T rust that there will always be enough of what your soul has to give – enough love, compassion, caring, intelligence, creativity, and attention. Abundance is about trusting the flow, knowing that wholeness doesn’t have holes in it and never leaves a void. You can be generous with all the gifts of the soul and more will flow in. Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009RELEASE GRIEVANCES AND FORGIVE The best way to understand forgiveness is to realize that to forgive and to ask for forgiveness is the best use of one’s energy and also one of the most important paths to self-healing. The absence of forgiveness is holding a grievance or resentment and also a subtle desire to seek vengeance. In short, it is hostility. Many studies have shown that although anger can be a healthy release of pent-up energy, hostility is not healthy, and it is the number one emotional risk factor for premature death from cardiovascular incidents (stroke and heart attack). Learning how to let go of toxic emotions such as hostility is the essence of learning how to forgive, because forgiveness is about releasing your attachment or identification with a conditioned response. If you are holding onto a grievance or resentment or you feel hostility toward someone and are unable to let go, I encourage you to read David Simon’s book Free to Love, Free to Heal. If you want to be personally guided in the emotional detoxification and forgiveness process David presents in his book, you can attend the Healing the Heart workshop at the Chopra Center (learn more at chopra.com/healingtheheart ). In the end, to forgive another is to forgive our self. What we think we are forgiving in another is an act of freedom for our own soul. Every situation that calls for forgiveness is a step in our own evolution to higher consciousness. PRACTICE THE LAW OF LEAST EFFORT The Law of Least Effort is the principle of doing less to accomplish more. This involves a shift in awareness more than anything else. Sometimes hard work, exacting plans, and driving ambitions will allow you to accomplish goals in the material domain, yet at a huge cost because of the massive stress involved. You’re relying on your own individual mind and efforts, which are tiny in comparison with the infinite intelligence of the universe. By tapping into intelligence of the universe rather than relying on your ego’s limited strength, life becomes much easier. Spiritual flow is effortless, spontaneous; it is full of flexibility and creativity. It’s a realm where you learn to let go detach from the outcome, and experience life-centered present moment awareness. And it’s so joyful that it can’t even be described. It seems like you and the universe are dancing together. There’s a song in your heart and you don’t really care who’s listening or what they think. You just want to sing that song and you want to move in tandem with the impulse of evolution which we call dharma. Deepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009© 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009The more time you spend in silence and meditation, the easier it becomes to align yourself the natural harmony of the universe. There are also three useful steps you can take to benefit from the Law of Least Effort in your life: 1. Practice Acceptance. Each day, have the intention to accept people situations, and events as they occur. Know that this moment is as it should be because the universe it as it should be. 2. T ake responsibility. Once you’ve accepted things as they are, take responsibility for all those situations you may see as problems. This doesn’t mean blaming yourself or others, but taking whatever steps you can to transform circumstances into a greater benefit. 3. Establish your awareness in defenselessness. Let go of the need to defend your point of view. Stay open to all perspectives without being rigidly attached to any of them. NURTURE YOUR INTENTIONS EVERY DAY Daily life presents many unexpected demands and challenges, and it’s easy to fall into the grip of our ego’s fears, demands, and confusion. It’s important to remind yourself of your intentions and spiritual purpose. Some people find it helpful to write down their intentions and review them each day; for others, periods of regular meditation and prayer are invaluable. Spend time in silence, connect to your infinite nature, and center your intention inside yourself. Intend for everything to work out as it should, and then let go and allow opportunities and openings to come your way. Practicing the above steps will help you experience your innate wholeness. When that happens, you will feel subtle changes in the feelings and thoughts, including a sense that all is well. You will feel a lightness in your body, deep peace, and the realization that your internal dialogue has become quieter. You may experience healing on a physical or emotional level. You may also notice that you’re acting out of complete integrity and that synchronicities and unexpected opportunities are becoming more abundant in your life. These are all signs that you are connecting to your true nature, which is whole, infinite, and unbounded.© 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing chopra.com | 888.736.6895 | [email protected] 2013 Costa del Mar Rd., Carlsbad, CA 92009THE CHOPRA CENTER

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Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms: Deepak’s Guide to THE CHOPRA CENTER © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing chopra. com | 888. 736. 6895 | learn@chopra. com 2013 Costa del Mar Rd. , Carlsbad, CA 92009HOLISTIC HEALTHDeepak’s Guide to Holistic Health © 2012, The Chopra Center for Wellbeing | chopra.