Maximize Your Prana Intake

THE FIVE MINUTE ‘KOW-TOW-TO-THE-SUN’ EXERCISE

This  exercise is one of the most effective, most simple, and most economical exercises which one can do in order to vitalize the body and mind. It is a combination of yoga breathing and simple postures which, when done simultaneously, allows maximum prana to be taken into the body.

IMG_3190(1)Photo by Holly 2012.

The routine was formulated by a medical doctor who turned to acupuncture and spiritual healing in his last years of practice. With his knowledge of acupuncture points, he worked out this routine to help with his own spiritual healing methods, and to help others. Unfortunately, I have lost the brochure which he distributed which had this exercise on it, so I can’t give you his name.

Practice the exercise three times a day, morning, noon and night. It takes only five minutes of your time which will reap huge benefits for your health and your sense of well-being.

It is an excellent routine to do for self  healing, but also is beneficial to the recipient of a spiritual healing: Practice this routine prior to one giving spiritual healing to another person.

THE KOW TOW EXERCISE; Stand in a position which faces the sun. Standing bare-foot on damp grass in the early morning is the ideal way to practice this exercise, but if you cannot do this, standing on a verandah in the open air facing the sun, or looking at it through a window will do just as well.

So – you are facing the direction of the sun, even if the sun is not out today. Stand upright and tall, feet together. Place the fingertips of both hands into the centre of the stomach, the solar plexus chakra area. Press the fingers in gently and keep them there. Now count the breath as you breathe in slowly, deliberately and deeply. Say ‘ONE’ silently to yourself as you breathe in, and ‘OM’ as you breathe out. ‘OM’ can be said either silently, or aloud. Carry on breathing and counting in this fashion until you have reached’ TEN’ with an ‘OM’ sound to finish.

Visualize the sun’s energy and the life force entering your solar plexus area and infusing through the whole of the body as you do this. Imagine healing taking place in the area needed; imagine recovery from addiction or whatever ails you; or  simply imagine  your body and mind becoming more vitalized so that you are better equipped to help others.

Now, clasp the fingers together. Hold the clasped hands over the solar plexus area.

Breathe in, slowly and deeply, as you slowly bend forward in a Kow Tow towards the sun. The clasped hands are still cupped over the solar plexus. As you reach the full Kow Tow, when  your upper body will be  parallel with the floor, you should have full lungs. Hold for a second, then slowly come up to upright position, exhaling as you go. Repeat this three times.

Next, simply rub the stomach and solar plexus area in a circular movement, clockwise, if you were to  look down. Complete three large circles as you continue breathing deeply.

Now put the thumbs of both hands underneath the armpits and press the inner part where the arm joins the chest. Holding the thumbs underneath the armpits, breathe in slowly, coming up onto the toes as you go. Hold up on tip toes for a few seconds, then release the breathe slowly as you return the heels to the ground or floor where you are standing. Repeat three times.

Then put the right hand thumb onto the right side of the brow. Put the left thumb at the left side of the nape of the neck. Take a slow deep breathe in. Hold the breathe for the count of five, then breathe out.

This is the extent of the routine – very easy. You only need to do the sequence of exercises once. Then…….

If you wish, you can continue with healing on yourself or on another person. Simply place the hands over the area needing assistance. Continue to breathe evenly and deliberately as you were when you took the initial ten ‘OM’ counts.

Concentrating on the forehead to help anxiety is a treatment which is generally beneficial. Close the eyes as you mentally visualize prana from your hands healing and restoring either yourself or the person you are helping.

I did this exercise every day, three times a day, when I was recovering from toxic poisoning with resultant candida. I also did the tummy-to-brow breathing exercise daily.

These things helped my recovery, of that I am sure. The very least that these exercises do, which you can observe in your daily life, is that they teach you to breathe more deeply and more regularly. The practice of deeper, more regular breathing puts more oxygen into the blood which helps all the organs, including your brain. Then there is the relaxing effect which these exercises do for you, not to mention  the indefinable spiritual qualities which  they impart.

See post on Spiritual Healing to follow

Curing Candida

Candida albicans is a naturally occuring organism which lives in the intestines. When the body becomes too acid, or becomes toxic because of effete matter congested in the bowel, candida albicans can overgrow. This tips the delicate balance of intestinal flora so that the favourable organisms get outnumbered, with candida albicans dominating the field.

See Merrilyn’s post: http://merrilynhope.com/roundup-herbicide-causes-severe-candidiasis/

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Candida can also take over when the immune system has been shocked. Emotional shock, or environmental shock such as sudden exposure to harmful chemicals, or radiation from  X rays, can weaken the immune system drastically and kill off the organisms which we need in order to digest food properly. On-going radiation such as that emitted from electrical transformers,  cell phones and overhead high tension wires can also kill the beneficial organisms in the bowel as quickly as pesticides and herbicides can and do.

Chemicals in the environment can cause candida overgrowth.

A deficiency of vitamins and minerals can cause candida overgrowth.

An acidic diet with lack of green vegetables and vitamin c rich foods can cause candida.

The symptoms of candida infection are many and varied. You might get one or many of the following: migraines, constipation, loose bowel movements, nausea, dizziness, lethargy, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, sinus trouble, bone pain, nerve pain, arthritic swelling, heart palpitations, insomnia, memory loss, allergies, eczema or depression.

The candida diet is interchangeable with the diet for hypoglycaemia. The idea is to keep the blood sugar regulated without it fluctuating dramatically, hence the accent on avoiding sugar and all foods which have a high sugar content, or are converted to sugars too quickly.

The candida diet is very simple, but you need to exercise a great deal of perseverance in order to get well. This is because, initially, after following the diet for a week or two, you will begin to feel much better. This can cause you to believe you are recovered, which in turn can lead one to lapse on the diet and allow sugars or other problematic foods into the diet. This can set the health back severely, as the candida albicans will race away again at the reintroduction of sugar into the diet. This will result in a rampant candida infection which will require all your best and concentrated efforts to overcome.  The diet therefore is as demanding as that modelled for treating cancer patients -generally, you need to stick at it for at least six months, by which time the immune system  should be much strengthened, and you might be ready to introduce other foods into the diet, like fresh fruit in moderation, and other grains like  barley, oatmeal and rye.

The ALKALINE MAINENANCE DIET FOR CURING CANDIDA is as follows:

The aims – keep the body alkaline, keep the body detoxifying.To do these things,the bulk of the diet should consist mainly of raw green vegetables. Cooked greens such as broccoli can be added to the diet after an initial cleansing period.

No sugar at all

No alcohol at all

No wheat flour products, including bread. Use brown rice in moderation instead of wheat flour. Eat this with alkaline greens, raw and cooked, and olive oil or butter, plus some protein. Millet and buckwheat may be eaten after you have brought the infection under control by following the alkaline maintenaance diet outlined here. Eat the millet or buckwheat  with oils or butter and almonds.  Don’t forget to eat some salad greens either with the grain, or directly afterward.

Eat a green salad with EVERY meal. Never eat food without something raw. Mung bean sprouts are very good, but must be fresh, as yeasts begin to grow on the sprouts after a few days. Wash them well in salted water before using. Other beans and peas can be sprouted. Eat these with protein foods and butter or a good quality oil like olive oil.

No dairy products, except for butter. Fresh, raw goat’s milk might bo good to use at a later date when you have recovered, but for the meantime, no milks.

Use olive oil, almond oil, avocado oil or butter every day. Candida thrives on a diet which excludes these good quality oils and proteins. Oils and butter slow down the aborption of converted sugars into the bloodstream and nourish the nervous system.

No foods containing yeasts.Vinegar is the main thing to watch out for, as it is in many products. avoid: vinegar, alcohol, soya sauce, tomato sauce, chutneys, vegemite, as all these are made with yeast. Eating any food with yeast in it will cause the candida infection to recur. This includes all breads, unless you make an unleavened bread out of something other than wheat, but this is best left until you have recovered and can more safely experiment.

Keep off fruits until you are better. Raw celery is best used as a substitute for fruits, as it is excellent for treating cnadida. This is because it is very alkaline. It  has an antiseptic effect whilst providing roughage which cleans the walls of the bowel. It is good also for cleansing the blood, strengthening the bones and providing iron.

Protein can be taken from a variety of sources, animal and vegetable. Vegetable proteins include:

Almonds. These are especially good, and some should be eaten every day. Avocados are easy to digest and rich in oil which is needed to combat candida. Make sure they are not over-ripe, as they will be harbouring yeasts which will encourage the candida to grow if they are over-ripe. If chemical poisoning has occurred and your immune system is still very weak, you might need to avoid avodacos for some time.

Sprouted grains and beans. These need to be very freshly sprouted. It is important to rinse them well several times a day. Keep in the fridge once sprouted, and keep no more than two or three days. If you have a rampant candida infection, then you will need to wait before introducing any sprouted grains and beans into the diet. Use plenty of celery in this last case.

Animal protein: Two raw egg yolks can be eaten per day instead of eating meat. These must be from an organic, free-range source. Do not eat the white of the egg, as this can cause mucous problems and is hard to digest.

If you follow the alkaline diet, avoid wheat, dairy foods and sugar COMPLETELY, your colesterol will not be affected by eating just two free range egg YOLKS daily. This  practice is very good for the health, as egg yolk contains lecithin which helps the liver in the absorbtion of fats and is rich in iron, Vitamin E and other goodies.

Lean meat can be used in moderation – several times a week.

Try to eat a small can of sardines once a day and eat the oil with it. This is a good source of iodine and calcium as well as protein, all of which are needed to overcome candida infection.

Eat GARLIC with every meal. This prevents candida from taking over.

SEA SALT can be used dissolved in water and used as a mouth rinse after meals. This inhibits candida growth in the mouth. Just half a teaspoonful in half a cup of water is enough.

ACIDOPHILUS tablets or powder can be used. Avoid taking yoghurt which has acidophilus, as yoghurt is not only a milk product, but is a fermented food which can start candida  infection again.

ENEMAS are very important to help you recover quickly. These are needed, especially in the initial stages of detoxification, as many poisons will be eliminated. These can make you feel worse if they are not taken away quickly from the bowel, as they get reabsorbed through the bowel walls and into the blood. Taking enemas will prevent this type of auto-intoxication.

I had the good fortune to meet Walter Last in 1976, and to gain from his insights. This was after my family and I had been aerial sprayed with 245T in the previous year. After the blackberry surrounding our house had been sprayed by helicopter that day, we grew very sick. When my unborn child arrived, she could barely breathe. She died three months later in the hospital where she was being treated for an unidentified illness, although, strangely enough, she died not directly from the 245T poisoning, but from another kind of poisoning – an overdose of ventalin which a 14 year old nurse aid administered. A test tube full of ventalin syrup was poured down my baby’s throat as I watched, dumbfounded, unable to reach her before the act was done. She suffered heart failure within half an hour which resulted in brain damage. One month later, after we had been whisked away by the authorities to another hospital, more or less to get away from the scene of the crime, I felt, she died.

Six months later, my two year old son and I were no better. I had suffered asthma-like breathing from the time the spraying was done, with enormous fever. My son had chronic eczema. This is when a friend from Whangarei suggested I see Walter Last.

Walter recognized the candida yeast condition, and researched it, long before others began to write about it. He gave me a handout on his findings about the the mysterious organism which he thought was responsible for 60% or 70% of the ailments of the New Zealanders whom he was treating at the time.

The methods outlined above are modelled, more or less, on Walter’s prescription for recovery- including the enema.

At first, I followed Walter’s programme religiously, except for one thing – the ENEMA. I thought it would not make a lot of difference, as long as I was thorough about everything else he advised me to do.  Not so – after initial recovery within the first two or three weeks, I suddenly grew extremely sick. We made the journey back to Walter’s clinic. He did a quick iris diagnosis which took all of about half a minute of gazing into my eye, then he angrily said:

‘You have not been taking the enemas I told you to do. If you don’t do what I tell you to, then don’t bother coming back’, and he thrust an enema kit into my hands, charged me for the kit and the consultation, and sent me packing. There was nothing else to do except use it, as no further help would come from Walter until I did exactly as he said. This was the turning point in my recovery.

EXERCISE  ENJOYMENT AND SUNSHINE  Remember to enjoy the sunshine and the outdoors. You need sunshine on the body for good health. Sun-bathe for about 10 or 15 minutes every day. Sun-bathing is best done before 10AM and after 4PM in the summer. It is important not to get burnt. Take country walks, walks on the beach, walks in the bush. Swimming in sea water is very healing and is especially good for helping to cure candida. Rinse the mouth out with the salt water and rinse the sinus passages while you are swimming. Light jogging or skipping is very good also. Anything which speeds up the heart rate a bit is good – candida tends to thrive in people with low blood pressure. Yoga practice is very good – even if you choose just three or four exercises to do each day.

Breathing exercises are good. Yoga Breath, and also the post on Maximize Your Prana Intake.

Deep relaxation should be practiced every day: read my post on Yoga Nidra

Prevent Migraines

Get Rid of Migraines Through Detoxification:  Migraines are usually a sign that either the bowels are in a toxic condition, or that you have been exposed to chemicals or radiation, either of  which has set the migraine off.
A quick and safe way to rid yourself of a migraine, apart from taking 2 aspirin, which won’t hurt you as long as you are not allergic to the stuff and you are not on other medications, is to take 1000mg of calcium ascorbate immediately. This will alleviate the pain, as well as help to quickly detoxify the body of the contaminant causing the problem. Take another dose of 1000mg four hours later. Calcium ascorbate is an alkaline form of vitamin C which is very easy on the stomach. It is the best form to use in the treatment of candida infection. Candida infection, which arises because of imbalances in the body, is sometimes the reason people get migraines.

Many things in our environment can cause a migraine in my experience. Exposure to constant cell-phone use, or sleeping with a cell-phone close to the body can cause a migraine. Sleeping with your head near electrical wires in the walls, or electrical appliances turned on, such as an electric blanket, can cause a migraine.

Sleeping with pot plants in the same room can cause a migraine. Some plants are worse than others, depending on the potency of their properties. Orchids, begonias and cacti are very potent and should always be removed at night from the lounge where you ‘hang out’, and the room where you sleep. Cut flowers have the same effect, especially lillies and orchids. Very few flowers don’t produce an effect on the body. The longer the flowers are in the water, the more potent the water becomes, and the more it will affect you. Roses, daisies and marigolds are some non-toxic flowers which don’t usually have the effect of producing migraines so long as their water is kept fresh and there is no other added foliage to the arrangement. I find these have a beneficial effect when brought indoors.

Using rat poison and insecticides such as fly spray and ant and cochroach poison is very bad. These things are absorbed through the pores of your skin. Even if you have rat poison stored away in some hidden place, it will still be affecting your health, as it is an extremely potent poison. You don’t need to touch it to be affected by it, but chances are, if there are rats and mice about, then they will be transferring the poison and you will have a a trail of it through the house.

Even handling boxes or wearing clothing, either of which has been stored near rat poison for a period, can cause a migraine. Clothing should not be stored near petrol, kerosene or other petro-chemicals, or insecticide or herbicide, as this will affect you homeopathically, causing anything from heart palpitations to migraines.

Cosmetics should be avoided: no hair spray, hair dye, nail polish or face creams unless they are truly organic. Weleda products are reliable, but most commercial make-ups and face creams contain harmful petro-chemicals, even if they have good things in them like aloe vera, or Vitamin E. These last items can dupe us into believing that the product is healthy, but beware: read the small print on the back of the product, and you will most likely find many chemicals which could be the cause of your migraine.

Photocopied material can cause migraines: the inks used in photocopying, and the chemicals in the paper used for photocopying are absorbed readily through the pores of the skin and into the bloodstream. The radiation from photocopied material is also a hazard to one’s health. If you must do any amount of photocopying, or you work in an environment where you handle much photocopied material, then you should wear protective surgical gloves. Otherwise, you run the risk of not just getting migraines, which are an indication of something amiss in the  diet or environment, but of getting cancer, arthritis, alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or another degenerative condition.

Diet can help migraine sufferers greatly. Stick to an alkaline diet of plentiful greens and fresh fruit. If you have candida, or suspect that you might, then you will avoid the fruit until you recover. Candida sufferers can use raw celery as a replacement for raw fruit. Celery is extremely alkaline and has an antiseptic action in the intestines which helps to balance  out the bowel flora so that candida albicans is  not dominant.  Use brown rice instead of wheat. Cut out dairy foods except for butter, unless you are allergic to it. Eat: Almonds, fish once a week, lean meat occasionally, organic eggs.
Avoid all sugar.
Some sort of cleanse is very helpful: Castor oil is recommended if you have a chronic migraine attack. Follow the castor oil treatment with an enema within 5 hours. Get into the habit of using enemas at least once a week if you get migraines often.
1000mg of Vitamin C can be taken safely with the castor oil cleanse, but to get maximum benefit from the Vitamin C, take it an hour before you take the castor oil.
It may take a little time before you fully recover, but the attacks should become less frequent if you follow these methods.

Detox Diets

Fasting and Cleansing:  It is very important to regularly cleanse the body by a fast of some kind, especially in this modern age, when so many people die of cancer and other degenerative disease. These diseases can be helped, or even cured, by different diets which are really types of cleansing diets to help the body  eliminate  the toxins which are causing the disease.

In the case of treating cancer, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or even conditions like irritable bowel syndrome,  cleansing diets are adapted to become maintenance diets. These diets give maximum  nutrition to sustain the body and build the immune system so that it can stave off the disease.  At the same time, the cleansing diet maximises the  elimination process so that toxins are expelled quickly from the body. Enemas are an important part of the treatment if you have a serious disease like cancer. These are also very helpful if you undertake a simple cleansing diet such as one of these given below, especially if your body is in a toxic state and/or you have never folowed a cleansing diet before.

If don’t want to use an enema, you could visit a colonic clinic. They will rinse out the bowel for you.  Colonic cleansing by a professional is not cheap, but it is well worth the money to have most of the poisons washed away. It really gives you a new lease on life. If you opt for this, then I recommend going to the clinic on the third day of your fast or cleansing diet.

If cleansing diets are new to you, then it is best that you do your chosen diet for just one day to begin with, especially if you are not going to use an enema. This is because you will be carrying poisons in the body which have been building up over a lifetime. The sudden release of these toxins from the liver and other organs, into the intestines and into the bloodstream,  can make you feel sick, and this is why elimination is quickened by the use of an enema in treating disease or even when following a cleansing diet.

Three days is a fairly standard time for a cleansing diet, but you can build up to this by doing your cleanse in steps: Of course, if you have a serious disease, then you will need to follow a maintenance diet over a long period of time until you recover. Details of maintenance diets will follow this post on ‘Detox Diets’. Also look at my posts on ‘Ridding the Body of Cancer’ and ‘Preventing Cancer” for information regarding maintenance diets.

A DETOX DIET-TO START WITH:  Follow the chosen method for one day to begin with. This will be, for instance, one day on the grape diet. Then eat fairly normally for two or three days, but omit dairy foods, sugar and wheat including bread. Then do two days in a row on the diet. Then two or three days again on the no-dairy, no-sugar, no-wheat diet. Then do three days at a stretch back on the cleansing diet.

There are numerous different ways in which you can cleanse the body of toxins.  Here are a few easy-to-follow cleansing diets with which you can experiment. There are enough to choose from so that you may never get bored by following just one approach. See which one you might find easiest to tackle.

THE GRAPE DIET. This is a favourite of mine and many people I know. Bernard Petersen, an extremely talented psychic healer who lived on Waiheke Island in New Zealand used this diet frquently. Bernard lived to a great old age, into his 90’s, and was still active as a healer until the end. Incidentally, Bernard didn’t believe in using enemas. Grapes were enough for him. He loved grapes, and ate them daily when they were in season. This was easy, because they grew all over the underceiling of the roof in his porch, so that you could sit there in the sun, chatting to Bernard, and munching on grapes to your hearts content.

The grape diet is very simple: All you do  is eat as many grapes as you fancy, whenever and as often as you like. A diet purely of grapes can be sustained for many days, but you need to build up to this. Grapes are very nutritious – high in IRON and Vitamin C, and they are high in ROUGHAGE which cleanses the whole digestive system very effectively.  They ideally should be like Bernard’s grapes – unsprayed and totally organic.

THE APPLE DIET. You need to have a supply of, preferably, organic apples. Granny smiths are good, or you might prefer a sweet red apple. The method is the same as that for the grape diet – you eat as many as often as you like. You won’t get fat on either of these diets. In fact, they are very good for people who are losing weight. You will lose weight if you were to regularly use either the grape or the apple cleanse, especially if you  follow the prescription of no-dairy, no-wheat, no-sugar when you come off the cleansing diet.

Apples , like grapes, are very cleansing and healing. They are rich in Vitamin C and potassium. If your teeth are not good, then you can grate the apples up, skin and all,  just before you eat them. This is just about as good as chewing the whole apple: all the goodness of the apple is still there if you eat it immediately after grating, and the volume of roughage just the same.

POTASSIUM BROTH. For this one, you eat no solid food. Instead, you take the vitamins and minerals from cooked vegetables into the body via a broth. On the morning of your fast or cleansing diet, take a large saucepan and cut up several potatoes with their skins on. Add onions, leeks, greens such as cabbage, broccoli, or brussels sprouts, garlic,  beetroot, carrots, in fact any vegetables you can find. Try to use some roots as well as greens. Don’t use aluminium. Cover the cut up vegetables with water, bring to the boil, and simmer slowly for an hour. Leave the vegetables in the broth for a few hours before draining off. You can start drinking it  after an hour of simmering. Drink one or two cups  every hour, on the hour, for the whole of the day – and nothing else.

This is a radical cleanser which provides  the necessary vitamins and minerals to heal the body. Build up with the Potassium broth fast by doing a day at a time. Ask your doctor or health practitioner about this one if you are on any type of medication or if you have a heart condition.

MUNG BEAN BROTH. This is used in ayurvedic medecine. Mung beans are easy to digest. They act as a gentle cleanser of the liver, gall bladder and intestines. Take two cups of mung beans and soak for three hours in a litre  of water. Simmer until soft. Take the broth with its cooked beans whenever you feel hungry .Cook more beans if you are doing more than one day on this diet. Eat nothing else except for the mung bean broth.

THE LEMONADE DIET:    We call this simply the lemon diet in New Zealand. Lemons are very cleansing. Lemons act as an antiseptic within the body  and  contain lots of Vitamin C which helps in detoxing the body and in healing.

Simply squeeze half a dozen lemons into a large jug. Put quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne, half a teaspoon of powdered ginger, and two teaspoons of powdered garlic into the lemon juice. If you are not diabetic, then you can add half a cup of honey or maple syrup. Dissolve with one cup of boiling water. Add two litres of water. Stir well. Drink one large glass every hour on the hour through the day. Don’t drink any tea or coffee, and don’t eat at all for the whole day.

The lemonade diet is very effective in treating colds and flu. It is antiseptic and breaks down mucous. It helps also in strengthening bone and dissolving bone deformities when done on a regular basis, say one or two days a week, with the maintenance diet to follow.

CASTOR OIL. Castor oil has the ability to attract harmful poisons such as petrochemicals, insecticides, etc. For this reason, it is used by many healers for the treatment of cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, arthritis and other disease. Two tablespoons of castor oil are taken in the morning with one cup of black coffee. This must be made from real coffee grounds.If you would rather, you could use Chamomile tea instead. This works just as well as coffee in stimulating the liver into expelling toxins. If you feel sick after the castor oil, then sip on peppermint tea until you feel better. An enema is recommended with the castor oil treatment. This should be taken within five hours of taking the castor oil. Castor oil is most effective if, after taking the castor oil, you eat only raw apples, whole or grated, or grapes, or drink fruit juice or carrot juice at hourly intervals.

CARROT JUICE. If you have a juicer, then you can fast for a day or so on carrot juice and other vegetable juices. Try to get organic carrots, especially if you are juicing, as agro-chemicals are concentrated in the juice.

Carrot juice is often used in the treatment of cancer and other disease. However, carrot juice is best avoided if you are treating candida. Stick to greens  for cleansing if you have candida.

The APPLE AND POTATO CURE. This is a great one for people who don’t feel they can sustain a fast or a detox diet for even a day. With this diet, you can eat more or less what you like, within reason.You simply grate one medium apple with its skin on, plus one medium-sized potato. Mix the two together, and eat half an hour before breakfast.

Follow the same procedure for dinner – one apple grated with one medium-sized potato. Eat half and hour before each meal.

Follow this diet for anything from three days to several weeks. It is extremely healing for the bowel walls because of the pectin, vitamins and alkaline nature of raw apples and potato. It is effective as a cleanser because of the quantity of pure roughage in the mix.

Preferably, avoid dairy, wheat and sugar while you are cleansing on this diet. If you follow this treatment for a week or two, your bowels will not only be clean but be well regulated. It is good for the treatment of any bowel problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and colitis. Many people have reported success in treating bowel disorders with this detox diet.

The ONE-DAY BEETROOT AND APPLE DIET. This is all you eat for the whole day. All you do is grate apples and beetroot together, which makes a very palatable combination. Use the same amount of each.Some olive oil can be added if you wish. Make up enough so that you have plenty to munch on throughout the day. Whenever you are hungry, eat a helping of the grated beetroot and apple. Beetroot is helpful in treating cancer and other diseases. It is high in iron and other minerals and vitamins.

The ON-GOING BEETROOT AND APPLE DIET. For a slower-acting detox you can use the beetroot and apple combination as an ongoing addition to your everyday diet. Preferably, avoid dairy, wheat and sugar if you are doing a week or so on this diet. You can follow the same procedure as for the apple and potato diet. Eat a quantity of the beetroot and apple combination half an hour before breakfast and again half an hour before dinner. This is very nourishing, will help your digestion and tone up the bowel if it is done for a week or so. It is a great cure for constipation, as is the apple and potato diet.

Yoga Nidra Deep Relaxation

Technique For Deep Relaxation:

Yoga Nidra is a deep relaxation technique which the yoga teacher Satyananda has promoted widely in his teachings. It is extremely effective and is very easy to learn. The more you practice it, the better your breathing will become and the more oxygen your body will take in. It releases tensions in  both body and mind through the directing of the awareness in a disciplined way.

You will achieve peace of mind through the regular practice of Yoga Nidra.

It is effective, when done regularly, in changing patterns of behaviour, and in weeding out negative thought patterns from our minds. It is a very beneficial excercise, not only for those who are giving up smoking, but for all who want to improve health and gain peace of mind.

Yoga Nidra is an exercise which can help us achieve great things. It is an exercise which can inspire and influence  people around us because of the good we promote within ourselves. The practice of Yoga Nidra can help shape events in our lives which will benefit others as well as ourselves.

The following is my own adaptation of Yoga Nidra as taught by Satyananda. If you want, you can omit the visualization section, but I have found this to be most helpful especially when people are sick, lonely or grieving.

This exercise is  done with the eyes closed, but you can do it with these instructions in front of you until you get the hang of it. Even this will be helpful.

All you need is half an hour in a quiet space where you can remain undisturbed. Lie on the floor. You can cover the body with a light blanket.

This is ‘savasana’, or ‘dead man’s pose’. Put the arms alongside the body, slightly away from the trunk and thighs so that they do not touch the body. The palms are facing upward and the forefinger and thumb lightly touching. Legs are on the floor with the feet slightly apart from each other, not touching.

Close the eyes. Begin breathing slowly and evenly. Count the breaths and say OM to yourself as you breathe out. This must be silently spoken to yourself, as chanting or speaking while in a prone position is hurtful to the larynx.

Watch the tummy rising and falling with each breath. ‘One’ as you breathe in, ‘OM’ as you breath out. Feel your body relax totally as you breathe out. With each breath, the body is becoming more relaxed. Continue up to TEN.

Keep the even, regulated, deep breaths going. The tummy rising and falling.

Now, we are going to move through the body with our awareness. Don’t worry if you feel you can’t ‘get’ it or that you are out of touch with the parts of the body which we name. It doesn’t matter. You just carry on with the routine anyway and move onto the next body part.

Take your awareness to the right hand thumb—–forefinger—–middle finger—–fourth finger—–little finger—–palm—–back of the hand—–forearm——outer lower arm—–upper arm—–shoulder—–right arm pit—–right side of the chest—–right side of the stomach—–right hip—–right thigh—-knee—–shin—–calf muscle—–ankle—–top of the foot—–sole of the foot—–right big toe—–2nd toe—–3rd toe—–4th toe—–5th toe—–the whole of the right foot lying on the floor.

Keep the even breathing going. The tummy rising and falling. Feel the body becoming more relaxed on the floor.

Bring the attention to the left hand thumb—– forefinger—–middle finger—–4th finger—– little finger—–palm—–back of the hand—–wrist—–forearm—–outer lower arm—-upper left arm—–shoulder—–left side of the chest—–left side of the stomach—–left hip—-left thigh—–left knee—–shin—–calf muscle—–ankle—–top of the foot—–sole of the foot—–left big toe—–2nd toe——3rd toe——4th toe—–5th toe—–the left foot lying on the floor.

Be mindful of the breath. The tummy rising and falling as you keep breathing slowly and deeply. Totally relaxed.

Come back to the awareness of the feet on the floor. Bring the awareness up the backs of the legs, slowly as you continue your breathing, to the thighs, the bottom, the lower spine, on slowly up the spine until you reach the neck. Keep breathing deeply and slowly. Bring the awareness up the back of the head to the top of the skull, the forehead, the temples, the eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, nose, mouth, lips. Remember to keep a relaxed smile on the lips.

Repeat the whole exercise from the beginning – three times to this point. Now hold the awareness in the eyebrow centre. Watch this space for anything you might visualize here. Now leave the eyebrow centre. Move the awareness slowly around the body in a wide circle. Take your time. Just listen for sounds in the direction you have your awareness placed. No need to analyze these sounds. Simply hear, be aware, and move on your radar sensor further round. Listen for the sounds again. Keep this practice up for a few minutes.

Be aware of the breathing again. Nice, slow, even, energy filled breaths. Watch the tummy rising and falling with each breath.

Now visualize the moon coming up over the water. You are feeling totally at peace with yourself and the world. Watch the moon for a minute or two, rising up over the water.

Now you are walking through the garden of Paradise. Birds are singing. You can hear a stream nearby as you walk down a winding path which has all the plants in the world growing alongside and round about it. You can smell the beautiful fragrances from many different flowers As you walk along the path of the garden of Paradise, you can see a rock pool where a little waterfall is running gently down. You sit here for a moment and breathe in beautiful, cool, moist and fragrant air which heals and soothes you with each breath.

Higher up the path, you can see a Cathedral and hear Angelic voices singing. All the people you love, departed and living, are here, making their way with rejoicing up to the Cathedral. You can decide whether or not you want to continue further up to greet them.

Leave your friends and come back to the awareness of the body on the floor. Hear the birds outside. Move the awareness around radar-like again, but more quickly this time.

Move the awareness now to the throat. Keep breathing. Feel the throat relaxed. Move to the chest. Keep breathing. As you breathe, feel the chest relaxed and toxins and negative thoughts and feelings leaving the body. Come to the stomach. Breathe. Again, feel negative emotion leaving the body, and energy from your breath infusing the area. Move on down—–the hips—–the thighs—–the knees—–shins—–calf muscles—–ankles—–tops of the feet—–soles of the feet—–both feet lying on the floor.

Be aware of the legs on the floor, the trunk on the floor, the head on the floor. Continue to breathe.

The whole face is totally relaxed. You are smiling contentedly. Bring the awareness to the eyebrow centre. Feel at peace within this centre. Keep breathing evenly as you think of the thing which you would like to improve in yourself or within the world. Say a prayer for friends, family and the people in the world who have a need greater than our own. Pray, then, that we might get help with the changes we wish to make in our lives.

We might ask that all patterns of addictive behaviour will cease and that our waking moments be filled with creative, constructive, loving thoughts and actions which will benefit not just ourselves, but those around us.

Say your prayer three times. Give thanks for the blessings in our lives three times.

Prepare now to finish the yoga nidra practice. You can speed up the process of identification of body parts. Take the awareness to the whole  body on the floor, the head on the floor, the arms, the trunk, the legs, the feet on the floor. Bring the awareness up the back of the legs, calves, thighs, bottom, spine, head, back of the head, top of the head. Face, neck, arms, chest, stomach, hips, thighs, knees, shins, calves, ankles, tops of the feet, soles of the feet, ten toes.  Do this section three times.

Move the hands on the floor. Stretch the fingers. Move the head side to side. Move the arms, wriggle the toes, move the feet. Feel the whole body lying on the floor. You are leaving the yoga nidra state now.

Sit up with your eyes closed. Say OM aloud three times. Chant the sound in a relaxed, long breath. Your tone will be clear and strengthened by the yoga nidra practice. Open your eyes.

Thankyou. Yoga nidra is complete.