giving up smoking Archives | Natural Health with Merrilyn Hope

Homeopathic Remedy To Reduce Craving For Tobacco

Giving Up Smoking can be made easier with the help of Homeopathic Caladium.

Dr Shepherd, a world-famous homeopath, recommends Homeopathic Caladium for getting rid of the craving for tobacco.

Chronic Tobacco Poisoning: She has used Homeopathic Caladium as a remedy to antidote chronic tobacco poisoning. When people have been heavy smokers, even when they have given up smoking, they often still suffer afflictions which were brought on initially by the tobacco habit.

In much the same way as you might antidote the long-term or short-term effects of vaccination by giving Homeopathic Thuja, you would try Homeopathic Caladium if symptoms of ill-health were brought on when the smoking habit had begun.

Bad Effects of Heavy Smoking: I found that smoking heavily caused a swelling of the legs, the skin colour changing to a pinkish-purplish colour, and eczema appearing on the legs. Blood pressure was affected, and veins began to show on the legs. Smoking can create a favourable environment for the herpes zoster virus, which is a form of the chicken pox virus known as shingles, to take hold in the body. Smoking will cause your breathing to suffer, and you won’t be able to tackle even those little hills without your breathing becoming laboured.

Homeopathic Caladium can be useful in correcting these problems if the symptoms began with smoking.

Case Of Chronic Tobacco Poisoning

Sequence Of Remedies Used For Patient With Smoking History:

Here is the sequence of remedies which Dr Shepherd used to treat a woman, a heavy smoker, who had a Meibomian cyst on her eye. The woman had come to the doctor for the treatment of the cyst, since she did not want it operated on:

Since there was a history of tuberculosis in the family, the first remedy chosen was Tuberculinum 30 to be given weekly. At this stage, the woman had not told the doctor that she was a smoker. She had a coughs and colds quite often, and so different remedies were given for this as well as the Tuberculinum. Repeated doses of Pulsatilla were prescribed for one feverish coughing attack, and Bryonia was later given for a persistent dry cough which was accompanied by excessive thirst and pain behind the sternum.

Homeopathic Bryonia 30 was given thrice daily for this second attack. But it did not completely stop the cough. At this stage, the doctor discovered that the woman was a heavy smoker. (Don’t know how the woman managed to disguise the smell of tobacco, but there we have it!)

So Dr Shepherd prescribed Homeopathic Caladium, which is a South American lily from the Arum family. The dose was Caladium 6 to be taken morning and night. The Caladium fitted in with the other symptoms displayed by the woman – she was thin, busy, nervous and edgy, and forgetful, finding it difficult to remember where she had put things.

Two weeks later, after treatment with Caladium began, the woman reported that the desire for smoking was reduced dramatically, and that she did not like the taste of tobacco anymore. She had cut down from 40-50 per day, to only 3 or 4 per day.

After six months or so of treatment, the cysts went away. The doctor was hopeful that with continued treatment, the nervous symptoms would also disappear in time.

You can read about Dr Dorothy Shepherd’s homeopathic successes in her book: ‘Magic Of The Minimum Dose – Case histories by a world famous homeopathic doctor’. which is published by B Jain Publishers PVT. Ltd., New Delhi – 110 055, reprint edition 1998. The case history I quote above is on pages 100-101 of this book.

My new book is out on Amazon:

See Merrilyn’s other related posts on giving up smoking:

Giving Up Smoking

What Happens When You Give Up Smoking.

See Merrilyn’s other posts on Homeopathy and Herbal Alternatives to Vaccination:

Reading these posts might be helpful if you have decided to forfeit those much-promoted and often dubious flu injections.

No Antibiotics For H7N9 Bird Flu Virus 2013 Human Killer

Homeopathic Remedy Arsen Alb For Flu Allergies Asthma

Homeopathic Arsen Alb For NZ Flu May 2013

Vitamin C Cures Swine Flu Case

Vitamin C and Cancer

Health Without Vaccinations Or Antibiotics

Homeopathic Remedy And Herbs For Cholera

http://merrilynhope.com/un-refuses-compensation-to-haiti-for-cholera/

Save Homeopathy – Brief History And A Royal Horse Called Hypericum

Best Homeopathic Remedy For Whooping Cough And Croup

List Of Homeopathic Remedies For Ear Ache

List Of Complementary Homeopathic Remedies And Sequences

How Homeopaths Cured Some Cancerous Tumours

Doctors Used Homeopathy To Cure Fibroid Tumours

List Of Homeopathy Remedies For Shingles Herpes Zoster

Useful Homeopathic Remedies For Measles

Vaccination Alternatives and Homeopathic Remedies For Scarlet Fever

Scarlet Fever Outbreak in Hong Kong/Homeopathic Alternatives

Flu Vaccination Brought On Asthma And High Blood Pressure

Unicef Gives Vitamin A For Measles In Syria

Natural Treatments and Remedies For Scarlet Fever

Herbal Recipe For Cancer Doctor Uses Just Three Herbs

On-Going Chest Pain Is It Lung Cancer?

Complete List of Gluten Free Foods for People with Wheat Sensitivity

A reprint of Merrilyn’s 1980’s Health Book entitled: NO CANCER NOTEBOOK is available for purchase.

The cost is $60 New Zealand currency. This includes postage.

Send an email to [email protected] to order.

On-Going Chest Pain Is It Lung Cancer?

A Wee Panic In My Breastie

At the beginning of the year, when we had just so much rain, my lungs began to hurt. This was also around the time when Saturn went Retrograde, and, unbeknown to me, that my son was suffering the effects of cancer which he suspected he might have. It turned out that, as well as having tumours about the throat, he had a large tumour in the chest.

http://merrilynhope.com/roundup-herbicide-causes-severe-candidiasis/ Read this post also: RoundUp weedkiller can cause chest pain and flu-like symptoms.

So, while I was worried that I may have lung cancer, because of the pain in the chest, my son actually DID have cancer in the chest area.

He had the operation for thyroid cancer only several weeks ago. His chest was opened up at the same time to remove the tumour there, which involved an 8 hour operation. We had no idea about the chest tumour until after the operation, but I think I may have sensed his problem on a psychic level. It could be that I manifested chest pains in sympathy for his chest problem. It seems interesting to me that my chest has healed since Saturn has again gone Direct, at the same time my son had the operation which removed the chest tumour.

Since around January, which was the month my son made several visits to me before his thyroid cancer was diagnosed, my lungs had felt as if they were congested. Saturn had gone Retrograde. There was an ongoing pain, but no infection came to dislodge the lump I felt was harboured there. The feeling of suffocation was often with me, and I was often short of breath. I wondered about the health of my heart.

There was a very sore specific spot on the left side, deep within the chest, which the pain seemed to be radiating from. It was the exact same spot which used to hurt when I was a smoker, which was the main reason I gave up the second-time around, around the age of 50. The first ‘give-up’ of smoking came when I was a young woman, expecting my first child. After that, I did not smoke for 25 years, until I succumbed again to the seductive habit. Giving up smoking the second time around, without a family to spur me into quitting, was very, very difficult. But eventually, I did it.

Back to 2012: I was so concerned, as the pain was so severe at times, that I went along to the doctor to organize a chest X-Ray. It was still a possibility that I could have developed lung cancer as a result of chain smoking not so long ago. Anyway – I got the the X-Ray done, and was very pleased to find out the outcome. It showed no sign of lung cancer, but the lungs were ‘hyper-ventilated’, to use the doctor’s term.

I don’t like X-Rays, because they are harmful in themselves, and damage cell tissue. I thought it would be a good idea to do just the one, to see what the state of my lungs was like, establish whether or not I had cancer, and then get onto an intensive natural therapy of my own to restore the health of my lungs.
I decided that whatever the outcome, I would ‘go natural’. So –

Mainly Raw Food Diet: Two grated raw apples eaten at one sitting, either in the morning, or as the main meal in the evening. I cooked plenty of vegetable and mung bean curries, and ate these with a little rice. Plenty of onions were used in the vegetable curry, as well as plenty of hot spices such as red paprika, ginger and chilli. Onions are particularly helpful for all bronchial complaints. I ate carrots every day, since my friend Bernhard in Spirit had told me to use carrots daily, either grated raw, or cooked. I did not use any wheat, sugar, or cow’s milk during this time. I cut down on coffee, but did not cut it out completely. Soya milk substituted cow’s milk for the coffee.

Carrot and Apple Juice: I went out and bought a new juicer so that I could drink at least one cup each of carrot and apple juice per day. I sometimes added celery or cabbage juice to the carrot juice.

Anti-Viral Remedies: The same day I got the X-Ray done, I went out and bought a whole lot of supplements to tackle the problem. I bought a range of anti-oxidant products – Multi non-acidic Ester Vitamin C 1000mg – Fish Oil – Evening Primrose oil – and an olive-leaf preparation which had zinc and other minerals in it. We are generally all short of the mineral zinc in New Zealand, because our soil here is deficient in zinc, and also selenium. These two minerals are very important for the health of the immune system, metabolizing food properly, preventing cancer, and in keeping viruses at bay.

This olive-leaf mixture was recommended specifically as an anti-viral treatment. I felt I must have a viral infection, if I did not have cancer. I took the maximum dose which was recommended, and even had two or three doses on some days. By the time I had finished this anti-viral preparation, the chest pain was almost gone. I also took around 3000mg to 5000mg of the Ester C per day – for around two weeks, during the same period as using the olive leaf remedy. I alternated the Vitamin C with the olive leaf during the day so that I would get maximum benefit from each. Then I reduced the dose of the non-acidic Vitamin C 1000mg, to just one or two tablets per day. On each day, I also took one each of the fish oil and primrose oil capsules. I continued pumping in all of these things for several weeks, until the olive leaf mixture ran out. Then I relaxed the dose of everything.

After the olive leaf preparation ran out, I began a course of ginseng tablets, in combination with the Vitamin C, fish oil, and primrose oil treatment.

As well, I used a mentholated cinnamon and cedar preparation on my chest each night, with layers of wool, cotton, and a hot water bottle to cover the chest. This was a Malcoom Harker remedy – but simple eucalyptus and olive oil would do just as well if you cannot get the Malcom Harker.

Homeopathic Remedies: As well, I took homeopathic remedies to try and release the congestion in the chest. I found that Thuja taken for one week, and then a week off, when I sometimes used Bryonia, was helpful. On days when I felt exceptional grief or anxiety, for no apparent good reason at all, I took Arnica-Hypericum for a couple of days. This helped enormously in alleviating that wierd sense of less which had come over me.

I also took, occasionally – say every 2 weeks – yes – you have guessed it – castor oil. When I did not feel like taking castor oil, I sometimes used a tablespoon of Epsom salts in a couple of cups of warm water. Something like once or twice a week, for several weeks. I bathed the feet a few times in hot Epsom salts – about 2 tablespoons of salts to around a litre of water.

Finally, after around six weeks of this intensive treatment, the chest pain, which was on the left side, in the middle of the chest, and often radiating around to the back, disappeared completely. Then, quite suddenly, I ‘came down’ with flu, which I welcomed as a cleansing process to end the cycle of bewing unwell.

It is interesting to me that the ‘cure’ of the chronic chest pain happened just after Saturn went Direct, which was just after my son had his operation, and we found out about his extra chest surgery.

I think that it was a virus in my lungs which would not budge without the vitamin, homeopathic, and herbal aids.
Of course, it is possible that the thing might have run its course alone, and I might have gotten better without the naturopathic aids. But really, the thing went on for so many months I had lost count of how long I had had it, and was only concerned that the ‘wee panic in my breastie’ might be cancer.

I know several people who have had similar symptoms. I think it is some fierce new strain of virus which has adapted itself so that it can remain in our lungs more or less permanently – unless we summon up enough vital force to conquer it.

Finally getting a real flu, with its accompanying high fever, threw off the last vestiges of this virus. The chest pain which has been there for months, has disappeared completely, and so has the strange and intense feeling of grief. Praise God and my Angels for helping me to recover so well. And Praise God and the Angels for taking care of my son and seeing him through his operation.

I am sure that on a psychic level, I was tuning into my son’s illness within his chest, and his anxiety and feeling of gloom, and that this was probably the main reason for my getting such a chronic and mysterious illness.

Saturn Retrograde, combined with my environment, the rain, the winter, my son’s condition, all played a part in this sore chest of mine, I believe. My flat is all concrete – concrete floor, concrete walls, and no sun, which makes it very damp during the winter. These cold, damp conditions contributed to the persistent chest pain, I am sure. Should I move? Saturn is Direct again now. My son is getting better. Summer is only just around the corner, with all those hot, sunny, languid days on the beach ahead. Mmmmm…..Roll on summer.

My friend Bernhard who is in Spirit tells me that it is still important to use his acupuncture points for weak lungs. One very good one he has pointed out is on the wrist, just below the thumb. You can reach this point by interlocking the two thumbs together, and reaching out with your forefinger towards the wrist of the other hand. It will arrive at an indentation in the wrist which is the location of the Lung 7 point. You do both hands for this point. Hold the point for just 30 seconds. Then stop for 30 seconds. Then repeat on the same hand once more, for 30 seconds or up to a minute. Then rest for a minute. Then do the other hand, following the same procedure. Do morning and night.

Note about Cell Phones: My son who got the cancer in the chest and in the thyroid, used to often carry his cell phone in the left chest pocket – right over the heart area. This happens to be the same area where I was experiencing the pain. I hope he is not still putting his cell phone in his shirt pocket.

Note On Fukushima Radiation: Helen has just commented about the radiation levels in New Zealand at the moment. This was in response to my post Radioactive Pollution in New Zealand From Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. I must say that I have wondered this myself. Thankyou Helen for bringing this question up. Unfortunately, our environment is probably going to be contaminated from the effects of this nuclear disaster for several years to come. Radioactive pollution will be weakening our immune systems and causing all manner of mysterious symptoms and viral infections.

Read Merrilyn’s new post May 2013 entitled: Homeopathic Arsen Alb For NZ Flu May 2013. Also the one after that, entitled: Homeopathic Remedy Arsen Alb For Flu Allergies Asthma.

Help Stop Smoking With Baking Soda

Baking Soda is Alkaline. It can help to neutralize toxins in the body and reduce acidity. A less acid body is less stressful and may help you to recover from addictions.

However, if you are on medications, or low sodium diet, then you should ask your doctor or naturopath before using baking soda.

It is good to be a non-smoker. Give it up and become more healthy. Enjoy the fresh air and those lovely walks again, without getting puffed-out.

Addicts of tobacco and alcohol and other drugs notoriously favour acid-forming foods such as red meats, pork, coffee, and dairy foods, sugar and wheat-foods such as pasta and bread.

The Best Dietary Measure To help Yourself Stop Smoking Is:

To cut out acid-forming foods and adopt an alkaline diet which avoids the use of dairy foods, sugar, gluten and all wheat products including bread and pasta.

Eat Alkaline Greens: Eating plenty of raw greens will help to make your body more alkaline. Try to eat brown rice instead of wheat bread. Use more vegetables and fruits in the diet, with easily digested protein such as lentils, beans, free range eggs, soy products, and sprouted seeds such as mung beans and alfalfa.

Sprouted seeds are especially alkaline and provide many important enzymes which your digestive system needs to function well. Include plenty of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds in the diet. These are rich protein and calcium foods and they are more on the alkaline side than acidic flesh foods. Sesame seeds and sunflower seeds are dairy-free and calcium-rich foods which will help your frayed nerves to settle.

Diet To Help Your Digestive Function: Eating these foods will take a lot of stress out of your digestive function. This will have a beneficial trickle-down effect on your nerves, which will help you in your goal to stop smoking. You will digest your food better, and have more of a sense of well-being than before, when you were eating more acidic and heavy foods.

I have mentioned baking soda in an earlier post entitled ‘Giving Up Smoking’. In this post, I mention Richard Webster, who is an exponent of the baking soda remedy to help stop smoking.

See Merrilyn’s other postsfor more ideas:

Homeopathic Remedy To Reduce Craving For Tobacco

Giving Up Smoking

Richard Webster has devoted many years to helping people with behavioural problems, including people’s addiction to smoking. He published a booklet which accompanied some tapes called ‘Ezi-Stop’. This was published by Prestige Marketing 1995.

The alkaline nature of baking soda makes it effective in neutralizing acids in the body. An acid body can be made alkaline through taking a little baking soda each day.

Baking soda is suggested as a remedy to help stop smoking by Richard Webster and other experts in the field, because it can have an immediate effect to stop you taking that cigarette which you imagine you really need. However, baking soda should never be substituted for eating a healthy alkaline diet.

Two Week Treatment: Also, it is not advisable to keep taking baking soda indefinitely. Use it for a couple of weeks, then stop for a couple of weeks before you start using the baking soda again, even if you have not managed to quit smoking yet. Too much baking soda taken on a regular basis is not good for your kidneys.

The Technique For Using Baking Soda To Stop Smoking: Simply put a touch of baking soda onto the tongue whenever you feel the urge to smoke. This technique is not recommended for people who are on specific low sodium diets, or who have high blood pressure.

However, considering that smoking can actually GIVE you high blood pressure, I think that I would rather opt for a touch of baking soda, which might reduce my desire to smoke and do some good to my health in the long run, rather than take another cigarette.

Also look at the post entitled ‘What Happens When You Give Up Smoking’, and ‘Calcium Rich Foods’. ‘Detox Diets’ might also be helpful.

Homeopathic Remedies to consider might be those suggested by Dr John H. Clark in his book ‘The Prescriber’. Just one remedy should be selected, depending on the symptoms, constitution and habits of the person trying to quit smoking. Read his book for dosage recommendations: Nux vom., Camphor, Stroph., Phos., Plumb. acet., Spigelia, Calc. phos., China, Arsen alb. He says homeopathic medicine can be of great assistance in breaking the habit of tobacco. The appropriate remedy can help break the desire for tobacco.

What Happens When You Stop Smoking

You can imagine what happens when you stop smoking.

Giving up smoking is very difficult for most people. A few people manage the cold turkey approach to giving up smoking: something makes them decide one morning that they are just sick of the coughing fit which is experienced every morning upon waking. And that coughing fit is always followed by the crazy routine of going straight for the fags, the cause of the problem. They decide, on the spot, that they’re never going to smoke again, and that’s it. They don’t.

For most of us, achieving our goal of being a non-smoker is far more difficult. It certainly takes a lot of perseverance, in my experience, to keep going on the no-smoking tack, when you repeatedly disappoint yourself by breaking your vow to stop. Read about some helpful tips in Merrilyn’s post http://merrilynhope.com/giving-up-smoking/

It is important to keep motivated and positive about your intentions. All you have to do really, is to Keep on keeping on – Keep believing that you will finally become a non-smoker, despite the slow progress. If you keep believing that, then it won’t matter whether you take three weeks, three months, or three years, as long as you get there. Of course, sooner is better, rather than later, but don’t be disappointed in yourself if you break your vow of abstinence.

Feeling guilty about your failure to quit actually makes you likely to smoke more. Pick yourself up again, and continue trying to give up. Finally, one day, you will have become a non-smoker.

So – finally, you manage to do it. What happens when you stop smoking – how do you feel?

Of course, you will feel proud of yourself. And justifiably, too. Giving up smoking is, along with giving up alcohol, one of the best achievements you will make in your life time. Giving up smoking will improve your health, prolong your life, and give you and your family a better quality of life. The whole family will benefit because there will be more money for good food and outings. Your family, and your friends too, will also be happier, because they are not subjected to your smoke, and because they do not see you getting closer to death with every puff.

Initially, after you have stopped smoking, you will most likely feel more stressed and bad-tempered. This is partly because all those tobacco and combustion toxins which have been stored in your body suddenly begin to be expelled. The body is jolted into throwing off the stored poisons, because of the sudden withdrawal of tobacco. These poisons which suddenly begin to be expelled can cause you to feel very sick, if not irritable.

As the poisons get expelled, and flood through the bloodstream, you might experience heart palpitations, a fluctuating blood sugar level, dizziness, a foul tasting mouth, a yellow-furred tongue, profuse sweating, and other disturbances of the metabolism.

Over Eating can be a a problem for many people. Initially, though, you should not worry about this, unless you are excessively fat. Generally, smokers are malnourished. They have a deficiency of many of the important vitamins and minerals on which our good health depends. So eating up at the beginning of your adjustment to a smoke-free life should not be of concern. The main thing is to eat nutritious food and avoid eating bread and wheat products and fried foods: if you susbstitute brown rice for any bread you might eat, you won’t get fat, and your cholesterol levels will remain healthy.

Avoid Getting Fat: The thing you have to do, is not so much to curb your eating, but to ensure that you are not eating any crap foods. Nourish your body and nervous system. If you are hungry between meals, then try to make the effort to make yourself a carrot juice, or an apple juice. Or simply eat an apple, or a banana – something which will provide sustenance to your body and your brain and your nervous system.

How To Minimize Withdrawal Symptoms

The classic symptoms which you experience when you stop smoking can be remedied very quickly if you take measures to expell the tobacco poisons as quickly as you can. The more quickly that you can rid the body of these harmful toxins, the more quickly will your health be returned to normal and your mood be happy and constant.

Castor Oil to Eliminate Poisons One of the most efficient ways to get rid of poisons in the body and brain is to take castor oil every second day, for a week or two. An irrigation of the bowel is recommended during this time, especially if you have not done a cleansing diet in a while. This washes away the poisons from the bowel immediately, so that you do not reabsorb the poisons back into the bloodstream. These reabsorbed poisons keep the tobacco drugs in your blood. Getting rid of theses poisons from the bowel and blood increases the liklihood that you will quit the tobacco habit forever.

Castor Oil, or Ghee Oil Put either of these two oils into your nostrils at night. Ghee oil has been used in Ayurvedic medicine to help many health conditions, and ghee oil to stop smoking is one of them. Castor oil has a similar effect and is another well-tried remedy.

These oils will help your mucous membranes to heal, and also deter youfrom smoking. Put just three drops up into each nostril and inhale it into the sinuses. You can smear a little of either of these oils into the nostrils during the day time as well. Every time you get an urge to smoke, just put a little of either castor oil or ghee into the nostrils.

The Apple Diet

If you do not wish to tackle the castor oil treatment, you might try fasting on only apples for a day. Eat normally for a few days, then do two days on the apple diet.

The Grape Diet

Grapes work just as well as apples. Just eat grapes whenever you are hungry. Grapes and apples eaten raw will have a cleansing effect on your whole body.

Carrot Juice Diet

Another way to cleanse the body quickly is to take a glass of carrot juice every hour for the whole of the day. Again – eat normally for a few days, then try two days on the carrot juice diet.

Natural Tranquillizers

Of course, your brain has been relying on the tobacco drug, to help with your stress levels. Now this is what happens when you stop smoking: your brain does not make the adjustment to a drug-free existence so lightly. It will tell you that you ‘need’ something. You will fell restless, and perhaps anxious. See the paragraph below on the effects of Vitamin C and Vitamin B, which help to de-stress your body while you get used to doing without cigarettes.

Yoga Breathing, and Yoga Nidra can help greatly in destressing the body and in oxygenating the blood and brain so that you will feel great.

Read merrilyn’s posts entitled ‘Yoga Nidra’, and the ‘Ha Ha Ha Breath/Quit Smoking’ for some simple yoga techniques you can use in quitting smoking.

Alternate Nostril Breathing is of great value in calming the emotions and in acting as a deterrent for smoking. Simply block off the right nostril with the right hand thumb. Breathe in through the left nostril. Hold for a second, then release the thumb from the right nostril and put the ring finger over the left nostril. Your middle finger and ring finger should be resting above your nose on the eye-brow center.

Exhale through the right nostril. Breath in through the same nostril you have just exhaled from , that is the right. Hold the breath for a second, then swap the fingers over so that the left nostril is released. Breatheout through the left, then in again through the same nostril. Change the fingers to release the other nostril and repeat, exhaing through the right nostril, then breathing in again through the right nostril.

This can be done in bed at night. It helps to bring restful sleep and calm the brain.

Diet and Vitamin Supplements

Generally, a low carbohydrate/ high protein diet is the one which is recommended for people giving up smoking or alcohol.

You can give your brain that ‘added something’ by nourishing it with foods and vitamins and minerals which will negate those unwanted cravings. You can improve your stress levels enormously with the following specific vitamin supplements.

Vitamin C, especially the non-acidic form such as Ester C, or Calcium Ascorbate, will work not only as a detoxifying agent, but as a soothing, mild tranquillizer. This makes Vitamin C especially useful when you are giving up smoking, or alcohol. Take 1000 mg three times a day to begin your smoke free life. A dose should be taken last thing at night, as this will help you to sleep well.

Vitamin B Complex is another important supplement for giving up smoking. This nourishes your nerves and brain so that you do not suffer the effects of giving up smoking so intensely.

Zinc, Magnesium and B6 are essential to good health. You need an extra boost of these minerals when you are giving up smoking.

Calcium is another important mineral which helps us to sustain good health. Alcium also acts as a mild tranquillizer, so this is another one to add to your diet. If you ate a small can of sardines, or some mackerel, every day, then you will be getting plenty of calcium from the small bones in these fish.

You might experiment with merrilyn’s recipe for home made calcium supplement in the post “Best Calcium Supplement’. This supplement is better absorbed than calcium tablets are, or even dolomite powder, because it is naturally mixed with other minerals like magnesium and zinc, which aid the absorption of calcium.

Iodine is another important mineral, and you will get this in ample supply from eating sardines or any sea food.

Look at merrilyn’s posts entitled ‘Giving Up Smoking’, ‘Giving Up Alcohol Vitamins’, and ‘Detox Diets’. Also:

‘Homeopathic Remedy To Reduce Craving For Tobacco‘

The Ha Ha Ha Breath/Quit Smoking

The cessation of the smoking habit can be made easier through yoga breathing exercises. Below, I have listed a few of my favourite ones.This list includes exercises such as the ‘Ha’ ‘Ha’ ‘Ha’ breath, which improves lung function and helps eliminate toxins, including nicotine and tar, from the lungs. This is a useful exercise to learn because it is a quick exercise to do. Yoga Nidra, which helps to oxygenate and cleanse the blood, takes longer, but it also relaxes the mind so that it can realize the new aspirations you have for it.

The HA HA HA BREATH. A great oxygenator of the blood which helps to expel toxins from the lungs. It is very easy to do:

Stand upright. Put the hands in prayer position in front of the chest. Inhaling, stretch up above the head with the hands still joined together in the prayer position. Hold the breath as you bend forward to put the hands on the bended knees. Lean the body forward, suck the tummy hard in, keep eyes bulged wide open with eyebrows stretched upward, mouth open, and say ‘Ha… Ha… Ha… Ha… Ha…’ until you have completely exhaled the breath. Make small, sharp ‘Ha’ sounds, more like a panting breath rather than a chant.

Put the hands together in prayer position again. Reach straight upward as you breath a deep breath in. Hold, then put the hands on the knees as before and repeat the ‘Ha’ ‘Ha’ breath until your lungs are empty.

Do once more from the beginning so that you do three complete rounds.

ALTERNATE NOSTRIL BREATH. This is good for the mind as well as the lungs. Sit in cross-legged position, left hand over the left knee with thumb and middle fingers joined, palm upward. Close the eyes. Put the right hand forefinger and middle finger between the brows. Block off the right hand nostril with the thumb. Take a breath in through the open left nostril. Hold the breath, block off the left hand nostril with the fourth finger, and breathe out through the open right. Breathe in again through the right as you keep the left nostril blocked with the ringfinger. Then change sides as you hold your breath – block off the right nostril with the thumb of the right hand – the two fingers still over the eyebrow centre – and breathe out through the open left nostril. Breathe in again through the left nostril, as the thumb holds the right nostril down. Change fingers so that the left side is held down, release the thumb from the right nostril and exhale ……. and so on. Do five full rounds, then take the hand down from the brow to place over the right knee.

Now take one full breath in – hold- and breathe slowly out out as you sit, eyes closed. Repeat the full exercise another five rounds. (A round is the full cycle of breath in on one side, out through the other nostril, in through the same nostril, and out through the first nostril)

This exercise is very good for balancing the right and left side of the body. We tend to favour one side, but this exercise helps the weaker side of the body. Left brain and right brain functions are given energy and power through the practice of this exercise.

The BUTTERFLY EXERCISE. This is a beautifully gentle rejuvenating exercise, as the name implies. It is another great oxygenator of the lungs and blood, but it has value also because of the calm mind and emotions which result from its practice. Its calming effect is very helpful for people who are giving up smoking or some other addiction. It is safe to do as often as you feel the need for its benefits.

Stand facing the sun or an open window if you can. Arms are in a nice rounded position against the body, the fingertips of both hands touching lightly together at thigh level. Now we begin the first of the butterfly movements: Eyes open, look ahead and breathe in slowly and deeply as you bring the arms up together in front of the body, fingertips of both hands still touching as you do so. Keep the movement going upward, hands touching, as you continue to inhale.

You now should have a full breath in, and the hands are directly stretched out above the head, fingertips toughing. Now, breathe out SLOWLY as you separate the hands, bringing them down to the side of the body like a butterfly so that they are level with the shoulders. This is the halfway position.

Now, breathing in again, move the arms up above the head, again like a butterfly, until the fingertips touch. You have a full breath in at this point.

Now, breathing slowly out, take the butterfly movement all the way down the side of the body, arms outstretched, until the hands meet at the thighs. The arms now are nicely rounded as they were when we began this exercise.

Now, breathing in again, slowly bring the butterfly arms right up to the side of the body until they are above the head again. Your lungs should be full of good fresh air. Hold the arms and the breath briefly, then exhale slowly, bringing the arms down in FRONT of the body until they are in a nice curved position, fingertips of both hands touching lightly, the hands resting on the thighs.

This is ONE full round. Do another two rounds to make three full rounds. Then rest, breathing normally with the hands at thigh level.

YOGA NIDRA is a wonderful exercise for everybody who wishes to enhance their health and their enjoyment of life. See my post on YOGA NIDRA to save me from retyping this in here.

The SALUTE TO THE MOON is a soothing exercise which is very easy to do. It is good to do any time of the day if you are under stress. It can help you to sleep if you practice it before bed.

Kneel on the floor, or the grass if you are outside. Place the hands at the side of the body on the floor. Breathe in a full breath. As you breathe out, lean the body forward. Slide the hands, which are flat down on the floor, forward , alongside the knees. They should end directly in front of your head which is reaching to touch the floor in front of you. Join the hands together by making a triangle on the floor, thumbs touching, and index fingers touching above that. This forms the ‘moon’. Place your head into this triangle and rest there, breathing normally. Stay for three full breaths, then, as you inhale again, lift the body slowly to the upright sitting position and slide the hands along the floor until they are back where they started, beside the body and touching the floor.

Once you get the hang of it, you can do the movement easily and fluidly without looking at the instructions. Do three times in a row, with a full breath rest in between each ‘salute’.

This exercise is useful for flushing out poisons in the head area. This inverted posture is one which most people could do safely, whereas other inverted postures might prove difficult and unsafe for some.